One bite of this classic lamb ragu and you’ll feel like you’re sitting on a sun drenched trattoria patio in the mountains of Italy up high in sheep country, even if you have never been there. It’s rich, authentic, satisfying, and best of all, easy and effortless.

If you’ve ever wanted to up your pasta game, changing up your protein is a great place to start. Have you ever noticed that the super authentic Italian pasta places are always doing their pasta sauces with wild boar, duck, bison, or other exotic meats, but at home we’re always making sauces with ground pork and beef?

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But, if you look closely at the menu, they almost always also have a lamb ragu too, and that’s because lamb is one of the most traditional and authentic proteins you can get for Italian food. It also happens to be pretty easy to come by and it’s usually the same price as beef, if not even a little cheaper. Lamb is a wonderful meat: rich and tender and only slightly gamey enough to be interesting, but not offensively so for people who aren’t so adventurous.

This is a modernized take on a super classic Umbria ragu. Lamb, garlic, rosemary, and cheese combine together to make something so rich and flavorful you’d never believe it was just a couple of hours of passive cooking. Even though most ragus are just simmered on the stove anyway, doing your ragu in the instant pot locks in your flavors and guarantees your sauce can’t burn or boil dry.

Traditionally this is served with a homemade egg tagliatelle, but here I’ve paired it with this amazing lorighittas Steph made. Any fresh pasta, even store bought, will be a million times better than dried for this sauce though.

How to cook fresh pasta

To cook fresh pasta, drop it in salted boiling water until it floats, then transfer to a nonstick skillet and toss with sauce for 1-2 minutes

How to make a great instant pot pasta sauce

Making a traditional tasting ragu in the instant pot is really simple. Once you have the basic process down, it works for any ragu:

1. Saute your soffritto in high quality olive oil on high for at least 3-4 minutes. Go for a really deep caramelization: the flavor of the ragu comes from the soffritto.

2. Add your meats, cheese rind, and bay leaf. We don’t try to brown the meats because we’re looking for a silky smooth ragu, and although browning meats helps build flavors, it also adds an unwanted (for me) crunchy texture sometimes.

3. Top with enough chicken stock to barely cover the meat. As the meat cooks, it releases more liquid, so we’re going for just enough to build pressure and transfer heat here.

4. Cook on high pressure for 2 hours. You can go as short as 30 minutes, but I’ve found that 2 hours replicates about a 6-7 hour simmer, which is the magic time when it comes to ragu.

5. Quick release and switch back to saute high for 8-10 minutes, or until it reduces to a thick and creamy sauce. Finish with cheese and rosemary. Finishing with spices at the end helps preserve their delicate flavors and imparts a fresher feel to the sauce.