Easy Instant Pot Beef Stew

Name: Easy Instant Pot Beef Stew
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 55 min
Ingredients: 2½ lbs beef stew meat; salt and pepper; 2½ tbsp flour; 2 tbsp butter; 2½ cups beef broth; 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce; 1 tbsp tamari or soy sauce; 2 tbsp tomato paste; 3 cloves garlic (minced); ½ tbsp brown sugar; ½ tbsp dried rosemary; 1 bag pearl onions (approx 8-10oz); 8 oz mushrooms (halved); 1 lb baby potatoes (halved); 2 carrots (chopped roughly)

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This super easy Instant Pot Beef Stew will have you grabbing a second bowl! A thick, hearty, and rich stew that’ll keep you warm all winter. With hearty potatoes, carrots, onions, and melt in your mouth beef, it only takes under an hour with an Instant Pot!

This super Easy Instant Pot Beef Stew will have you grabbing a second bowl! A thick and rich sauce filled with hearty potatoes, carrots, onions, and melt in your mouth beef that will only take under an hour with an Instant Pot! #instantpotrecipes #easyinstantpotrecipes #beefstewrecipes

Fast and Easy Instant Pot Beef Stew

I love beef stew! I think one of the first recipes I had made when I got my very first slow cooker was beef stew. There’s just something about winter and snow that makes me crave something cozy like beef stew.

Usually the night before, I’d prep my slow cooker and have it cook overnight on low for 7 hours and reap the delicious benefits in the morning. However, my cravings did not think ahead for me and I didn’t start preparing it the night before. Impatient, I didn’t want to prep a beef stew and have it for dinner…I wanted it ASAP. Luckily, I have an Instant Pot and in under an hour, I was cozied up and eating a big warm bowl of beef stew.

So what’s an Instant Pot?

I have the Duo Plus 9 in 1 Instant Pot. The Duo Plus replaces 9 commonly used kitchen appliances – Pressure Cooker, Slow Cooker, Rice/Porridge Cooker, Yogurt Maker, Cake/Egg Maker, Sauté/Searing, Steam, Warm and Sterilize. It’s quite the multi-use product! Instead of using the slow cooker setting (or bring up my slow cooker from the basement!), I used the pressure cooker setting and had it set for 35 minutes.

35 freaking minutes vs the 4 hours high or 7 hours low with the slow cooker for beef stew. Yes please! Also, because this is using the Instant Pot, it falls under the #OnePotRecipe category too! Minimal dishes! Win-Win-Win!

What You Need To Make Beef Stew in the Instant Pot

beef stew meat
salt and pepper
flour
butter — I always use unsalted butter as the beef stew already has salt added to it.
beef broth — I use Beef Base Better Than Bouillon.
Worcestershire sauce
tamari or soy sauce — I recommend using low sodium when possible.
tomato paste
garlic — minced
brown sugar
dried rosemary — if you have fresh rosemary, you’re welcome to use that instead.
pearl onions — if you do not have pearl onions, chop up two small yellow onions.
mushrooms — you can use white mushrooms or baby bellas. Whatever you have on hand is perfect.
baby potatoes
carrots

How To Make The Best Instant Pot Beef Stew with Potatoes

This super easy Instant Pot beef stew is perfect for beginners too if you’ve just got your Instant Pot. If this is your first time making a recipe with your Instant Pot (after your water test of course), here are some step-by-step photo instructions that should make this easy instant pot beef stew recipe.

Step 1 - beef, salt, pepper, flour This super Easy Instant Pot Beef Stew will have you grabbing a second bowl! A thick and rich sauce filled with hearty potatoes, carrots, onions, and melt in your mouth beef that will only take under an hour with an Instant Pot! #instantpotrecipes #easyinstantpotrecipes #beefstewrecipes

In a large bowl, mix together your stew beef, flour, salt (lightly!), and pepper.

Step 2. Sautee function on IP the beef. This super Easy Instant Pot Beef Stew will have you grabbing a second bowl! A thick and rich sauce filled with hearty potatoes, carrots, onions, and melt in your mouth beef that will only take under an hour with an Instant Pot! #instantpotrecipes #easyinstantpotrecipes #beefstewrecipes

Set your Instant Pot to sauté (LOW). Add your butter and lightly brown your beef. It doesn’t have to be cooked all the way through, just browned. Because I had 2½ pounds of beef for the beef stew, I had to do this in two batches because I didn’t want to overcrowd the pot and have burn marks at the bottom. Do not skip this step. Browning the meat adds SO much flavour!

Step 3 beef broth, rosemary, tomato paste, garlic. This super Easy Instant Pot Beef Stew will have you grabbing a second bowl! A thick and rich sauce filled with hearty potatoes, carrots, onions, and melt in your mouth beef that will only take under an hour with an Instant Pot! #instantpotrecipes #easyinstantpotrecipes #beefstewrecipes

Next add in 2½ cups of beef broth and deglaze the pot if you have to, to avoid any brown bits from browning the beef from burning. Add the Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, garlic, brown sugar, tomato paste, and rosemary as well.

Step 4 add potatoes, onions, carrots, and mushrooms This super Easy Instant Pot Beef Stew will have you grabbing a second bowl! A thick and rich sauce filled with hearty potatoes, carrots, onions, and melt in your mouth beef that will only take under an hour with an Instant Pot! #instantpotrecipes #easyinstantpotrecipes #beefstewrecipes

Next, add in the potatoes, onions, carrots, and mushrooms. Do NOT stir to combine.
Close the Instant Pot lid, close the steam valve, and set the Instant Pot to Meat/Stew or Pressure Cook for 35 minutes on HIGH. It could take up to 10 minutes for the Instant Pot to build up pressure.
When done, you can natural pressure release or quick release if you’re in a rush.

Stir everything together and if your beef stew is a bit too liquidly, not to worry, the stew should thicken a bit once it cools. If it doesn’t, you can add a tablespoon of flour or cornstarch with one tablespoon of cold water, stir to combine, then add the thickening mixture back into the pot before simmering to thicken.

What kind of meat is best to make beef stew?

I recommend stew meat for beef stew. Stew meat is usually just a cubed chuck roast. It’s a cheaper cut of meat that gets super tender from the pressure cooking process. You want to save the more expensive cuts for something else!

What kind of potatoes are best for beef stew?

Red potatoes and Yukon Gold potatoes hold up better than russet potatoes in a stew. I like baby potatoes since it means I can skip the peeling. Just slice them in half.

What are pearl onions and where do I find them?

Pearl onions are small, marble-sized onions. They taste more mild and sweet. To skip peeling, you can purchase them peeled and frozen in the frozen section of your grocery store.

How to make beef stew meat tender?

Normally, the only way to achieve a melt-in-your-mouth texture with tougher cuts of beef like this stew meat is to cook for hours, low and slow. Thanks to the pressure cooker, your meat is tender in a shorter time period as no moisture escapes the pot as it cooks.

Make Ahead Tips

Meal prep: once cooled, store the cooked beef stew in an airtight container for up to 4 days in the fridge.
Freezer: allow the pressure cooker stew to cool before transferring them into an airtight container before storing them in the freezer. They can last for up to 3 months.
If you are freezing this stew raw, I’d recommend skipping the potatoes and adding them in afterwards or going with a waxy potato which holds up better when frozen.
To change this into a dump-and-go meal for the Instant Pot or slow cooker, I froze everything minus the potatoes together and skipped browning the meat then plopped it all into the pot.

My Recommendation

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