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This really is the best Instant Pot beef stew – I have been testing this for over a year and have perfected it to be a fantastic, mouth-watering dinner! Tucking into this delicious instant pot beef stew is the BEST way to warm you up on a cold fall or winter’s day!
Love beef? Try my Beef Shank (Osso Bucco)
Instant Pot Beef Stew
A wholesome, hearty stew really is the ultimate comfort food and it always reminds me of when my Mom used to make big batches of stews and soups when the cool weather came in. If you haven’t made beef stew in the instant pot before, this recipe is going to be a total game-changer for you – trust me! This is one of my favorite lazy weekend meals and I’m pretty sure it’ll become one of yours too. Ahh… the magic of the instant pot!
If you’d like to try out some more instant pot recipes make sure to check out my beef & barley stew and bucket o’ gravy instant pot roast!
The Best Type of Meat for Beef Stew
I always go for beef chuck or blade because it tends to produce the most tender beef and it’s SO flavorful!
BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT PART ABOUT THE BEEF: CUT IT INTO PIECES THAT ARE SMALLER THAN YOUR POTATOES!
Yes, I just yelled that in all caps. If you want the most tender, fall-apart beef possible in 35 minutes in your Instant Pot, you are going to have to cut the pieces small enough for the pressure cooker to break down the connective tissues and yield tender, juicy meat.
How to Make Instant Pot Beef Stew
This is honestly the easiest stew ever thanks to the pressure cooker!
- Whisk the flour, salt, and pepper together.
- Add the beef to the flour mixture, toss until coated, and shake off the excess flour.
- Heat the oil in your instant pot and add in the beef. Cook until browned, then fry the garlic.
- Deglaze the pot with the broth mixture.
- Add the remaining ingredients and stir until combined.
- Cook for 35 mins on high pressure.
- Let the pressure naturally release for 10 minutes, then manually release, stir and serve!
What to Serve With Beef Stew
This beef stew is a pretty filling meat and potatoes meal all on its own, so you don’t really need any side dishes! But if you do want to add some sides, just keep it simple. I sometimes serve it up with buttered dinner rolls or Jiffy cornbread, and a Caesar salad as a nice light side works well too!
How to Freeze Beef Stew
You’ll be glad to know that this instant pot beef stew is really easy to freeze, so you can prepare a batch in advance for the weeks ahead and easily keep any leftovers on standby! Just place your stew in a heavy-duty freezer bag or in covered airtight containers and it’ll last for up to 3 months frozen. When you’re ready to use it you don’t even need to pre-thaw, you can just place the frozen block directly into a pot to cook on low heat until it’s ready!
If you think you’ll be using up your leftovers pretty soon there’s no real need to freeze them, you can just place the airtight containers in the refrigerator instead, where they will keep for about 4 days. I do this quite a bit when I want to use them up for school lunches.
I hope you enjoy this one! I have been making it for over a year now, and have it down to the exact right amount of easy, in-your-pantry ingredients that are the perfect blend. Loaded with stew meat (my kids love the meat more than the veggies lol), just enough tomato paste, just enough Worcestershire, I have officially stopped fiddling with it and THIS is my go-to recipe from now on!
Happy Cooking!
Love,
Karlynn
The Best Instant Pot Beef Stew
Ingredients
Beef
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 pounds of stewing beef (cut into 1/2 inch pieces)
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Stew Ingredients
- 1 medium white or yellow onion sliced
- 3-4 medium carrots washed and cut into 1 inch chunks
- 3 large russet potatoes cubed into 1 inch chunks
- 4-5 large white mushrooms sliced
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 4 cups of beef broth
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- fresh parsley to garnish if desired
- 1/3 cup red wine optional
Instructions
- Whisk together the flour, salt and pepper. Place the beef in the flour mixture and toss until the beef is coated. Shake off the excess.
- In the bottom of your Instant Pot, heat the oil using the saute button. Add in the beef and cook until browned. Add in the garlic and saute another 2 minutes until fragrant.
- Whisk together the broth, Worcestershire, tomato paste, rosemary and thyme. ( add red wine now as well if desired).
- Pour a small amount of the broth mixture into the bottom of the Instant Pot and deglaze by scraping the browned bits off of the bottom of the pot. Pour more broth in as needed until the bottom is cleaned and the browned bits have dissolved into the liquid, then add the rest of the broth.
- Add in the rest of the ingredients and then stir until combined. Use the high-pressure button and cook for 35 minutes.
- Let the pot naturally release for 10 minutes then remove the lid according to the manufacturer's instructions.
- Stir and serve.
Notes
- make sure that your meat is cut half the size of the vegetables in order for it to cook properly.
Nutrition
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Jen Zampino says
This recipe was amazing! Meat was very tender. I made mashed russet potatoes and a salad on the side. So good, will be making it again!
Karlynn Johnston says
Awesome to hear!
Shelley says
Is it just me? My pot keeps giving me a burn notification just as pressure building is completed. I have dumped out the pot in order to scrub it twice now, this time I’m turning the temperature to low. I even tried increasing the amount of beef broth.
Karlynn says
I have two instant pots and neither one has the burn function and I find that this is the model that works the best. I’ve never had anything burn as long as you bring it up to pressure and there is a lot of liquid in this recipe. I find that the models that have the burn function are very finicky. one thing you can do is make sure to really deglaze the bottom of the instant pot so there is absolutely nothing stuck to it that would set off that burn function!