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Easy and quick homemade Pressure Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese, this delicious recipe is made all in one-pot, perfect for a busy weeknight!
I love cooking the bolognese sauce in my Dutch oven over the stove top, but it takes hours. So today, I’m sharing a quicker alternative and just as tasty, Pressure Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese (圧力鍋スパゲッティボロネーゼ) recipe with you.
Stovetop vs. Pressure Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese
Just to be clear, I am NOT saying that pressure cooker makes better Bolognese sauce. There’s just something magical about slow cooking, as if you are adding love to the food every time you stir. However, just because you don’t have time, you don’t have to give up on homemade bolognese sauce all together.
With a pressure cooker, you can save your time and effort, but achieve full depth of flavor equivalent to the slow-cooking sauce that’s been simmering on the stove top for hours.
And for busy moms who often struggle to put time in the kitchen, that’s a huge win!
3 Key Ingredients for Pressure Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese
1. Soffritto (in Italian, and Mirepoix in French)
What is soffritto? It’s a mixture of finely chopped onions, carrots, and celery (it really depends, but usually in 2 parts : 1 part : 1 part ratio) that are sautéed with olive oil or butter until tender and golden.
It’s an umami-rich magical flavor. It’s used as the flavor base for a wide variety of dishes including soups, stews, stocks, ragu, sauces, risotto, and more.
2. Beef & Pork
I use two types of meat for my bolognese sauce: beef and pork (both about 20% fat). They are both juicy, flavor-rich meat, but when the beef is used by itself, the texture of the meat sauce tends to be harder. Therefore, blending in the pork makes the sauce more tender.
You can use Italian sausages too, but I like my bolognese sauce with ground beef and pork as I grew up eating it this way.
3. Red or White Wine?
Both will work, but I use red wine because it’s a red meat dish. Plus, we can enjoy the rest of the wine with the meal after cooking.
The alcohol in the wine evaporates while the food is cooking, and the only flavor remains. The wine flavor adds complexity and a variety of tastes (acidity, sweetness, etc) to the dish that’s difficult to substitute.
Why Pressure Cooker Instead of Slow Cooker?
I usually use pressure cooking mode on my favorite Instant Pot (I’m not sponsored; I just love this gadget!) rather than slow cooking mode simply because I typically decide on dinner menus pretty last minute.
If you have an electric slow cooker, or slow cooking fits your lifestyle, you can definitely use this recipe as well.
To quickly explain, this Instant Pot is a 7-in-1 Multi-Functional Cooker. It can be a rice maker/porridge maker, steamer, sauté/browning, yogurt maker, and warmer. My mom used stove top pressure cookers at home growing up but they scare me a bit with the loud whistling noise. You also need to stay in the kitchen to control the heat. With the Instant Pot, you can just set and walk away!
A Little Tip for Pressure Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese
As the liquid stays in the pot during the cooking process, not much liquid is lost compared to the stove top. If there is too much liquid for your liking, turn the Instant Pot to “Saute” mode and evaporate some liquid.
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want to look for substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.
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- 1 carrot (90 g)
- 1 stalk celery (100 g)
- 1 onion (240 g)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 6 button mushrooms
- 8 oz ground beef chuck (228 g) (about 20% fat)
- 4 oz ground pork (113 g) (about 20% fat)
- 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 bay leaf
- ¼ cup red wine (60 ml)
- 1 28-oz can whole peeled or crushed tomato and juice (800 ml)
- ¼ cup vegetable or chicken broth (60 ml)
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tsp dried basil
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 tsp kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; Use half for table salt) (and more to taste)
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 ½ lb spaghetti (4 oz/113 g per person)
- 1 ½ Tbsp kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; Use half for table salt) (for boiling pasta)
- Parmigiano-Reggiano (Parmesan) cheese
- Parsley (I actually love using cilantro instead of parsley. Have you tried it? So good!)
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Cut carrot, celery, and onion into small, roughly equal-size chunks. If you don’t have a food processor, simply mince them by hand.
- Put the vegetables m in the food processor and pulse a few times until desired consistency is reached. If a few pieces are too large, do not continue with food processor to get them chopped as you will over-chop the rest. Just mince those remaining pieces by hand. Set aside.
- Mince the garlic. Brush off any dirt and debris from mushrooms and slice them. Alternatively, you can lightly rinse the mushrooms with cool water and pat dry with paper towels, but do not soak the mushrooms (they absorb water like sponge).
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Press the “Sauté” button on your Instant Pot and heat 2 Tbsp olive oil.
- Add minced garlic and 1 bay leaf and stir until fragrant.
- Add the minced vegetables and sauté until onion is tender.
- Add the meat and mix with the rest of ingredients in the pot.
-
Add ¼ cup (60 ml) red wine and stir, scraping the juicy bits stuck to the bottom and side of the pot and evaporate the alcohol completely, about 5-7 minutes.
- Add 1 28-oz (800 ml) whole tomatoes (crushed before adding) or crushed tomatoes and ½ cup (120 ml) vegetable broth.
-
Add sliced mushrooms, 2 tsp dried oregano, and 2 tsp dried basil on top.
- Cover and lock the lid on the pressure cooker. Make sure the steam release handle points at “sealing” and not “venting”. Press the “Keep Warm/Cancel” button on the Instant Pot to stop “sauté” mode. Press the “manual” button to switch to the pressure cooking mode. Press the “minus” button to change the cooking time to 20 minutes.
- If you’re using a stove-top pressure cooker, you won’t have any buttons to press. Just cook on high heat until high pressure is reached. Then reduce the heat to low but maintain high pressure for about 20 minutes.
- When it is finished cooking, the Instant Pot will switch automatically to the “Keep Warm” mode. You have 2 options to release the pressure: 1) slide the steam release handle to the "Venting" position to let out steam until the float valve drops down, OR 2) let the pressure release naturally, about 15-20 mins.
-
I usually start cooking pasta and let the pressure cooker de-pressurizing naturally. Boil a large pot of water (4-5 QT), add 2 Tbsp kosher salt, and boil your choice of pasta. Cook according to the package instruction and drain the pasta.
-
After de-pressurizing is completed, unlock the lid and add 1 Tbsp unsalted butter and freshly ground black pepper. Taste the spaghetti sauce, and if necessary, season with kosher salt (I added about 2 tsp here). If the sauce is too thin or “soupy”, turn on “Saute” mode and reduce the sauce to the consistency you like (I did not need to do that).
- Finely mince fresh parsley. Serve the spaghetti sauce over the pasta. Sprinkle chopped parsley and grated parmesan cheese. Enjoy!
- To freeze bolognese sauce (it's good for 1 month), I recommend packing the sauce in individual portions so you can enjoy later on. It's great emergency food if you're really behind on prepping a meal. Thaw in the fridge overnight and re-heat in a pot over very low heat on the stovetop to enjoy.
Cook Time includes time for pressurizing (15 minutes) and depressurize (15 minutes).
Equipment you will need:
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
How long can this sauce be stored in the freezer? Thank you Nami.
Hi Leony! It’s good for a month. Make sure it’s in air-tight container. 🙂
Looks delicious! Do you think it works also by changing the pressure cooking step to slow cooking for several hours (also in the IP), and keeping the rest the same? And more importantly, do you think it would actually taste better like that and be worth that extra time? I’m new to the whole slow cooking thing, so I’d be happy to hear your opinion! Thanks!
Hi Eran! Thank you. 🙂 Yes you can use slow cooker for this. The only big difference between pressure cooker/slow cooker VS. stovetop is the lack of evaporation. The flavor is better when the moisture is evaporated and the sauce is reduced, kind of like less watery, and strong flavor. IF I have the time for slow cooker AND I’m at home, I might prefer to do it on old fashion stovetop cooking. I don’t have the time so i use pressure cooker instead. So I haven’t had a chance to use slow cooker to make this particular recipe. It’s possible that after cooking for hours, the sauce is still loose (not evaporating), so you might need to reduce using “saute (low)” mode. I hope this helps… 🙂
Thanks for the detailed reply! I’ll probably try making it sometime soon!
if i don’t use tomato can, how many fresh tomato do I use?
Hi Wing! When making tomato base sauce/soup, fresh tomatoes are usually not recommended because it’s very watery, so you might notice that majority of recipes use canned tomatoes.
If you use fresh tomatoes, I recommend using tomato paste. 🙂
Typically in classic Bolognese, milk is added and allowed to be completely absorbed prior to adding the wine. This gives it a smoother, silkier texture. Also, a little nutmeg is added as well. How do you feel about this?
Hi John! Sure I put milk or heavy cream sometimes too. But I had never added nutmeg before. It sounds delicious. We put nutmeg in Japanese Hambagu (hamburger steak) that is made with ground beef and pork. I’ll definitely give that a try next time!
Hi Nami-san!
I just bought an IP too so really appreciate these recipes as my family is picky about standard pressure cooker fare.
I used my usual Japanese pudding recipe and steamed it in the IP for 12 mins on high pressure, it turned out perfectly and actually much smoother than when I steam in the oven.
I hope you will do an IP chawan-mushi recipe some day!
Hi Tamryn! Ohhh chawanmushi! Good idea. I probably need steamer basket for chawanmushi (flat one, since mine is collapsible and not flat). Thanks for the great idea! Have fun cooking in your IP! 🙂 xo
Nami san,
Is the flavor you get from Instant pot recipes the same as, not as good, or better than making in traditional pots? Thank you for your honest opinion! I am considering buying one, but am concerned about my past no so good results from slow cookers- mushy, not as tasty etc…
Arigato, Karen
Karen
Hi Karen! IF you have time to cook over traditional method (pots over stove), I would totally do that. But I can’t make the “same” meal in a short time without an instant pot (or any pressure cooker). Hence, I really enjoy using it. For example, the bone-in meat won’t become tender in about 30 minutes over stovetop, but we can do it thanks to pressure cooker. If you worry about “mushy” texture, I highly recommend adding the vegetables later – so you make meat first, then add in veggies to pressure cook. I don’t have the time to do 2 steps, so I cut vegetables bigger chunks (so it takes time to cook longer)… and that’s my shortcut. I hope this help? Basically I like simmering and reducing the sauce/soups in cooktop. The flavor become richer. It’s kind of hard to do that in pressure cooker, as steam doesn’t escape.
Hi Nami,
Do you have a substitute you could recommend for the red wine?
Thanks!
Hi Dora, white wine? If you don’t want to use alcohol, then you can skip and replace with vegetables/chicken stock. 🙂
I hope to be your follower. Tks.
Thank you Ann! Hope you subscribe to my blog and youtube channel! 🙂
Instant pot is a fantastic rice cooker. Rice releases from the pot the same as any I’ve used.
Thank you so much for sharing your valuable information with us, Bruce! I’ll have to try it one day. 🙂
What amperage? Does it need a dedicated circuit?
Can one bake bread in it?
Hi John! You can’t “bake” with it, but you can check the product details on their website here: http://instantpot.com/
I made this last night with a little more mushroom and a little less tomato. Wow! It was sooo good, especially considering how easy it wa to make. Thanks for yet another terrific instant pot recipe!
Hi Christine! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe and thank you for writing your kind feedback. 🙂
Just a quick tip if I may…
With ANY pasta dish (while the pasta is hot), add just a bit of your sauce and toss to combine. The hot pasta will absorb all that delicious flavor! Italians don’t overdue it on the sauce in general, but this is a must do!
Hi Justin! Thank you SO much for sharing your tip! I’ll do that from now on. 😀
Hi Ms. Nami. I tried it right away when I came across your recipe while searching how to cook sushi rice. It turned out so well that my sons and my daughter-in-law loved it. I used white wine which was already open. Thank you so much for making me a hero tonight. LOL!
Hi Ernesto! Awww! Your words are way too kind. I’m so happy that you got to enjoy your home cooked meal with your family. It’s the best feeling! Thank you for taking your time to write feedback here. xo
Hi Nami, I’ve seen other recipes where people have added the pasta on top of the meat before it starts pressure cooking. Can you tell me why you chose to cook the pasta separately on the stove? Thanks.
Hi Janny! A couple of reasons. Unless the noodles come out PERFECT al dente, I do not want to ruin my spaghetti… the texture is very important. I think American spaghetti tend to be over cooked in my opinion, and if people are used to that, maybe it doesn’t bother much.
I really love al dente pasta… 🙂
Also, when you cook pasta in water, you see that the water gets cloudy due to the gluten/flour coming from the pasta? I do not want to ruin my pasta sauce with that… especially if I want to keep the leftover sauce.
Some people think it’s convenient and easy, but I’m okay boiling water separately for the best eating experience. 😀
Hi,
If I don’t want to use canned tomatoes because of BPA exposure, how much fresh tomatoes can I use, and how should I skin them?
Thx!
Hi D! Hmmm… I checked online and I found that one 28-ounce can of tomatoes equals about 10 to 12 whole tomatoes, peeled (or about 2 pounds). Hope that helps!
Loved your recipe! Only thing I tweaked is that I added a little sugar to the end product while I boiled it to help reduce some of the liquid. Tastes great! Thank you for the recipe!
Also I used ground turkey!!! ????
Hi Lauren! Thank you so much for your kind feedback, and I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe!
I want to make the Spaghetti Bolognese recipe, but have an 8 qt IP maker. Your IP is 6 qt. How do I adjust your recipe for my 8qt IP? Thank you.
Hi Holly! You can still make this recipe in your 8 QT or you can change “Serving” number to 8 in the recipe card. 🙂
I have leftover tomato paste. Can that be used somehow?
Hi Connie! I use tomato paste in some recipes:
https://www.justonecookbook.com/?s=tomato+paste
Hi Nami,
This is the one recipe that introduced me to your site. I was making spaghetti for years using Ragu or Prego and my family eventually hated it. I was born in and still live in Hawaii and my mother is originally from Yokohama, Japan. When I was growing up, I spent some of my summers in Japan and I remember really enjoying the spaghetti there. It was certainly different from American spaghetti. I did a search for “Japanese” spaghetti when I came across this recipe. I made it and my entire family enjoyed it – even my very picky daughter. Ever since then I have been trying out some of your recipes. Most recently I made Pork Belly Kakuni – so delicious!
I have also been reading your blogs about Japan since we will be visiting there soon. I’m looking forward to visiting Kappabashi Kitchen Town!
Thank you so much for this site! I thoroughly enjoy it. I hope one day you will visit and do a blog on Hawaii.
Lena
Hi Lena! Thank you so much for your kind comment. And your mom is also from Yokohama too (instant connection!). I’m happy to hear you and your family like this recipe. I looove spaghetti bolognese growing up in Japan, so this is my favorite! Thanks for reading our travel posts. Hope they will inspire you to visit some of the places we covered. And big yes on Hawaii! Last time I visited Hawaii was when I was in high school… it was our first family oversea trip from Japan! I was surprised I could still use Japanese! 🙂 My kids really want to visit Hawaii, so it’s on our list to visit soon!
Nami-san,
Can you recommend a red wine to use? I don’t drink wine so I don’t know which one to buy.
Thank you.
Hi Karen! I have a good wine to recommend for someone who don’t drink. If you can find this small bottle of wine, it’s perfect!
https://www.justonecookbook.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Mini-wine-and-tomato-juice.jpg
Mr. JOC drinks wine, but I don’t like opening his wine without knowing which one is good etc, so I keep these small wine bottles for cooking. 🙂
Add whole milk just to cover the meat and simmer until most of it has evaporated (about 25min or less in a pressure cooker) before adding the wine and the rest of the ingredients. Given a rounded rich flavour to the ragu. A family favourite and easy to freeze for a quick meal when you have no time cook.
Hi Manoja! Thank you so much for your tip!!!
I have a stove top, slow cooked Bolognese sauce recipe that my family likes, but mention “Instant Pot” and I’m there! Can’t wait to try this, especially on busy nights! Thank you, Nami!
Hi Donna! Hope you enjoy the recipe! 🙂
This was a little bit of work, but it was so worth it. My son and I made this right after Thanksgiving (thinking … who wants to eat leftovers so soon?). It was the perfect dish. Thank you, Nami for giving me a reason to use my instant pot. Delicious.
Hi Noriko! I’m happy to hear that you and your son enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for your kind feedback! xoxo
What would you think about using a bit of balsamic vinegar in place of red wine? Would that give it a similar taste and effect? Using less of course.
Thanks!
Hi Katie! Hmm I’ve never used balsamic vinegar in place of the red wine. There is no “vinegar” necessary in the sauce, but a little bit of that won’t hurt I think! Or you can just skip the wine and add more broth. 🙂
Can I substitute red wine with cooking wine?
Hi Kimiko! Sure that should be okay… red wine is more appropriate flavor though… next time! 😀
Hello Nami! I’ve been making your bolognese for 2 years now, my kids love it! May I ask when do we add the butter in this recipe? I think I missed it. Thank you!
Hi Kathy! Thank you so much! So happy to hear you enjoy my recipe. Add the butter at Step 16. It’s just for flavoring, making it a richer taste. 🙂