Beef and sausage tomato sauce cooked with rigatoni pasta in an Instant Pot or other pressure cooker. Because this Instant Pot Inauthentic Pasta Bolognese is cooked in one pot, there’s less mess, less time and work involved, but no less flavor!
Weeknight Dinners
I have a fabulous work schedule that gets me home in time to prepare dinner most nights of the week. But, there are two nights a week that I get home at or past dinner time. For those two dinners, I either prepare the meal the night before, or in the morning.
My favorite weeknight dinners involve either my slow cooker or Instant Pot. I assume that many other people are in the same boat, and enjoy slow cooker and Instant Pot dinners – so I’ve been working on some new recipes that fall into one or both categories!
Instant Pot Inauthentic Pasta Bolognese
Why is this called inauthentic?
Well, I am not Italian, and this is my own version of Bolognese that has nothing to do with anything other than my family’s taste preferences.
After some research I realize there is quite a debate as to what makes Bolognese ‘authentic’. Some argue it needs milk, others say it has to do with the preparation of the meat, and others say it’s more about how thick the sauce is.
I certainly don’t know know what makes a recipe authentic, but I assure that this one is not. But it tastes pretty great.
What type of pasta is best?
For this recipe, I prefer rigatoni. I actually almost named this recipe ‘meat sauce and rigatoni.”
I experimented with both ziti and penne, and found that the sauce sticks to rigatoni the best, and gives a great ratio of pasta to sauce with each bite. However, if you have either ziti or penne around, they will both work well.
How do you keep the tomato sauce from making the Instant Pot burn?
This is important. The tomato sauce goes on top of the noodles and meat! Do NOT mix everything together until after it has cooked because there is a great chance that if you do, the sauce will keep burning and sticking to the bottom of the pot.
Using this method, I made this recipe 5 or 6 times, and never had a ‘burn’ notice.
Ingredient Notes
Meats:
The combination of ground beef and ground Italian sausage gives the sauce a great flavor!
Spice Level:
If you prefer a little kick with the sauce, use the red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper.
If you prefer a tiny kick, leave out the red pepper flakes.
If you want no hint of any heat, leave out both.
Salt:
Salt is my absolute least favorite ingredient to list in a recipe because:
1) Many brands of other ingredients I list to include in a dish have different salt levels, which can ultimately lead to different amounts of salt in the final dish, before any salt itself is added.
2) We all have different preferences of salt levels.
So, my advice: Add a little at a time, taste, and add more if/as needed!
This Instant Pot Inauthentic Pasta Bolognese couldn’t be easier to make. Cooking the sauce and noodles together leads to less mess and less time on preparation, but no less flavor!
Instant Pot Inauthentic Pasta Bolognese
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/2 pound ground Italian sausage
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt divided
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 large onion diced
- 6 cloves fresh minced garlic
- 1/2 cup dry red wine
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1 cup water
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- pinch cayenne pepper
- 16 ounces uncooked rigatoni pasta
- 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes drained
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in Instant Pot on saute mode. Add ground beef and ground sausage, seasoned with 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Saute until cooked through. Remove meat from pot, but leave liquid from meats in pot.
- Add onion and cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Then add garlic and saute for 30-60 seconds.
- Pour wine in pot. Use spatula to scrape up any burnt bits of food from the bottom of the pot. Continue cooking until smell of alcohol is gone, about 1 minute.
- Turn Instant Pot off. Return meats to pot and stir in 1 teaspoon of salt, beef broth, water, Italian seasoning, thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, basil, red pepper flakes, cayenne and rigatoni.
- Pour crushed tomatoes and diced tomatoes on top of pot (do NOT stir in tomatoes). Cook on high pressure for 6 minutes. Use quick release once finished cooking.
- Stir well. Taste and add additional salt or pepper as desired. Serve topped with mozzarella cheese.
Nutrition
Disclaimer: All nutritional information provided on this website is an estimate only and is not guaranteed.
If you enjoyed this Instant Pot Inauthentic Pasta Bolognese, you may also enjoy these other SugarSpicesLife recipes:
Instant Pot Coconut Curry Chicken
Instant Pot Spaghetti
Instant Pot Cranberry Pork Tenderloin
Instant Pot French Dip Sandwiches
Instant Pot Chicken and Buttermilk Dumplings
