Instant Pot Spaghetti Sauce for Pasta (Bolognese) cooks up in under 30 minutes in the pressure cooker. Homemade sauced tastes like you have been simmering all day.
Instant Pot Spaghetti Sauce for Pasta
We all love homemade spaghetti sauce that cooks all day on the stove.
With the Instant Pot, Mealthy MultiPot or 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 Instant Pot Spaghetti Sauce for Pasta 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.
Ingredients for Instant Pot Spaghetti Sauce for Pasta
- Sausage or Beef
- Onions
- Diced Tomatoes
- Tomato Sauce
- Tomato Paste
- Garlic
- Red Wine
- Parmesan Rind
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.
Just Take Me To the Best Homemade Spaghetti Sauce Recipe Ever!
I get so many comments and questions on my posts, so I try to provide as much information as possible about the recipe to help you, my readers.
I try to provide as many tips and tricks and answer anticipated questions, so your recipe will be the best, the very first time, including how and why my methods work. This extra bit of information should help to provide you with a perfect cooking experience every time.
If you would rather skip right to the recipe or video, please scroll to the bottom of this page, where you will find the full and complete printable recipe.
Break up the Meat, if Using
For cooking on the stove top, the sauce would simmer all day, but using an Instant Pot, Mealthy MultiPot or Pressure Cooker, your sauce is done in under 30 minutes.
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 Instant Pot, Mealthy MultiPot or 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.
You might want to get my Low Carb Brussels Sprouts Alfredo Sauce [Video] ready too, as it makes a great side dish.
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.
Another very easy recipe to make is my Instant Pot Italian Chicken Marsala. It’s rich and is a great Italian entree.
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!
This makes a lot, so we freeze what we are not going to use for dinner and save for next time.
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
We like to use the leftover Instant Pot Spaghetti Sauce for in my Instant Pot Rojo Fiesta Chicken recipe in place of the fiesta sauce and turn it into another Italian meal.
Instant Pot Spaghetti Sauce for Pasta
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.
More Instant Pot Italian Meals to Make:
- Pressure Cooker Low Carb Margherita Pizza Meatballs
- Instant Pot Italian Chicken Marsala {Pressure Cooker}
- Pressure Cooker Creamy Baked Ziti
- Pressure Cooker Bruschetta Chicken with Zoodles
What is your favorite way to each Instant Pot Spaghetti Sauce?
Kitchen Equipment and Essentials
- Instant Pot, Mealthy MultiPot or Pressure Cooker
- 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:
Instant Pot Spaghetti Sauce for Pasta
Print Pin RateIngredients
- 2 pounds Italian sausage mild or hot, (optional, casings removed)
- 1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 Yellow/Brown 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 Dried Parsley Flakes
- 2 teaspoons Light Brown Sugar or sugar substitute
- 2 teaspoons Sea Salt
- 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon Crushed 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
- 1 chunk Parmesan Rind optional
Instructions
With Meat
- 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.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and mix together.
- 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.
Without Meat
- All add ingredients, except for meat and mix together.
- 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.
Notes
- Pressure Cooker Southern Style Green Beans
- Low Carb Avocado Chicken Salad [Instant Pot]
- Instant Pot Broccoli Cheddar Soup Low Carb Keto
- Instant Pot Italian Chicken Olive Garden
Nutrition
Post updated May 5, 2019. Originally published January 16, 2016.
PIN this Instant Pot Spaghetti Sauce for Pasta!
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Teri Duffey says
August 15, 2019 at 1:56 pmThis is my husband’s favorite spaghetti sauce. He always eats thirds when I make this sauce.
Jill Selkowitz says
August 15, 2019 at 2:49 pmThanks, Teri. Jill
Kim says
August 3, 2019 at 10:10 amI have frozen sausage meet. Do I have to do anything special for frozen m
Darnell says
July 28, 2019 at 9:52 amCan u freeze if u put the meat in it? Also how long can it be froze?
Susie Smith says
July 18, 2019 at 5:02 amGood for family get togethers. There are 15 of us total and everyone loves it!
Jill Selkowitz says
July 18, 2019 at 2:57 pmThank you, Susie. Jill
Jeanette Schutz says
July 13, 2019 at 2:55 pmMost like my moms own recipe!
Jill Selkowitz says
July 14, 2019 at 1:55 amThanks, Jeanette. Jill
Rahil says
July 12, 2019 at 4:40 amWe used Ground Turkey and Turkey Sausage and it came out amazing!!! SO MUCH SAUCE!!! we ended up freezing a bunch and use it when we are lazy to cook that day 🙂
Jill Selkowitz says
July 19, 2019 at 3:48 pmThanks, Rahil. Jill
Jeanette Schutz says
July 9, 2019 at 3:21 pmThis is the recipe I use the most with slight modifications. Can’t beat it!! My Italian mother would be so proud of me!! LOL!
Jill Selkowitz says
July 9, 2019 at 5:20 pmThank you, Jeanette. I am so glad you enjoy my recipe. Jill
Julia says
July 1, 2019 at 8:08 amThis recipe is delicious!! My family loves it! I use 1 pound of ground beef and one pound of Italian Sausage. I also use this recipe when making lasagna. Jill, I always tell people that “you cook like I like to eat!!” 😋
CATHY says
June 9, 2019 at 10:24 amSORRY, almost forgot to tell you. I made this today for my Public Safety Guys on the road. They loved it as well. The wine made the difference! Soon as I brought that out the guys said “now you’re talking spaghetti sauce”! I actually 1 1/2’d the recipe and it turned out great. I also added a squash chopped I had in the fridge and a bell pepper. NEVER TOO MUCH FLAVOR!
Jill Selkowitz says
June 9, 2019 at 5:38 pmAwesome, thank you. I am thrilled you enjoyed my recipe. Jill
Cathy says
June 9, 2019 at 10:08 amI LOVED IT! I added ground beef… however it was just a tad but too thin for me. How can I thicken it up just a touch?
Jill Selkowitz says
June 9, 2019 at 5:40 pmThank you, Cathy. You could let is simmer a bit. Jill
Ann says
June 3, 2019 at 7:22 amIs the cook time the same if doubled?
CATHY says
June 9, 2019 at 10:26 amAnn,
I made 1 1/2 today…. I only added a couple of min which really wasn’t necessary but I had added bell peppers. Actually it would have prob been better not to add any at all. NOTE TO SELF FOR NEXT TIME!
Mary G Cook says
June 2, 2019 at 1:47 pmMy husband declared this the best spaghetti sauce ever. Love the fennel seed.
Jill says
June 3, 2019 at 1:47 amThank you, Mary. Jill
Ann says
May 30, 2019 at 6:49 amThis sounds amazing.I have an 8 qt instant pot. Can this be doubled and what would the cook time be?
Jill says
May 30, 2019 at 2:20 pmYes, it can be doubled. Jill
Liz says
May 7, 2019 at 9:14 amI wanted to point out that the recipe at the end is not as detailed & is different than the directions in the rest of the blog. Since I often jump right to the recipe, I was wondering if you could update it.
Amie Poindexter says
May 3, 2019 at 2:00 pmIs the 405 calories for the whole pot of sauce?
Patricia says
April 25, 2019 at 2:35 pmJill….this recipe is a winner in our house! “This is sooo good” is what I kept hearing. Thank you again for another fantastic meal! Patty
Jill says
April 28, 2019 at 10:47 pmThank you, Patricia. Jill
ginny eastwood says
April 14, 2019 at 9:16 amhave made this sauce a couple of times, sooooooo good. Thank heaven for you Jill. You gave me confidence.
Jill says
April 14, 2019 at 7:11 pmThank you, Ginny. That is so sweet of you to say. I am so glad you feel better about cooking. Jill
Susan Mannion-Proksa says
January 18, 2019 at 6:49 amI made meat sauce this afternoon. 10 minutes cook time and it tastes amazing–as good as the sauce I used to simmer on the stove all afternoon! I used 1 lb. lean ground beef and 1 lb. Hot Italian sausage meat. I omitted the fennel seeds and the dried hot peppers because the sausage meat contained enough of both for our taste. I would recommend waiting to add salt until after the sauce is done because the sausage already has some salt. And don’t hesitate to add that 1/2 c. of wine. It adds something special to the overall flavor. I added it to the browned meat and onions on saute so the alcohol could burn off, then added all the tomato stuff. This one’s a keeper for me!
Jill says
January 18, 2019 at 12:58 pmThank you, Susan. Jill
Nell says
July 28, 2019 at 9:57 amWhat kind of wine?
Jennie says
January 1, 2019 at 11:15 amI’ve never made my own sauce before and too be honest, I wasn’t planning to this time either. I had a hankering for spaghetti and no sauce in the cupboard. Almost threw in the towel but decided what the heck, I’ve got all the ingredients let’s give this a whirl. Outcome? I am never buying my sauce again! This is amazing! I am low on tomato sauce ( someone around here REALLY needs to hit the grocery store!) but I’m going to make a run so I can make more and freeze it. So thank you for sharing!
Jill says
January 1, 2019 at 2:09 pmThank you, Jennie. It really is amazing how fast this comes together, yet tastes like it was simmering all day. Jill
Laura says
December 31, 2018 at 12:46 pmHello! I’ve tried a few of your recipes and loved them, going to make this tonight. Going for the meatless version and my cousin is visiting and hates onion so I’ll use onion powder. But I despise fennel- obviously I can leave it out but is there a trick to fishing it out or cooking in a cheese cloth for flavor only? Should I substitute anything for it? Thank you!
Maxine says
December 30, 2018 at 9:55 pmThis recipe is excellent! I pull it out to impress dinner guest! It’s one of those recipes where you can hardly believe you made something so delicious. Thanks!
Jill says
December 31, 2018 at 10:39 amThank you, Maxine. I am glad you enjoyed the sauce. Jill