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