Cooking Lesson #46—Instant Pot Spaghetti & Meat Sauce

How you doing? We hope you are staying safe and healthy. It’s time to put on your Italian chef’s hat. I’ll make it easy for you. I really love Italian food—plain and fancy. Last night I made a delicious Pesto and 3-Cheese Ravioli. While it was great tasting it did take a bit of time to make the fresh pesto and roll out the pasta dough. But great Italian food doesn’t have to be that complicated or time consuming. So, here we go…
 
I have a recipe to share with you that you might think is too good to be true. My Instant Pot Spaghetti & Meat Sauce recipe defies gravity. Maybe I should call it my Magic Pot—it allows you to make everything in one pot without even boiling water. 
 
As a reminder, I’m not getting paid by Instant Pot to post recipes using their equipment, so I should qualify that by saying, there are other makers of similar equipment. So, whenever I suggest a manufacturer of any equipment, it’s because I like it, most likely own it and use it quite often to proof the recipes being posted. 
 
Prep time:  10 minutes
Cooking time:  15 minutes
Yield:  Serves 4
 
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1-pound mild Italian sausage
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 cups water, divided
1 (24-ounce) jar marinara or pasta sauce (I prefer Rao’s)
8 ounces dry spaghetti
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, for serving
 
Equipment
 6-quart Instant Pot
 
Directions

1. Turn on a 6-quart Instant Pot to SAUTÉ.
2. Once heated, add the olive oil and Italian sausage. Break up the sausage into smaller pieces.
3. Season with the oregano, salt, onion powder and garlic powder. Cook, stirring and breaking the sausage into smaller and smaller pieces, until cooked through and no longer pink, about 5 minutes.
4. Turn off the Sauté function and add 1/2 cup of the water to the pot. Scrape the bottom of the pot to remove any stuck-on bits. Add the sauce and stir to combine well.
5. Break the spaghetti strands in half and spread them in one or two layers over the cooked sausage mixture. Do not stir from this point on.
6. Rinse the pasta sauce jar with the remaining 1-1/2 cups water (pour the water into the jar, twist on the lid, and shake gently) and then pour the water over the pasta. Remember—no stirring here.
7. Seal the Instant Pot. Set to cook on HIGH pressure for 8 minutes. The cooker should take between 10 and 12 minutes to come up to pressure.  
8. As soon as the 8 minutes cook time is up, QUICK RELEASE the pressure. Remove the pot lid and, now you can stir the spaghetti into the sauce. Turn off the Instant Pot and remove the insert pot from the base.
9. Serve immediately with plenty of grated Parmesan cheese.

ChefSecret:  You can substitute lean ground beef or pork for Italian sausage—or do a mix of meats; upgrade the seasonings to your taste. 

#SpaghettiMeatSauce #Entrees #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup #QuarantineKitchen #Covid19 #InstantPot #ComfortFoods #Rao's

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