Instant Pot Beef Stew is a heart-warming dish that will have the whole family's taste buds dancing for joy. It's perfect for colder weather, and the beef and vegetable combination is so delightful and delicious that everyone will love it.
Contents
🍲 Why This Recipe Works
Traditional beef stew in an instant pot is brilliant! I adore making wonderful soups and stews in my crockpot because I don't have to worry about washing dishes or spending time in the kitchen checking to see if anything has been done correctly.
Simply put, it's a matter of turning on the machine and letting it take care of everything!
This classic beef stew is a comfort meal with hearty flavor and winter veggies like pumpkin, turnips, and green beans. It's been a regular in my household for years and never gets old.
Stews prepared in an electric pressure cooker, instant pot, or crockpot will have rich gravy, delicate beef, and veggies every time.
I'm always experimenting with my instant pot to make delectable meals like mouthwatering short ribs and my slow cooker sticky Asian lamb.
However, this tasty dish only takes 45 minutes from start to finish and still produces a lovely gravy and melt-in-your-mouth beef like my bottom round roast.
If you love beef stew, keep reading for my easy-to-follow instructions and learn how to make it, as well as other quick and easy recipes you'll love.
🍽 What You Need
I prefer to use grass-fed beef for greater taste. For better flavor, I suggest buying a decent chuck steak and, ideally, grass-fed beef. I ask my butcher for cubed chuck beef, rump, or bottom roast since it has lots of tissues that break down over time in the instant pot, generating a perfect gravy.
Since national meat prices are on the rise, check out my article on cheap beef cuts and how to save money on beef.
Optional
Thickening Instant Pot stews is optional and best done once the stew is finished. Combine 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 1 tablespoon of cold water in a small bowl. Stir until you have a paste like slurry.
Once your stew is done, open the lid, add the slurry, and combine. Set the Instant Pot to SAUTE and allow the stew to come to a boil and thicken up. As soon as it comes to a bowl, turn it off, your stew is ready.
Note: If you'd prefer a thicker stew, repeat the process above.
🔪 How to Make Instant Pot Beef Stew
Instant Pot Beef Stew is super easy to make, requires minimal prep, and you'll have it cooked in about 30 minutes. Learn how to make this beef stew recipe with my easy step-by-step instructions, cooking instructions, cooking tips, and walkthrough video.
Preparation
Chop your pumpkin, turnip, onion, and green beans. Or use your own vegetables!
Cooking Instructions
Step 1
Then switch on the instant pot, set to high-heat and let it come to heat. Then add a tablespoon of oil and the beef cubes. Cook the meat until it starts to brown, and add salt and pepper to taste.
Step 2
Combine the garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and oregano with the beef stew meat and continue cooking for another minute.
Step 3
Add in the onions, green beans, squash, turnips, and beef bone broth. Stir everything together, and then pour the Worcestershire sauce and balsamic vinegar.
Step 4
Finally, add the diced tomatoes and combine well. Close the lid on the Instant pot and let it simmer in soup mode for 30 minutes.
Step 5
Serve immediately with a dollop of sour cream, freshly chopped parsley, and green onions.
💭 Cooking Tips for Beef Stews
Vegetables
Chop the pumpkin, butternut squash, potatoes or turnips into small 1 inch cubes so that they cook perfectly. Over-sized cubes may still be a bit hard after 30 minutes in the instant cooker.
If you go the traditional route and prepare this in a slow cooker, dutch oven, or on the stove, use 2 inche cubes. This helps offsets the increased cooking time!
Fresh Herbs
Fresh herbs and spices take this stew to another level. Herbs like thyme, oregano, rosemary and bay leaves work great.
🙋 Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need an Instant Pot?
Of course not! If you have an instant pot, this melt in your mouth beef stew is ready in about 30 minutes. If you do not, consider simmering your stew on the stove.
How to prepare beef stew in a Slow Cooker?
For perfectly cooked vegetables and the ultimate stew, set to high and cook for 3 hours. If you're not worried about the cooking time, set your slow cooker to low and cook for 6 hours. Either way you'll have super tender beef and a delicious recipe everyone will love.
I recommend 2" cubed sized vegetables.
How to prepare beef stew in a Dutch Oven?
A Dutch oven has good heat retention, making it ideal for cooking large batches of food like beef stew. The first step in creating flavor is to brown the meat.
Making beef stew is wonderful because it allows you to do everything in one pot, from browning the meat to adding all of the taste boosters. Cook your stew at 325 degree Fahrenheit (not too hot) for 2-3 hours.
How to prepare a classic stove top beef stew?
Preparing a classic stop top stew is another option. Take a large 6 quart or larger pot. Follow the same instructions, but reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for about 2 hours or until beef is fork-tender.
📖 Beef Stew Variations
Broth
Any flavored broth can be used in this recipe, like vegetable or chicken broth. You can even make stew without broth, just add water.
Instant pot beef stew red wine
Add 1 cup of good red wine and 3 cups of broth for a richer gravy. The acidity from the wine will tenderize the beef also making it even tastier.
Vinegar
White wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, or apple cider vinegar are suitable substitutes for balsamic vinegar.
Instant pot beef stew with tomato paste
Adding a teaspoon of tomato paste after the beef is browned is my little secret to enhance the gravy.
🥗 What to serve with
Wondering what to serve with beef stew? Beef stews are a classic example of homey, comforting cuisine. A serving of this beauty contains juicy chunks of beef and delicious vegetables immersed in a pool of delicious and savory soup.
Garden Salad
A simple side salad is always a good choice. It adds complexity and interest to the whole meal by providing bright contrasts in taste and texture.
The soup is rich and hearty, while the salad is light and crisp. They complement one another beautifully when combined.
Plus, it's a snap to prepare. Simply toss together romaine lettuce, onions, and parmesan cheese with a vinaigrette dressing.
Whole Roasted Cauliflower
Cauliflower is an extremely versatile vegetable that can be prepared in many different ways. It makes a wonderful side-dish and is really simple to make.
💡 Related Beef Ideas
- How to cook Bottom Round Roast
- Cheap Beef Cuts: How to save money of beef
- 25 Leftover Roast Beef Recipes
🧊 Storing and ♨️ Reheating
Storing beef stew is easy! You can store it in the fridge or freezer once it has cooled down.
Store in the Fridge
Transfer the beef stew to a pot with a lid or an airtight container and chill it for up to three days. It's preferable in the case of a pot since you can just warm it up over the stove rather than transferring everything.
Store in the Freezer
To keep the stew for longer, transfer any leftovers to an airtight container. Freeze it for up to four months, then thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.
How to Reheat Instant Pot Beef Stew
Beef stew is easily heated on the stove or the microwave. Heat until you reached your desired temperature and serve.
👪 Serving size
This delicious instant pot beef stew serves six people and may be increased for larger gatherings. This dish may be prepared in a large stove pot for more individuals if necessary.
I hope you will love this Instant Pot beef stew as much as my family and I do.
📋 Recipe
Instant Pot Beef Stew
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 pound stew meat - ideally organic grass fed
- 1 cup pumpkin - chopped (or butternut squash)
- 4 small turnips - chopped
- ½ onion - diced
- 1 cup green beans - sliced into 1 inch pieces
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon olive oil - cold pressed
- 4 cups beef broth
- 2 cups bay leaves
- ½ cup tomatoes - diced
Instructions
- Turn the instant pot to Saute, and wait until it comes to heat.
- Add in 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and your stew meat, and saute until browned well. Add salt and pepper to taste to the meat.
- Mix in the minced garlic, bay leaves, oregano and thyme, and continue cooking for another minute.
- Stir in the onions, butternut squash, green beans and turnips.
- Pour in the beef broth.
- Mix in the worcestershire sauce and balsamic vinegar, stirring to combine.
- Add in the diced tomatoes.
- Close the lid on the Instant Pot, and select 30 minutes on the “soup” option.
Lori
So delicious, what amazing flavor! The Balsamic definitely gave depth to the flavor.
My store didn't have pumpkin, and I didn't want to chase one down so I got butternut squash and they were also out of turnips so I opted for parsnips.
I made the night before, stove top, so it had time to cook and all I had to do was reheat. I think this helped the flavors meld too.
730 Sage Street
Awesome Lori, sounds perfect to me!