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    Home » Recipes » 5 Ingredients or Less

    Instant Pot BBQ Meatballs

    Published: Aug 30, 2021 · Modified: Mar 15, 2022 by Kelsey Smith

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    These Instant Pot BBQ Meatballs only require three ingredients and take 15 minutes to make. Sweet honey BBQ meatballs make a perfect barbecue plate or a classic party appetizer.

    This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Meatballs stacked on a plate topped with green onions.

    These are perfect for your end-of-summer barbecue parties. Garnish with green onions (pictured) or cilantro.

    Serve on toothpicks or cocktail sticks or on a BBQ platter alongside macaroni and cheese, baked beans, mashed potatoes, or green beans.

    Plate with BBQ meatballs, green beans, and macaroni and cheese.
    The perfect BBQ plate.

    These sweet honey BBQ meatballs pair well with jalapeño macaroni and cheese and classic no-boil macaroni and cheese. For another party favorite, try Hawaiian meatballs.

    Ingredients

    This recipe only calls for three ingredients.

    Barbecue sauce, honey, and frozen meatballs.
    This is a 3-ingredient Instant Pot recipe!
    • frozen meatballs (fully cooked)
    • BBQ sauce
    • water
    • honey

    See the recipe card for quantities.

    Instructions

    First, place a trivet in the bottom of your Instant Pot (read more below about why a trivet is important).

    An Instant Pot liner with a trivet placed at the bottom.

    Place the meatballs, BBQ sauce, water, and honey inside, tossing the ingredients to cover the meatballs.

    BBQ sauce, honey, and frozen meatballs combined in an Instant Pot liner.
    Combine the ingredients and cover the meatballs.

    Set to Pressure Cook on High Pressure for 5 minutes. When the cooking time is complete, do a quick release.

    Close up of a BBQ Meatball on a fork.
    Isn't she lovely?

    Substitutions

    This is a classic recipe, but there are a few substitutions you can make, depending on what you have in the pantry:

    Frozen meatballs - Using frozen meatballs is important for this recipe. You must use frozen, fully cooked meatballs. Homestyle, Italian, Pork, Turkey, and Swedish-style frozen, fully cooked meatballs will all work.

    BBQ Sauce - I generally use store-brand Original barbecue sauce. Most barbecue sauces will work well with this recipe, but you may avoid honey BBQ since this recipe also calls for honey.

    On the flip side, you can use a honey BBQ sauce and skip the added honey. If you're going wild with a tangy mustard sauce, you also may want to skip the honey (or you'll end up with honey mustard meatballs).

    Honey - Honey sweetens the sauce but agave nectar and maple syrup could be good substitutes. You can always stir the honey in at the end to gauge sweetness.

    Equipment

    Of course, this Instant Pot BBQ Meatballs recipe calls for a pressure cooker. I use an old version of the Instant Pot Duo 6-Quart. This recipe is small, so a smaller 4-quart pressure cooker would work, too.

    Do I really need an Instant Pot trivet?

    I 100% recommend using a trivet with this recipe. The biggest gripe about the Instant Pot is the dreaded burn notice. Sometimes, no matter how much liquid I use or how short of a cook time I use, I get the error. So, whenever it is appropriate for the recipe, I use a trivet.

    A trivet elevates the meat off of the bottom of the Instant Pot liner so there is no risk of meat getting stuck to the bottom of the pan. My Instant Pot came with a trivet, but they are available on Amazon to purchase individually. Just make sure it fits your model.

    What if I don't use a trivet and I get a Burn notice?

    Luckily for you, these frozen meatballs cook FAST in the Instant Pot. If your pot gets a burn error, hit cancel, do a quick release, and check the meatballs. You may be surprised to find they're ready to go.

    BBQ meatballs in an Instant Pot.

    Instant Pot BBQ Meatballs

    These Instant Pot BBQ Meatballs are easy and fast to make with only three ingredients: frozen meatballs, BBQ sauce, and honey.
    Print Pin Email Rate
    Prep Time: 2 minutes
    Cook Time: 15 minutes
    Total Time: 17 minutes
    Calories: 530kcal
    Author: Kelsey Smith
    Servings: 6

    Equipment

    • Pressure cooker
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Ingredients

    • 26 oz frozen meatballs fully cooked
    • 2 cups BBQ sauce
    • ½ cup water
    • ¼ cup honey

    Instructions

    • Place trivet in the bottom of the Instant Pot liner.
    • Add frozen meatballs, BBQ sauce, water, and honey, spreading the sauce over the meatballs but do NOT stir.
    • Pressure cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. After cooking, do a quick release.

    Notes

    Nutrition was estimated using WP Recipe Maker.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 530kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 22g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 12g | Cholesterol: 88mg | Sodium: 1049mg | Potassium: 581mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 43g | Vitamin A: 222IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 50mg | Iron: 2mg

    Note: Nutrition was estimated using WP Recipe Maker.

    Tried this recipe?Tag @ByKelseySmith or use #bykelseysmith!
    Instant Pot BBQ MeatballsInstant Pot BBQ MeatballsInstant Pot BBQ MeatballsInstant Pot BBQ Meatballs
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    About Kelsey Smith

    I am a freelance content writer for college-level textbooks by day, mommy by night, and a blogger in between. I live in Knoxville, Tennessee with my husband, Xavier. When I'm not working on college textbooks, you might find me here, sharing recipes, social media tutorials, and more.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Kelsey says

      October 17, 2021 at 11:04 pm

      5 stars
      This is a classic.

      Reply

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    Hi, I'm Kelsey! I am a freelance content writer for college-level textbooks by day, mommy by night, and a blogger in between. I live in Knoxville, Tennessee with my husband, Xavier. When I'm not working, you might find me here, sharing easy family recipes.

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