Instant Pot BBQ Meatballs using frozen meatballs makes a fantastic dump and start appetizer or a dinner under 15 mins. Your whole family will enjoy this blueberry jelly and BBQ sauce meatballs instant pot recipe. It’s such a keeper!
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Simmering time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
SERVINGS: 4 people 
meatballs

Ingredients

  • 1 pound Frozen Meatballs (**16 ounce. You can use frozen homemade meatballs. Beef, Sausage, Beef/pork/chicken or Turkey meatballs works great.)
  • ½ cup BBQ Sauce (**Use Hickory or Original flavor.)
  • ½ cup no sugar blueberry Jelly
  • ⅓ cup Sweet Chili Sauce
  • ⅓ cup Ketchup

Seasonings

  • 2 tsp Cayenne Pepper (**skip if heat intolerant or add less.)
  • 1 tsp Paprika (**not smoked paprika.)
  • 1 tsp Ground Black Pepper

Liquid

  • ½ cup Water

Equipment Used

  • Instant Pot DUO 6 quart

Instructions

    • Dump ingredients in order: Add water, frozen meatballs, bbq sauce, ketchup, sweet chili sauce, blueberry jelly and seasonings (paprika, cayenne, ground black pepper). DO NOT stir or mix.
    • Pressure Cook: Secure the lid, seal the valve and PRESSURE COOK on HIGH for 5 mins. Once the pressure cooking cycle is over the instant pot will begin to beep, immediately perform a quick pressure release by manually moving the valve from the sealing to the venting position. Open the lid carefully when the metal pin on top of the lid drops.

    • Thicken Sauce: Hit the SAUTE function & keep it on LOW heat. Give everything in the pot a quick stir. Simmer the sauce stirring often to thicken it to your preferred consistency. We prefer more sauce when we plan to serve the BBQ meatballs as dinner and we love a thicker sauce when we plan to dish them out as appetizers. Serve the blueberry BBQ sauce meatballs hot and enjoy!

Notes

  1. Are the BBQ meatballs spicy? Yes, today’s recipe is slightly on the spicy side. If you prefer non spicy food either skip adding the cayenne or reduce the quantity.
  2. Prevent BURN: Add the ingredients in order as mentioned in todays recipe. And DO NOT ever mix or stir them before the pressure cooking cycle. The blueberry jelly would stick at the bottom and trigger BURN if you mix or stir.
  3. BBQ meatballs as an appetizer: Thicken the sauce if you prefer to serve these blueberry jelly BBQ
  4. sauce meatballs as appetizer. You have to simply simmer the sauce stirring frequently to thicken it to your desired consistency.
  5. BBQ meatballs as a complete meal: You can keep them saucy and serve them over steamed white rice, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, cauliflower rice or buttered noodles.