Meat, Pasts, Rice & Grains
Instant Pot® Meat Sauce

    Meat

  • 2 1/2-pound "patties" frozen lean ground pork
  • 2 1/2-pound "patties" frozen lean hot Italian sausage
    • Or any combination of those meats or ground beef, frozen in 1/2-pound "patties"

    Tomatoes

  • 6 cups diced fresh tomatoes (4 large tomatoes)
  • 1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, with juices

    The Rest

  • 2 large onions, chopped
  • 1/2 cup prepared minced garlic
  • 1 6-ounce can tomato paste
  • 1/2 cup ketchup
  • 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons dried basil
  • 1 tablespoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian flat leaf parsley (for garnish)
  • Grated hard cheese (Parmesan, Romano, Asiago, etc., for garnish)
  • 1 pound pasta of your choice

Heat 1 tablespoon canola or other high smoke-point fat on the sauté setting, and brown the meat "patties" for 2 minutes on each side. Remove to a plate.

Add a bit more oil, and sauté the onions until they just start to turn translucent. Add the garlic until fragrant. Add the meat and the rest of the ingredients (except the parsley and cheese), and pressure cook on high for 30 minutes, with "keep warm" turned off. Let it depressurize naturally (mine took about 30 minutes). Stir to break up any meat that hasn't broken up.

Set the Instant Pot® to "slow cook" until you’re ready to cook the pasta.

When you're ready to cook the pasta, pour the sauce into another container. Without rinsing the insert, fill it to the "max" line with hot water, and heat on "sauté" setting until it boils. Cook the pasta to your liking, drain, put it in heated bowls, top with as much of the sauce as you want, and serve it with the parsley and grated cheese.

Notes

This recipe is an improvisation that’s become a go-to for the two or three times a month I make pasta. It’s all done in the Instant Pot®, and the meat is done directly from the freezer. Further, cooking the pasta after the sauce is done "cleans" the inside of the pot and gets all that flavor goodness into the pasta. This recipe fills the 8-quart pot to the max line, so you’ll have to cut it back for smaller pots.

I grind my own pork and make my own hot Italian sausage, but you can certainly buy one or both and freeze them in the 1/2-pound "patties" that I make when I make a batch.