Instant Pot Beef Stew makes the ultimate comfort food dish easy and so quick. Tender beef combines with veggies, and potatoes and is ready in 1 hour!
Nothing makes a more hearty or warming meal than a big bowl of piping hot Soup or Stew. This recipe turns out just as delicious as our Classic Beef Stew or Slow Cooker Beef Stew, but it’s made simply in the instant pot. Now, you can make a flavorful beef stew with any cooking method.
INSTANT POT BEEF STEW
This instant pot recipe makes the perfect beef stew. With tender chunks of chuck roast, frozen peas, carrots, potatoes, and savory broth, it’s a nostalgic and flavorful stew mixture that most of us grew up with some version of. Making the traditional recipe in the instant pot gives it a quicker cooking time so you can enjoy Beef Stew more often and more quickly.
Instant Pot Beef Stew is the perfect recipe to make on a cold night, if you’re feeling under the weather, or any time you just need a comforting and homey dinner. The classic, warm flavors are just so cozy, and the familiar aroma will fill the house as the instant pot does its work. To take the hearty dish to the next level serve it with some Crusty Bread on the side for dipping. That way you can soak up every bit of thick, flavorful Beef Stew Broth.
Despite cooking it in the instant pot, the beef stew still comes out cooked to perfection and perfectly flavorful. The instant pot pressure-cooks all the ingredients so they meld together to a wonderful medley in a relatively short time.
Chuck roast is the perfect beef for stew, because it does a great job soaking up the taste around it. By the time it’s done pressure cooking the beef will be flavorful chunks of goodness that absolutely melt in your mouth. It’s a classic, family-friendly dish made easier, but still just as tasty.
MORE DELICIOUS BEEF STEW RECIPES
TIPS FOR MAKING BEEF STEW IN THE INSTANT POT
- Brown: Put the instant pot onto the sauté setting. Then add oil to the base and brown beef on all sides. You’ll probably have to do this in a few batches to get all the beef done nicely.
- Stew ingredients: Cut your vegetables into bite-sized pieces. Add the yellow onion, minced garlic, carrots, Yukon potatoes, beef broth, tomato paste, bay leaf, thyme, and Worcestershire sauce to the instant pot. Then season with salt. Turn off the sauté setting, set to high pressure, and cook for 35 minutes. After cooking, do a quick release, and take the bay leaf from the ingredients.
- Cornstarch slurry: Mix the cornstarch with water to make a cornstarch slurry. Once it’s nicely blended you can add it into the stew mixture. Set to saute again and cook for 15 minutes until thickened.
- Serve: Stir in the frozen peas, and ladle into bowls to serve warm.
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VARIATIONS ON INSTANT POT BEEF STEW
- Tomato: Add to the tomato flavor already in the recipe by adding in some extra tablespoons tomato paste, or tomato sauce. You could also add some diced tomatoes or fire-roasted tomatoes for some more texture.
- Spice mix: You can experiment with the taste of Instant Pot beef Stew with a different spice mix. Try mixing in some garlic powder, paprika, cayenne pepper, onion powder, or cumin. You could also mix in some fresh herbs like basil, parsley or chives.
- Vegetable add-ins: For some extra veggies mix in some chopped stalks celery, mushrooms, green beans, cabbage, or corn kernels. Any of them will add plenty of extra flavors, color, and texture to the already delicious recipe.
SIDES TO SERVE WITH INSTANT POT BEEF STEW
HOW TO STORE INSTANT POT BEEF STEW
- Serve: Don’t leave Beef Stew at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
- Store: If you have leftover beef stew, let it cool to room temperature, then put it in an airtight container. The stew will stay good in the fridge for 3-4 days.
- Freeze: You can also freeze beef stew for up to 4 months. Let it thaw in the fridge before reheating the stew on the stovetop and serving.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons canola oil
- 3 pounds chuck roast , cut into 2" chunks
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 1/2 yellow onion , cut into 1" chunks
- 4 cloves garlic , minced
- 2 carrots , peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks
- 12 baby Yukon potatoes , halved
- 3 cups beef broth
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 cup water
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 cup frozen green peas
Instructions
- Add the beef to the pressure cooker and set on the sauté setting with oil and brown well on all sides, about 6-8 minutes per batch.
- Add the rest of the ingredients, set on high pressure for 35 minutes then release pressure fully.
- Remove bay leaf.
- Mix cornstarch with water until fully blended and pour it into the stew mixture.
- Cook on sauté for 15 minutes until the liquid has thickened.
- Stir in peas and serve.
When you talk about releasing the pressure, do you mean quick release or natural release.
Quick Release is when you manually release the pressure using the pressure release mechanism that your Instant Pot is equipped with by moving it from the sealing position to the venting position. Different models have different ways of releasing pressure.
Lord this is good! I used some soup bones with marrow too and the flavor is amazing. I’ll be making this again!
This is our all time favorite beef stew recipe! I add sautéed mushrooms at the same time I add the peas. Yum!
This was so incredibly easy and fast. I actually sautéed the vegetables (added Leek in addition to the onions), and only had about 1/2 of the meat so I reduced the other ingredients as well (except still added 3 cups of liquid). I didn’t add the starch or peas at the end. What a great recipe I will definitely make again!
Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it!
Do NOT do what I did!! I subbed the tiny potatoes with two large potatoes diced up and they completely disintegrated in the instant pot during the sautéing period after pressure cooking ? the flavor fell a little short, not sure what I’d substitute.. maybe some red wine next time – I’d try it again but modify a bit!
Hi Sabrina! I made this stew for the second time tonight and it was lovely, though a bit “flat,” I followed the recipe just like I did the first time I made it a few months ago, but it just wasn’t as good as it was the first time. What’s the secret for making something like this “pop” and taste more rich?
I like to add an additional scoop of Better than Bouillon base to deepen the flavor. Hope this helps for next time.