Pour spaghetti sauce, crushed tomatoes, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper and sugar into a large bowl and combine. Set this mixture aside.
Add the olive oil to your instant pot and set the function to sauté. Break up the ground beef and add it to the oil. As it browns, use a hard spatula or wooden spoon to stir and break up the meat so that you don’t have any large chunks. Cook the beef completely through. Turn off the sauté function. Drain excess fat from the pot.
Pour the 2 cups of water over the cooked ground beef.
Break handfuls of the spaghetti in half and place it on top of the water. Criss-cross and spread out the handfuls so that the spaghetti is not in a big clump.
Then, spoon the spaghetti sauce mixture over the noodles until they are completely covered. We want liquid above and below the spaghetti. Press the spaghetti down a little under the sauce if there is still some uncovered after adding the sauce.
Do not stir. The sugar from the sauce needs to stay above the bottom of the post while cooking, otherwise it will crystallize and begin to burn.
Seal the pressure cooker and set the time for 8 minutes on HIGH.
When the cook time is done, use the quick release. When the pressure is released, give the spaghetti a thorough stir to mix together all the ingredients.
Leave the lid off and allow it to sit for a few minutes before serving so the sauce can thicken.