The ideal comfort food for the winter is this simple pressure cooker beef stew. This hearty stew can be prepared from start to finish in under an hour, but it will taste as though you let it simmer all day.
This traditional pressure cooker beef stew recipe was inspired by my mother’s childhood stovetop version.
The best part is that you can prepare it whenever you’re in the mood for something warm and comforting because this Instant Pot Beef Stew recipe only takes 12 minutes to cook and is ready to serve in less than an hour.
Update: I wanted to add new images and a video to this recipe because it was so popular and to demonstrate how simple it is.
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!.
You’ll add beef broth to the pan after browning the beef and sautéing the onions. Then thoroughly stir the bottom of the pot to remove all of the browned bits from the bottom. The stew will be more flavorful the more browned bits there are!
TIP: Add oil or broth if the browning is happening too quickly. Just add the broth if you’re getting close to the end of the browning process. Add one more tablespoon of oil and lower the heat setting on your Saute setting if there is still a lot of beef to brown.
Do you boil potatoes before putting them in stew?
Potatoes shouldn’t be boiled before being added to the stew, no. Your potatoes will become mushy if you pre-cook them. To ensure that the potatoes cook while the other ingredients cook, they should be added to the stew raw.
Potatoes shouldn’t become mushy in stew, so how do you prevent that? You can add them in after the stew has cooked for a little while so they cook for less time, or cut them into larger chunks, if you’re concerned about them overcooking. But if you do that, there’s a chance they won’t be fully cooked.
What Meat Is Best for Beef Stew?
When making beef stew, I frequently use chuck roast, but if it’s on sale, I’ll also substitute round steak or rump roast. Both cuts produce tender beef stew meat, are reasonably priced, and are simple to trim.
Really it’s about personal preference:
Chuck roast has a little more fat than rump roast, so your stew will be more flavorful.
Less marbling is present in round roasts or rump roasts, which can make it simpler to trim each bite and discard the meat.
Make sure to dice your roast into uniform-sized pieces for even cooking, regardless of the variety.
