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This Instant Pot Spaghetti Sauce recipe uses simple ingredients and fresh or canned tomatoes to create a rich and hearty pasta sauce that tastes like it has been simmered all day, yet is ready in under an hour.
Instant Pot Spaghetti Sauce That Tastes Like It Simmered All Day
This recipe for Instant Pot Spaghetti Sauce was inspired by my mom's crockpot spaghetti sauce, which is known for its rich depth of flavor.
And while that recipe is near and dear to my heart, the Instant Pot speeds up the process to deliver spaghetti sauce that is rich, nuanced, and simply delicious! While easy enough for any night of the week, Instant Pot Spaghetti Sauce is guaranteed to level up the flavor of any pasta dinner.
Happy Cooking! xo Kristen
Notes on Ingredients
You will find the full list of ingredients, along with quantities in the recipe card. Below is a quick glance at what you need and tips to help you make the right selection.
- Tomatoes: Use a combination tomato paste for a rich, concentrated tomato flavor with crushed tomatoes, tomato puree, passata, or fresh tomatoes that have been peeled and seeded.
- Stock/Broth: Vegetable broth, chicken stock, or beef broth all work. Use what you have on hand.
- Dry Red Wine: Optional, but encouraged for deep rich flavor. Select a dry red wine that is suitable for drinking, such as a Malbec, Cabernet, or Merlot. Never use cooking wine which is overly sweet and metallic in flavor.
- Yellow Onion: For flavor, but feel free to speed it up/make it more kid-friendly, by omitting the fresh onion and replacing it 1 teaspoon of onion powder.
- Garlic: Go for peeled garlic cloves over minced garlic, for a sweet, mellow flavor.
- For Balance: A bit of butter and honey (or sugar) will help to balance out the acidity of the tomatoes.
Ingredient Tip
If using canned tomatoes, I personally recommend San Marzano tomatoes. A bit pricier, but the flavor and texture make them (and your spaghetti sauce) superior!
How to Make Instant Pot Spaghetti Sauce
If you are unfamiliar with cooking in an Instant Pot or the functions of your Instant Pot, be sure to start with my guide for using an Instant Pot for the best results on this and future recipes. You will find the full recipe in detail in the recipe card below.
- Saute Onion. Use the saute function to briefly saute a minced yellow onion in a bit of olive oil until softened.
want to add Meat?
Add up to 1 pound of ground beef, ground turkey, or Italian sausage along with the onion and saute until the meat is cooked through. Drain off any excess grease if needed and proceed with the recipe as directed. Or follow my Instant Pot Bolognese recipe for a really rich meat sauce!
- Delglaze the Inner Pot. With the Instant Pot still on the saute function, add in the dry wine (or additional broth) and scrape up any browned bits from the inner pot. Let it simmer for a couple minutes, to let the wine reduce slightly.
- Layer with care. Add the broth, dried seasonings, and garlic and give everything a good stir. Then add the crushed tomatoes and dollop the tomato paste on top of the crushed tomatoes. Finally top with butter and honey. DO NOT STIR! This will prevent a burn notice from occurring.
No Burn Notice
Tomato sauce + Instant Pot CAN equal a burn notice. Prevent that by adding broth to the sauce and NOT stirring the tomatoes into the sauce until after pressure cooking. I can't stress this enough!
- Pressure Cook with Natural Pressure Release. Don't try to speed this recipe up by doing a quick release of pressure. You will be left with hot liquid spewing out of your vent knob! It is best to allow for at least 10-15 minutes to pass after the cooking time is complete before releasing pressure.
- Stir and Discard. Once pressure has been released, remove the lid. Give the sauce a stir to fully incorporate the ingredients together, removing the bay leaves and cloves of garlic as you come across them.
Serving Suggestions
Instant Pot Spaghetti sauce is obviously delicious served over spaghetti noodles topped with parmesan cheese (along with some homemade meatballs). Add a side of homemade garlic toast and a Copycat Olive Garden Salad, and you have a simple, yet amazing meal! Of course, feel free to use this sauce in any recipe calling for spaghetti sauce. Below are some of my favorites:
Recipe FAQs
As written, no, I don't recommend it. Lemon juice would need to be added before proceeding with pressure canning. Here are detailed instructions for pressure canning homemade tomato sauce.
If you scraped the bottom of the inner pot after sauteeing the onion and layered the ingredients as directed, this is unlikely to occur. But if you still get a burn notice, don't panic! Some models are super sensitive and will throw this notice, but then continue to cook and all turns out perfectly!
If you want to double this recipe, I would only do so in an 8 or 10-quart Instant Pot. You can cut the recipe in half using ONLY a 3-quart model. The cooking time will remain the same when doubling or halving the recipe.
Did you make this recipe?
If you enjoyed this recipe, please leave a comment with a 5-star review at the bottom of the post. Thank you!
Instant Pot Spaghetti Sauce
Video
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion, minced
- ½ cup dry red wine, or additional vegetable broth
- 1-½ cups low-sodium vegetable broth, or beef stock/chicken stock
- 3 cloves garlic , peeled and crushed
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon dried parsley
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 28 ounces crushed tomatoes, or tomato puree/passata *see note for using fresh tomatoes
- 12 ounces tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, or additional olive oil
- 1 tablespoon honey, or granulated sugar
Instructions
- Turn the Instant Pot on using the saute function. Add 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil and let briefly heat. Once heated, add in 1 small yellow onion and saute for 2-4 minutes, or until the onions begin to soften.
- Add the ½ cup dry red wine (or additional broth) to the instant pot. Scrape up any browned bits that may have formed on the bottom of the instant pot, allowing the wine to saute and reduce for 1 minute or so. Then hit cancel on the Instant Pot to turn off the sauce function.
- Add the 1-½ cups low-sodium vegetable broth, 2 teaspoons dried oregano, 1 tablespoon dried parsley, 2 dried bay leaves, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, ½ teaspoon pepper, ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, 3 cloves garlic , and stir to combine.
- Add 28 ounces crushed tomatoes on top of the broth and dollop 12 ounces tomato paste and 1 tablespoon unsalted butter on top of the sauce. Drizzle the 1 tablespoon honey over the tomato and butter mixture. DO NOT STIR.
- Secure the lid on Instant Pot and make sure the vent knob is sealed. Cook on high pressure for 25 minutes by hitting manual/pressure cook and using the +/- buttons to adjust the time to 25 minutes.
- After the cooking time has elapsed, allow the pressure to release for at least 10 to 15 minutes before releasing pressure. Remove the bay leaf and cloves of garlic stir well, and use as desired or allow to cool before storing.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This was delicious! I used a homemade rotisserie chicken broth and maybe enough tomato paste. Ended up blending in the garlic with an immersion blender. The pieces weren't big enough to fish out.
I love the ingredients for the recipe but I have no vegetable broth, can I use chicken or beef?
Yes! Either would work well. Beef broth will be a bit stronger in flavor.
I'm new to Instant Pot and I can see it's going to change my life. This recipe is perhaps the best example of that. I cooked up a batch and froze it in Ball jars. Then, a week later I felt like having some spaghetti. I thawed a quart, fried up a half pound of Italian sausage, and sauted some mushrooms. Within an hour I had the best spaghetti sauce I've ever tasted.
Thanks, Kristen.
Wonderful! I hope you find many more Instant Pot recipes here to enjoy!
I've already checked out some others here that I want to try. I'm going to take a small portion of your magic tomato sauce and mix in some additional tomato paste to make pizza sauce. It should be delicious.
Yes!!! Great idea!
We doubled this recipe for a Christmas gathering and made it on the morning of Christmas Eve so that the flavors had a day to marry before the next day. Annoyingly it caused a burn warning even though we dolloped the paste, honey, & butter on top just like it says. As you know, once that occurs, it's impossible to get the IP to continue cooking. So we then had to scoop it all out of the IP and into a slow cooker so that we could cook it while we weren't home. (We didn't have enough time to cook it on the stovetop due to another holiday gathering.) Fortunately it worked out and the flavor was good. It's just the technique that doesn't work due to the IP's propensity to burn. Maybe if you have a different brand of pressure cooker it might work - my old non-IP one never "burned".
Hi Michelle! I am sorry you had issues. It is likely because of doubling the recipes. By the time it heats fully, the bottom of the inner pot will burn.
Delicious as usual but I discovered if you put too little tomato paste (all I had) it turns out more like tomato soup. I ran to store and immersion blended another 8 ounces and yea!!!! Good as usual
Good to know! Thanks for sharing.
I love this sauce. Making my second batch in 7 days. I add a whole bunch of Mushrooms at the end because......MUSHROOMS!
Love hearing you enjoy so much, Paul! Thanks for sharing.
Can you use fresh tomatoes?
Hi Stephanie! Yes, feel free to use fresh tomatoes. 28 ounces of crushed tomatoes is equivalent to about 2 pounds of fresh tomatoes. I would recommend peeling, seeding, and dicing the tomatoes before making the sauce to keep it from becoming waterey.
Would you use an immersion blender to mix at the end? Thank you for your help.
That would work beautifully! Or you can carefully blend in batches in a blender. Enjoy!
Love this recipe! It worked great using fresh tomatoes. Just curious if you’ve ever pressure canned this recipe?
Hi Stephanie! I am so glad you enjoy this spaghetti sauce. I am not a canning expert, however, I do know acid (like lemon juice) needs to be added for preservation. Here are some directions for canning tomato sauce that may help you.