Instant Pot Beef Stew

Hearty Beef Stew tastes delicious any time of the year but it can be a lengthy process to make, requiring hours to simmer to perfection. Enter the Instant Pot. Now you can have that bowl of comfort in much less time.

Nothing says winter like stick-to-your-ribs beef stew, and it’s one of those dishes that often gets kept for cold wintry months. I used to save this for snow days since good stew required hours at home simmering stew on the stove top until the meat was ultra-tender. But no more! Now it can be made any time of year and on any day of the week. These days, an Instant Pot really speeds up the process — you can have a savory stew on the table in just about an hour. It’s incredible how tender the beef comes out this way. I think I actually prefer it to traditional stove top methods.

What Beef Should You Use For Beef Stew?

Most grocery stores sell packages of cubed stew meat that are perfect for this recipe. However, you can also cut beef chuck into 2-inch cubes. Chuck is great for stew because it doesn’t have much fat so it doesn’t make your gravy greasy. The long cooking time (or, in this case, cooking under pressure) breaks down the collagen in the meat, making it super succulent.

How Should You Thicken Beef Stew In The Instant Pot?

When making stew on the stove top, most recipes call for sprinkling the meat with flour right at the beginning. That flour helps thicken the stew as everything cooks together. When cooking under pressure though, the flour tends to separate and get clumpy. Instead of adding it at the beginning, combine flour and water into a thin paste and stir it into the hot stew after it’s cooked. A few minutes of simmering will be enough to thicken things up nicely with no clumps to be found.

Instant Pot Beef Stew

Contributor: Lauren Keating

Hearty Beef Stew tastes delicious any time of the year but it can be a lengthy process to make, requiring hours to simmer to perfection. Enter the Instant Pot. Now you can have that bowl of comfort in much less time.

• Author: Lauren Keating
• Prep Time: 10 Minutes
• Cook Time: 45 Minutes
• Total Time: 55 minutes
• Yield: 6 Servings 1x
• Category: Entrée
• Method: Instant Pot
• Cuisine: American

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 and ½ lbs. cubed stewing beef or chuck
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• ¾ lb. small Yukon Gold potatoes, halved
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 onion, cut into 6 wedges
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 and ½ cups beef stock or homemade beef bone broth
• 1 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 tsp.  Worcestershire sauce
• ½ tsp. crushed rosemary
• ½ tsp. dried thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 2 Tbsp. water
• ⅛ cup chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

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Instructions

1. Generously season the beef with salt and pepper.
2. Set a 6-Quart Instant Pot to Sauté. Add the olive oil. When hot, add the beef. Cook 5-10 minutes, turning after each side is browned, until deeply browned on all sides.
3. Add the potatoes, carrots, onion, garlic, beef stock, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, rosemary, thyme and bay leaves. Cover with the lid and lock in place, making sure the vent is set to sealing.
4. Cook under high pressure for 20 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes.
5. Use a gravy separator (like this one) to skim the fat from the liquid.
6. Mix together the flour and eater to form a smooth paste. Stir the paste into the stew. Set the Instant Pot to Sauté and simmer for 10 minutes or until the gravy is thickened.
7. Adjust the seasonings to taste. Garnish with parsley.