Pressure Cooker Pork Puttanesca Ragù

By Sarah DiGregorio

Total Time: 2¼ hours
Rating: 4(980)
Notes: Read community notes

Inspired by puttanesca sauce, this braised pork ragù combines rich pork shoulder with the bright flavors of capers, olives and tomato. Those wary of anchovies can relax; the finished dish doesn’t taste overtly fishy. The anchovies dissolve into the sauce, providing a subtly savory note. Tomato-based sauces can trigger the burn warning in some pressure cookers. To avoid that, this recipe calls for more liquid than you would typically need, and finishes with a quick simmer to reduce the sauce to a thicker consistency.

Find a slow-cooker version of this recipe here.

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Ingredients

Yield:6 to 8 servings

3 to 3½pounds boneless, skinless pork shoulder
Kosher salt and black pepper
2tablespoons olive oil
8large garlic cloves, roughly chopped
4anchovy fillets, finely chopped, or 1 tablespoon anchovy paste
2(6-ounce) cans tomato paste
⅓cup pitted kalamata olives
¼cup drained capers
1tablespoon red wine vinegar
2teaspoons red-pepper flakes, plus more to taste
1teaspoon dried oregano
1cup dry red wine
1(15-ounce) can whole or crushed tomatoes, with their juices
2tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from about ½ lemon)
1cup lightly packed chopped flat-leaf parsley
Grated Parmesan, for serving

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
Using a sharp knife, trim and discard the large pieces of fat from the pork shoulder, then cut the meat into 4 or 5 large chunks. Place the pork in a bowl and season it generously with salt and pepper.
Step 2
Using the sauté setting, heat the olive oil in a 6- to 8-quart pressure cooker. Add the garlic and anchovies and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly and scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan, until fragrant and slightly darkened in color, about 2 minutes. (If it looks like it’s getting too dark, or you get a warning on the display, turn off the heat while cooking the tomato paste. Turn the heat back on when you add the wine.)
Step 3
Stir in the olives, capers, vinegar, red-pepper flakes, oregano and a generous amount of black pepper. (Do not add more salt at this point; anchovies, olives and capers can be quite salty.) Stir in the wine, 2 cups water and the tomatoes with their juices, crushing the tomatoes with your hands if using whole. Turn off the sauté setting and stir in the pork. Close the lid and cook on high pressure for 80 minutes.
Step 4
Let the pressure release naturally for 15 minutes, then release the remaining pressure manually. Open the lid. Carefully transfer the pork to a medium bowl, and coarsely shred. Using the sauté setting, let the ragù simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened. Skim the excess fat, if desired. Add the shredded meat back to the pot, then add the lemon juice and parsley and gently stir to combine. Taste and add more red-pepper flakes or salt if necessary. Serve the ragù over polenta or sturdy pasta, like rigatoni or pappardelle. Top with Parmesan, to taste.

Ratings

4 out of 5

980 user ratings

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Cooking Notes

Jacqueline5 years ago

This recipe seems to refer to an electric pressure cooker/Instantpot. Would the cooking time (80 mins) be the same for a stovetop pressure cooker?

kevin5 years ago

80 minutes seems likes a long time, I made pulled pork last Sunday at 40 minutes and it shredded easily. I would like to know if the extra time is necessary

Jeff5 years ago

Seems like the pork should be browned first. I use boneless country ribs (actually shoulder) for recipes like this rather than getting a big hunk of shoulder. Costco usually has them.

Rosa5 years ago

I just made it today and I do think that shredded beef would work well. It was delicious but my husband complained that it needed more olives and capers. I served it with polenta and it was great.

terry5 years ago

I cooked this on the stove in a heavy pot for about 2 1/2 hours. Could also use a slow cooker or instant pot but it was delicious. Very rich in flavor.

Jane Fleming5 years ago

I don't have a pressure cooker. Do you think you could do this in a slow cooker over several hours instead?

DonC5 years ago

This dish was OK but my wife added carrot chunks which elevated it to excellent. The carrots added some sweetness and reduced the acidity (my guess hardly an expert). Served it over creamy polenta with and without the carrots.

Wes5 years ago

Made it exactly as described and it was great. Left the pitted olives whole. Served it over rigatoni. Takes a bit long for a weeknight, but really good for a Sunday supper. 10/10 “would eat again”

Lauren4 years ago

We thought this was amazing - the recipe is perfect as is, but you could definitely do variations with searing the meat, adding an onion, changing up the spices (we may try with an ancho next time), etc. The pork was fall off the bone tender - just perfect. Highly recommend!

Jennifer4 years ago

I made this with a few variations on the methodology, and it worked really well, too: - added the crushed tomatoes after cooking the pork, as in the slow cooker version - added only 1 c of water instead of 1 c wine + 2 c water; I did not have issues with the "burning food" warning, nor did I have to reduce the sauce after - "shredded" the pork by aggressively stirring it directly in the pot for fewer dirty dishes - I add the parsley at serving time for maximum freshness

Erik4 years ago

Cut red pepper flakes in half, and that was still plenty spicy. I understand the concern about pressure cooker burn warning, but there was way too much water. I left on saute 30 minutes to boil away the water, and it was still on the thin side. Would consider halving the water. Browning the pork seems like a good idea.

Jack Pine5 years ago

I have leftover Pernil from last week's episodes.... I think I will try some variant of this to now transform it into a pasta sauce. Here goes!

Eileen O3 years ago

Since Fall started to roll in here in NY, I made this tonight in the pressure cooker. It was great. Served it with spaghetti, as that is all I had on-hand. And a french baguette, which we all smothered in Kerry Gold, natch. Not the lowest calorie meal on the menu at our house, but worth the weekend indulgence. This will become part of rotation.

Joe Wirtheim3 years ago

I borrowed this recipe to prepare some leg of lamb I had frozen. It came out beautifully served over polenta and later over fresh pasta. To suit our tastes, we dropped the capers and olives, and instead focused on the anchovies and herbs, for that earthiness. I added very little salt thanks to the anchovies. It also saved and reheated well.

Ariel2 years ago

SO good! I ended up using probably 6-7 anchovy filets because otherwise the rest were getting tossed, threw the garlic in the food processor to save time. I got the dreaded burn signal during preheat even with the 2 cups water so had to stop it an add an additional cup, cooked 60 min on high /15 natural release then simmered for around 30 with the pork in the sauce to reduce. Served over parmesan polenta, Christmas dinner!

Lisa Lisa2 months ago

I had a bone-in pork shoulder so modified the recipe to cook only the unseasoned meat with an inch or two of water in a stove-top pressure cooker for 80 minutes. The pork was really easy to get off the bone and shred. After that, I pretty much followed the recipe, though simmered the sauce on the stovetop rather than bring the pressure back up. Used a whole can of anchovies - too much! And not sure if the lemon juice at the end added much to an already acidic dish.

Sarah7 months ago

I do not recommend cooking this is in an Instant Pot. The “burn” message showed up thrice as it was building up pressure. Had to finish it in a Dutch Oven at 300 degrees and was done before 1.5 hours. So incredibly delicious and worth the effort! I also seared the meat beforehand and added a large carrot and onion per other reviewers. Yum!! Next time I’ll use my slow cooker.

KerrieJ8 months ago

Made this as directed, except I added some carrots. I thought the sauce was thin, until I pulled out the meat, Shredded it and returned it to the pressure cooker. I left it on simmer for about an hour and it was perfect. The richness and depth of the sauce was unreal. Restaurant quality according to my husband. The sauce tastes like it’s been simmering for DAYS! I carefully removed fat from the meat while shredding and also skimmed quite a bit of fat from the sauce in the pressure cooker.

Keiko1 year ago

The first step should read something like: open your cans of tomato paste, tomatoes, olives, anchovies, and capers. Slice olives if needed, dump the capers in a bowl so you can scoop out 1/4 drained, measure out the olives, vinegar, red pepper flakes, oregano, pepper, wine, water, tomatoes. Chop your garlic and anchovies. Only at this point should you turn on the Instant Pot, because trimming the pork is the only thing you can actually get done before it heats up.

SB1 year ago

Good flavor. I made it with chuck and only added one cup of water. Still was basically soup. Pulled the solids and reduced for 30 minutes in an 12” fry pan. I think the liquid in the can of tomatoes is more than enough liquid.

Marissa1 year ago

We used pomegranate juice instead of wine, and it turned out great!

Annie1 year ago

Other than using 1 tsp of chili flakes rather than 2 tsp, I made this exactly as written. No added onion or carrot, no searing, and I used the full 80 minutes. It was absolutely delicious, but the sauce was very thin. Next time (and there will be a next time), I will add only 1 cup of water.

Taggart1 year ago

I cooked this in a Ninja Foodi Max 14-in-1. I found the dish too dry and dense and also quite acidic. The liquid did not absorb in the sauce properly but just seeped out onto the plate.

hartleystudio1 year ago

This was even better the next day and then the day after that. I took the suggestions of others and used half the red pepper flakes and it was spicy enough for us. I also added a few carrots and an onion, also from suggestions. I reduced the liquid to 1.5c and then did have to reduce the sauce for a short time, maybe 15 minutes. It makes A LOT of wonderful sauce, which I will freeze and use with other proteins. It was truly delicious and we will be making it again and again.

Jo Pomeroy1 year ago

The family gobbled this up on Saturday night! This included my twin five-year-old grandsons. They especially love the olives! I served it with rigatoni and my husband and I are still enjoying the leftovers. I made the recipe as printed and I know that I will make this again and again. One note: I think that 80 minutes in my instant pot was too long. The pork was...hmm..."melty". I would like it to be a bit more chunky. I am going to try 60 minutes next time around.

Sydney1 year ago

This was excellent. Made as written but used an instant pot. Cut meat into 2 1/2 inch chunks and cooked on high for 45 minutes. Great weeknight dinner!

joanne1 year ago

Brown pork first? Onions and/or carrots as an addition? A little on the spicy side for Jojo at first, but she warmed to it.

mo1 year ago

Less olives by half. Add carrots. Serve with sautéed greens and polenta

Jane S1 year ago

Delicious! ollowed the recipe exactly. At around 70 minutes I got a burn warning. Took everything out, cleaned the burnt bottom of the pot. Pork was already completely tender and the sauce reduced enough not to need further simmering. I think the issue here is in attempting to sauté the garlic and anchovies then the tomato paste n the pressure cooker, resulting in a very hot base. Next time I will sauté in a separate pan then throw everything in the pressure cooker with an extra cup of water.

Lindsay2 years ago

Flavours were nice but way too watery. I'd make this again and skip 1 cup of water or braise in the oven. Once it was reduced down it was nice.

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