Instant Pot Stuffed Meatballs and Marinara Sauce

Recipe posted in: Flex Meals & Snacks, Lunches & Dinners, Main Courses
Instant Pot Ground Beef Meatballs in marinara sauce with fresh herbs

Meatballs are tasty. Stuffed meatballs are even tastier. Stuffed meatballs made in an Instant Pot and paired with a homemade marinara sauce? The tastiest!

Forget frozen meatballs made in the Instant Pot; Homemade meatballs are healthier and tastier! By making meatballs from scratch, you can control the ingredients you add and even have a little fun. That’s what we did by stuffing our meatballs with melty mozzarella cheese! We love how the Instant Pot locks in the flavor and cooks them quickly.

How to Make Instant Pot Meatballs and Marinara Sauce

Our mozzarella stuffed meatballs are made with a mixture of lean ground beef, breadcrumbs, grated parmesan cheese, egg, oregano, garlic powder and black pepper. After mixing this all together in a large bowl, it’s time to create our meatballs and stuff them with cheese!

We use three light mozzarella string cheese sticks to stuff about 15 meatballs. Cut each cheese stick into five pieces. Scoop a golf ball-size piece of the ground beef mixture and place a piece of the mozzarella in the middle. Wrap the meat around the cheese to form a ball. Repeat this process until you have used all of the meat and cheese. You should end up with about 15 meatballs total. 

Next, it’s time to make the marinara sauce and get cooking! Your Instant Pot is back to make your healthy cooking faster and easier. Set your Instant Pot to SAUTE and once it gets hot, add in olive oil. Add in chopped onions and minced garlic, then sauté for a two to three minutes. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients to the Instant Pot, which includes a can of salt-free diced tomatoes, a can of salt-free tomato sauce, tomato paste, oregano, dried basil, black pepper and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Continue cooking the sauce for five minutes. 

Place the mozzarella stuffed meatballs into the Instant Pot and submerge them in the marinara sauce. Cover the Instant Pot with the lid and adjust it to SEAL. Set it to MANUAL for seven minutes. Once it’s done cooking, let it naturally release for five minutes and then quick release.

Healthy Tips and Ideas for Instant Pot Meatballs

This recipe makes five 280-calorie servings of Instant Pot Meatballs and Marinara Sauce. It’s great for cooking up on a Sunday for healthy and easy dinners all week long! If you’re losing weight on Nutrisystem, you can count this recipe as two PowerFuels, two Extras and half of a Vegetable.

If you don’t eat beef, feel free to swap it out with ground chicken or turkey. Add in more non-starchy veggies if you’d like this dish to count as a full Vegetable serving. Tomatoes, onions and bell peppers would pair perfectly with the homemade marinara sauce.

You can also serve your Instant Pot meatballs over a bed of spaghetti squash pasta or spiralized zucchini noodles. Finally, don’t be scared to play around with the spices that you use.

Spices and herbs are considered Free Foods on Nutrisystem, so you can add as much as you’d like! Add a spicy kick with some extra red pepper flakes or add a little onion or Italian seasoning for more classic flavor.

More Easy and Healthy Instant Pot Dinner Recipes

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Servings: 5

Calories per Serving: 280

On Nutrisystem, Count As: 2 PowerFuels, 2 Extras and ½ Vegetable

Ingredients:

  • Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs
  • 1 lb. lean ground beef
  • ¼ cup breadcrumbs
  • 2 Tbsp. grated parmesan cheese
  • 1 egg
  • ¼ cup water
  • ½ tsp. oregano
  • ¼ tsp. garlic powder
  • ¼ tsp. black pepper
  • 3 light mozzarella string cheese sticks, cut into 5 pieces each (15 pieces total)
  • Marinara Sauce
  • 2 tsp. olive oil
  • ½ onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 15-oz. can diced tomatoes, no salt added
  • 1 8-oz. can tomato sauce, no salt added
  • 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
  • 1 tsp. oregano
  • 1 tsp. dried basil
  • ¼ tsp. black pepper
  • 1 pinch red pepper flakes

Directions:

  1. In a large bowl, mix together all of the meatball ingredients except for mozzarella cheese.
  2. Scoop a golf ball-size piece of the ground beef mixture and place a piece of the mozzarella in the middle. Wrap the meat around the cheese and form into a ball. Repeat with remaining meat mixture until you have about 15 meatballs. Set aside.
  3. Set Instant Pot to SAUTE. Once hot, add the oil.
  4. Add the onions and garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes.
  5. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients. Continue cooking for 5 minutes.
  6. Place the meatballs into the Instant Pot and submerge in the marinara sauce.
  7. Cover the Instant Pot with the lid and adjust to SEAL. Set to MANUAL for 7 minutes.
  8. Once finished cooking, let it naturally release for 5 minutes and then quick release.
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