Your email address is required to begin the subscription process. We will use it for customer service and other communications from Milk Street. You can unsubscribe from receiving our emails at any time.
Instant-Pot Ragù Bolognese
Made the classic way, ragù Bolognese requires many hours of gentle simmering. The Instant Pot, however, allows you to pressure cook the ingredients so the rich, meaty sauce is ready in a fraction of the time—about an hour—or you can slow-cook it for about six hours without having to babysit. Meatloaf mix is a combination of ground pork, beef and veal. If you prefer, 8 ounces each ground pork and 80 percent lean ground beef work well, too. This recipe makes about 4 cups sauce, enough to sauce 1 pound of pasta, cooked and drained; reserve some of the starchy cooking water before draining the pasta for tossing with the noodles and sauce. Ribbon-like tagliatelle is the classic pasta pairing for ragù Bolognese, but use whatever shape you prefer. Offer additional grated Parmesan on the side.
Makes about
4 cups
Tip
Don’t forget to add ¼ cup water along with the tomato paste, cream and cheese. The liquid is necessary to avoid receiving a Burn message. Milk is a common ingredient in ragù Bolognese, but don’t swap milk for the cream in this recipe, as it will curdle due to its lower fat content.
FAST: 1 hour
Slow: 6¾ to 7¼ hours
40 minutes
Ingredients
-
1
tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
-
4
ounces pancetta, chopped
Directions
-
01In a 6-quart Instant Pot, select More/High Sauté. Add the oil, pancetta, onion, celery, carrot, garlic, 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent and the pancetta has rendered some fat, 5 to 6 minutes. Add the wine and meatloaf mix; cook, breaking up the meat into small pieces, until no longer pink, 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, cream, Parmesan and ½ cup water, then distribute the mixture in an even layer.
Reviews
March 13, 2026
Many happy diners
Brought the IP to the mountains to make this at a ski vacation, and the crowd was pleased. Made 1. 5 recipes, so with the higher volume, sauteed the veggies and bacon (subbed for pancetta) in a separate pan. Cooked the meat with wine in the IP, then added the tomato paste and cooked that a bit, then combined everything. Did natural release, and skimmed a lot of fat off the top when I opened the lid an hour later. Flavor was mild and delicious.
February 7, 2026
But My Instant Pot Gets 0 Stars
I made this recipe exactly as written, except that I used a ground beef/veal/pork mix. I have ongoing issues with my IP burning tomato-based dishes and was hopeful that the extra water called for here would solve that. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case and I got a BURN error just as the pot switched from Heating to Cooking. I scraped everything but the burned layer of ragu out of the IP and into a sauce pan and finished the sauce there, simmering for about 10 more minutes or so. In spite of the IP failure, the ragu was DELICIOUS! The pancetta added lovely little pops of saltiness and the red sauce was rich but not overwhelmingly so. I even think that the char at the bottom of the IP added some additional depth to the sauce, which helped, since it wasn't cooked as long as it should have been. Does anyone else have this issue with their Instant Pot?
January 8, 2026
Excellent!
I’m not sure I’ve ever made bolognese the traditional way, where it spends ages on the stove, but I’ve tried a few different copycat recipes. This one is wonderful, and easy. I’d say the meat isn’t as velvety as the real deal, but the flavor was plenty complex and I looked forward to leftovers.
December 25, 2025
Delicious, quick and easy Ragu!
I made the fast version of this Ragu and it is a quick and easy recipe that is perfect for a weeknight meal. The flavor in this sauce is amazing and this recipe will definitely be going into my menu rotation.
April 13, 2026
Great for weeknight ragù
Flavor was surprisingly good for such a quick cook time, but nothing beats the complexity that arrives after 3-4 hours on the stove. It ended up more wet than the traditional method.
Become A Subscriber To Rate and Review All Our Recipes.
Please Log in or join today for $1.
