diff --git a/cpp/dolfinx/la/SparsityPattern.cpp b/cpp/dolfinx/la/SparsityPattern.cpp
index 1dab9d35d26..ac7ee1b6efc 100644
--- a/cpp/dolfinx/la/SparsityPattern.cpp
+++ b/cpp/dolfinx/la/SparsityPattern.cpp
@@ -140,6 +140,27 @@ SparsityPattern::SparsityPattern(
   }
 }
 //-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+void SparsityPattern::insert(std::int32_t row, std::int32_t col)
+{
+  if (!_offsets.empty())
+  {
+    throw std::runtime_error(
+        "Cannot insert into sparsity pattern. It has already been finalized");
+  }
+
+  assert(_index_maps[0]);
+  const std::int32_t max_row
+      = _index_maps[0]->size_local() + _index_maps[0]->num_ghosts() - 1;
+
+  if (row > max_row or row < 0)
+  {
+    throw std::runtime_error(
+        "Cannot insert rows that do not exist in the IndexMap.");
+  }
+
+  _row_cache[row].push_back(col);
+}
+//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 void SparsityPattern::insert(std::span<const std::int32_t> rows,
                              std::span<const std::int32_t> cols)
 {
@@ -160,7 +181,6 @@ void SparsityPattern::insert(std::span<const std::int32_t> rows,
       throw std::runtime_error(
           "Cannot insert rows that do not exist in the IndexMap.");
     }
-
     _row_cache[row].insert(_row_cache[row].end(), cols.begin(), cols.end());
   }
 }
diff --git a/cpp/dolfinx/la/SparsityPattern.h b/cpp/dolfinx/la/SparsityPattern.h
index 33632d72813..726455a0c39 100644
--- a/cpp/dolfinx/la/SparsityPattern.h
+++ b/cpp/dolfinx/la/SparsityPattern.h
@@ -67,6 +67,19 @@ class SparsityPattern
 
   /// @brief Insert non-zero locations using local (process-wise)
   /// indices.
+  /// @param[in] row local row index
+  /// @param[in] col local column index
+  void insert(std::int32_t row, std::int32_t col);
+
+  /// @brief Insert non-zero locations using local (process-wise)
+  /// indices.
+  ///
+  /// This routine inserts non-zero locations at the outer product of rows and
+  /// cols into the sparsity pattern, i.e. adds the matrix entries at
+  ///   A[row[i], col[j]] for all i, j.
+  ///
+  /// @param[in] rows list of the local row indices 
+  /// @param[in] cols list of the local column indices
   void insert(std::span<const std::int32_t> rows,
               std::span<const std::int32_t> cols);
 
diff --git a/cpp/test/matrix.cpp b/cpp/test/matrix.cpp
index 3c7ed9dba8d..448fdce779d 100644
--- a/cpp/test/matrix.cpp
+++ b/cpp/test/matrix.cpp
@@ -201,9 +201,9 @@ void test_matrix()
 {
   auto map0 = std::make_shared<common::IndexMap>(MPI_COMM_SELF, 8);
   la::SparsityPattern p(MPI_COMM_SELF, {map0, map0}, {1, 1});
-  p.insert(std::vector{0}, std::vector{0});
-  p.insert(std::vector{4}, std::vector{5});
-  p.insert(std::vector{5}, std::vector{4});
+  p.insert(0, 0);
+  p.insert(4, 5);
+  p.insert(5, 4);
   p.finalize();
 
   using T = float;
diff --git a/python/dolfinx/wrappers/la.cpp b/python/dolfinx/wrappers/la.cpp
index e84590e31d1..5a1f7865f9a 100644
--- a/python/dolfinx/wrappers/la.cpp
+++ b/python/dolfinx/wrappers/la.cpp
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 #include "caster_mpi.h"
 #include "numpy_dtype.h"
 #include <complex>
+#include <cstdint>
 #include <dolfinx/common/IndexMap.h>
 #include <dolfinx/la/MatrixCSR.h>
 #include <dolfinx/la/SparsityPattern.h>
@@ -265,6 +266,10 @@ void la(nb::module_& m)
                         std::span(cols.data(), cols.size()));
           },
           nb::arg("rows"), nb::arg("cols"))
+      .def("insert",
+           nb::overload_cast<int32_t, int32_t>(
+               &dolfinx::la::SparsityPattern::insert),
+           nb::arg("row"), nb::arg("col"))
       .def(
           "insert_diagonal",
           [](dolfinx::la::SparsityPattern& self,
diff --git a/python/test/unit/la/test_matrix_csr.py b/python/test/unit/la/test_matrix_csr.py
index 738b2b46b86..1f8e5c35d09 100644
--- a/python/test/unit/la/test_matrix_csr.py
+++ b/python/test/unit/la/test_matrix_csr.py
@@ -25,9 +25,9 @@ def create_test_sparsity(n, bs):
     if bs == 1:
         for i in range(2):
             for j in range(2):
-                sp.insert(np.array([2 + i]), np.array([4 + j]))
+                sp.insert(2 + i, 4 + j)
     elif bs == 2:
-        sp.insert(np.array([1]), np.array([2]))
+        sp.insert(1, 2)
     sp.finalize()
     return sp
 
@@ -126,10 +126,10 @@ def test_distributed_csr(dtype):
     sp = SparsityPattern(MPI.COMM_WORLD, [im, im], [1, 1])
     for i in range(n):
         for j in range(n + nghost):
-            sp.insert(np.array([i]), np.array([j]))
+            sp.insert(i, j)
     for i in range(n, n + nghost):
         for j in range(n, n + nghost):
-            sp.insert(np.array([i]), np.array([j]))
+            sp.insert(i, j)
     sp.finalize()
 
     mat = matrix_csr(sp, dtype=dtype)