Rich and hearty, this Bolognese Sauce recipe made in the Instant Pot brings the flavors of an all-day simmer to your table in less than half the time. Serve Bolognese over pasta, or layer with Béchamel in lasagna.
Being of half Italian heritage, I’ve been making (and eating) Bolognese sauce for as long as I can remember. Whether it’s a classic, meaty recipe, or a lighter mushroom variation, Bolognese is a stick-to-your-ribs type of sauce that warms and comforts.
To be honest, I can be picky about dishes like Bolognese, and I was skeptical about making it in the Instant Pot.
I wondered if I’d be able to come anywhere near close to the flavor (or aroma) that you get when you simmer a sauce slowly on the stove.
With a few tweaks to my family’s recipe, the sauce that emerged from the Instant Pot pleasantly surprised me. While I know that Bolognese sauce made with pressure cooking won’t always replace a slow simmer in my kitchen, the Instant Pot sauce was rich and full-flavored, and ready in a fraction of the time.
Delicious Bolognese sauce in about an hour and a half? Don’t mind if I do!
What is Bolognese Sauce?
Bolognese (or Ragu alla Bolognese) is, traditionally, a slow-cooked meat sauce. Its origins are believed to be traced to the area of Bologna, Italy in the 1700s.
I couch that statement with “believed,” because Bolognese sauce, its history, and what belongs in an “authentic” recipe are all topics that have been subject to debate and interpretation.
Interesting Read: Why You Won’t Find Spaghetti Bolognese in Italy
While individual ingredients vary across Bolognese recipes, the common thread between them is that the meat is the star of the show. Ragu Bolognese is not a thin, delicate sauce. It’s hearty, meaty, and only moderately “saucy”.
What are the Ingredients for a Bolognese Sauce?
Bolognese is most often made with minced and sautéed ground beef, pork, and pancetta (cured, unsmoked pork belly). Some recipes add veal, and less commonly, offal.
Most Bolognese recipes, including my family’s, start with a soffritto of carrots, celery, and onions (with or without garlic), cooked in olive oil.
Many go light on the tomatoes, some only calling for a bit of tomato paste added to the browned meat. We’ve always made our Bolognese sauce with our favorite San Marzano tomatoes.
A touch of dairy is added to almost all Bolognese, either by way of milk or cream. To be clear, though, this is not a creamy, dairy-heavy sauce. The splash of dairy serves to soften the acidity of the wine and tomatoes.
Adapting Our Bolognese Sauce Recipe For the Instant Pot
The most obvious difference in preparation of classic stovetop Ragu Bolognese and one made in the Instant Pot is a drastically shortened cook time.
After sautéing the soffritto and meats, classic Bolognese is simmered for 3-4 hours. Using the pressure cooker setting on the Instant Pot after the sauté, the sauce cooks for only 20 minutes on high pressure. This shortened cook time also necessitates a smaller overall quantity of liquid in the recipe.
In adapting my family’s Bolognese sauce recipe for pressure cooking, I made a few ingredient adjustments to make sure that the sauce would still have a rich flavor without a slow simmer.
White wine is most commonly used to deglaze the pan after browning the vegetables and meats. Here, I decided to go with a dry red wine to give the sauce an extra depth of flavor that pressure cooked foods can sometimes lack.
I also added a bit of tomato paste in addition to the San Marzano tomatoes. I don’t find that I need the rich flavor of tomato paste with a classic preparation, as the crushed tomatoes concentrate so beautifully on their own over 3 hours.
To make the best bolognese recipe in the Instant pot, the deep tomato flavor of the paste helped to give the sauce that all-day-cooked taste.
How to Use Bolognese Sauce
Since it’s a hearty sauce, Bolognese is best served with a pasta that can stand up to its weight. Tagliatelle (pictured) is the classic pairing, as are wide pappardelle noodles.
I’ve also served Ragu Bolognese with penne, campanelle, bucatini, and gnocchi. Very thin pastas, like angel hair, aren’t the best choice here.
Want to brush up on your pasta shapes? Check out this Pasta Shapes Dictionary from the National Pasta Association.
You can also use this sauce to make an incredible Lasagna Bolognese. Typically prepared without ricotta cheese, the dish is composed of layers of pasta, Bolognese, and creamy Béchamel. It is, hands down, my favorite type of lasagna.
Watching your carbs? This Bolognese sauce recipe is also delicious served with spaghetti squash.
Bolognese Sauce Recipe (Instant Pot)
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1-1/2 cups diced yellow onion
- 1/2 cup diced carrots
- 1/2 cup diced celery
- 1 pound ground beef chuck
- 1/2 pound ground pork
- 4 ounces diced pancetta
- 2 cloves garlic , minced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/2 cup dry red wine
- 28 ounces crushed San Marzano tomatoes , in purée
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup Italian parsley , divided
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- pinch ground nutmeg (to taste, optional)
- kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper
- cooked tagliatelle, pappardelle, or your favorite pasta , for serving
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in the Instant Pot insert on the hottest sauté setting. Add onions, carrots, and celery, and cook until softened and lightly browned, about 8-10 minutes.
- Add ground beef, pork, and pancetta to the Instant Pot with 1 teaspoon kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper. Sauté, breaking up meats with a spoon, until browned and most of the juices have evaporated.
- Add garlic and tomato paste to the Instant Pot, and cook for 1 minute, until fragrant. Deglaze the insert with red wine, scraping up any brown bits from the bottom. Simmer for 2-3 minutes, until most of the wine has evaporated.
- Stir in crushed tomatoes in purée, water, and 1/4 cup chopped parsley. Bring to a simmer. Place lid on Instant pot, seal, and set the unit to HIGH pressure for 20 minutes.
- Quick release pressure and carefully lift lid when the float drops. Switch the Instant Pot to the lowest heat sauté setting and bring to a bubble. Simmer, uncovered, for 5-10 minutes, stirring often, until the sauce is thickened to your desired consistency.
- Stir in heavy cream, remaining 1/4 cup chopped parsley, and ground nutmeg (if using). Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Toss with cooked pasta, adding a splash of pasta water to help the sauce coat, and serve with freshly-grated Parmigiano Reggiano on the top.
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
About our recipes
Please note that our recipes have been developed using the US Customary measurement system and have not been tested for high altitude/elevation cooking and baking.
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I’ve made this sauce a couple of times and it was a MAJOR hit with the family. It’s super simple and easy but PACKED with flavor, the kinda flavor where you think its been on the stove for eight hours. I use 85% lean ground beef from Costco, MEOMI pinot noir and San Manzano tomato puree. My husband is not a fan of ground pork so I used all beef but kept the pancetta. This is a fool proof recipe. Crowd pleaser.
This is absolutely amazing! I like to double the recipe and freeze some for times of need or when having guests.
Just made this recipe and I’m really pleased with the results. The flavor is bright and it was the recipe simple and easy to follow.
I am so ready to make this recipe. However, I need to ask what type of wine. I don’t mean a brand, but, as a non drinker, I have no idea what a dry wine is. I see merlot, pino, shiraz… I want to do this right, so can I please get your help in steering me in the right direction? Thanks!
This recipe was fantastic. My husband is super picky when it come to Bolognese sauce and he LOVED this. It was so simple and not messy at all to make. Very delicious.
I never comment on blogs but came here to say this is THE BEST RECIPE ever. So delicious and not difficult. It pleased my dad and my husband, who are both super critical. Thank you :)
For the first time, using your directions, I was able to make a real bolognese in my Instant Pot that didn’t turn out thin and watery. Unfortunately, I don’t have the deluxe model, so I couldn’t simmer on low using the sauté function. However, by stirring constantly for about five minutes and adding a little more tomato paste at the end, this came out perfectly. I used only good ground beef, no pork, and did not add cream. I also added thyme and oregano from my garden.
This is my second time making this. This recipe has become my go-to IP bolognese recipe! It is easy (dare I say fool-proof? ), delicious, and takes almost no time to whip up. I used to make Marcela Hazan’s (justifiably) famous Bolognese from the New York Times. It’s not hard to make, but it takes half a day and requires you to keep an eye on it to add water when necessary. This recipe is comparable in taste and takes a fraction of the time and effort! TRY IT! I probably won’t be going back.
Absolutely delicious! The best bolognese ever! Thank you so much for this recipe, this will be staple in our home for years to come!
I love it when a recipe tastes just like you hoped it would. I followed the recipe exactly and don’t believe I would add any tweaks to it. Perfect as is.
This was really really good! I have had issues in the past with my instant pot showing a burn error message, so I added a bit more water, which I later simmered off. I like basil, so I put that in at the end with the remaining parsley. It was so yummy! Thanks for a great recipe!
This recipe was amazing! I almost didn’t buy the pancetta as I wasn’t sure where in the store it could be found; but I decided I would stick the recipe (i found it in the gourmet cheese area).
Thank you so much for sharing this. My whole family loved it just as it was. The pronounced it a solid ‘do over’ which is always the true story on recipes!
This was by far the best bolognese I have ever had. I grew in an Italian home with food like no other. This is absolutely fantastic! I will make this over and over and over again. I can’t say enough about the unbelievable flavor. I never rate recipes a 5 star but this earned the rating.. Family and I Loved it!
Delicious! I found 4 recipes on the internet for Bolognese sauce with a plan to cook them all to find the best. Yours was the second I tried and I think I found the winner. Soooo good.
Delicious! Best sauce I’ve ever made, thank you for making me look good!
Simply amazing recipe! Whole family loved it. Question: is the amount of onions “1 and a half cups” or 1/2 a cup? Thank you
Hi Ivan, we’re glad you enjoyed the recipe! The amount of onions is one and a half cups.
This was delicious oh my goodness! Couple little things I did differently because I worked with what I had, in case anyone is reading the comments for suggestions like that! I used 1.4 lb of ground veal, pork, and beef mix. Subbed beef broth for the water that’s added. I only had dried parsley, so around 2.5 tablespoons went in. And at the end I added mascarpone cheese instead of heavy cream since I had some floating around in my fridge getting in my way. So delicious and easy, I will be making this one many more times! :)
This was fantastic and my first attempt at any bolognese! Followed your recipe strictly (even though I typically meddle with all recipes) for this first run. Actually, I let the Instant Pot decompress naturally over 20 minutes. Can’t wait to make it again!
Can this be simply doubled? Maybe a little more time at High Pressure?
Hi Mark,
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I haven’t tested doubling it, but you should be able to as long as you don’t go past the 2/3 fill mark. It shouldn’t need extra time added to the pressure cooking time, since it’ll take longer to come up to pressure. (Though you might want to brown the larger quantity of meat in a skillet on the stove instead of with the insert/sauté setting.) The next time I make it, I’ll test doubling in both the 6 quart and 8 quart models and make a note of times.
Happy Cooking!
I want to double it the next time too! Thanks for the information. Having this in the freezer will be awesome.
Excellent sauce. I followed it to the tee except I used 1/2 cup beef broth. The sauce was so rich and thick. Served over rigatoni.
I am wondering about your comment about not finding Bolognese in Italy. I had the absolute best Spaghetti Bolognese of my (long) life. I have searched for a recipe to magically transport me back to that very small restaurant in Florence. I suspect that your family recipe would be very similar. Thank you for posting it!
Hi Marvin,
I don’t believe I said there isn’t Bolognese Sauce in Italy. (Though, I did link to an article for further reading with a title that suggests Spaghetti Bolognese isn’t authentically served there.) It is true that “Spaghetti Bolognese” as we know it doesn’t exist in Bolognese cuisine. (Actually, the mayor of Bologna famously called the attribution of the dish to his region “fake news.”) Italy has many meat sauce traditions, called “ragu.” In Bologna (and most of Italy), these sauces aren’t
served with spaghetti (usually a heartier pasta, like tagliatelle). If you find “Spaghetti Bolognese” on a menu in Italy, it’s usually to create a ragu-based dish that will be identifiable to tourists. Delicious, I’m sure! But not authentically “Bolognese.”
Regardless of the semantics, enjoy making Bolognese sauce at home!
This was SO GOOD. Made this in a stovetop pressure cooker with fresh tomatoes and doubled the tomato paste to make up for bland U.S. tomatoes. Great recipe!