Braciole with sauce is an authentic Italian dish that I’ve enjoyed on special Sundays my entire life. I’m so happy to share share my personal recipe to make this flavorful beef, rolled into individual roasts, and cooked in a simmering tomato sauce.
(Jump to Recipe)Italian recipes are traditions passed down from generation to generation and from region to region. I share my personal way, that has been taught to me, and with my life experience in-mind. This was never served to me as one roll. There are no breadcrumbs or onions. There is no pounding of beef. I use pure, simple, whole ingredients with a melt in your mouth taste that I remember and I am passing down to you and to my own family. With my way of making this happen, it can still be considered a best-meal on my regular cooking list. How I show you is awesome to me, because it’s so easy, that you can enjoy this meal that is typically served as a Sunday supper, any night of the week.
The items you need to make braciole with sauce in the most easy and delicious way possible, are all of the ingredients I listed in this recipe, a pressure cooker, and some twine. Every other tool, you’ll have. Let’s make some authentic Italian food!
When I was a child, my mom, brother and I, would spend every Sunday afternoon at my Nonna’s (grandmother) house, and we would stay for dinner. We’d change out of our church clothes and hang out to play outside, color and draw, watch tv, read, play Italian card games, pick veggies and fruit from her garden and trees, help her water her garden, help and watch her cook, and do all of the incredible things she achieved: roast coffee beans, bake bread, make pasta, olives, make sausage, or soap, knit and crochet. Family would stop for a visit while she was in the midst of her activities and mode of creating and tending that seemed never-ending. I was in awe of all that she could do, while in constant prayer. I wanted to be like her. I still strive for that goal, and think of her anytime I’m in my own little garden, watering my plants, or cooking food like this – that she made.
Every single Sunday dinner, until she passed away when I was a teenager, would involve a tomato-based sauce to top any number of pastas that she would either make by hand, or have bought from a store where the pasta was imported from Italy. If there was dessert, it was a slice of fruit or cantaloupe. Nonna did not speak a word of English and I loved it. I lost most all of the confidence I had in language speaking skills, but I understood every single word she uttered. I loved her so much. I still do. Those quiet times there, away from the world and in her home, helped to make me who I am today. I’m grateful for her love and that precious time.
Watch my step by step, to make Braciole, with sauce and al dente spaghetti, on YouTube.
If she were preparing a beef-sauce, I would watch my Nonna take her big pot out and tend to her sauce for hours before it was time to serve us dinner. It would start with beef bones that she got from her butcher, that had some meat on them and nice-marrow. The tomato sauce would be from the glass Mason jars kept in her garage-pantry, from when the whole family would get together with truck-loads of Roma tomatoes, to cook and can them so that everyone had all the sauce they needed for the year. My upbringing as a first generation Italian-American was such a wonderful way to be raised.
Here, with the recipe I have developed, ingredient prep time should take about five minutes. On-task cooking takes about five minutes, and the rest is all done by the pressure cooker. You set it at 45 minutes for a one hour total time, and set it to the warm function, to serve whenever you want – it can be hours later. This is such a simple way to enjoy one of the best Italian meals. This is so good, it will make you forget about meatballs. Yep. I said it.
Braciole with Sauce
Equipment
- pressure cooker, twine.
Ingredients
for braciole
- 1 pound sliced beef bottom round roast about 6-8 pieces
- 6 tablespoons garlic, minced about 6 cloves
- 1/2 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped
- 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated
- 2 teaspoons coarse salt to taste – seasoning each slice of meat
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper to taste – seasoning each slice of meat
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil or any other high-heat oil of your choice: grape seed, canola, vegetable
for sauce
- 4 cups tomato sauce two small cans, or about 30 ounces – plain sauce with no seasoning
- 1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh oregano chopped
- 1/4 cup Italian basil chopped
- 3 tablespoons garlic, minced about 3 cloves
- 1 tablespoon coarse salt
- 1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh-cracked black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes* At home, we like our sauce with a spicy-kick, and I use 1 tablespoon of red pepper flakes.
additional options
- 1 pound pasta or spaghetti
- 1 teaspoon Parmesan cheese topping
- 1 teaspoon Italian parsley topping
Instructions
- Prep all of your ingredients to roll the little beef roasts.
- Add minced garlic to the center of each slice of sliced, beef-bottom round roast.
- Add fresh-chopped Italian parsley.
- Season with salt and fresh cracked black pepper.
- Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.
- Roll each slice to keep in all of the ingredients. If there is a short side, roll it into the long side.
- Use twine to tie and knot each roll.
- Set your pressure cooker to "Saute." Have it come to a hot heat. Add one tablespoon of avocado oil and place the rolls in.
- Brown each roll by turning and cooking somewhat evenly.
- Turn off the "Saute" setting. Pour in all of the tomato sauce onto to the top of the browned bracioles.
- Add the chopped parsley, basil and oregano. If not using fresh-cut herbs, you can substitute for 1-2 tablespoons of a dried Italian seasoning mix.
- Add the salt, coarse black pepper, fresh and fine-ground black pepper and red pepper flakes. We use one tablespoon for a nice heat and kick. I recommend using 1/4 teaspoon for flavor, if you do not want a spicy sauce.
- Use a wooden spoon to get the ingredients into the sauce. Close the pressure cooker. Place on the "Sealing" setting for the top. Select the "Meat" button and a high-pressure cooker mode and set the timer to 45 minutes. Select the keep warm setting so that you can return to it whenever you are ready to serve the meal. You can make this hours in advance.
- Your sauce will be done, with pressure released after one hour. It will look somewhat separated when you open it.
- Take a wooden spoon and vigorously turn and mix the sauce so that everything is even and incorporated.
- The sauce will no longer separate and is ready to enjoy.
- Take out each braciole and use kitchen scissors to cut at the twine-knot and easily unravel and remove the twine.
- You can return the braciole into the sauce to keep them warm, and to ensure that the meat will stay tender and not dry out.
- Plate braciole and top with sauce, and optional fresh Italian parsley.
- Serve with the pasta of your choice. In my YouTube video tutorial of this recipe, I show you how I pair this with spaghetti cooked "al dente."
Video
If you really want to create a make-ahead meal that can be prepared and placed in the fridge for later, or frozen for another date, you can prepare my recipe as a baked-pasta dish. Simply place all of the ingredients here, and al-dente cooked pasta, in a casserole dish and cover. When you’re ready to serve, heat your oven to 350-375 degrees, and bake for 30-45 minutes. For crisped edges, remove aluminum foil from covering the top, for the last 15-20 minutes of baking.
I really loved sharing this recipe with you. It is a tiny part of a best time of my life and takes me back every time I taste it! Please let me know if you make this and what you think. Happy Valentine’s Day. Happy Sunday.
With love,
