Instant Pot Italian Meat Sauce
This Instant Pot Italian Meat Sauce is a staple in our home. I love to find healthy versatile recipes that I can make little tweaks to so that everyone in our family really enjoys it!
Who doesn’t love a big plate of pasta? Pasta was always a staple in my diet before I started my life changing journey to weight loss and clean eating. I have learned portioning pasta is key! I try to limit my pasta intake now but I will gladly have a plate of zucchini noodles with this Italian Meat Sauce on top!
I like to make chickpea or brown rice pasta for my husband and kids while I enjoy my sauce over zucchini or yellow squash noodles. I love my zoodles raw, the heat from the sauce cooks them down a little bit until they’re just perfect. Others prefer to give them a little sauté first. Your choice. Because I’m a sneaky mom I’ll chop up some of the zucchini and squash and hide it in their pasta sauce, they’re none the wiser and get an extra serving of vegetables! Creativity is key when it comes to parenting, right?
In case you’re new to the Zoodle craze, zucchini noodles are absolutely delicious. They allow you to indulge in a favorite recipe without all of that guilt the next day. I will admit I was hesitant at first when my husband bought me a spiralizer. I quickly found this gadget was going to be my saving grace while I lost 125 pounds. These have become my indulgence that I cave into more than I’d like to admit.
If zucchini or yellow squash noodles aren’t up your thing it’s okay! This Grain Free Vegan Pasta recipe won’t disappoint.
This will soon be a staple in your weekly meal planning. I hope your family enjoys this dish just as much as ours does!
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Instant Pot Italian Meat Sauce
Print RecipeIngredients
- 1/2 large purple onion diced
- 1-1.5 pounds ground beef
- 1 teaspoon garlic minced
- 2 15 ounce cans tomato sauce
- 1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1/2 tablespoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1-2 cups fresh basil chopped (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat your pressure using the SAUTE function on the display panel.
- When the display reads HOT, add the diced purple onion and dry sauté to your pressure cooker until they become translucent.
- Add the minced garlic and mix with the sauteed purple onion.
- Add the ground beef to the garlic and onion mix in your pressure cooker. Crumble the ground beef and let it brown.
- Once the meat has browned remove any excess grease from the pot.
- Add the tomato sauce, oregano, dried basil, crushed red pepper flakes, garlic powder, and sea salt to the ground beef mixture in your pressure cooker. Let simmer for 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally so that the sauce does not burn to the bottom of the pot.
- Press the CANCEL/KEEP WARM button and let the meat sit on the keep warm setting for 10 minutes.
- Scoop and serve over zucchini noodles, yellow squash, chickpea pasta or your favorite noodles. Sprinkle with fresh basil.
I made this tonight and it was fantastic!! It will definitely get a repeat. I had zoodles – yum! – and the fam had regular pasta (they are over it with the “fake” pasta and since I don’t eat it anyway…not gonna fight that battle anymore). My youngest teen, who refuses to try sauce on his pasta, did try it tonight at my urging. He went back for more and declared under his breath that “I guess tastes can change”. Win! Thanks Brittany!!
Greetings Brittany! I have a quick question that I didn’t see addressed elsewhere. What size Instant Pot are your recipes geared towards? I have the 3 QT, and just need to know what to scale most of these recipes back by so that they’ll fit in mine! 🙂 Or if this was covered somewhere, if you can just point me in that direction, I would appreciate it! Thank you!
The tip about leaving zoodles raw is a game changer! I always cooked them (I guess I just thought you had to??) and they always turned out mushy and slimy and released too much liquid into the meat sauce. This recipe turned out great. Thanks!
I am looking for this tip and can’t find it. Leave them raw and serve sauce on top?
Yes 🙂
Have you ever canned your spaghetti sauce?