Instant Pot Beef Stew

Make comfort food faster by learning how to make Instant Pot Beef Stew! The tender meat melts in your mouth along with hearty carrots, peas, and potatoes served with a rich beef gravy. Ready in 90 minutes!

With the temperatures finally dropping to sweater weather along with annoying dreary rain, it’s time to cozy up to your favorite comfort foods!

The problem is a lot of comfort foods such as stove top beef stew involve tough cuts of meat, which means they take several hours to cook.

Luckily for us there’s a way to cook them in almost half the time with this Instant Pot Beef Stew recipe!

You may have heard of an Instant Pot, but do you know what it is? It’s a pressure cooker designed to cook food faster using steam pressure.

Pressure cooking isn’t new to the culinary world, but most home cooks have never used one.

In fact, I was a little scared at first because I didn’t want to burn myself or have the machine explode. However, you’ll learn quickly once you understand how the safety valve works, it’s quite easy.

At first I was reluctant about owning an Instant Pot, thinking it was a trend that’ll die soon.

However, a client requested a recipe, so now I own this giant machine. Seriously, it’s huge and my cat J tried sitting in it.

After making a few more pressure cooker recipes such as my Instant Pot pork roast, I think I’m in love. I asked you on social media whether you’d be interested in Instant pot recipes for two

Most of you said yes, so let’s start with beef stew in the Instant Pot.

It’s a comforting dinner for two with tender chunks of beef and hearty carrots and potatoes served with a rich, savory beef gravy.

Normally it takes about 2.5 hours on the stove from start to finish, but this pressure cooker beef stew recipe is ready in 90 minutes!

And honestly most of that time is hands off, so you can do work on other tasks while you wait.

Ingredients For Instant Pot Beef Stew

Here are the ingredients you need to cook your Instapot beef stew:

• Beef chuck roast: The best cut of beef for stew is boneless chuck roast because it won’t dry out and is more affordable. The marbling breaks down during the long cooking process, making the meat fork tender.
• Salt and pepper: Seasoning for your meat
• Vegetable oil: Used to sear your beef
• Beef stock or broth: Liquid needed to cook your stew
• Worcestershire sauce : Adds some umami taste
• Brown sugar: A touch of sweetness to balance the flavors
• Onion and garlic: Aromatics to build your base
• Carrots, potato, and peas: Vegetables that pair well with beef
• Thyme or rosemary: A hearty herb that adds freshness
• Lemon juice: Acidity that cuts through the richness
• Cornstarch and water: If your liquid is a little too thin, you may need to use cornstarch to help thicken it for a gravy

Why buy an Instant Pot?

One major benefit to a pressure cooker is steam pressure cooks meat faster than the oven.

For example, if you cooked this beef stew recipe on the stove, it would take you almost 2 hours until the meat is tender (not including the vegetables or gravy).

In the Instant Pot, it takes about 30 minutes for the meat to melt in your mouth.

The fact I can make a hearty beef stew faster without sacrificing flavor is quite amazing.

You can even make dessert in it like Instant Pot Cheesecake or Instant Pot Pumpkin Cheesecake!

Unlike a slow cooker, you can sear the meat directly in the pot. This means the meat will have more flavor from the browning.

With a slow cooker, most inserts aren’t stovetop proof, so you have to sear the meat in a separate pan then transfer it to the cooker.

Not only is there an extra dish to wash, sometimes you don’t have time if you’re prepping the slow cooker before leaving for work.

Ready to buy one? I have the LUX60V3 6-in-1 use, but you can use most newer models.

But I have a slow cooker. Why do I need an Instant Pot?

It’s different than a slow cooker because a slow cooker takes about 4-8 hours to cook. If you don’t get your food into the slow cooker on time, you may be eating dinner at midnight.

An Instant Pot cooks a lot faster. In fact, you can come home from work, use your Instant Pot, and have dinner ready in about an hour (prep time pending).

It’s also not a one trick pony appliance. Depending on the model, you have about 6-8 cooking options, including slow cooker.

That means you can still make your slow cooker recipes without using a separate appliance.

What do you hate about the Instant Pot?

Not every appliance is perfect! One downfall is the pot is a little small, so it’s hard to cook giant batches of meat.

Luckily this is a small batch recipe blog, so it’s not an issue for us. It’s also a bit deep, so you have to use tongs instead of a spatula to flip anything.

It’s also hard to check on the meat until the pressure cycle is over, so if your meat isn’t fully cooked in the middle, you have to repeat the cycle.

That means you have to spend extra time waiting for the pressure to build back up before the timer begins. Luckily since the appliance is already hot, it won’t take as long the second time around.

It also takes longer to cook than advertised. Sure, the beef itself may cook in 30 minutes, but then you have to wait for the pot to come to pressure THEN the 30 minute timer starts. After it’s done, then you have to wait for the steam to be released before opening.

I find the Instant Pot useful for tough cuts of meat that typically take a few hours normally, but for easier things like pasta and rice, I wouldn’t drag out the machine for them.

How To Make Instant Pot Beef Stew

Here’s how to make your easy beef stew in the Instant Pot:

1. Sear beef in Instant Pot until brown on both sides.
2. Whisk in broth, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, and salt, scraping up all the brown bits on the bottom.
3. Add garlic, carrots, onion, potato, and herb sprig.
4. Cover the pot with the lid and lock. Set the steam release valve to Sealing. Select the Meat/Stew button and set the cook time to 30 minutes.
5. Vent and unlock the lid.
6. Stir in cornstarch mixed with water then select the Sauté button Add the peas and cook until thickened.

Let cool for 10 minutes before serving. Refrigerate leftover beef stew in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

Can you freeze beef stew?

Yes, you can freeze Instapot beef stew with some adjustments.

First – If you know ahead of time you’re freezing it, you’ll want to undercook the carrots and potatoes. The vegetables in stew tend to be softer after freezing, so undercooking will help with that.

If you didn’t plan ahead and freeze it after fully cooking the vegetables, the stew will still be fine. Sometimes I find myself picking out the potatoes if they’re too soft, but you’ll have to use your best judgment when reheating.

If they’re still a bit crunchy after thawing, you can reheat the stew until they’re more tender. It’s better to cook it more later than to overcook it in the beginning.

Second, because I use cornstarch to thicken it, there’s a chance the gravy may separate when reheating.

If you’re meal prepping and not eating the stew right away, you can leave out the cornstarch altogether then add it when reheating.

However, if you already ate dinner and want to freeze some leftovers, you can still freeze it with cornstarch.

If the gravy does separate after reheating, you can take some of the separated gravy, whisk it in a separate bowl with cornstarch, then add it back in. That should smooth the sauce again.

More Beef Recipes

If you enjoyed this Instant pot beef stew recipe, check out my other beef recipes:

• Steak Dinner For Two
• BBQ Bacon Burgers
• Lasagna For Two
• One Pot Lasagna Soup

First published on October 1, 2018