Sausage Ragu in the Instant Pot is a quick and easy pasta sauce, thanks to pressure cooking. Sauté onion, celery, carrot, and garlic with some herbs, add the sausage and cook until it just loses its pink color. Add some broth and the tomatoes, pressure cook for 20 minutes, and you are ready to top some pasta.
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When I was a kid, spaghetti with meat sauce was part of my mom's regular rotation. We're not even slightly Italian, but that didn't matter to us kids-we loved it, especially with a cheap loaf of garlic bread.
Now, I'm cooking for my own kids, and spaghetti night is still a fan favorite. I love traditional Ragu Bolognese, long-simmered on a Sunday, but that's too much work for a Tuesday night after work. This Instant Pot Sausage Ragu is a quick weeknight recipe. I use my pressure cooker to bend time to my will and use Italian sausage for a quick and easy flavor boost. Is it as good as a sauce lovingly stirred by grandma all afternoon? No, of course not. But it's still made with love for my kids - just a little faster than Grandma used to make.
Looking for a simple Instant Pot tomato sauce for pasta? Try my pressure cooker tomato sauce.
Ingredients
Soffrito
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 celery rib, diced
- 1 large carrot, peeled and diced
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning spice blend
Everything Else
- ½ cup red wine (or water)
- 2 ½ pounds Italian sausage (bulk sausage or links with casings removed)
- 1 cup chicken broth, preferably homemade chicken broth, or water
- 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
How to make Instant Pot Sausage Ragu
Fry the soffrito
Heat the oil in an Instant Pot set to sauté mode - high (or use medium-high heat with a stovetop PC). When the oil shimmers, about 3 minutes, add the onion, celery, carrot, and garlic. Sprinkle with the crushed red pepper flakes, ½ teaspoons of salt, and dried Italian seasoning, then saute, stirring occasionally, until the onion softens, about 5 minutes.
Simmer the wine
Pour the wine into the pot and stir, scraping any stuck bits of onion loose from the bottom. Simmer the wine for 1 minute to boil off some of the alcohol.
Add the sausage, then everything in the pot
Stir the sausage into the pot and cook, stirring often and breaking up any clumps of sausage until it loses its pink color, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chicken broth and crushed tomatoes.
Pressure cook for 20 minutes
Lock the lid. Pressure cook on high pressure for 20 minutes in an Instant Pot or electric pressure cooker or for 16 minutes if using a stovetop PC. (Use Manual, Pressure Cook, or Pressure Cook-Custom mode in an Instant Pot, set to 20 minutes.) Let the pressure come down naturally, about 20 more minutes. (If you're in a hurry, quick release any remaining pressure after 15 minutes.)
Serve
Unlock the lid, opening it away from you. (The steam is still hot). Stir in the fresh ground black pepper. Serve over a pound of pasta.
Substitutions
What kind of Italian Sausage? Sweet or Hot?
It's up to you. I usually make it with hot Italian sausage, because my family likes to bring the heat. But it's also great with sweet Italian sausage, if you have sensitive eaters.
Dried Italian Seasoning?
If you can't find a dry Italian Seasoning blend in your spice aisle, use dried basil, dried oregano, or a mix of the two.
Fresh herbs?
Instead of the dried herbs, you can use 1 sprig of fresh basil, 1 sprig of fresh rosemary, and 2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme. Add them with the tomatoes, and remove the stems before serving.
Equipment
A 6-quart pressure cooker
A flat-edged wooden spoon
Scaling
This recipe doubles easily in a 6-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 amount of time to cook the sauce, no matter how much you have in the pot.
Storage
Pasta sauce freezes well; I will often make a double batch and freeze half of it in a 6-cup container. It will last for months in the freezer and makes an even quicker weeknight sauce - just microwave it until it is steaming hot.
Tips and Tricks
Using wine tomato sauce
Alcohol brings out tomato flavor-see any vodka tomato sauce for the ideal example. So, I like to use a little wine in my sauce because I think it adds to the flavor. You can skip it if you are trying to avoid alcohol.
Defat the sauce by resting overnight
If you want to cut back on the fat in the sauce, skim as much fat from the surface of the pot as possible before serving. Or, make the sauce the night before, and refrigerate. The fat will float to the top and form a solid fat cap that you can easily scrape off. Reheat the sauce, and it will be ready to serve.
Chicken broth (or water) to keep the tomatoes from burning
1 cup of chicken broth (or water) is the right amount to keep the tomatoes in this recipe from burning…or at least, it's enough in my Instant Pot. (Tomatoes love to sink to the bottom of the pot and burn.) If the sauce is scorching on the bottom of the Instant Pot (or you are getting a burn warning), add a second cup of chicken broth (or water) to the recipe, and don't stir the tomatoes in; just pour them on top of everything else in the pot.
Even easier version of Sausage Ragu
Is this recipe too complicated? Here it is stripped down to its most important ingredients. To cut this down to 6 ingredients (plus salt and pepper), use:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
- 2 ½ pounds Italian Sausage
- 1 ½ cups chicken broth
- 28oz can crushed tomatoes
Follow the instructions in the recipe: sauté the onion and Italian seasoning in the olive oil until the onion softens. Stir in the Italian Sausage and chicken broth, and cook until the sausage loses its pink color. Pour in the tomatoes and pressure cook for 20 minutes at high pressure. That's it!
What to Serve with Instant Pot Sausage Sauce
I love this sauce with pasta-it's great over spaghetti or a larger tube-shaped pasta like penne or rigatoni. I like to sprinkle it with some grated parmesan cheese. This sauce is also great on polenta. I like to serve it with a green vegetable (like my Instant Pot Kale with Garlic and Lemon or Instant Pot Green Beans, a salad, and a loaf of garlic bread.
Print
Instant Pot Sausage Ragu
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 servings 1x
Description
Sausage Ragu in the Instant Pot is a quick and easy pasta sauce, thanks to pressure cooking.
Ingredients
Soffrito
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 celery rib, diced
- 1 large carrot, peeled and diced
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning spice blend
Everything Else
- ½ cup red wine (or water)
- 2 ½ pounds Italian sausage (bulk sausage or links with casings removed)
- 1 cup chicken broth, preferably homemade chicken broth, or water
- 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
Instructions
- Fry the soffrito: Heat the oil in an Instant Pot set to sauté mode - high (or use medium-high heat with a stovetop PC). When the oil shimmers, about 3 minutes, add the onion, celery, carrot, and garlic. Sprinkle with the crushed red pepper flakes, ½ teaspoons of salt, and dried Italian seasoning, then saute, stirring occasionally, until the onion softens, about 5 minutes.
- Simmer the wine: Pour the wine into the pot and stir, scraping any stuck bits of onion loose from the bottom. Simmer the wine for 1 minute to boil off some of the alcohol.
- Add the sausage, then everything in the pot: Stir the sausage into the pot and cook, stirring often and breaking up any clumps of sausage until it loses its pink color, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chicken broth and crushed tomatoes.
- Pressure cook for 20 minutes with a Natural Release: Lock the lid. Pressure cook on high pressure for 20 minutes in an Instant Pot or electric pressure cooker or for 16 minutes if using a stovetop PC. (Use Manual, Pressure Cook, or Pressure Cook-Custom mode in an Instant Pot, set to 20 minutes.) Let the pressure come down naturally, about 20 more minutes. (If you're in a hurry, quick release any remaining pressure after 15 minutes.)
- Serve: Unlock the lid, opening it away from you. (The steam is still hot). Stir in the fresh ground black pepper. Serve over a pound of pasta.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: weeknight dinner
- Method: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: Italian
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Nutrition
- Serving Size: Sauce for 1 cup of pasta
- Calories: 574
- Sugar: 6.8 g
- Sodium: 1467 mg
- Fat: 46.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 13.8 g
- Protein: 22.9 g
- Cholesterol: 108.3 mg
Related Posts
Want a some Pasta Fazool from your Instant Pot? Try my Pressure Cooker Pasta and Bean Soup (Pasta e Fagioli) recipe.
My Pressure Cooker Chicken Broth and Shredded Chicken is a great way to make multiple meals from one whole chicken.
If you're looking for an Eastern European stew, try my How to Make Instant Pot Goulash.
Rolled Instant Pot Braciole in Sauce is a fancy Italian dinner with extra sauce to top some pasta.
If you want the fancy, real-deal version of this recipe, try my Instant Pot Short Rib Ragu.
Or, for a lighter Italian soup, here's my Instant Pot Tortellini Soup recipe.
If you want a tray of baked pasta, check out my Instant Pot Baked Ziti recipe.
For other ideas, check my Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes index
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Mike says
This was excellent. I made a half recipe, cutting everything in half and even cut the chicken broth down to 1/4 cup (based upon the previous comment) and had no issues with the tomatoes scorching or coming up to pressure. Seemed to be the perfect consistency.
popylady says
Mine ended up way too watery. How do I fix that issue?
Mike V says
Cut back to 1/2 cup of chicken broth, and simmer after removing the lid for a few minutes to thicken it up.
Aaron Friedman says
A tablespoon of gelatin would help too.
Jane says
This was excellent. I made mine with some hot Italian sausage (I had two in my fridge) and the rest of the meat ratio in ground beef. It tasted like bolognese cooked in the oven!
Chris L says
Looks tasty! If you decide to tweak the recipe in the future, I'm curious if you can get similar results with dried herbs. Basil, rosemary, and thyme in my area are rarely sold in individual sprigs and end up costing several bucks a piece getting the bulk packs (most of which goes bad before the next use).
Mike V says
Substitute 1 teaspoon of Italian herb mix for the fresh herbs - add it to the soffrito with the red pepper flakes. (Or, do what I do – get the “poultry mix” of fresh herbs, which has rosemary and thyme sprigs, plus oregano and sage, all in one box. Then I skip the basil if it isn’t summer, when I have a basil plant in a pot on my deck.)