Let’s get to making this Ninja Foodi Spaghetti Recipe
To begin with, prepare your ingredients by chopping or dicing the vegetables you plan to use. For flavor, I suggest utilizing an onion; the rest is up to you. Go ahead and roast your garlic now if you haven’t already.
The Ninja Foodi can be used to roast garlic by slicing off the top, drizzling it with olive oil, and then wrapping it in foil. Place it onto the Ninja Foodi rack, place it on low, and bake it for 35 minutes at 325° F.
Although you might be tempted to skip this step, I strongly advise you to do so. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the flavor that the roasted garlic adds to the spaghetti, but if you’re not a fan of garlic, feel free to omit it.
Place 1lb of ground beef or ground turkey along with the seasonings in the inner pot of the Ninja Foodi. Set the Sauté to high and add onions. Break up the meat with a non-stick friendly utensil. My favorite thing to use is this Mix N Chop from Pampered Chef. Sauté the meat until it is almost cooked through.
Add in green pepper or any veggies you are using. Add in roasted bulb of garlic. Squeezing from the bottom of a roasted garlic bulb will allow the cloves to easily come out is a simple method for doing so.
Dont stir from here on out. We won’t be stirring the remaining ingredients. Add three cups of the beef stock and the can of tomatoes.
Pour in the jar of spaghetti sauce. After adding the last cup of broth to the spaghetti sauce jar, cover it and shake it. Pour into pot. Remember, resist the urge to stir. I know, its so hard. Even though it contradicts everything we have ever done, it is crucial.
Criss Cross and layer the spaghetti noodles. I usually make at least 4 layers for a ½ box (½lb) of spaghetti noodles.
Gently press the noodles down into the liquid.
Top with the 6-ounce can of tomato paste. Dont stir.
Close the Ninja Foodi’s pressure cover, set the timer for three minutes, and press high pressure.
After the 3 minutes of pressure cooking are complete. Give the spaghetti three more minutes to sit and naturally release its contents. Make sure the keep warm function is off.
After three minutes of natural release, manually release the remaining pressure. To incorporate the tomato paste into the sauce, open the lid and stir. Dont freak out, I know it looks watery. Don’t worry, it will thicken and turn into a magnificent sauce that tastes and looks like it was stovetop-cooked all day. Turn the Ninja Foodi off.
After closing the Tender Crisp lid, leave the spaghetti for roughly five minutes. This will allow it to thicken even more. Top with cheese if you like.
Serve & Enjoy!
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Tips for making this Ninja Foodi Spaghetti Recipe
Even though this recipe is for dump and cook spaghetti, it does matter which ingredients you dump in what order.
Cooking under pressure: In order for the pressure cooker to generate pressure when cooking under pressure, a thin liquid must be used. Sauces with cheese, cream, or tomatoes are too thick to use as the only liquid. I always recommend using a broth or stock in place of water to give flavor to any recipe. That’s what this Ninja Foodi Spaghetti Recipe entails, and it tastes great!
Preventing the burn notice: Friends have called me in a panic when they saw the dreaded burn notice appear, in addition to myself. Sometimes all it takes to fix it is to add a bit more thin liquid, such as water or broth. Other times, it may be difficult to salvage your food because it has already burned on the bottom. Avoiding the notice is much easier than fixing it, which is what this Ninja Foodi Spaghetti recipe accomplishes.
Don’t cut corners on the thin liquid: When I saw an Instant Pot recipe for spaghetti, I immediately thought, “I’m not using all that water!” I believe the recipe called for six cups of water, and I was certain my spaghetti would turn out mushy. It was extremely flavorless, even though it wasn’t watery. You will need four cups of beef broth (you can also use chicken or vegetable broth) for this Ninja Foodi Spaghetti Recipe, I assure you.
Dont overcook the noodles: Ive seen an array of cook times for pasta and they are always overcooked for my liking. Spaghetti noodles should be al dente or have just a bit of a bite to them, not overly bloated and mushy. We dont want them to fall apart in the sauce. This Ninja Foodi Spaghetti Recipe calls for 3 minutes of pressure cooking and you might be tempted to increase the time, but keep in mind that the noodles start to cook while the Ninja Foodi is coming up to pressure
As demonstrated, layer the ingredients: For some recipes, pressure cooking requires layering the ingredients, and this Ninja Foodi Spaghetti Recipe is an example of that. There’s a good chance you’ll receive the dreaded burn notice if we switched the layers around or mixed everything together like you would on the stove.
Criss cross the noodles: When using spaghetti noodles in the pressure cooker, you want to layer them in a criss cross fashion to avoid clumping and to have them cook evenly. You can watch how I do this below or see the whole video on my YouTube video: Ninja Foodi Spaghetti Video.
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