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November 22, 2022

Instant Pot Cowboy Spaghetti

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Instant Pot Cowboy Spaghetti–an easy spaghetti recipe with bacon, ground beef, Rotel, barbecue sauce and cheese. A hearty pasta dish that comes together quickly with the help of your Instant Pot.

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Instant Pot Cowboy Spaghetti

Instant Pot Cowboy Spaghetti

Cowboy spaghetti might just become your family’s favorite way to make spaghetti! It’s a fun change of pace from normal spaghetti with marinara sauce. This version of spaghetti adds in a little barbecue sauce and bacon for a fun cowboy twist. Oh and don’t forget the mozzarella and the cheddar cheeses at the end!

This makes 4 large servings or 6 medium servings. If you do have leftovers they taste really good the next day for lunch! Lots of flavor and the spaghetti rewarms great in the microwave or in the Instant Pot.

This recipe can easily be doubled in the the 6 or 8 quart pot if you’re serving a crowd. I would use the same cooking time of 3 minutes with a 5 minute natural pressure cook time. You can also cut this recipe in half to serve 2-3 people.

Ingredients/Substitution Ideas

  • Ground beef–or ground turkey. I used lean ground beef.
  • Onions–or 2 Tbsp minced dehydrated onions
  • Kosher salt
  • Black pepper
  • Garlic powder
  • Beef broth–or water and Better than Bouillon
  • Spaghetti–you can also make this with rotini pasta, penne, macaroni, etc.
  • Tomato sauce–or spaghetti sauce
  • Rotel diced tomatoes and green chiles–I use mild
  • BBQ sauce
  • Bacon crumbles–or cooked and crumbled bacon. I buy the big bag of bacon crumbles at Costco and then keep it in my freezer. It comes in handy for many recipes.
  • Mozzarella–I grate mine off the block
  • Cheddar–I grate mine off the block

The Basic Steps

  1. Brown the ground beef using the saute setting.
  2. Deglaze the pot.  
  3. Scatter the spaghetti into the pot in a criss cross pattern. This will help the pasta cook evenly and not get stuck together in clumps.
  4. Add in other ingredients. Don’t stir. This will help prevent the burn error message.
  5. Pressure cook.
  6. Stir in the bacon and cheeses. 
  7. Scoop onto plates and enjoy!

Notes/Tips

  • Serve with a green salad and a side of garlic toast.
  • I used my 6 quart Instant Pot*. You can also make this in a 3 or 8 quart pot.
  • Store leftovers in an airtight container* in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
  • Other recipes you can make with bacon crumbles are Instant Pot Man Lovin Potatoes and Instant Pot Cheesy Cowboy Soup.
  • How I drain grease off of ground beef: Tilt the Instant Pot to one side while holding the ground meat against the other side with a wooden spoon. This should make most of the grease pool on the tilted side. Lower the Instant Pot down, the meat should stay to its side and the grease on the other. Place a couple paper towels into the grease and use the spoon to sop up the grease. Discard the paper towels.

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Instant Pot Cowboy Spaghetti

More Instant Pot Recipes that Use Spaghetti…

Instant Pot Million Dollar Spaghetti

Spaghetti but a whole lot better. A ground beef sauce is served with spaghetti noodles and then cream cheese is stirred in for an ultimate creamy dinner. Kids and adults love this spaghetti!

Read more

Instant Pot Pizza Chicken Bake

Chicken and spaghetti with pepperoni and mozzarella cheese. An easy dump and go Instant Pot recipe.

Read more

Instant Pot Chilighetti

A delicious mash up of spaghetti and chili. Make this easy one pot meal in minutes with your Instant Pot.

Read more

Instant Pot Panda Express Chow Mein

A copy cat recipe for Panda’s chow mein…only it’s made faster, easier and cheaper in your Instant Pot.

Read more
Did you know you can filter the recipes on my website to search by meat type, IP or Crockpot, low carb, gluten free, etc.? Use the filter to find exactly what you are looking for. 

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Instant Pot Cowboy Spaghetti
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Instant Pot Cowboy Spaghetti


★★★★★

5 from 5 reviews

  • Author: 365 Days of Slow and Pressure Cooking
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 3 minutes (plus 5 minute NPR)
  • Total Time: 23 minutes
  • Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
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Description

Easy spaghetti recipe with bacon, ground beef, Rotel, barbecue sauce and cheese. A hearty pasta dish that comes together quickly with the help of your Instant Pot. 


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 cup diced onions
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 2 tsp garlic powder
  • 2 cups beef broth
  • 8 ounces spaghetti, broken in half
  • 2 (8 oz) cans tomato sauce
  • 1 (10 oz) can Rotel diced tomatoes and green chiles (with juice)
  • 1/4 cup BBQ sauce
  • 1/2 cup bacon crumbles
  • 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
  • 1/2 cup shredded cheddar

Instructions

  1. Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. When display says HOT add in the ground beef and break it up. Add in the onions. Brown the beef for 5 minutes. Drain off excess grease. Stir in the salt, pepper and garlic powder.
  2. Pour in the broth and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking. 
  3. Scatter the spaghetti into the pot in a criss cross pattern.
  4. Dump the tomato sauce, Rotel and BBQ sauce evenly over the spaghetti to cover. Don’t stir.
  5. Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 3 minutes. When time is up let pot sit for 5-10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
  6. Stir well. Stir in the bacon and cheeses. 
  7. Scoop onto plates and enjoy!
  • Category: Beef
  • Method: Instant Pot

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Instant Pot Cowboy Spaghetti

*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

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16 Comments Filed Under: All Recipes, Beef, Instant Pot, Pasta, Summer Tagged With: bacon

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Comments

  1. Ellen says

    February 2, 2023 at 5:31 am

    can you use entire box of spaghetti and would you just add more broth? this is for insta pot .

    Reply
    • Karen says

      February 2, 2023 at 10:51 am

      yes you can do that. Increase broth to 4 cups.

      Reply
  2. LEON MILLER says

    December 30, 2022 at 8:47 am

    You’ve done it again, this was terrific. thank you for another wonderful recipe.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Karen says

      December 30, 2022 at 11:46 am

      Thank you so much Leon. I’m so please you enjoyed it!

      Reply
  3. Jindabyne says

    December 6, 2022 at 2:36 pm

    well, I thought at first that God would strike me down cooking pasta this way or murdered by a Gang of Italian Nonas.
    This was sooooooo good. I only used half the cheese. I did not have a tin of tomatoes, so I chopped a tomato and added more broth. And no bacon.
    Every recipe needs a tweek or 2 to suit different tastes.
    Thank you!!!!!!!!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Karen says

      December 7, 2022 at 9:52 am

      So glad you tried it and you liked it! I tweak all the recipes I try too 😉

      Reply
  4. Katie says

    December 1, 2022 at 9:50 pm

    Amazing! I used the instant pot sautee function to cook a few strips of bacon, removed it and drained the fat, then followed the directions to the letter. It turned out perfectly! The noodles were not mushy, and the flavor was great!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Karen says

      December 2, 2022 at 12:42 pm

      SOUNDS SO GOOD!!! Thanks for the 5 stars

      Reply
  5. Lynn Powell says

    November 30, 2022 at 5:20 pm

    Can you use a crock pot instead of an Insta Pot?

    Reply
    • Karen says

      December 2, 2022 at 12:52 pm

      Not for this recipe! sorry 🙂

      Reply
  6. Carol says

    November 26, 2022 at 7:20 am

    Can you use gluten free pasta? If so does this change the cook time?

    Reply
    • Karen says

      November 28, 2022 at 7:02 pm

      I haven’t used gluten free pasta ever so I’m not sure how it would work. I have heard that it gets mushy quickly and that you use less cooking time.

      Reply
      • Catherine says

        December 1, 2022 at 5:49 pm

        I used Gluten Free Spaghetti and it turned out great!!! I cooked for 3 minutes and waited 10 minutes before releasing the vent. No mushy noodles.

        ★★★★★

        Reply
        • Karen says

          December 2, 2022 at 12:45 pm

          Thanks for the helpful info!

          Reply
  7. DebbieT says

    November 22, 2022 at 6:00 pm

    Oh my goodness this looks amazing! Looks like just the thing to prevent meal-fatigue during the holidays and a real timesaver! Thanks for this one.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Karen says

      November 28, 2022 at 7:29 pm

      You’re welcome Debbie! Enjoy 🙂

      Reply

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Hi, I’m Karen. I know that dinner time can be less than relaxing. Busy schedules and cranky kids and a hundred other things can lead to weariness when it comes to putting dinner on the table. I can help! I make homemade, family-friendly slow cooker and Instant Pot dinners and share the recipes with you.

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