My favorite Instant Pot recipe (so far...)

or: how to make pasta bolognese in less than half an hour in one vessel without making a mess or heating up your kitchen...

I ragged on the Instant Pot for years. Why does everything have to be done so quickly? Can’t you just let something simmer? Who has the counter space?

But I recently caved and, I have to admit, I get the hype. It’s a cool and useful machine! Do I think everyone NEEDS one? Absolutely not. Do I think it’s handy? Absolutely. Do I feel like I’m many years behind on a trend? Sure. Do I care? No.

So far I’ve been doing lots of beans and some soups and many batches of chicken-and-rice for our dogs (lucky dogs). I’m excited for the weather to get cooler so I can get more into all of this cozy cooking. I’m ready for chili, lentil soup, braised lamb, and just everything that you can eat warm in a bowl with a spoon.

This past weekend, in a burst of enthusiasm for my new appliance, I taught my first Instant Pot cooking class. We had so much fun and covered so much information— feel free to check it out here if you’d like. We got over our fear of the pressure cooker exploding (it’s very safe!), we shared favorite cleaning techniques, we talked about all sorts of things we can pressure cook.

Fun fact: all of my Sunday classes are recorded + available for purchase in my on-demand video library— there are over 40 classes…!!!!

My favorite recipe from class, and my favorite I’ve made in my Instant Pot in general, is the easiest ever pasta bolognese. You brown some ground meat on the sauté setting, season it, add tomato sauce + boiling water, and a box of whole wheat pasta. Pressure cook for 5 minutes. Natural release for 5 minutes. Vent the steam, stir in some sour cream (adds creaminess + a little zing!), and that’s it.

You don’t have to boil a pot of water, drain pasta, use another pot to make sauce, spend lots of time simmering that sauce, nor do you have to scrub a splattered stove. The whole thing start to finish, including the time it takes for the pressure cooker to pressurize, takes less than half an hour!!! There’s one pot to wash and it can go in the dishwasher. Your kitchen doesn’t get steamy.

I shared this recipe with one of my closest friends who makes pasta with meat sauce for her kids all of the time and she said:

“This is amazing and a real game changer.”

If you want to see the recipe IN ACTION!!, you can watch this reel I made on Instagram last week because…I’m just really into this recipe. Can you tell??

Here is the recipe and below it I added tons of ideas on variations!!!

EASIEST EVER PASTA BOLOGNESE [SERVES 4]

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 pound lean ground meat (beef, turkey, chicken, pork, lamb, any sausage out of it casing, plant-based ground meat— whatever!)

• 2 teaspoons each garlic powder + dried oregano + kosher salt

• One 24-ounce jar tomato sauce (mine favorite is Rao's) or 3 cups of homemade tomato sauce

• 3 cups boiling water

• 1 pound whole wheat pasta (any short type like penne or ziti works great)

• 1/4 cup sour cream

• Grated parmesan or pecorino, for serving

Put your Instant Pot on 'sauté' and add the olive oil, ground meat, garlic powder, dried oregano, and salt. Cook, stirring to break up the meat, until the meat has just lost its rawness, about 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato sauce and boiling water (you can just use the empty jar as a measuring cup but be sure to use a towel or oven mitt to pick it up because it will be HOT!). Add the pasta and stir everything well to combine.

Securely attach the Instant Pot lid, make sure it's on 'seal,' and set it for 5 minutes on high pressure. After that is done, let it naturally release for 5 minutes. Then vent whatever steam/pressure remains and unlock the lid. Stir in the sour cream. Serve immediately with lots of grated cheese on top.

THOUGHTS + VARIATIONS:

MEAT:

• As I mention in the ingredient list, any type of ground meat works here…beef, turkey, chicken, pork, lamb, any sausage out of it casing, plant-based ground meat— whatever!

• Sausage out of its casing invites a lot of potential for flavor…I’m thinking spicy Italian sausage, or even fresh chorizo, or lamb merguez….

• Vegetarian or vegan? Try a plant-based ground meat (a few people in my class did this and I got a lot of thumbs up). You could also substitute cooked lentils or beans in place of the ground meat. Or just leave out the ground meat!!! If you’re vegan, just skip the sour cream (or use vegan sour cream).

• If you want to do lentils or beans instead of ground meat and want to cook them from dry in your IP, I would cook them first just in water or stock, then drain them and continue with the recipe as written. Here’s a great guide to lentils/beans/etc. in the IP.

VEGETABLES:

• Feel free to add some diced vegetables to the ground meat during the sauté part of cooking. I’m thinking diced onions, carrots, celery, fennel, squash, mushrooms, peppers, zucchini, a bag of frozen spinach…whatever! Clean out your fridge! Season vegetables with extra salt.

SEASONING (AND…CHEESE OPTIONS):

• Garlic powder, dried oregano + salt is one of my favorite combinations because it gives everything a pizza vibe. You can of course use fresh minced garlic instead of, or in addition to, the garlic powder.

• Make this spicy by adding a big pinch of dried red chile flakes to the meat along with the garlic powder + dried oregano (or more than a pinch, whatever you want).

• Have fun with the spices! If you’re doing lamb merguez, for example, maybe instead of the dried oregano, do a pinch each of ground coriander and ground cinnamon and serve the pasta sprinkled with feta instead of parmesan. Or if you’re doing ground chorizo, in addition the the dried oregano + garlic powder, add some ground cumin and serve with crumbled cotija.

MORE ON CHEESE OPTIONS:

• Grated Parm or pecorino is perfect here and doesn’t need to be messed with. But a scoop of ricotta is also great on top.

SAUCE + LIQUID:

• Use whatever type of tomato sauce you want— Rao’s is my fave. Or my homemade roasted tomato sauce!!!

• Boiling water will help your IP get to pressure faster since it’s already hot. If you’re water is not boiling, the recipe still works! It just will take a little longer.

• I’ve gotten questions about stock instead of water…sure, that’s fine. But I don’t think you need to do that!

• A splash of wine (red or white) on the ground meat after it’s browned would be lovely. Let it boil for a minute before continuing with the recipe.

PASTA TYPE:

• If you’re using regular pasta (not whole wheat), then do high pressure for 5 minutes as described, but then immediately do a quick release and vent the steam right when the timer goes off. Skip the 5 minute natural release (even faster!)

• I did try this with spaghetti and found that it cooked unevenly. Maybe you’ve had better luck? I think best to stick with short shapes like penne, rigatoni, ziti, fusilli, etc.

• I have not tried this recipe with gluten-free pasta, but some folks in class who are GF say it’s a bit of a disaster in the Instant Pot. Someone did recommend this article if it helps! If you’re GF, my sense is that it’s best to use your IP to make the sauce (follow the recipe as described, but skip the extra boiling water), and cook your favorite GF pasta separately and then combine the two. Or serve the sauce over rice or creamy polenta!!

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do. If you’re on team Instant Pot and you’re a paid subscriber, tell us about your favorite IP recipes in the comments!!! If you’re on the fence or a skeptic, I’d love to hear from you, too. xoxoox Julia

I won’t be teaching class this coming weekend, so my next Sunday class will be on Sunday October 23rd. It’s going to be a fun, Mexican-inspired dinner with pomegranate margaritas, the easiest guacamole (the best, IMHO), chicken tinga (which you can make…in an Instant Pot!!!), a fun slaw, and tres leches milkshakes. All of the info + signup is right here.