The only thing traditional about my meatballs and sauce is the meat – it’s beef.  While Italian spices are nice, southwestern spices like cumin are ground chipotle pepper are twice as nice. And, rather than slaving away all day in the kitchen with a slow-simmer, I’ve cut the cook time into a tiny fraction of old-school recipes thanks to the Instant Pot.  Check out my recipe for Beef Enchilada Instant Pot Meatballs because, yee-haw, it’s what’s for dinner in 30 minutes.

You know you need this easy Instant Pot dinner recipe in your life, read on! I originally made my Beef Enchilada Instant Pot Meatballs for Beef Loving Texans to add to their growing collection of delicious, nutritious Instant Pot recipes. You can’t beat cooking with lean ground beef in my book, it’s economical, versatile and a real family-pleaser – plus, ounce-for-ounce, has all the protein of a big juicy steak.  I chose a 90/10 ground sirloin for these beef meatballs – I didn’t want so little fat that they were dry and crumbly, but I also didn’t want to be sopping out a bunch of fat from the Instant Pot bowl while I was browning them. 

So, yeah – BROWNING them. Perhaps my favorite feature of an Instant Pot is how foods can be browned, sautéed, caramelized, seared, and so on before moving into the pressure cooking mode. The browning step not only helps these paleo Instant Pot meatballs hold their shape, but also helps develop a richer, more complex taste in the finished recipes. Note that you don’t have to actually cook the Paleo Instant Pot meatballs all the way through in the Instant Pot, just brown the outside on all sides, and the pressure cooking will take care of any red or pinkness left on the inside. 

I southwestern-ized my meatballs by adding a bit of chipotle chili powder, grated cotija cheese (a hard cow’s milk cheese from Mexico) and chopped cilantro. Previously, I used crushed tortilla chips as the binder, but have swapped that out for almond meal to keep it paleo compliant. The hearty, robust sauce has a kick to it thanks to my secret ingredient – a can of clean red enchilada sauce (however, feel free to use your own).

You can get these Beef Enchilada Instant Pot Meatballs from prep to plate in about 40 minutes – seriously, friends and family will think you cleared your datebook to spend all day making them. Of course, traditional noodles or zoodles make a tasty combo with these Beef Enchilada Instant Pot Meatballs, but I like to sere with a rice-pepper-corn medley. They would also be tasty with grits, in a sub sandwich roll, wrapped in a tortilla or just eaten solo as an appetizer – perhaps for the big football game coming up! 

BTW, this is the Instant Pot I’ve been using for these Beef Enchilada Meatballs.

Have you tried pressure cooking? What is your favorite recipe so far? Please share in the comments – XOXO, Jennifer 

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Beef Enchilada Instant Pot Meatballs

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

25 mins

Total Time

40 mins

 

Course: dinner, entree

Cuisine: Mexican, Southwestern

Servings: 6 servings

Ingredients

For Meatballs:

• 1 1/2 lbs 90/10 ground beef (sirloin)
• 1/2 cup grated Cotija cheese or can substitute Jack or Cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup dried minced onion
• 1/4 cup half and half
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon minuced garlic
• 1 teaspoon chipotle chile powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup crushed tortilla chips or can sub almond meal to keep recipe Paleo
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

For Sauce:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3/4 cup chopped sweet yellow onion
• 1 large poblano pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 2 8-ounce cans tomato sauce
• 1 6-ounce can tomato paste
• 1 15-ounce can red enchilada sauce
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon chipotle chile pepper

Instructions

Meatballs:

1. Whisk together grated cheese, dried onion, half-and-half, eggs, garlic, chipotle powder, salt and pepper.

2. Add Ground Beef to large bowl and pour egg mixture on top. Use hands to mix in until just combined, don’t overwork meat. Add tortilla chips and cilantro and mix in with hands until incorporated into beef mixture.

3. Shape meat mixture into 18 meatballs of approximately ¼-cup in size.

4. Use saute button on instant pot to brown meatballs, rolling around to hit a couple sides after seared enough to release from pan. Meatballs will NOT be cooked through, that's okay -- they will finish off during the pressure cooking.

Sauce:

1. Heat olive oil in Instant pot. Add chopped onions, peppers and garlic, stirring occasionally until onion begins to soften and become translucent. Add crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, enchilada sauce, cilantro, salt and chipotle powder (may omit if want milder) to onion mixture and stir to combine.

2. With spoon, add meatballs into sauce and gently submerge. Put lid on Instant Pot, turn knob to “seal” position and set pressure cooker on high for 25 minutes.
3. When finished cooking, turn knob to vent position to release steam. Top hot meatballs and sauce with additional cheese and cilantro, if desired.