A quick beef and broccoli recipe made in the Instant Pot pressure cooker, similar to a Mongolian beef stir fry. Easily adaptable for a low carb / keto lifestyle.
This Instant Pot Beef And Broccoli recipe is adapted from my previous beef stir fry dishes — Mongolian Beef, Crazy Good Beef And Broccoli (and its low carb companion), and Slow Cooker Beef And Broccoli. It’s very similar in taste and texture, with tender beef slices and delicious bites of broccoli.
You can make this for a quick weeknight dinner for a family of four, or easily double the ingredients for a larger crowd. This dish goes well with a variety of sides, including cauliflower rice and spiralized vegetables.
The choice of meat is important. I recommend boneless chuck roast beef, which becomes tender when pressure cooked. Don’t use common stir fry cuts like flank steak because those are intended for quick searing on a pan and will end up overcooked and tough when pressure cooked.
If you can, choose a cut of chuck roast that is well marbled. Marbling refers to the fat within the meat between the muscle fibers. High quality steaks have lots of evenly distributed marbling, and lower quality ones with have very little or almost no visible marbling. Well marbled meat has sufficient fat to provide a juicier texture when cooked so that the meat isn’t dry and flavorless.
Tips for the best instant pot beef and broccoli
- Choose a well marbled, boneless chuck roast cut for the beef.
- Make sure that you use soy sauce specifically marked as low sodium or reduced sodium; otherwise, you’ll end up with a very salty dish. This is not the same as “light soy sauce.”
- For the sweetener, I recommend using a dry granulated sweetener. For low carb folks, use erythritol or Swerve. For everyone else, use brown sugar.
- Don’t eat this dish by itself; serve with side dishes such as cauliflower rice or spiralized vegetables. I recommend about 4 ounces of cauliflower rice per person. You can microwave the cauliflower rice to cook it while waiting for the pressure cooker. If you’re not low carb, you can serve with medium grain white rice or noodles.
You can double the recipe to meal prep for a week’s worth of lunches or dinners. If you double the ingredients, you don’t need to increase the pressure cooking time.
Instant Pot Beef And Broccoli
A quick beef and broccoli recipe made in the Instant Pot pressure cooker, similar to a Mongolian beef stir fry. Easily adaptable for a low carb / keto lifestyle.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless chuck roast beef sliced into thin strips
- 12 ounces broccoli florets (6-7 cups)
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
For the sauce:
- 1/2 cup beef broth
- 1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup sweetener (read post for options)
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
Instructions
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Select the sauté mode on the pressure cooker for medium heat and add canola oil. When the pot is hot, add garlic and sliced beef. Cook for a few minutes until browned, stirring frequently.
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Add beef broth, soy sauce, and sweetener. Stir together to dissolve the sweetener. Turn off the sauté mode.
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Secure and seal the lid. Cook for 15 minutes at high pressure.
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While waiting for the pressure cooker, cook broccoli by microwaving for 3-4 minutes until tender.
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When the pressure cooker is done, manually release pressure by carefully turning the release knob to its venting position.
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Uncover the pressure cooker and remove about 1/4 cup of liquid. Mix it with corn starch in a small bowl until completely dissolved and smooth, and add it back to the pot.
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Turn on the sauté mode for medium heat. Let the sauce simmer for about 5 minutes to thicken it a bit, stirring frequently. Turn off the sauté mode.
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Add cooked broccoli back to the pot and briefly stir to coat with the sauce. Serve immediately with a side such as cauliflower rice.
Nutrition Notes
This recipe yields 8 g net carbs per serving. Nutrition information assumes the low carb sweetener erythritol is used, which cannot be digested by the body.
| Nutrition Facts Per Serving |
| Calories 310 | |
| Total Fat 9g | 14% |
| Saturated Fat 2g | 10% |
| Trans Fat 0g | |
| Cholesterol 112mg | 37% |
| Sodium 1220mg | 51% |
| Potassium 0mg | 0% |
| Total Carb 10g | 3% |
| Dietary Fiber 2g | 8% |
| Sugars 4g | |
| Protein 41g |
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Fantastic! Loved by the whole family (including kids, 1,5,7).
Husband enjoyed this dish. It was really quite easy to make and I had all ingredients on hand! Keeping this one in rotation.
I’m trying to stock up on my freezer meals. But I am not a natural cook. Is this meal able to be prepared in bulk and frozen? And if so, would I brown the beef/garlic before I throw it in a freezer bag with the broth, soy sauce and sweetener?
Hi Fressia! I haven’t tried bulk preparing and freezing this meal. If I were to do so, I would prepare all of the sauce ingredients in individual freezer bags separate from the beef/garlic. And I wouldn’t brown the beef/garlic until after freezing/thawing when I’m ready to cook everything together.
This is delicious and so easy to make. I will definitely make it again.
Great recipe! Easy to follow. Next time I am going to add a hint of ginger. But super yummy. Thanks!
Quick and easy. Very tasty, even my picky 13 year old liked it!
Very good. Didn’t have beef broth, used honey and water with a dash of sesame oil
The beef almost melts in your mouth. I used brown sugar but next time will use a little less as it was a bit too sweet. Making it for a second time this week. My new fave!
I used chuck steak and the meat was incredibly tender. I would recommend under cooking the broccoli as mine was a little mushy but the meat and sauce were still really hot when I added it. An excellent recipe. Even my 7 year old liked it and she doesn’t usually like beef.
Very yummy. It was my first pressure cooker experience !!! So easy to make.
Making tonight!
What is used for the sweetener? I can’t find it in the posts
The sweetener options are listed in this post under Tips.
Fabulous!!!! Beef was tender, husband loved it 😁 it’s a keeper.
Can I cook this in a slow cooker,maybe 6 hours on low? Looks great, can not wait to try it!
Yes, you can definitely make this in a slow cooker. Hope you enjoy it!
Delicious!! Easy to make and sooooo yummy
Can you double this recipe in an 8 quart instant pot?
Yes. Double the ingredients, keep the pressure cooking time the same.
I have a roundsteak, will that work? Looks great!
It might work, but you’ll get best results if you use chuck roast. Sorry I can’t be more helpful — I haven’t used round steak in this recipe before so I’m not sure how it would turn out!
Silly question but not sure what direction to cut the meat ? Does it matter?
It won’t matter much here 🙂
I am wondering if you have tried substituting Xanthan Gum instead of the corn starch and how it turned out.
I haven’t tried that, but I think it would work well.
would you use the same amount of xantham gum? the cornstarch brings more carbs so taking it out would be awesome to be even lower carb 🙂
Xantham gum is a great idea to reduce carbs 🙂 I would start with a small amount of it to see how it thickens. If you give it a try, let me know how it goes!
Think I’ll try this! 😊 Does the meat stay in the pot with the simmering sauce?
Great 🙂 Yes, the meat stays in the pot the whole time, including when the sauce is simmering.
Thanks! Making it tonight! 😊
Wow! It’s great! The beef is so tender! 😋
Oh good I’m glad to hear that 🙂
I couldn’t believe how easy this was to make! Will be in our regular rotation.