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This family pleasing beef stew is ready in less than one hour! Your Instant Pot is the secret.
Cooked-All-Day Taste In 60 Minutes
Love that great flavor you get when beef stew is cooked for hours? If you’d like that taste in less than one hour, then you’ll flip over this stew made in the Instant Pot.
Of course the Instant Pot, or any electronic pressure cooker, will produce the taste of long cooking dishes. In fact, one of my most popular recipes, Roadhouse Ribs, takes less than 30 minutes using the pot.
Because the pot cooks at a temperature higher than water boils and under pressure, the flavors infuse perfectly.
This appliance is a boon to anyone who works all day and doesn’t have time to fuss once they get home. Old-fashioned meals can be made on the double-up!
Beef Stew: Add Your Favorite Things
My favorite things to add are pearl onions, potatoes, turnips and carrots.
That combination seems to impart the best flavor to the gravy…at least for me.
There’s no hard and fast rules here, so add your favorites. The only veggies I would say are a must to add are the carrots and the potatoes. They’re fairly traditional and I think most folks always include them. I often add peas at the end for a pop of color. All I do is run frozen peas under warm water to defrost them. The heat from the gravy will completely cook them.
Subtle Herb Flavor
This beef stew gets a very subtle flavor from two of my favorite herbs–rosemary and thyme.
There isn’t much added, merely a small sprig of each, but it accounts for the great tasting gravy. There’s just enough to give it a certain flavor, but not too much that it’s overpowering. Since rosemary can be an overpowering herb, I’d advise using a sprig about 2-inches long. Of course if you like an intense flavor, add another sprig of the same size or one large one.
Other Brands Of Electric Pressure Cookers
Instant Pot and many other electric pressure cookers have pre-set cycles. “Meat/Stew” on the Instant Pot (and Wolfgang Puck 7-in-1) is high pressure and 20 minutes. (Thanks to reader Sarah for bringing this to my attention).
The Recipe
Instant Pot Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 1 lb cut up stew meat chuck, top round, shoulder
- 1/2 cup flour
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 cups beef stock
- 4 large potatoes cut in 1-inch chunks
- 1 bag 14 oz frozen pearl onions (don’t defrost)
- 1 cup carrots cut in 1-inch chunks
- 3 turnips cut in 1-inch chunks
- 8 oz fresh mushrooms quartered
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 sprig about 3-inches rosemary -OR- 1 tsp dried
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme -OR- 1 tsp dried
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tbsp worcesteshire sauce
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- 1/2 cup peas
Instructions
- Place flour in a large bowl, add meat and toss to coat.
- Set Instant Pot on Saute (medium heat setting). Add the butter. When butter sizzles, place the meat in the pot to brown on all sides.
- Pour the stock in the pot and scrape up the browned bits at the bottom.
- Add the vegetables, onions, herbs, salt, garlic, tomato paste, worcestershire sauce, soy sauce & brown sugar. Stir well.
- Cover, seal and set on Meat/Stew, Reduce pressure naturally (takes about 15 min). For other branded pots, see the post above for guidelines.
- Stir in the peas (they will cook from residual heat)
- You can thicken by mixing 3 tbs cornstarch in 1/2 cup water—stir in and bring to a boil.
Nutrition
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Diana Lopes says
Your beef stew looks so delicious!! My parents are coming to visit me this weekend so I’ll try this recipe to impress them. Thank you!
Judith Hanneman says
This was vert good too Diana and I hope you & your folks like it!
linda mann says
i have to make this pot roast it looks and sounds sooooo good i know my husband will love it
Judith Hanneman says
Hope you enjoy it!
Terry says
Lovely website and some fantastic recipes. I am quite a novice when it comes to cooking food – but looking forward to following your instructions and hoping I can create what looks delicious on your images 🙂
Judith Hanneman says
I try to keep them simple because simple is generally best! If you need help with some ingredients–we call some stuff different names in the USA, but I can usually give you the equivalent that’s sold in UK.