Instant Pot Beef Stew
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Set it and forget it with this warm, comforting, tasty, tender Instant Pot Beef Stew. Keeping it simple with easy-to-find ingredients like beef, potatoes, and Italian seasonings is key to this tasty 45-minute dinner.
For more easy, filling Instant Pot meals, check out my recipes for Instant Pot Pork Chops and Gravy, Instant Pot Beef Stroganoff Soup, or Instant Pot French Dip Sandwiches.
Why This Recipe Works
From easy to tasty, this Instant Pot Beef Stew recipe checks all the boxes!
Instant Pot — You can’t have an Instant Pot without the “Instant” part right? And, although it will take about 45 minutes of your time (but only about 10 of that is hands-on), it’s a whole lot faster than cooking this stew for hours and hours like a typical recipe would require.
Potatoes — There’s no stew of any sort without potatoes in my book. The baby gold potatoes cook up just perfectly, soft, fork-tender, and are a great vehicle for soaking up all that yummy beef stew juice.
Worcestershire Sauce — Another one of my secret ingredients, I put this sauce on lots of recipes featuring beef because it has a lovely saltiness and tang (just a hint!) that offsets the garlic and Italian seasonings just perfectly.
Vegetables — Whether you like a lot or a little, the veggies are also the stars in this stew. Speed up prep time even more by substituting frozen veggies if you prefer them to fresh in this dish.
Here’s How You Make It
You won’t believe how easy it is to fix this incredibly tasty beef stew right in your Instant Pot. Here’s how you do it:
- Set the pressure cooker to “saute” and add butter. Melt the butter, then add in the garlic and onions and stir for 1-2 minutes, or until fragrant. Take the onions and garlic out and put in a dish for later. (photo 1)
- Add the oil to the pot, then add the beef on top of the oil and season with salt and pepper. Sear the pieces of beef on all sides for about 3-4 minutes, til browned. (photo 2)
- In a small dish, whisk together 1 cup of the broth, the tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and herbs. (photo 3)
- Pour broth mixture into the pot on top of the beef. (photo 4)
- Add the potatoes and carrots to the pot as well as the onions and garlic you had set aside earlier. (photo 5)
- Add the lid, turn the vent to the “sealed” position and set to “pressure cook” or “manual” for 25 minutes. (photo 6)
- Let the Instant Pot natural release (which means do nothing) for 10 minutes, then turn the vent valve carefully to release the rest of the pressure/steam. Once the float valve has dropped, remove the lid. (photo 7)
- Change the setting to “soup.” Whisk together the rest of the broth and the cornstarch. Stir this into the soup along with the frozen peas. Stir as the liquid thickens and the peas thaw. Taste, add seasonings as you see fit, then serve, garnishing with fresh herbs if you like. (photo 8)
Ideas For Customizing This Recipe
It’s easy to customize this savory beef stew to your liking!
- Skip the potatoes. Don’t like potatoes or don’t have any? No problem. Just skip them, and add more veggies instead!
- Mix up the spices. If you don’t have Italian seasoning, you can use a teaspoon each of oregano, basil, rosemary, and parsley. Add a little spice with paprika or cayenne pepper.
- Serve over rice. Or noodles too for that matter. All that sauce would be just lovely over the top of egg noodles or white rice.
- Use chicken. Swap beef for chicken breast and beef broth for chicken broth. Easy, simple, still delicious.
Expert Tips
Here are a few of my favorite ways to take this Instant Pot beef stew meal to the next level!
- Swap out the gold potatoes for baby red or any other favorite potato you have. Just make sure to cut the potatoes into uniform pieces (½ – 2 inches) for even cooking.
- When buying the beef, I like to use beef chuck and cut it up myself, but you can also purchase pre-chopped stew meat or another cut of beef.
- Don’t skip on searing the meat. This is your chance to lock in that delicious beefy flavor before cooking the stew all together in the Instant Pot. The sear will make for a nice, slightly crispy bite on the outside, and nice and tender on the inside.
- Make the slurry with the cornstarch and beef broth, this is key to getting the sauce to thicken up. A little cornstarch is magical I tell ya!
More Instant Pot Recipes
- Instant Pot Spanish Sausage and Rice
- Instant Pot Pork Chops and Gravy
- Instant Pot Chicken and Dumplings
- Instant Pot Pot Roast and Potatoes
- Instant Pot Beef Stroganoff
- Instant Pot Beef Bourguignon
Did you make this dish? Please rate the recipe below!
Instant Pot Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 3 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 ⅕ pounds beef chuck, cut into 2-inch pieces
- 1 teaspoon salt, more to taste
- ½ teaspoon cracked black pepper, more to taste
- 1 tablespoon Herbs de Provence , or Italian herb blend seasoning
- 1 poun baby gold potatoes, halved
- 4 large carrots, peeled and chopped into 2-inch pieces
- 2 cups beef broth, divided
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons corn starch
- 1 cup frozen peas
Instructions
- Set your pressure cooker to SAUTE. Add butter, melt, then add garlic and onions and stir for 1-2 minutes until fragrant. Transfer onions and garlic to a dish and set aside.
- Add oil to the pot. Add beef to the pot and season generously with salt and pepper. Sear the beef pieces for 3-4 minutes until just browned on the outsides.
- Whisk together 1 cup of the beef broth, tomato paste, worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and dried herbs. Pour into pot.
- Add potatoes and carrots to the pot as well as the onions and garlic you had set aside earlier.
- Cover, turn vent to the SEALED position, and set to PRESSURE COOK or MANUAL for 25 minutes.
- Natural release (do nothing) for 10 minutes, then turn the vent valve and let the remaining pressure release. Once float valve has dropped, remove the lid.
- Set to SOUP setting. Whisk together remaining 1 cup of beef broth and the corn starch. Stir into the soup along with the frozen peas. Give it a stir as the liquid thickens and the peas heat up.
- Taste, add salt and pepper as needed, and garnish with fresh thyme or parsley if desired before serving. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
All of these are super easy and delicious!! I added 1/2 cup of wine – delish !!
Thank You Soooooooo Much! 😋
There are significant steps missing. Do we add the onion/garlic mixture back in before pressure cooking? How long do we keep it on soup mode?
I forgot to add the part where you add the onions and garlic back in the pot. Thank you for bringing that to my attention and I’m sorry about that. You add it in with the potatoes and carrots (step 4.) As for the soup setting, once you switch it to that setting in step 7, it’s on that setting until the stew is ready.
If I want to double this, how much cooking time should I add?
No need for extra time- the pot itself will take longer to come up to pressure which should be enough! Just don’t over fill your pot.
what happens to the onion and garlic…? Do I add them at the end or discard them?
ok never mind.. I see it’s been asked before. haha! I guess is on the cook 😉
I love thiS recipe but i always forgEt to add back the Onions And garlic. In the Recipe it does not state to add them back in. But i get them back in Right before i close the lId.
Same
What about the onions ?!?
I had the same question about the onions. 25 minutes is a long time, so I’m just going to cook them to the desired texture and add them last with the peas.
Same question about when to add the onions and garlic back to the pot. Please update the recipe!
I adde the onions when I sealed the pot. They mostly dissolved in the cook time but overall the effect was a great taste.
Hi. Not sure when you made your post but in step #4 it says to add the onions and garlic back in.
So good! 10/10 WOULD RECOMMEND
So glad you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for positive feedback, Lauren!
Please answer the question that several have asked in the replies. It seems crucial. Is there a substitute for an Insant Pot? I have a pressure cooker. Sorry, Just asking.
I believe that an instant is a pressure cooker? This recipe has not been tested using another method, sorry. Would love to hear your feedback if you give another method a try.
Great
about how long do you leave it on soup setting? should I cover or just leave off and stir occasionally? It sounds so easy and tasty. Can’t wait to make it. 🙂
Yum! This looks so delicious and tasty!
Enjoy! 🙂
I MADE THIS DISH LAST NIGHT, IT WAS DELICIOUS. IT SEEMS THAT YOU LEFT OUT OF THE RECIPE WHEN TO ADD THE SAUTED ONIONS AND GARLIC THAT WAS IN THE FIRST STEP. THE ONLY CHANGES I MADE WAS TO ADD FROZEN MUSHROOMS WITH THE PEAS AT THE END.