This simple and quick Whole30-friendly Instant Pot Zucchini Bolognese recipe is a riff on Meghan Markle’s original version, but a whole lot meatier!
Table of Contents
- A meatier version of Meghan Markle’s recipe!
- Instant Pot to the rescue!
- My favorite instant pot
- Whole30-, Keto-, and Family-Friendly!
- Can you make this in a slow cooker or on the stovetop?
- Ingredients
- How to make Instant Pot Zucchini Bolognese
- How do you serve the zucchini bolognese?
- How to store leftovers
- More Instant Pot recipes!
- Instant Pot Zucchini Bolognese (Paleo, Whole30, Keto) Recipe
A meatier version of Meghan Markle’s recipe!
Have you heard of Meghan Markle’s genius zucchini bolognese recipe? The one that takes OVER FOUR HOURS to make? Of course you have—that’s why a bunch of you have asked me to make a speedier Instant Pot version! At the request of those persistent Nomsters, I’ve created this simple and delicious Whole30-friendly Instant Pot Zucchini Bolognese recipe that takes just a fraction of the time, and is a whole lot meatier. (Because PALEO.) So if you’ve got a bumper crop of zucchini in your garden, this recipe is perfect for you!
Before she became a fairytale princess, Meghan Markle wasn’t just a Hollywood actress—she had a side gig as a food and lifestyle blogger. One of her recipes that went viral after her wedding was a simple pasta sauce that she made with zucchini (or courgettes, for you proper Brits), onions, olive oil, water, and a bouillon cube. According to Meghan, the trick for a creamy, dreamy sauce was just to cook everything low and slow for 4 hours.
Instant Pot to the rescue!
But who has 4 hours to babysit a pot on the stove? (Certainly not Meghan Markle—at least not these days.) When one of my readers asked me if I knew of an Instant Pot hack for Meghan’s recipe, I started brainstorming ways to make this recipe Whole30-friendly and significantly cut down the cooking time. Plus, to add some protein to this dish and make it a complete meal, I wanted to beef up the sauce (pun intended).
My favorite instant pot
Whole30-, Keto-, and Family-Friendly!
After numerous attempts, I finally arrived at this simple and delicious Instant Pot Zucchini Bolognese recipe. I replaced the chemical-laden bouillon with my umami-packed Magic Mushroom Powder, and tossed in a pound of bulk Italian sausage for extra protein. Best of all, this recipe can be made from start to finish in an hour in an Instant Pot. I’m super chuffed!
Can you make this in a slow cooker or on the stovetop?
Yes, but it’ll take several hours for this dish to hit the table!
Slow cooker instructions
If you want to cook this in a slow cooker, sauté the onions and sausage before adding them with the rest of the ingredients into the slow cooker. Program your Crockpot to cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or until the zucchini is super tender.
Stove-top instructions
Follow my directions below but cook the zucchini bolognese in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat on the stovetop. Once all the ingredients are in the pot, bump up the heat to bring everything to a boil. Then, decrease the heat to maintain a simmer and cover and cook on low heat for 3 to 4 hours or until the zucchini falls apart. Stir occasionally, and add a splash of broth or water if the pot looks dry while it’s cooking.
Ingredients
- Extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil
- Yellow onion
- Bulk Italian sausage: You can use store-bought Whole30 compatible Italian sausage or you can make your own by following my Italian Sausage recipe.
- Zucchini: The zucchini is cooked down to form the sauce AND you spiralize extra zucchini for the “spaghetti.” That’s why this recipe is perfect for when you have a ton of zucchini!
- Garlic cloves
- Magic Mushroom Powder or Diamond Crystal brand kosher salt (with added umami boosters detailed in the instructions)
- Freshly squeeze lemon juice
How to make Instant Pot Zucchini Bolognese
Grab your Instant Pot or pressure cooker and turn on the Sauté function. When the metal insert is hot, pour in the olive oil.
Toss in the diced onions…
…and cook, stirring frequently, for 2 to 3 minutes or until slightly softened.
Add the Italian sausage and break it up with a silicone spatula.
Cook the sausage until it’s no longer pink.
Dump in the zucchini, minced garlic…
…and 1 teaspoon of Magic Mushroom Powder or Diamond Crystal brand kosher salt. (The salt won’t add extra umami, so you may want to add a few drops of fish sauce or a couple of dried mushrooms to the pot for extra savoriness.)
Stir well.
You don’t need to add any extra liquid. Trust me—the zucchini will release enough liquid for the contents to reach high pressure. Lock the lid and program the Instant Pot to cook for 35 minutes under high pressure.
When the sauce is done cooking, you can wait for the pressure to release naturally or you can manually vent it if you’re impatient.
The zucchini and onions should be fork-tender and easily mashed with a spatula…
…to form a chunky sauce.
Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning with additional Magic Mushroom Powder, salt, or freshly ground pepper. Stir in the juice from half a lemon and taste it again. (Always, always, ALWAYS taste your food and season accordingly!)
When the sauce is ready, grab a spiralizer to prepare some zucchini noodles (or grab some ready-to-go spiralized veggies at the store).
If I’m serving this sauce on zoodles, I drop the raw spiralized zucchini straight into the pot and toss ’em around until the hot sauce softens the zoodles to my liking.
Top with your favorite herbs and dig in! This sauce freezes really well so make a batch whenever your vegetable crisper is overflowing with zucchini!
How do you serve the zucchini bolognese?
You can serve this meaty sauce on your favorite veggie noodles, gluten-free noodles, or even regular old pasta (I won’t tell anyone of your Paleo heresy), and you’ll be amazed at how tasty and simple it is. I normally make this recipe when I have a glut of zucchinis in the fridge, so I simply spiralize one per person and toss the raw zoodles in the hot sauce before serving!
How to store leftovers
Leftover zucchini bolognese sauce can be stored in a sealed airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
More Instant Pot recipes!
Check out my ever-growing roundup of Instant Pot recipes here!
Looking for more recipe ideas? Head on over to my Recipe Index. You’ll also find exclusive recipes in my cookbooks, Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2013), Ready or Not! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2017), and Nom Nom Paleo: Let’s Go! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2022).
PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE CARD
Instant Pot Zucchini Bolognese (Paleo, Whole30, Keto)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil
- 1 large yellow onion diced
- 1 pound bulk Italian sausage
- 1½ pounds zucchini diced into ½-inch pieces
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- Magic Mushroom Powder or Diamond Crystal kosher salt with added umami boosters detailed in the instructions
- Juice from ½ lemon
Instructions
- Grab your Instant Pot or pressure cooker and turn on the Sauté function. When the metal insert is hot, pour in the olive oil.
- Toss in the diced onions and cook, stirring frequently, for 2 to 3 minutes or until slightly softened.
- Add the Italian sausage and break it up with a silicone spatula. Cook the sausage until it’s no longer pink.
- Dump in the zucchini, minced garlic, and 1 teaspoon of Magic Mushroom Powder or Diamond Crystal brand kosher salt. (The salt won’t add extra umami, so you may want to add a few drops of fish sauce or a couple of dried mushrooms to the pot for extra savoriness.) Stir well.
- You don’t need to add any extra liquid. Trust me—the zucchini will release enough liquid for the contents to reach high pressure. Lock the lid and program the Instant Pot to cook for 35 minutes under high pressure.
- When the sauce is done cooking, you can wait for the pressure to release naturally or you can manually vent it if you’re impatient.
- The zucchini and onions should be fork-tender and easily mashed with a spatula to form a chunky sauce.
- Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning with additional Magic Mushroom Powder, salt, or freshly ground pepper. Stir in the juice from half a lemon and taste it again. (Always, always, ALWAYS taste your food and season accordingly!)
- When the sauce is ready, grab a spiralizer to prepare some zucchini noodles (or grab some ready-to-go spiralized veggies at the store). If I’m serving this sauce on zoodles, I drop the raw spiralized zucchini straight into the pot and toss ’em around until the hot sauce softens the zoodles to my liking.
- Top with your favorite herbs and dig in! This sauce freezes really well so make a batch whenever your vegetable crisper is overflowing with zucchini!
Video
Notes
Slow cooker instructions:
If you want to cook this in a slow cooker, sauté the onions and sausage before adding them with the rest of the ingredients into the slow cooker. Program your Crockpot to cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or until the zucchini is super tender.Stove-top instructions:
Follow my directions below but cook the zucchini bolognese in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat on the stovetop. Once all the ingredients are in the pot, bump up the heat to bring everything to a boil. Then, decrease the heat to maintain a simmer and cover and cook on low heat for 3 to 4 hours or until the zucchini falls apart. Stir occasionally, and add a splash of broth or water if the pot looks dry while it’s cooking.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Amazing! Substituted ground beef, liver and heart added a few tablespoons of Harissa spice (chili pepper, garlic, caraway, parsley , coriander) and tomato paste. The sauce had extra time to simmer in the instapot and we served it over spaghetti squash. Each time that I think there can’t be a better Nom nom paleo recipe, I’m proven wrong. Thank you once again!
Adding to the previous note….. we also included a few handfuls of dried shiitake mushrooms.
This recipe is always a winner. I think that the people who felt sick from the fat may have difficulties digesting fats, which is rampant today. I haven’t found it an issue. But one can always drain out a little of the fat.
Are you able to use ground turkey? Don’t want to use processed meat if I can avoid, same with red meat
Yes, you can definitely use ground turkey! I also have a homemade Italian sausage recipe linked in the post that you can make instead of using store-bought Italian sausage.