Instant Pot Pasta Sauce

This delicious Instant Pot Pasta Sauce has sausage, tomatoes, and herbs, and it’s amazing with zucchini noodles or any type of pasta. And this pasta sauce is very low in net carbs, and there are instructions to make my favorite pasta sauce on the stove as well!

PIN the Instant Pot Pasta Sauce to try it later!

For many years I lived in a little house in Salt Lake where I grew I grew lots of tomatoes and fresh herbs, and I’d make fresh tomato sauce with sausage and herbs every summer. And even after I moved and didn’t have a big garden any more I still made pasta sauce with my fresh herbs.

Then after I became an Instant Pot fan, I got obsessed with the idea of making an Instant Pot Pasta Sauce with my favorite Italian Sausage, tomatoes, and fresh herbs. It seemed like a no-brainer until I’d tried several batches of sauce that burned on the bottom of the Instant Pot! Then I decided to look back at some of my old pasta sauce recipe on the blog and I found a chunky pasta sauce recipe that’s kind of a close relative to the Spicy Cherry Tomato Sauce that I make every summer.

Kara and I experimented until we had perfected this great recipe for pasta sauce made in the Instant Pot with sausage, tomatoes, and herbs, and it turned out to be such a winner! And I’ve made it every year since then to stockpile in the freezer, so I’m featuring this recipe for this week’s Friday Favorites pick.

And because the Instant Pot Pasta Sauce was so closely inspired by an earlier stovetop recipe I decided to combine the posts, so people can choose the method they prefer. Or if you want another stovetop pasta sauce recipe that’s been one of my favorites for years, you can also make my Sausage and Basil Marinara Sauce. (That recipe uses some fresh tomatoes which you can just replace with more canned tomatoes if needed.)

Whichever way you make this tasty pasta sauce (and whether you eat it with zucchini noodles or pasta) I hope you have fresh herbs from your garden; that’s what puts this over the top for me! But see my suggestions below for making it without fresh herbs if needed.

What ingredients do you need for this recipe?

(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

• hot turkey or pork Italian sausage
• Olive Oil (affiliate link)
• canned petite diced tomatoes
• canned beef broth (affiliate link)
• Minced Garlic (affiliate link)
• Dried Basil (affiliate link)
• dried Greek Oregano (affiliate link)
• ground fennel (affiliate link)
• fresh basil (optional, but recommended)
• fresh oregano (optional, but recommended)
• salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
• freshly-grated Parmesan for serving (optional)

Do have to use all the dried herbs for Instant Pot Pasta Sauce?

I highly recommend using the dried basil, Greek Oregano, and ground fennel suggested to flavor this sauce. That combination of herbs will give the pasta sauce flavor that makes people swoon in a good Italian restaurant!

Can you make Instant Pot Pasta Sauce without fresh herbs?

You can still make a flavorful sauce with this recipe even if you don’t have fresh basil or fresh oregano. You can use a few tablespoons of Basil Pesto to replace the fresh basil. If you don’t have fresh oregano, I would just use a bit more dried oregano.

How low in carbs is the Instant Pot Pasta Sauce?

This delicious pasta or spaghetti sauce made in the Instant Pot has less than 4 net carbs per serving!

Love Your Instant Pot?

I use a 6 Quart Instant Pot for all my Instant Pot Recipes. Check out my growing collection of Instant Pot Recipes! Find more Pressure Cooker/Slow Cooker Recipes on my other site!

More Pasta Sauce Ideas:

• Cherry Tomato Pasta Sauce
• Tomato Basil No-Cook Pasta Sauce
• Pasta with Creamy Arugula Sauce

How to make Instant Pot Pasta Sauce:

(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

1. Heat oil in the Instant Pot on SAUTE / HIGH HEAT. Squeeze sausage out of the casings and cook, breaking apart with a turner while you brown it.
2. While sausage cooks, drain 2 of the cans of tomatoes.
3. When the sausage is brown, push it to the side, add more oil, minced garlic, dried basil, dried Greek oregano, and ground fennel and cook 2-3 minutes more.
4. Then add all the tomatoes and beef broth. Lock the lid, set the Instant Pot to HIGH PRESSURE, and cook 10 minutes, then QUICK RELEASE.
5. When the pressure is released, check to see if you want your sauce to be a little thicker. If so, use SAUTE / HIGH HEAT to cook until it has reduced a bit and is the thickness you prefer.
6. Then change to SAUTE / LOW HEAT, stir in chopped fresh herbs and 1 T more olive oil and simmer about 5 minutes to finish the sauce.
7. Serve hot, with zucchini noodles or pasta of your choice, and plenty of freshly-grated Parmesan cheese.

Tips for cooking Zucchini Noodles to eat with the Instant Pot Pasta Sauce:

Here are Three Ways to Make the Zucchini Noodles if you haven’t done it.

1. I use the Paderno Spiralizer, and like the thicker size noodles.
2. To cook zucchini noodles, heat 1-2 tablespoons olive oil in a large frying pan. (You can add a few sliced garlic cloves to season the oil. If you do that, only cook until you barely smell garlic and then remove it.)
3. When the oil is hot, add the zucchini noodles and cook until barely tender and heated through, not more than 2-3 minutes.
4. Season with a little salt and serve with sauce or topping of your choice.

Weekend Food Prep:

This recipe for Instant Pot Pasta Sauce has been added to a category called Weekend Food Prep where you’ll find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week! And this is a perfect recipe to make and keep in the freezer.

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Yield: 8 servings of sauce

Instant Pot Pasta Sauce

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

This Instant Pot Pasta Sauce has Sausage, Tomatoes, and Herbs, and this recipe was so delicious even though it took me a few tries to get a winner.

Ingredients

• one 19.5 oz. package hot turkey Italian sausage (see notes)
• 5 T olive oil, divided
• three 14.5 oz. cans petite diced tomatoes, drain 2 cans and keep the liquid in the other one
• 1/2 cup beef broth
• 2 T minced garlic (or more)
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1 tsp. dried Greek Oregano
• 1 T ground fennel
• 1/3 cup (or more) finely chopped fresh basil (see notes)
• 2 T chopped fresh oregano
• salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
• freshly-grated Parmesan for serving (optional but recommended)

Instructions

1. Heat 3 T olive oil in the Instant Pot on SAUTE / HIGH HEAT. Squeeze turkey or pork Italian sausage out of the casings and add to Instant Pot and cook, breaking apart with a turner while you brown it. (Turkey sausage will release a bit of water, so cook until that's evaporated.)
2. While sausage cooks, drain 2 of the cans of tomatoes.
3. When the sausage is brown, push it to the side, add another 1 T olive oil, minced garlic, dried basil, dried Greek oregano, and ground fennel and cook 2-3 minutes more.
4. Then add 2 cans drained tomatoes, 1 can undrained tomatoes, and beef broth. Lock the lid, set the Instant Pot to HIGH PRESSURE, and cook 10 minutes, then QUICK RELEASE.
5. When the pressure is released, check to see if you want your sauce to be a little thicker. If so, use SAUTE / HIGH HEAT to cook until it has reduced a bit and is the thickness you prefer. (This probably won't take more than 5 minutes or so.)
6. Then change to SAUTE / LOW HEAT, stir in chopped herbs and 1 T more olive oil and simmer about 5 minutes to finish the sauce.
7. Season with salt and a little fresh ground pepper to taste.
8. Serve hot, with pasta or zucchini noodles and freshly grated parmesan cheese. (See below for how to cook zucchini noodles.)
9. The sauce can be kept in the refrigerator for about a week or frozen for several months; reheat on low heat.

Notes

Use pork Italian sausage if you prefer. Use as much chopped fresh basil as you prefer or have available, or you can use frozen basil if you have some. I highly recommend using the fresh chopped herbs to finish the sauce, but if fresh herbs are not available you can still make a pretty good sauce by slightly increasing the amount of dried herbs.

I used a 6 Quart Instant Pot (affiliate link) for this recipe, but you can use any 6 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker (affiliate link).

To Cook Zucchini Noodles: Here are Three Ways to Make Zucchini Noodles if you haven't done it. I use the Paderno Spiralizer (affiliate link), and like the thicker size noodles. To cook zucchini noodles, heat 1-2 tablespoons olive oil in a large frying pan. (You can add a few sliced garlic cloves to season the oil. If you do that, only cook the garlic until you barely smell garlic; don't let garlic brown or it will taste bitter.) When the oil is hot, add the zucchini noodles and cook until barely tender and heated through, not more than 2-3 minutes. Season with a little salt and serve with sauce or topping of your choice.

Nutritional information is for the sauce only.

Click Here for Original Stovetop Version

Instant Pot recipe created by Kalyn and Kara.

Nutrition Information

Yield

8

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 243Total Fat 16gSaturated Fat 3gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 11.2gCholesterol 64mgSodium 694mgCarbohydrates 7.1gFiber 3.6gSugar 4gProtein 18g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.

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Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Instant Pot Pasta Sauce served with zucchini noodles would be suitable for most low-carb or low-glycemic diet plans, and for all phases of the original South Beach Diet. Tomatoes do have some carbs, but when I calculated the nutritional information I was pleasantly surprised that this sauce was quite low in carbs, enjoy!.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Instant Pot Recipes to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Historical Notes for this Recipe:
The Instant Pot Pasta Sauce recipe was posted in 2017. It was last updated with more information in 2024.

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