Pressure Cooker Spaghetti Sauce (Bolognese) is great for meat lovers and vegetarians. Choose whether or not, you want to add meat. Choose the type of meat.
Pressure Cooker Spaghetti Sauce
We all love homemade spaghetti sauce that cooks all day on the stove. With the Pressure Cooker, you can have that same taste with just a 10 minute cook time.
Meat lovers, use some Italian Sausage and/or any other ground meat you would like in your sauce. I prefer a vegetarian sauce and this recipe is my favorite.
My husband loves this Pressure Cooker Spaghetti and Pasta Sauce with whole sausage and meatballs. I’ve never been a huge fan of meat sauce. I do, however, like to brown the sausage and meatballs and then remove them from the pot. Then continue with the rest of the ingredients.
When we are ready to eat, I usually put the sausage and meatballs back into the pot to warm. The husband can take the meat with his meal and I grab some sauce. We both win.
However, sometimes I do just crumble up the sausage and/or ground beef/turkey and make this sauce.
For cooking on the stove top, the sauce would simmer all day. I’d have to stay home and stir and check on the sauce. It’s so great to get an all day pasta sauce in less than 30 minutes.
If you want to cook your noodles or macaroni at the same time as your sauce, try my Pressure Cooker Quick Spaghetti Dinner or my Pressure Cooker Beef and Macaroni for an easy one pot meal.
Turn on your Pressure Cooker and allow the pot to get completely hot. Adding a fat to a hot pot, will make the stainless steel pot non stick. If you add fat to a cold pot, your food will stick.
After the pot is hot, add your oil and start to brown the meat.
Break up the meat really well and add in your ground fennel. If you have whole fennel seeds, just take the back of a spoon and smush them.
Be careful so they don’t go flying across your kitchen.
Roughly chop the onions and toss them into the pot. Continue to sauté for a few minutes.
Garlic is best when you only sauté for a very short time. So, add the garlic and sauté just one more minute.
Carefully add in the rest of the ingredients. Make sure you use a good wine. One that you would like to drink with your meal.
Never buy wine that is labeled for cooking. It is cheap and pretty nasty.
The wine adds a terrific depth of flavor and I suggest not skipping the wine.
Lock on the lid and you are ready to cook!
I love these Reditainer Extreme Freezer Containers and Freezer Labels, so that I always know what is in my freezer
Makes a Great Freezer Meal
Easy, right? Home made pasta sauce in not much more time than it takes to open a jar of premade sauce.
If you want to have a one pot spaghetti dinner, try my Pressure Cooker Quick Spaghetti Dinner or my Pressure Cooker Beef and Macaroni (Bolognese), for a one pot meal.
Equipment Used
- Instant Pot Smart DUO60
- J.A. Henckels Classic 7-inch Hollow Edge Santoku Knife
- Amco Advanced Performance 18/10 Stainless Steel Measuring Spoons
- Culina Stackable (Dry) Stainless Steel Measuring Cups
- Anchor Hocking Glass (Liquid) Measuring Cups
- Cilio Olivewood Spatula
- Rachael Ray Stoneware EVOO Oil Dispensing Bottle
- Alpha Armour Salt Box with Spoon
- Bellemain Porcelain Ramekins
- OXO Good Grips Cutting Board
- Reditainer Extreme Freezer Containers
- Freezer Labels
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Here is the handy printable recipe:
Pressure Cooker Spaghetti Sauce (Bolognese) is great for meat lovers and vegetarians. Choose whether or not, you want to add meat. Choose the type of meat.
- 2 pounds Italian sausage mild or hot, Optional, casings removed
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 Onion optional, chopped
- 3 - 4 cloves Fresh Garlic minced
- 28 ounces Diced Tomatoes
- 6 ounces Tomato Paste
- 30 ounces Tomato Sauce
- 3 teaspoons Dried Basil
- 2 teaspoons Parsley Flakes, dried
- 2 teaspoons Brown Sugar
- 2 teaspoons Sea Salt
- 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes crushed
- 1/4 teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
- 1/2 cup Red Wine/Cabernet a good Cabernet!
- 1/2 cup Fresh Water
- 2 teaspoons fennel seeds crushed
- Parmesan Rind chunk optional
- Turn your Pressure Cooker to Sauté or Browning mode and allow it to heat.
Add a Tablespoon of olive oil to the Pressure Cooker cooking pot and then dump in the sausage/ground beef.
- Brown the sausage, breaking it up as you stir.
- (If not using meat start here) Add the rest of the ingredients.
Lock on Lid and Close Pressure Valve
Cook on high pressure for 10 minutes. When Beep sounds, allow a 15 minute natural release, then carefully do a quick release.
If you want a one pot spaghetti dinner, please see my Pressure Cooker Quick Spaghetti Dinner.
Don’t forget to PIN IT
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I used to make my own red sauce on the stove top and then let it simmer all day on low in my slow cooker. This sauce was so rich and satisfying and it truly tasted like it had simmered all day long. It made enough for me to freeze for another family size dinner. I’ll probably never go back to my old way of making red sauce again. Yum!
Hi Heather~
Making sauce all day was such a tiring procedure, but does hold memories. I was taught the all day method by the mother of an ex boyfriend whose father is Italian. When I first decided to use the pressure cooker, my husband said, no, you have to cook the sauce all day, that is the only way it will taste so good. He has been known to make the sauce in the PC too.
Jill
I used one pound of sausage removed from the casings and one pound of chop meat and followed the rest of the recipe. I used half of the sauce to try a small pan of lasagna and it was excellent. The lasagna did not suffer any quality problems at all and saved about a day’s work. This meal will be enjoyed on more occasions than holidays in the future, so thank you. I highly recommend your sauce be put to this purpose. Of course non-cook lasagna noodles are the way to go.
Hi Lyn~
Wow, thank you for your wonderful comments. I am so glad you enjoyed the sauce so much. 🙂 The lasagna sounds wonderful with the sauce and your choice of meat!
Jill
Trying your sauce for the first time. If it tastes s good as it did from the mixing spoon, it’s on it way to being my new favourite way to make sauces.
Thanks, Rob F
Hi Rob~
Hehehehehehehe, what a nice thing to say. Thank you so much. Will you be making pasta or a lasagna for the sauce?
Jill
Wow! Thank you so much.
Hi Renee~
Thanks. Enjoy!
Jill
Looks delicious and I can’t wait to make it! Any suggestions on what I could use in place of the red wine?
Hi Ashley~
The red wine gives this sauce a depth of flavor. If you really don’t want to use it, try some beef broth instead.
Jill
Hi Jill, is the Basil dried or fresh? and if dried how much should I use, thanks!
I am just recently starting my pressure cooker experience with an Instant Pot. I remember my grandmother using her old pressure cooker in the 1960s- with warnings like “stay back” and “don’t go near it” . Boy, did some amazing meals come out of that scary pot. The Instant is much less scary and I was searching for a good recipe for red sauce and found yours. I liked the ingredients -much like my grandmother’s ingredients so I gave it a try. YUMMMM! Did I mention that the grandmother was Italian? The only change i made was to cook meatballs in the oven and then add to the sauce and pressure cook the whole thing together. Nonna used to put the half cooked meatballs into the sauce, but that tends to get a little greasy. This recipe was perfect! Thanks so much for it- this will be a go-to for me!
Hello IPF~
Thanks so much for the story and your compliments. I too like to first cook meatballs and then make the sauce. It adds great flavor. I used to do that on the stove and then pull out the meat for whomever wanted the meat.
Welcome to pressure cooking!
Jill
Hi Jill:
I realize you say that you can leave the meat out – and as a vegetarian, I will do so. I was wondering though, have you ever used mushrooms instead of the meat – so as to give it a “meaty” texture? Or do you think this would muddy up the sauce? Thanks so much… can’t wait to try it!
Hi Paul~
When I make this for myself, I leave out the meat. Mushrooms are great to use. I would use the crimini as they give a lot of flavor.
Jill
This is the second time I’ve made this sauce (using half sausage and half ground beef), and I’ll never use another recipe! Thank you so much!!
Hi Marilyn~
Thank you so much for the compliment. I am thrilled that this will be your go-to sauce. It is ours as well, since 2005. I won’t change a thing, either.
Jill
Just love this recipe. It is now my second time making a double batch so I can freeze in smaller portions for the hubby and I. Between it being convenient, very cost effective, and the ability to tweek the recipe to meet my dietary restrictions it is a true keeper! I will be coming back to this post again and again. Thank you for taking the time to write up such a wonderful recipe and description!
Hi Patty~
Thank you so much for your compliments I am thrilled that you enjoy this sauce.
Jill
You rock! I love my instapot but have had trouble finding good family meal recipes. Thank you!
I really love the taste of this, had a DUH moment last week- why have I never made sauce in the pressure cooker? I LOVE my pressure cooker.
I had never put fennel in before, and wasn’t so sure about it tasting it off the spoon, but was so yummy once it was on the pasta, and was even better the next day.
I didn’t really follow the recipe exactly, was just looking on the internet for a general idea, I’ll follow it more closely this time. 😀
Thanks so much! I just bought an instant pot and was ttying out new recipes to use in it. I didn’t have the fennel seed,but it was still amazing!
This was so darn delicious. My first attempt at spaghetti in the IP was a few weeks ago and a big failure. My husband asked why i would use the ip for such an easy meal and then it was so inedible. It was from a different website and glad i came across this one. Such delicious sauce!!! I did add meat, and carrots and used barilla spaghetti and the timing was perfect. I also threw in a few frozen meatballs on top of this. Wow…..this is my go to sauce now. So. Very. Good. Thank you Jill!!
Hi Jill~
I am so glad you had a nice success. Thank you so much for sharing your story. 🙂
Jill
I love this recipe! I add frozen homemade meatballs. Both times I made this, the IP did not reach pressure the first time before counting down. I hit cancel, opened the lid and scraped the bottom (seemed to be a few scorched areas) and then tried again. Both times, after doing this, it worked the second time around. Is there something I am doing wrong that this keeps happening? Other than having that minor issue both times, I love this recipe and will keep using it. Thank you!
Hi Monika~
It is important to deglaze the pot after sautéing the onions. Jill
This is cooking as we speak. Cannot wait to taste. All of your recipes have been a hit so far! Thanks for sharing.
I have the 8 qt,I love it but for some reason my pressure valve would not seal. I turned it off and tried it again and it still wouldn’t seal all the way, any suggestions for next time to get the valve to seal? I still let it go the full time then cooked it on low statue for thirty mins and leaving it on keep warm the rest of the day PS. You Don’t look like an OLD GAL to me ????????????
I had the same issue – the sauce is too thick to build up the steam for the pressure to seal. I added another cup, cup and a half of water and it worked like a charm
The first time I made this it came out perfect but the next two times I tried this for some reason never had enough pressure to pop up the float valve so my sauce ended up just burning, any ideas or suggestions…
Hi Debby~
Was the silicone seal set all the way? Jill
My husband likes his spaghetti sauce pretty thick – is this fairly thick? I know when my mom made the stove version of this it was rather runny, so if it’s runny do you have suggestions to thicken it up? Thanks
Hi Jill, I am new to IP but am loving it and your recipes and clear instructions. I have a question though about using any type of tomato products. Some have said the sugars cause it to burn and then won’t come to pressure. When I made Wendy’s copycat chilli everything was stirred and then you added tomatoes on top with no stir. You say to stir everything in this recipe. I have an awesome pasta fajole recipe I want to make in the IP but I am concerned about the tomato juice the recipe calls for. Thanks so much. Karen
I have made this quite a few times now, yum! But making today for the first time without meat, as I have home made meatballs in the freezer (yay me). So yummy with or without the meat. My kids don’t like meaty sauce so meatballs may be the way to go! Thanks!
Hi Squeaky. Thanks for your comments. I prefer it without the meat as well. Jill
We always have this (like, once a week) now with the meatballs which can be frozen after baking then reheated in sauce! Big batch cook ahead meal and very very good!
I made this but substituted dried basil for fresh basil about 1 cup, put them after pressure release and closing the lid again and leaving it for about half an hour. Just because I had fresh ones. I’m a bit confused about the tomato sauce, put in about 6oz. Thank you so much Jill, we had the best pasta ever. Hubs never liked bolognese until I found this!
The recipe says 30 ounces of tomato sauce then it says right next to it 15? Which is it?