Instant Pot Taiwanese Meat Sauce

Instant Pot Taiwanese Meat Sauce with Crispy Shallots! Taiwanese style pressure cooker meat sauce is similar to bolognese and with shiitake and bamboo shoots. This Paleo Whole30 Keto instant pot meat sauce is healthy, easy, and full of flavor. Serve it over steamed rice for gluten-free meal, cauliflower rice, or sautéed zoodles for low carb dinner!

The dish that reminds me of home – Instant Pot Taiwanese Meat Sauce

Taiwanese meat sauce is the most common street food you’ll find in Taiwan. Often it’s made with minced pork belly and slow cooked in a sweet and savory sauce, topped with crispy shallots over a bowl of white rice.

Sometimes you’ll also see people serve the meat sauce like Asian style meat ragu or bolognese over noodles with a soy-braised egg and blanched bok choy on the side. This dish brings back many childhood wonderful memories.

Today’s Instant Pot Taiwanese Meat Sauce is a lighter version than the traditional one and it uses ground meat instead of pork belly. To bring out that nostalgia umami rich flavor, I rely on herbs, shiitake, and bamboo shoots.

I use fresh shiitake in my Taiwanese meat sauce recipe however, if you happen to have dry shiitake at home, definitely follow this video post to learn how to rehydrate shiitake. It’ll add extra flavor to the sauce.

Savory and naturally sweet flavor based meat sauce

Different from Italian bolognese, Taiwanese meat sauce is a soy flavor based meat stew sauce. Traditionally you’ll cook it over stovetop that’s similar to my Taco Meat Sauce recipe and this Instant Pot version made the whole process easier. And it goes without saying that I’ve made it Paleo, Whole30, and Keto friendly.

Crispy Shallots – highly recommend !

Sauté the sliced shallots on the side until they are golden brown while the pressure cooker is working its magic. Sprinkle the crispy shallots over the meat sauce, topped with a soft-boiled egg…hmm…absolutely delicious.

So my friends, this Instant Pot Taiwanese Meat Sauce is –

Easy
Healthy
Taiwanese style of meat ragu/bolognese
Savory and naturally sweet
Great over rice, cauli rice, zoodles,
& paleo Whole30 Keto friendly !

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Recipe Card

Instant Pot Taiwanese Meat Sauce (Paleo, Whole30, Keto)

4.97 from 26 votes

By ChihYu Smith

Prep: 15 minutes mins

Cook: 30 minutes mins

Natural Release: 10 minutes mins

Total: 45 minutes mins

Servings: 6 people

Instant Pot Taiwanese Meat Sauce with Crispy Shallots! Taiwanese style pressure cooker meat sauce is similar to bolognese and with shiitake and bamboo shoots. This Paleo Whole30 Keto instant pot meat sauce is healthy, easy, and full of flavor. Serve it over steamed rice for gluten-free meal, cauliflower rice, or sautéed zoodles for low carb dinner! 

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Ingredients  

1x2x3x

For the ground meat seasonings:

• ▢ 1.5 lbs ground pork beef, chicken, or turkey
• ▢ 1.5 tsp coarse salt
• ▢ ⅛ tsp white or black pepper
• ▢ ¼ tsp 5 spice powder
• ▢ 2 tbsp coconut aminos
• ▢ 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
• ▢ ¼ tsp + ¼ tsp garlic and onion powder

Aromatics:

• ▢ 4 tbsp garlic cloves finely chopped (~ 8-10 large cloves)
• ▢ 3 large shallots thin sliced lengthwise, reserve ~ ⅓ qty. for pan fried crispy shallots
• ▢ 1.5 tbsp ginger finely chopped
• ▢ 4 bulbs scallions separate white + green parts
• ▢ ½ tsp dry red pepper flakes or 1 fresh serrano chili pepper without seeds optional

For the Instant Pot sauce seasonings :

• ▢ 1 cup chicken stock
• ▢ 4 tbsp coconut aminos
• ▢ 2-3 tbsp tomato paste
• ▢ 3 pitted dates roughly break open in half
• ▢ 4 oz. or more fresh shiitake
• ▢ 5-8 oz. fresh bamboo shoots

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions 

• Season the ground meat with salt, pepper, 5-spice powder, coconut aminos, sesame oil, and garlic and onion powder. Mix well and set aside in the fridge while prepare ingredients under ‘aromatics’.
• Press Saute and wait until the panel shows ‘hot’. Add 2 tbsp cooking fat of your choice, saute garlic, shallots, ginger, white parts of scallions, and chili pepper. Season with a pinch of salt and keep sauteing until fragrant (about 10 seconds). Stir frequently so they won’t get burnt.
• Add seasoned ground meat and break it further to smaller pieces. Saute about 3 minutes. Season with another pinch of salt. Press Off/Cancel button. Add chicken stock, coconut aminos, tomato paste, pitted dates, shiitake, and bamboo shoots. Stir the ingredients to distribute the broth and seasonings. Seal the Instant Pot lid and valve. Press Manual on high for 30 minutes. Wait for 10 minutes before quick release. When open the lid try to avoid extra water/liquid goes into the pot.
• In the meantime, in a well-heated large skillet, add 2 tbsp avocado oil. Saute sliced shallots (previous reserved quantity) and season with a pinch of salt over medium heat. Keep stir-frying until they are in golden brown crispy (about 5 mins). The shallots will first turn translucent color then become crispy. Pay attention to the stovetop temperature so they won’t get burnt. Once golden brown, spread them over a piece of paper towel to soak up extra oil.
• Taste the sauce once it’s slightly cooler (not pipping hot) then decide if you want to season it with more salt, coconut aminos, or tomato paste. Ladle the meat sauce over cauliflower rice, lightly sauteed zoodles, or steamed white rice. Sprinkle crispy shallots and green parts of scallions. Serve in room temperature.

Notes

Store the extra meat sauce in the pot along with the sauce overnight in the fridge. The flavor will become even deeper overnight.

 

If you want to add more veggies, diced carrots will be a good choice. I don’t recommend adding vegetables that contain a lot of water as they might dilute the sauce flavor (i.e. make the sauce weaker). You can, however, hot water blanch bok choy, broccoli florets...etc. and add the veggies to individual serving bowl.

Nutrition

Calories: 390kcal, Carbohydrates: 17g, Protein: 22g, Fat: 26g, Saturated Fat: 9g, Cholesterol: 81mg, Sodium: 624mg, Potassium: 665mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 10g, Vitamin A: 230IU, Vitamin C: 6.4mg, Calcium: 47mg, Iron: 1.9mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Like this recipe? Leave a comment below!

Looking for a stovetop version ? Check out my Asian Taco Meat Sauce for meal prep bowls !

Want more Instant Pot Recipes ?  Paleo Vietnamese Pho with Beef Brisket, Paleo Chinese Chicken Bone Broth, Easy Butter Chicken, and Best Whole30 Instant Pot Recipes !