Instant Pot Beef Stew Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why is my stew meat tough in Instant Pot? ›

The Secret to Super Tender Beef

The best way to ensure your beef is tender in your Instant Pot stew is to braise it (aka pan sear it first, then let it stew). Braising turns tough cuts of beef into tender, fall-apart bites. But skip the pre-cut stew beef.

For example, cook a 2-pound pot roast at high pressure for 40 minutes and a 3-pound pot roast for 60 minutes. Frozen beef: I highly recommend thawing your beef for this recipe, since you cannot sear the frozen beef. If you must use frozen beef, assume 30 minutes per pound.

More From Good Housekeeping. Taste: For overall taste, the pressure cooker was the hands-down winner. Beef, carrots, and potatoes all retained their rich flavors. After 8 hours in the slow cooker, they emerged bland and seemed to need salt.

Place a lid on top, turn heat down to low, then simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove lid then gently simmer for another 1-1/2 hours, or until the meat is tender and stew has thickened, stirring occasionally. If the stew begins to reduce too quickly before the meat is tender, place the lid back on top.

Not cooking the stew long enough.

Chuck meat is your best bet for beef stew, but it's also a pretty tough cut so it needs time to break down and become tender. Rush the cooking process and the beef will be tough and chewy. Follow this tip: For really tender meat, cook the stew low and slow, for approximately two hours.

While you may cover meat almost completely for a conventional braise, use just enough liquid for the cooker to reach pressure – during pressure cooking the meat will release it's own juice and braise in that flavorful liquid, instead.

Go for the chuck

The most common beef used for stew is chuck steak, also known as gravy beef or braising steak. Beef chuck comes from the forequarter of the animal consisting of parts of the neck, shoulder blade and upper arm. It is easy to find and it's affordable, making it a great choice for your stew.

Like beef broth, chicken broth is a kitchen staple and makes a good substitute if you are all out of the meaty broth. This savory, salty liquid has a milder flavor than beef broth but is a good one-to-one replacement. Chicken broth also has a similar nutrition profile to beef broth, low in calories and high in sodium.

You can still pressure cook leaner pieces – like eye of round and top sirloin – but these work best if they've been stuffed, shredded or rolled (with other ingredients). Best cuts of beef to use: Chuck steak, Round Roast, Shoulder, Pot roast, Ribs, Brisket, Oxtail.

How to Make a Flavorful Beef Stew in the Pressure Cooker. The #1 thing you can do for a flavorful stew is to brown the beef! Especially when you're in a hurry, it can be tempting to just throw everything in the pot to cook. However, you miss out on so much flavor this way!

Can you overcook beef stew in pressure cooker? ›

Yes, you can overcook stew meat in the Instant Pot if you're not careful. While beef stew does get more tender the longer it cooks, there's a fine line between tender and overdone. Make sure to slice your meat cubes to the recommended size in the recipe instructions and follow the cook times closely.

Don't Stew the Stew Too Long Either

It might seem that cooking your beef stew on low for 8 hours will make it even better, but that is not true at all.

Add vegetables: After 1 hour 30 minutes, carefully remove pot from oven and use oven mitt to remove lid. Add vegetables and stir gently to combine. Carefully replace lid on pot and return stew to oven to cook for an additional hour.

The choice becomes easier when you realize that simple baking soda can be an ideal meat tenderizer that helps to bring out all the aromas and flavors in every sizzling beef stew or charburger.

The best cooking method for tenderizing stew meat is slow cooking. This can be achieved by simmering the stew on low heat for a long period, either on the stovetop, in a slow cooker, or in the oven. The low and slow cooking technique allows the collagen in the meat to break down, resulting in tender and juicy meat.

Both slow cookers and pressure cookers do a good job of tenderizing tough meat, but each makes meat more edible in a different way. A pressure cooker is an enclosed pot with a lid that locks to form an airtight seal.

“Beef may be tough in the slow cooker if you haven't added enough liquid, or haven't cooked it for long enough,” Kristen Carli, M.S., R.D., owner of Camelback Nutrition & Wellness, tells SELF. “For cuts of meat, the fattier cuts are often the ones that get juicy and tender.

Traditionally cheaper cuts of meat always slow cook better. Slow cooking breaks down the connective collagen in meat, which turns into unctuous gelatine. This creates that soft and tender mouth feel we all crave.