This Instant Pot beef stew is hearty and flavorful, the perfect comfort food. It cooks relatively quickly, thanks to the electric pressure cooker. And results in perfectly juicy, tender meat every time.
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Hey friends!
With the cooler weather in the air, my thoughts are turning to all the comfort foods. And a delicious stew is probably at the top of my list.
We love this Instant Pot beef stew. The Instant Pot (or electric pressure cooker) makes for a mostly hands-off cooking experience with just 35 minutes of cook time. And the meat comes out so juicy and flavorful, you won’t believe it.
This is another one of those meals where you can throw it in ahead of time and let the keep warm function do its job. When everyone is starving after all the activities of the day, dinner is ready and waiting whenever you need it.
I love those kinds of meals, don’t you?
How to make this Instant Pot Beef Stew
The first step is preparing the meat. I normally use a beef sirloin or chuck roast. You probably can use other cuts too–although I haven’t tried them. The nice thing about using an electric pressure cooker is that the way it cooks tenderizes even the cheaper cuts of meat.
Trim the larger pieces of fat, leaving the smaller patches to give it flavor.
Place meat in a gallon ziplock bag along with some flour and salt and pepper and shake to coat the meat well.
Now brown the beef in the Instant Pot in a little oil using the sauté function (use the more button to select the hottest setting).
Because I’m a little impatient, I normally just brown all of the beef at once. But for a nicer browning job, you can do it in batches.
Remove the beef from the pot and then deglaze with 1/2 cup of water. Deglazing basically means you add liquid to a hot pan and then scrape all the bits that are stuck on the bottom.
Now it’s time to add all the rest of the ingredients and the browned beef back in. I use this homemade chicken bouillon in place of the beef or vegetable bouillon, but you can also use beef or vegetable broth in place of the bouillon + water.
Give everything a good stir then lock the lid in place, select HIGH Pressure and set the time for 35 minutes. When the beep sounds (letting you know it is done), let the pressure natural release for 10 minutes. Then release any remaining pressure by turning the valve.
A great meal to make ahead
As I mentioned, you can make it ahead of time and ignore it once it’s started (which is totally my way of doing things). Once it’s finished cooking, the pressure will naturally release on it’s own. Then the keep warm function will kick in so it’s all ready to go when you are. Oh yeah.
If you’re feeling super fancy, you can pour the stew into a dutch oven (or ovenproof pot) and finish it off in a 400 degree oven for 10-15 minutes. The top of the beef will brown nicely and the whole dish just looks extra pretty. Since this step is mostly for looks, it’s totally optional, and to be honest I skip it 95% of the time. Just keeping it real here.
We normally serve this stew this with homemade bread, a delicious roll, or some biscuits. Go comfort food!
Instant Pot Beef Stew {Electric Pressure Cooker Recipe}
This Instant Pot beef stew is hearty and flavorful, the perfect comfort food. It cooks relatively quickly, thanks to the electric pressure cooker. And results in perfectly juicy, tender meat every time.
Ingredients
For Beef:
- 2 to 2 ½ pounds beef sirloin or chuck roast
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
For Stew:
- 1 ½ cups water, divided
- 1 ½ teaspoon beef or vegetable bouillon see note
- 1 cup diced onion from about 1 medium onion
- 3 large potatoes peeled and chopped into 1-inch pieces
- 6 large carrots peeled and chopped into 1-inch pieces
- 1 stalk celery chopped into ½-inch pieces
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 ½ teaspoons paprika
- 2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
Instructions
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Trim large pockets of fat from roast and cut into 1-inch pieces. Place in gallon ziplock bag.
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Add flour, salt, and pepper to bag, then seal and shake and mix well until beef is well-coated.
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Select sauté on the Instant Pot (make sure it's on the hottest setting – select more to adjust it) and heat canola oil until sizzles. Pour Beef/flour mixture into instant pot and brown 3 to 5 minutes on all sides. Remove from pot and set aside.
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With sauté function still on, add ½ cup of water and stir well, scraping bits from bottom of pot to deglaze. Then turn off.
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Add remaining 1 cup of water, beef bouillon, diced onion, potatoes, carrots, celery, browned beef, minced garlic, bay leaves, paprika, worcestershire sauce. Give everything a good stir and lock lid in place.
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Select High Pressure and set the time for 35 minutes. When the beep sounds, let the pressure natural release for 10 minutes (see note), then release any remaining pressure. When the valve drops, remove the lid.
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Remove bay leaves and serve. Or alternately, pour it into a dutch oven or other ovenproof dish and bake it in the oven at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes. This browns the beef a little more and just finishes it off really nicely.
Recipe Notes
1. For this recipe I use this homemade chicken bouillon in place of the beef or vegetable bouillon. You can also use beef or vegetable broth in place of all or part of the bouillon and water.
2. You can also let the pressure release naturally all the way instead of doing a quick pressure release after 10 minutes. Then it will stay on “keep warm” until you are ready to serve.
Recipe Source: Heather @ The Cook’s Treat
All images and text ©The Cook’s Treat
Disclaimer: post contains affiliate links for items on Amazon.
