Instant Pot Short Rib Ragu

Instant Pot Short Rib Ragu. Beef ragu sauce that tastes like it simmered all day, thanks to pressure cooking for 45 minutes.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• How to make Instant Pot Short Rib Ragu
• Substitutions
• Equipment
• Scaling
• Storage
• Reheating frozen ragu sauce
• Tips and Tricks
• What to Serve with Instant Pot Short Rib Ragu
• Instant Pot Short Rib Ragu
• Related Posts
• 💬 Comments

This recipe is the simple, one-meat version of Instant Pot Ragu Tucci, my take on an all-day simmered Italian sauce made rich with bone-in short ribs. Of course, I'm not simmering all day; I've got pressure to speed it up. Pressure cooking gives me the flavors and tender, shredded meat of an all-day simmer in a fraction of the time.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 pounds beef short ribs, bone-in, cut into 2-inch lengths
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, sliced thin
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 3 ounces tomato paste (half a 6-ounce can, about ⅓ cup)
• ½ cup red wine
• 1 cup water (or chicken broth)
• 2 (28- to 35-ounce) cans San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes (or plum tomatoes), crushed by hand or pureed, with juices
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt (If using Italian tomatoes - American canned tomatoes have extra sodium and don't need more)
• 3 fresh basil leaves
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• Minced parsley for garnish (optional)
• Grated parmesan for garnish (optional)
  

How to make Instant Pot Short Rib Ragu

Sear the short ribs on one side

Sprinkle the short ribs with 1 teaspoon of salt. Heat the olive oil in an Instant Pot using Sauté mode, adjusted to high (medium-high heat for other pressure cookers) until the oil starts to shimmer, for about 3 minutes. Sear the meat in two batches. (Don't crowd the pot, or the meat will steam, not brown). Sear the first batch of beef ribs until browned, about 4 minutes. Move the browned ribs to a bowl, then add the remaining ribs to the pot, meaty side down. Sear the second batch of ribs until browned on the bottom, about 4 more minutes, and move them to the bowl with the other ribs.

Sauté the aromatics

Add the onion and garlic to the pot and sprinkle with ½ teaspoon of fine sea salt. Sauté until the onion softens, about 5 minutes, occasionally scraping the bottom of the pot with a flat-edged wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits of meat or onion.

Cook the tomato paste and deglaze with wine

Stir the tomato paste into the onions and cook, stirring and scraping often, until the paste darkens, about 3 minutes. Pour in the red wine, bring to a simmer, and simmer for 1 minute.

Everything in the pot

Stir in the cup of water, then scrape the bottom of the pot one last time with a flat-edged wooden spoon to ensure nothing sticks. Add the tomatoes, basil leaves, and dried oregano, then add the meat and any meat juices to the bowl.

Pressure Cook for 45 minutes with a Natural Release

Pressure cook on high pressure for 45 minutes in an Instant Pot or electric pressure cooker ("Manual" or "Pressure Cook" mode in an Instant Pot) or for 40 minutes in a stovetop pressure cooker. Let the pressure come down naturally. (If you are in a hurry, let the pressure come down for at least 15 minutes, then quick release any remaining pressure.)

Shredded meat into the sauce and serve

Gently lift the ribs out of the pot with tongs and/or a slotted spoon and set them on a platter. Pull the short rib meat from the bones, discarding the bones and any large pieces of fat or gristle. Stir the shredded short ribs back into the pot. Use about 4 cups of sauce from the pot to sauce a pound of pasta - preferably a firm tube-shaped pasta that will hold the sauce, like Rigatoni, Ziti, or Penne. Put the pasta in a bowl, spoon the 4 cups of sauce over the pasta, and toss to coat all the pasta with sauce. (Freeze the rest of the sauce for another meal.) Enjoy!

Substitutions

Other canned tomatoes: I use whole peeled tomatoes, preferably plum tomatoes. Do not use tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes; they will sink to the bottom of the pot and burn in the long cooking time. You can get away with diced tomatoes if that's all you have, but diced tomatoes are treated to hold their shape, and the sauce will not come out smooth.

San Marzano tomatoes: The best tomatoes for this recipe are San Marzano tomatoes, grown in the volcanic soil around Mount Vesuvius in Italy. Next best are San Marzano "style" tomatoes, which are the same breed of tomato, but not grown in San Marzano. But any canned, whole, peeled tomatoes will work in this recipe..

• Tomato paste: The tomato paste adds color and depth to the sauce, but you can skip it if you want. The sauce will be a little thinner but still good.
• Wine substitution: I use wine in this recipe because alcohol helps release the flavor of tomatoes. However, not all of the alcohol evaporates during cooking, so if you are strict about not having alcohol, substitute extra water (or chicken broth) for the wine.
• Short rib cuts: It doesn't matter if you get cross-cut short ribs or flanked cut short ribs; both work great in this recipe. I prefer bone-in ribs because the bones give up collagen into the sauce, giving it extra body. That said, you can use boneless short ribs if that's what you have.

Equipment

• 6-quart pressure cooker
• Flat-edged wooden spoon (for stirring and scraping the browned bits from the bottom of the pot)
• Slotted spoon (for scooping out the short ribs)
  

Scaling

This recipe doubles easily in an 8-quart pressure cooker. Cut all the ingredients in half, and it will fit in a 3-quart pressure cooker. The cooking time does not change; it takes the same time to slow cook the ragu regardless of the amount of ingredients.

Storage

This sauce is great for storing—in fact, the recipe as written makes enough sauce for two meals (if each meal is 1 pound of pasta). I freeze the leftover sauce in a 1 quart container, the perfect size to hold 1 pound of pasta. The frozen sauce will last for up to 6 months in the freezer.

Reheating frozen ragu sauce

I reheat the frozen sauce in the microwave until it is hot all the way through. In my 1000-watt microwave, I cook it for 5 minutes, stir it, and break up any frozen bits in the middle, then cook it for another 3 minutes so it is hot all the way through.

If you don't have a microwave, move the frozen block of sauce into a small sauce pot and cook, covered, over medium heat, stirring occasionally. It's ready when it has thawed, been heated through, and is steaming.

Tips and Tricks

Why crush the tomatoes by hand?

The tomatoes will be fall-apart tender thanks to the long cooking time, but they won't break apart on their own. I help them along by crushing them before I start cooking. If that's too messy, pour the tomatoes into the pot whole and pressure cook the ragu. Then, after you scoop out the short ribs, use the slotted spoon to scoop each whole tomato and crush it in the spoon with the back of another spoon. (The tomatoes will be ready to fall apart after cooking, and you won't have to push hard to crush them.)

Browning the short ribs

Browning the short ribs for this recipe is worth the extra time; the browned bits of meat add depth and flavor to the sauce. You can skip the browning step if you have to, but browning makes a better ragu.

What to Serve with Instant Pot Short Rib Ragu

This sauce is perfect for pasta. You can use whatever pasta you prefer, but my favorite is tube shapes (like penne or rigatoni) to catch the sauce and meat or wide noodles (like pappardelle or fettuccine). Or, you can serve it over a bed of polenta or mashed potatoes. I like to serve it with a green vegetable side dish, like Instant Pot Green Beans or broccolini, and a salad.

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