Yes folks, I just made the best batch of homemade pasta sauce ever and it was made in my instant pot! My husband said it was my best batch ever! And since he doesn’t extend compliments like that very often, I’m going with it!

I’m going to be honest, I don’t have a recipe. I use the same basic ingredients almost every time and adjust as needed. Because fresh tomatoes are different tasting and textured than the canned versions, the overall result can be different and require varying quantities of ingredient adjustments as well. All you need to do is adjust each batch to your tastes and preferences, just as I’ve been doing for years.

I’m also going to give you a few helpful hints and time savers to achieve the best homemade pasta sauce you can make. Trust me, you and your family deserve this type of comfort food. My family LOVES, seriously LOVES my sauce! It’s a little different each time, but it’s always fresh, healthy, frugal and delicious! And I truly love making it.

Using an instant pot makes a quick, easy and delicious batch of pasta sauce

I have been making tomato vegetable pasta sauce for over 40 years. I made it one time in the instant pot and became totally hooked! This instant pot version, is faster and easier than the old fashioned versions that have to simmer on the stove all day. I’m not knocking those versions, I love making them as well. But often, I don’t have the luxury of that length of time. This modern version is honestly so good, I highly recommend it! Not only is it easy and convenient, in a “set it and forget it” kind of way. But I fully believe that the instant pot concentrates the flavors best. Oh, and did I mention in a fraction of time? Just 30 minutes of cooking time! Which also saves on utility costs as well. Now that’s a win, win, win in my book!

Show me the sauce!

Since I’m such a visual person, I’m including lots of photos as I made my pasta sauce in the instant pot and the instructions along the way.

Frugal ingredients inspired a batch of homemade pasta sauce

During a trip to the market, I discovered a marked down package of chopped onions as well as a package of reduced peppers and a cucumber. Yes please and thank you. Anything to make my life more frugal and delicious! Besides, I hate that teary chore of chopping onions!

Basic Ingredients To Make Pasta Sauce In An Instant Pot…

You can adjust these items as needed per your preferences, but I’ve found that using these creates the very best, most delicious pasta sauce. I always make a vegetarian version, freeze some of it to use later and then add meat as needed. So, in true form….it’s always frugal and delicious!

Ingredient List…

• Olive Oil
• Minced Garlic
• Chopped Onions
• Chopped Green or Colored Sweet Peppers
• Carrots
• Celery, Eggplant, Mushrooms or Zucchini-optional
• Red Wine
• Tomatoes-fresh or canned, whole or diced, tomato sauce or puree
• Tomato paste (if needed)
• Fresh and/or dried herbs-basil, oregano, thyme, parsley
• Bay Leaf
• Vegetable Stock
• A1 Sauce
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Sugar-white or brown (I prefer the caramelized flavor from the brown)
• Garlic powder
• Butter
• Salt and Pepper-to taste
• Crushed red pepper-optional (I’m not a fan, nor is my family, so it don’t use it)
• Parmesan Cheese-grated or shredded (use in the sauce or sprinkle on top when serving)
• Ground Beef-optional
• Seasoning for ground beef-salt, pepper, minced garlic, worcestershire sauce, minced onion
• Italian Sausage-Optional, sweet or hot to your preference

Add those veggies!

Heat the instant pot on sauté mode. Add a good drizzle of olive oil across the bottom of the instant pot. Then add minced garlic, chopped onions, chopped peppers, whole mini carrots, salt and pepper (to taste). Sauté until the peppers and onions are tender.

Note: sometimes I slice the carrots before sautéing them. But this time, I wanted to try something new. So, I threw the mini carrots in whole. Such a time saver. Wait until you see what I did with them afterwards!

Carrots in pasta sauce?

In case you’re wondering why add carrots to pasta sauce? Well, carrots serve many purposes in this capacity. Aside from adding all the nutritional value carrots have…they also add a nice natural sweetness to the sauce. They add extra color and additional texture. And it’s a good way to sneak more vegetables into a delicious dish that your whole family will enjoy….even if they don’t like carrots! I used to sneak zucchini and eggplant into my sauce when our sons were younger and they were none the wiser. They love my sauce and I love that they ate so many veggies this way!

Deglaze the pot

After the veggies have sautéed for a bit and before you add the tomato selections, be sure to deglaze the pot and remove all the good flavors that may be stuck to the bottom of the pot. You can use water or stock (like chicken or veggie), but honestly….I LOVE deglazing the pot with some red wine (any brand or variety will do). It adds such a fabulous depth of flavor and wonderful richness to the sauce. Trust me, it makes a difference.

It doesn’t take much….a few good glugs or a 1/2 cup at most. I never measure, I just add the wine until it covers the bottom of the pan. Sauté for a bit, stir and scrape, removing any goodness from the bottom of the pot while the alcohol burns off. This only takes a couple of minutes. Don’t let it burn, don’t let it cook dry. Add more if necessary.

And, if you’re a wine drinker…this is the perfect time to pour yourself a glass to enjoy while you finish cooking. Winking hint, hint!

Time to add the tomatoes!

Now that you have a great flavorful sauce base going…it’s time to add the tomatoes! In the Summer and Fall, I use fresh tomatoes from my garden or the Farmer’s Markets. Other times, I use tomatoes that I have frozen from my garden or the markets. When those are all gone, then I use canned versions. Honestly, the canned varieties are not very expensive and they are consistent. No need to chop or peel them, so I do recommend them for time savers and conveniences. I don’t have any loyalties to any particular brands at the moment and normally buy whatever is the best price or is on sale.

Add a large can of crushed tomatoes to the sautéed veggies and wine mixture. And then a large can of tomato sauce or tomato puree. You can also add a smaller can of diced tomatoes for additional texture, creating a chunky sauce. Preference and use will help you decide which is best for you and your family.

Fresh tomatoes tend to be a bit watery. In this case, you will probably need to add tomato paste to thicken the consistency of the sauce. Start by using 1/2 of a can. Add more if needed. Be sure to freeze the remaining tomato paste for later uses.

Sauté and stir until everything is combined.

Note: I used just one can of each tomato version to make this batch of sauce that created approximately 8 servings of sauce. You can double this creation if you need more. But, don’t exceed the maximum fill line that your instant pot recommends.

Herbal deliciousness…

OK, here’s where the additional flavors come from. I’m blessed with the love and ability to grow some fabulous herbs. Truthfully, herbs are fairly easy to grow. So, if you want extra flavors in your foods…growing your own herbs is the most frugal way to obtain amazing deliciousness!

I simply walk out to my herb garden and pick oregano, thyme (I LOVE fresh thyme in sauce), parsley and basil. If I don’t have fresh versions of parsley and basil or oregano, I will use dried or frozen. I never use store bought dried thyme-it tastes like a sandy pine tree….yuck! Just my opinion.

Winter the fresh growing herbs…

Because we live in a southern state, I’m able to winter my herbs on a table under the cover of our back porch. It gets the wonderful morning sun and on cold/freezing nights, I cover them with a fleece blanket and a heavy moving blanket. During extreme bouts of near zero temps, I move them inside to our dining room or laundry room for a few days. Some of these pots of herbs, I’ve had for 3-4 years! Now that’s frugal! My initial investment of a few dollars for each herb plant has more than paid for themselves. Those herbs (like basil) that don’t survive the extreme cold weather, I use my dehydrator and dry them to use as needed. I also add them to cubes of olive oil and freeze them for convenient later uses.

It’s been a cold winter this year and my herbs need a little trimming and TLC at the moment. But Spring is almost here. Thankfully, they’re still growing and have provided many flavorful uses and conveniences all winter. Soon they will be returning to their 3 season residence on a tiered planter along the side of our home.

Build those flavors for the instant pot pasta sauce…

To the pot of sauce fixings, I add fresh and dried herbs along with a handful of veggie stock cubes (which adds more flavor and reduces that overpowering plain tomato taste), garlic powder, worcestershire sauce, A1 steak sauce, salt, pepper, brown sugar and a bay leaf or 2 (depending on the size of the leaf and the amount of sauce).

I add the sprigs of fresh herbs-stems and all. It’s just easier for me this way. The stems do contain additional flavor, so why waste them and stand there picking little leaves off the stems. Afterwards, I pull out the stems and discard them before serving. Additional info on that below.

Now give everything a stir to combine. Put the lid on, close the valve to seal and set the instant pot to cook for 30 minutes.

Yes folks, just 30 minutes of cooking along with a slow release and it is done!

Side note: If you’d like to know how to make extremely delicious veggie stock cubes, here is my blog post that will see you through this frugal and delicious process…

https://frugalanddelicious.com/homemade-vegetable-stock/

Finishing the instant pot pasta sauce

After carefully releasing the steam, remove the instant pot lid and give the sauce a stir.

Scoop out the mini carrots onto a little plate and set aside.

Fish out and discard the bay leaf and the stems from the herbs.

For a meaty tomato vegetable past sauce…

Because we have a few vegetarians in our family, I always make a tomato vegetable pasta sauce without meat for them first and also set aside enough to freeze. (Note: the sauce freezes better without meat in it).

Then I add meat to the remainder of the sauce for the rest of us. I often use ground beef (cooked in a separate pan) seasoned with minced garlic, salt, pepper, worcestershire sauce and onions (fresh or dried). Nice and simple.

Sometimes I use cooked, sweet Italian sausage, meatballs or a combination of Italian sausage and ground beef. Use whatever you and your family likes. Just be sure to drain away the grease from the meats before adding the sauce.

Crush those carrots!

Kidding, no need to crush…it’s more of a mash! After removing the carrots from the sauce, you can chop them. But this time I decided to try something different. I mashed the carrots and added them back into the sauce. What a great idea this was. Super easy and they thickened the sauce as well. I loved this idea!!

The delicious finishing touch to the instant pot pasta sauce…

Here’s a surprise little trick that adds a subtle silkiness and extra homemade flavor to the sauce. And that ahhhhmazingly little deliciousness is…butter! Yes, butter! Add a hefty tablespoon of butter to your sauce. Stir it in and taste! I promise, you’ll be in love with the result!

You can add parmesan cheese at this point. And I often do. But I was a bit low on parmesan cheese that moment. So I decided to save that additional flavor and add it as a sprinkling on top of the pasta before serving. A really smart choice this time, because I also wanted to freeze some of the leftover sauce for a later use and sometimes the cheese doesn’t freeze well in the sauce.

Bargains make the meal

I scored a bargain price of $1.00 for a package of authentic Italian Pappardelle (even the instructions were written in Italian!). Now that was a fun experience!

Truth be told, my husband and I have never had pappardelle before. Suffice to say, I was excited over this bargain so that we could try it. And now that we have experienced this delicious pasta form, we will surely purchase more! We both loved it!

Here’s a link to purchase this delicious pappardelle pasta. It’s not at the bargain price I was able to get it, but it is totally worth paying a little extra for!

Frugal and Delicious Hint…Freeze that pasta sauce!

I love to freeze part of the homemade pasta sauce to use another time. It’s so satisfying to go the the freezer and pull out a batch of deliciousness to create another fabulous meal. Now, that’s frugal and delicious!

Using leftovers of pasta and sauce created another frugal and delicious meal

With the leftover pappardelle pasta and sauce with meat…I created an incredibly delicious pasta bake that my husband and I enjoyed for 2 more nights. All I did was reheat the sauce and pasta in a saucepan with a few more homemade veggie stock cubes. After the mixture was heated through, I put it into a greased casserole dish, topped it with shredded mozzarella and grated parmesan cheeses. Then I put it in a preheated 350 degree oven and baked it until the mixture bubbled and the cheese melted. Let it set for a couple of minutes and then serve. So easy. So frugal and so delicious!

In conclusion for making instant pot pasta sauce.

There is not much in this world that is more frugal and delicious than pasta and homemade sauce. The total approximate cost to make this sauce was $6.31. It created approximately 8 servings at a cost of only 79 cents per serving.

Adding the ground beef, pasta and cheeses, cost approximately $5.99 more. This pot of sauce along with the additions fed my husband and I for 3 meals with a total of less than $1.54 for each meal!

Plus I froze a batch of sauce that will provide at least 2 more meals for my husband and I. Now that’s super frugal and super delicious!

It did my heart good to be able to share these delicious tips and tricks for creating the best of the best in making pasta sauce using an instant pot. I hope you enjoy making this as much as I do and I hope your family enjoys it as much as my family does!

Take Care, be safe, virtual hugs,

Chauncey