Meatless cheese balls with Whole Grain Spaghetti Aglio e Olio makes a delicious vegetarian restaurant style dinner at home. It’s my vegetarian take on the classic Spaghetti and meatballs. This recipe contains no eggs or meat . It is made up of melt in mouth ricotta cheese balls dunked in Marinara sauce and served with our very humble Spaghetti Aglio e Olio. This pasta recipe will surly make regular dinner special for your loved ones. Aglio e Olio sounds fancy right!! But it simply means ” tossed in garlic and olive oil.” A clean and simple pasta recipe that is made extra special with the addition of Cheese balls .
A tasty affair for your entire family on a budget without compromising on the taste or quality of ingredients . A restaurant worthy meal under $10 for 4 people is seriously a steal!!!!! Plus this is an easy make ahead of time pasta recipe that can be enjoyed throughout the week. So make sure to double the batch as your family will be begging for more!
Honestly making this meal was not at all planned. Weekdays are pretty hectic for me and having Pasta on the menu is a bit relaxing knowing that my son isn’t going to fuss over it. And a recipe that doesn’t have veggies showing up is a win win in his dictionary .
So I knew that Whole Grain Spaghetti Aglio e Olio would be great with a side of some canned soup and bread.
But then it occurred to me that I have some leftovers from previous day already in the fridge. 
Remember the appetizer recipe that I shared 2 weeks back about 5 ingredient Ricotta cheese balls ? I made them again last weekend for some friends that came over for dinner. As I had doubled the batch I was left with extra cheese balls.So for Monday dinner I just thought of revamping them .
All I had to do is dump everything needed for making the Spaghetti in my Instant Pot just 15 minutes before I tend to serve dinner.
Yes you read it right. I pressure cook Spaghetti in my IP which saves me time , less pots to clean .
I do not have to wait for the water to come to a boil , add pasta , drain and then toss it further in another pan.
It’s a no boil and drain recipe which cooks Spaghetti Al Dente , perfect texture as we like.
Moreover this no drain method creates a lovely sauce because of the starch in the Pasta.
Meantime I just opened up a jar of our favorite Marinara sauce and warmed it along these cheese balls.
Dinner was served in less than 20 minutes. Plus all the happy faces sitting at the table thought I worked all day long to make this wonderful restaurant style meal.
If you do not have an IP feel free to make the Spaghetti the traditional way according to the package . Drain it well and then proceed with the recipe. Instructions given below. 
Recipe for 5 ingredient cheese balls here.
If you want use homemade pasta sauce then I have an express pasta sauce for you here.
Below is the recipe for Spaghetti Aglio e Olio 2 ways- Instant Pot and Stove Top.
Meatless Cheese balls with Whole Grain Spaghetti Aglio e Olio
Ingredients
Instant Pot Method
- 8 oz Whole Grain Spaghetti
- 2.5 cups water
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon Dried Italian mixed herbs
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Handful of fresh parsley chopped optional
- Chili Flakes optional
- ½ cup Freshly grated Parmesan optional
For Ricotta cheese balls in marinara sauce
- 1 recipe of Cheese balls link given in the notes.
- 25 oz jar of preferred store-bought or home made pasta sauce.
Instructions
- Break the Spaghetti roughly in half to fit the pot.
- Switch on the IP on saute mode.
- Add 2 tablespoons oil.
- Now add garlic and sautee until light brown .
- Place the Spaghetti in crisscross layers as shown in the picture above.
- Add in the water , salt , pepper.
- Drizzle 2 tablespoon oil on the top.
- Put on the IP lid and set it MANUAL HIGH 3 minutes.
- Turn the knob to sealing.
- After the IP beeps wait for a minute and then carefully do QUICK RELEASE towards venting.
- When the pin drops carefully open the IP lid.
- Separate the noodles with a fork or chopsticks.
- You may see some water still in the pot. Don’t worry it will be soaked by the noodles in no time creating nice thick sauce.
- Stir in Parmesan and chili flakes if desired.
- Remove the inner pot and enjoy hot noodles immediately on its own or paired with meatless cheeseballs in marinara sauce.
For Ricotta cheese balls in marinara sauce.
- Follow the recipe link here for the cheeseballs.
- Warm up the sauce in a skillet while the pasta is cooking.
- Dunk in the cheese balls.
Notes
For Stovetop cooking.
Ingredients
8 oz Whole Grain Spaghetti
Enough water to boil the pasta
4 tablespoons cooking olive oil/ oil of your choice
4 cloves garlic minced
1 teaspoon Dried Italian mixed herbs
Salt and pepper to taste
Handful of fresh parsley chopped , optional
Chili Flakes, optional
½ cup Freshly grated Parmesan, optional
For Ricotta cheese balls in marinara sauce
1 recipe of Cheese balls here.
25 oz jar of preferred store-bought or home- made pasta sauce.
Method
Cook the Spaghetti Al Dente according to the package and drain.
Sprinkle some salt, pepper, herbs to the drained Spaghetti and mix to coat well.
In a broad pan heat the oil.
Add garlic and saute until golden brown.
Now toss in the pasta and coat it well.
Drizzle more olive oil if needed.
Add in the Parmesan and chili flakes if desired.
Serve warm just like that or with the Ricotta cheese balls .
For Ricotta cheese balls in marinara sauce.
Follow the recipe link here for the cheese balls.
Warm up the sauce in a skillet while the pasta is cooking .
Dunk in the cheese balls.
Serve hot!
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This spaghetti looks delicious. Perfect for weekend dinners.
Thank you Baxter,indeed perfect for a weekend dinner!
Its like having both my favorites Aglio e Olio and meatless meatballs in one dish, looks so good Kushboo!!!
Thank you Shweta, same here!