Instant Pot Southwestern Spaghetti–an easy one pot spaghetti dinner with southwestern seasonings, green bell pepper and cheese. A fun and delicious twist on normal spaghetti.

Instant Pot Southwestern Spaghetti
This spaghetti recipe has loads of flavor with normal ingredients you’re likely to already have at your house. This recipe is super fast and easy and a fun twist on normal spaghetti. I loved this dinner and kept taking more and more on my plate. I loved the cheesiness and the seasonings. I hope you try it soon! Enjoy!
Ingredients/Substitution Ideas
- Lean ground beef–or ground turkey
- Onion
- Chili powder
- Cumin
- Oregano
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
- Beef broth–or water and Better than Bouillon beef base
- Spaghetti
- Tomato sauce
- Green bell pepper
- Cheddar cheese–I like sharp cheddar
- Monterey jack cheese–or pepper jack, colby jack
Steps
Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. When display says HOT add in the beef and break it up. Add in the onions. Brown beef for about 5 minutes. Drain off excess grease. Stir in the chili powder, cumin, oregano, kosher salt and pepper to coat the meat.

Pour in the broth and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking.

Break the spaghetti in half and lay it in a criss cross pattern in the pot.

Dump the tomato sauce on top of spaghetti. Finally add in the green peppers.

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 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.

Stir well.

Sprinkle cheddar and monterey on top. Let it melt. Serve and enjoy!

Notes/Tips
- Try serving this spaghetti dish with Cilantro Lime Coleslaw, Avocado Salad or Grilled Vegetables.
- You can try using another type of pasta. Other ideas are penne, rigatoni and orzo. To figure out how long to cook pasta you take the minutes on the back of the box, divide by 2 and subtract 1 minute.
- 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 monterey jack cheese are Instant Pot Monterey Spaghetti and Instant Pot Heavenly Casserole.

More Instant Pot Recipes with Spaghetti…
Instant Pot Southern Chicken Spaghetti
Cheesy chicken spaghetti with a kick! This stuff is creamy and addictive.
Instant Pot Cowboy Spaghetti
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.
Instant Pot Assassin’s Spaghetti
Instant Pot Assassin’s Spaghetti looks like normal spaghetti but it is spaghetti with an attitude! It’s got a flavor kick that you’re going to love. The spaghetti is cooked in a simmering tomato liquid and it absorbs all of the moisture (no colander needed!).
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.


Instant Pot Southwestern Spaghetti
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 minutes (plus 5 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 23 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
An easy one pot spaghetti dinner with southwestern seasonings, geren bell pepper and cheese. A fun and delicious twist on normal spaghetti.
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 cup diced onion
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 cups beef broth
- 8 ounces spaghetti
- 2 (8 oz) cans tomato sauce
- 1 green bell pepper, cored and diced
- 1/2 cup cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup monterey jack cheese
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. When display says HOT add in the beef and break it up. Add in the onions. Brown beef for about 5 minutes. Drain off excess grease. Stir in the chili powder, cumin, oregano, kosher salt and pepper to coat the meat.
- Pour in the broth and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking.
- Break the spaghetti in half and lay it in a criss cross pattern in the pot. Dump the tomato sauce on top of spaghetti. Finally add in the green peppers.
- 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 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Stir well. Sprinkle cheddar and monterey on top. Let it melt.
- Serve and enjoy!
- Category: Beef
- Method: Instant Pot

*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.
HI Karen,
Thanks for all the GREAT recipes. Green is spelled incorrectly in the description for this dish.
Happy cooking!
Karen, what changes need to be made if I use a jar of spaghetti sauce? Or, is that a bad idea?
Nevermind, Karen. Hubby was driving me nuts to eat, so I just used 2 c of jarred marinara sauce instead of the tomato sauce & it was amazing! Worked perfectly. I also used whole wheat spaghetti pasta. So EZ, was done & on the table in no time. Thanks again for another winner.
★★★★★
So glad it all worked out in the end!
Perhaps a silly question.
In Instant Pot/Presure Cooker recipes which include Spagetti/Pasta will the same timing be used when not including the Speggetti/Pasta, or is the timing calculated for the Pasta. I prefer my Speggettio full length.
It probably depends on the recipe but most of the time you could just use the same cooking time on the recipe.
Thanks for the response. I have zero SKILL in cooking and can only follow a recipe nso I can now try some of these. Same applies to Rice when included. I always wondered if the combined cooking sort of melded the flavours more than simply mixing things up at the end.
Once again, thanks.