Instant Pot Beef Stew
Published 12/14/2023
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This Instant Pot Beef Stew is everything slow roasted stew is, but without the long cook time! Fall apart beef and tons of veggies, plus its ready to eat in under an hour.
Featured Comment
“This is by far the most delicious meal I have made in my InstaPot and perhaps the best beef stew I have ever made. Your seasonings are perfect! What I thought was just “comfort food” turned into a delicacy. I absolutely love how healthy it was as well! I look forward to trying more recipes!” – Tanya
This Instant Pot Beef Stew is the ultimate comfort food – hearty, flavorful, and incredibly easy to make. Forget slaving over a stove for hours, this recipe comes together in under 60 minutes, thanks to the magic of the Instant Pot.
This Instant Pot beef stew recipe is inspired by one of our all-time favorite recipes to spend cooking all day with our family in the winter — BEEF BOURGUIGNON.
We wanted to take all the things we love about the taste of beef bourguignon (the rich flavors, the fall-apart beef chunks, the perfectly cooked vegetables), but make it a meal you can easily whip up for weeknight dinners with your family in your Instant Pot pressure cooker.
Instant Pot Beef Stew Ingredients
We love beef stew because it’s truly a complete meal in a bowl– meat, veggies, and so much flavor. Here’s what you need:
- Boneless beef chuck roast
- White onion
- Celery
- Carrots
- Russet potatoes
- Baby bella mushrooms
- Frozen peas
- Dry red wine
- Beef broth
- Worcestershire sauce
- Balsamic vinegar
- Tomato paste
- Fresh herbs
- Flour
Best Beef for Beef Stew
We love boneless chuck roast for beef stew for a couple reasons:
- It’s a tougher cut of meat than many leaner alternatives, but when slow cooked (or emulating the slow cooking process in the Instant Pot through pressure cooking!) it breaks down the meat and becomes oh so tender and delicious.
- Beef chuck is a cheaper cut of meat meaning this high-end tasting beef stew is super budget-friendly!
Don’t have chuck roast? You can use another cut of beef, such as stew meat or rump roast.
Beef Stew Seasoning
This beef stew seasoning adds so much flavor to this Instant Pot beef stew. It’s salty, savory, and a little bit sweet. Here are the ingredients you need for our perfect beef stew seasoning mix:
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon white whole wheat flour
double or triple it!
Mix up a double batch of this seasoning so you have it on hand whenever you’re making beef stew!
Tips & Tricks for Beef Stew in the Instant Pot
Don’t cut beef into too large of chunks
Because chuck meat is a tougher cut of meat, it relies on slow cooking to break down the meat and make it tender and flakey. If you cut the beef into chunks that are larger than 1 – 1.5 inches, you run the risk of not cooking the stew for long enough to break down the beef.
Don’t skip browning the beef
Browning the beef before Instant Pot cooking your stew (you’ll do this right in the Instant Pot!) draws out the delicious flavors of the beef, which allows it to soak into every bit of this stew as it cooks down.
BONUS: this preheats your Instant Pot, which will eliminate the time it takes to preheat before pressure cooking your stew.
Deglaze your Instant Pot
Right after you brown the beef for this beef stew, you’ll remove the beef, and deglaze the bottom of the Instant Pot by adding red wine to the Instant Pot. Use a wooden utensil to scrape off all the brown bits on the bottom of the Instant Pot.
This step not only helps prevent the Instant Pot burn notice, but also distributes the delicious flavor from browning into the wine liquid, which allows it to flavor the entire stew.
Don’t skip the herb bundle
The herb bundle (we used fresh rosemary and fresh thyme) is a must have for this beef stew! It allows your stew to incorporate all the flavors of fresh herbs without needing to dig around in the stew to fish them out at the end.
Simply bundle tightly the fresh rosemary and thyme with baker’s twine, and place right in the Instant Pot. You’ll easily be able to remove it from the beef stew right before serving.
How to Store this Instant Pot Beef Stew Recipe
Store this Instant Pot beef stew in an air-tight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
To Freeze: let cool completely before transferring into an air-tight container, making sure to remove as much air as possible. Place into the freezer for up to 3 months.
How to Reheat Beef Stew
We love to reheat this beef stew just as it was cooked — low and slow!
- In the Oven: Allow the beef stew come to room temperature (about 30 minutes) before placing in an oven-safe dish with a lid. Reheat at 350°F for 45 minutes, or until reheated thoroughly.
- On the Stovetop: Allow the beef stew to come to room temperature before placing in a stock pot and reheating over low / medium heat on the stovetop.
- In the Microwave: We don’t loveee this method, but if time is of the essence, reheat your beef stew on low / reheat in the microwave until reheated thoroughly.
reheating tip:
As your beef stew sits in the fridge, it will thicken. When reheating, add a little beef broth in order to thin things out a bit to get that delicious broth in every bite.
What to Serve with Instant Pot Beef Stew
Serve this deliciously savory beef stew with something starchy (what better to soak up that yummy broth with!). We recommend any of the following:
- Biscuits or slices of bread
- Cornbread
- Mashed potatoes (or mashed sweet taters!)
- Cauliflower mashed potatoes for a lower carb option
Instant Pot Beef Stew Recipe
Ingredients
- 1.5 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 2 lbs. boneless beef chuck roast, sliced into 1-inch chunks
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon white whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup dry red wine
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1.5 tablespoons Worchestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 5 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 5 sprigs fresh thyme
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium white onion, chopped and divided
- 2 large celery stalks, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 4 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1.5-inch chunks
- 3 small russet potatoes, sliced into 1-inch chunks
- 8 oz. sliced baby Bella mushrooms
- 1 cup frozen peas
Instructions
- First, begin by prepping your chuck roast. Cut the beef into 1 to 1.5-inch bite-sized pieces and then place into a large bowl.
- Next, mix together your beef stew seasoning by placing rosemary, pepper, thyme, onion powder, paprika, garlic powder, brown sugar, salt, and white whole wheat flour into a small bowl. Mix to combine and then sprinkle on top of beef chunks and toss to coat the beef.
- Turn on your Instant Pot’s sauté feature and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. When the olive oil is fragrant, add half of the beef chunks to the pot. Brown beef chunks for 1.5-2 minutes, flip, and brown for another 1.5-2 minutes. Then, remove the first batch of beef chunks and repeat with the remaining half. Once browned remove all beef from Instant Pot and set aside.
- Turn off the saute feature and deglaze the pot with red wine. Use a wooden utensil to scrape off all the brown bits on the bottom of your Instant Pot. This step is important for preventing the burn notice.
- Add beef broth, Worchestershire, balsamic vinegar, and tomato paste to the Instant Pot and whisk to combine.
- Next, create an herb bundle by using a piece of baker’s twine to tie together fresh rosemary and thyme. Add that into the liquid.
- Add minced garlic, half the white onion (you’ll use the other half later), and the seasoned beef. Make sure you get any leftover spices from the beef. Give everything a toss and then place the lid on your Instant Pot.
- Turn the valve to seal and turn your Instant Pot to manual > high > and set the timer to 20 minutes. It should take around 10 minutes to build enough pressure to start counting down from 20.
- Once the timer goes off, quick release and let the steam pour out. Open Instant Pot, remove herb bundle, and then add the remaining onion, celery, carrots, potato, and mushrooms. Give everything a toss and then place the lid back on your Instant Pot. Seal the valve > turn Instant Pot to manual > high > and set the timer to 2 minutes. Again, it will take some time for enough pressure to build before it starts to count down from 2.
- Once the timer goes off, quick release the Instant Pot and let the steam pour out. Open the lid and immediately add the frozen peas and stir. Let the beef stew sit for at least 5 minutes to thicken before serving.
Tips & Notes
- Since all Instant Pot’s vary, you may need to cook the vegetables for additional time depending on how your veggies come out. Ours cooked perfectly after 2 minutes. If they still aren’t done, close the lid and cook longer.
Watch It
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Photography: photos taken in this post are by Erin from The Wooden Skillet.
This was the tastiest beef stew I’ve ever had. Was so delicious I couldn’t stop to take a picture, I had to eat right away! Lots of ingredients, but it’s SO worth it for the amazing flavor. Thanks, FFF!
We’re blushing, Amy! So happy to hear you loved this beef stew 😀