Recipe FAIL: Instant Pot Spaghetti & Meatballs

Just keeping it real friends...

Let me tell you, I had this blog post all drafted in my mind before I even put any ingredients in the pot.  I was going to tell you how I was a mom-hero and arrived home from gymnastics practice to perfectly cooked spaghetti and meatballs.  How I dumped everything in, set the time delay, and basically won the internet. 

Except I didn't.  There was no #winning

I dumped everything in, set the time delay, we didn't go to gymnastics since the athlete wasn't feeling well so I checked the pot the instant it beeped and I was dismayed to find that nothing had cooked.  The meatballs were even still a bit frosty and the pot had not come to pressure.

Luckily, since we didn't go to gymnastics, I had accelerated the timer by half an hour so I had some wiggle room on the expected serving time and the three hungry bellies that were sure to start growling.  So, what did I do -- add more water (not coming to pressure is usually a product of not enough water).

I went through the motions again.  [Manual] 5 minutes.  And when it showed the timer starting I checked the pressure valve...not at pressure AGAIN.  Seriously?!  This was to be my weeknight success.  Spaghetti and meatballs!  How can you screw up spaghetti and meatballs?  If anything I am stubborn persistent so I added another cup of water and repeated the process.  Again no pressure. FAIL.

The Culprit of My Failure

The Final Product

At this point, I had corndogs about to pull out of the freezer and heat up for dinner but decided to taste test the final product.  The sauce was bubbly and hot, the meatballs heated through and the pasta tender.  All in all, it resembled school cafeteria spaghetti in terms of sauce and consistency.  Given that I was feeding little people who think buying lunch at the school cafeteria is awesome, I served it for dinner and the night was saved.

After serving dinner, I discovered the culprit of my failure -- the burnt mass of spaghetti and sauce at the bottom of the pot.  A thick crust of burnt goo will prevent heat from transferring well from the bottom heating element which would prevent the contents from being able to reach pressure.

In retrospect, here is what I think led to this partial failure (we still ate spaghetti and meatballs for dinner so not a total loss):

• not starting with enough liquid
• I originally started with 1 28oz can of pasta sauce, 1 14.5oz can of diced tomatoes and 1 14.5oz can of water.  The second go round I added another 14.5oz can of water and for round 3, I added another 8oz of water.
• I should have started with 28oz of water.  I think by round 3, the bottom was so burnt over that additional water didn't matter.

• using the time delay
• having the time delay meant that the pasta had time to sink to the bottom of the pot and absorb some of the much needed water which was minimal to begin with

•  not giving up sooner
• let's face it, running the cook cycle 3 times just added to the burnt goo at the bottom

Will I try this again?  Maybe, if pasta and sauce are on a screaming good sale and I've got time to spare and a back-up plan for dinner, maybe.

Happy Cooking!