As a traditional Italian girl, I have been brought up that the best meal of the week, even it is an everyday meal must be the Pasta on your plate.
Cook pasta too much and you have a mushy mouthful of goo, cook it too little and you have a crunch, no thanks. The best of both worlds is Al Dente pasta, meaning that it is cooked just right, not too soft and not too hard (starting to feel like Little Red Riding Hood).
My family craves meat sauce and pasta and generally, this has to be a weekend meal because there has never been a way to shortcut the process.
From the moment my Instant Pot arrived at my doorstep cooking has changed!
This Meat Sauce and Pasta recipe allow the pasta to cook with the meat.
For those of you who want to just make a bolognese sauce, I have a bolognese sauce recipe only, you can use.
Today it is time to lavishly live food out loud as I share with you my Instant Pot Meat Sauce and Pasta Recipe.
Instant Pot Meat Sauce and Pasta Recipe
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I have tried this over and over until I got it right, then I published it.
Instant Pot has made it possible to prepare this great meal in about 12 minutes flat from browning the meat to cooking the pasta.
Now, for those that like their pasta cooked separately.
I will again suggest using my Bolognese Instant Pot Recipe, rather than this one.
How To Make Meat Sauce and Pasta Together
Gather your ingredients before you start.
Why?
Because once you saute your meat, the Instant Pot is ready to receive all the other ingredients and pressurizing takes much less time!
About the Sauce
You can use minced garlic, or whole garlic sliced.
Salt is optional, and really dependant on if you can consume it or not.
I always use Extra Virgin Olive Oil when cooking to provide the best taste.
Ground beef can be replaced with ground turkey or ground chicken.
Additionally, you can use any fat content in ground beef. (80/20, 90/10, etc)
Find a brand of canned sauce you prefer and use it.
Alternatively, you can buy jarred sauce as well, that would mean cutting out the paste prep step.
If you want a better-tasting sauce, I always advise adding a Parmesan Chunk and you can read more here. Parmesan Cheese Rind Uses
My Chef Notes in instant Pot Meat Sauce Pasta
Make sure to use Quick Release on this as it will overcook the pasta if you do not.
I always use a potholder to let the steam spatter onto rather than having it hit the cabinet area.
The food will continue to cook, even once the pressure is released and the pot is turned off, remember it is very hot and the stainless bowl retains the heat.
This is good to know because if you have any liquid left it will absorb (about a 1/2 c or so)
The inner pot is dishwasher safe so this makes cleanup a snap.
Do make sure to brown your meat until no pink shows.
You do not need to cook pasta separate from the meat sauce, just combine it all.
I do suggest trying to scoop some of the meat atop the pasta before cooking, it seems to help with the cooking and not overcooking.
If you find the pasta is too soft, back the time down by a minute.
Here is the How To Instructional video and this will also show you the proper water content for pasta, so you see how submerged or not it should be.
Lavishly live this traditional awesome recipe out loud and enjoy the Italian Feast any day of the week rather than just on Sundays.
The Instant Pot Meat Sauce and Pasta Recipe make a fabulous weekday addition and yummy leftovers for lunches. Cheers ~
Ingredients
- Meat Prep
- 2 Tbsp Of Minced Garlic
- 1 Tsp of Salt
- 3 Tbsp Of Olive Oil
- One Pound of Ground Beef
- Sauce Prep
- A 28 Oz Can of Tomato Puree or sauce
- Water 1 C
- Pasta
- 2 C of Water to cover pasta
- A Pound of Pasta
- 1/2 C Shredded or Grated Cheese optional
- HOW TO
Instructions
Meat Prep
- Place Instant Pot on Saute setting.
Drizzle Olive Oil, then minced garlic, then meat.
Brown the meat until it is no longer pink. (this takes under 5 minutes)
Sauce
- Add Sauce to meat mixture and an additional Cup of water.
Pasta
- Put Pasta into the mixture and add 2 cups of water.
- Mix the pasta in well and try to bring the meat up from the bottom to cover pasta a bit.
- Cover Instant PotSteam Release Should be Sealed
- Set to High Pressure for 7 Minutes
- (Manual)Quick Release when done cooking.
- add on optional Cheese
- Serve warm and refrigerate any leftovers.
