Summary:

This beef and broccoli dinner is delicious and flavorful, yet uses simple ingredients that cook quickly in a pressure cooker. Sugar can be easily substituted with erythritol for a low carb option.

Instant Pot Beef And Broccoli

4.9 from 50 votes

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Prep: 10

Cook: 30

Yield: 4 servings

INGREDIENTS

▢ 1.5 pounds boneless beef chuck, trimmed and sliced into thin strips (Note 1)
▢ 7 cups broccoli florets (Note 2)
▢ 4 cloves garlic, minced
▢ 1 tablespoon cooking oil

Sauce:

▢ 1/2 cup beef broth
▢ 1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce (Note 3)
▢ 1/4 cup brown sugar or erythritol (Note 4)
▢ 1 tablespoon corn starch (Note 5)

INSTRUCTIONS

Brown Beef: Select sauté mode on pressure cooker (Note 6) for medium heat and add oil. Once heated, add garlic and sliced beef. Cook for a few minutes until browned, stirring frequently. Keeping beef in pot, add beef broth, soy sauce, and sweetener. Stir until sweetener is dissolved. Turn off sauté mode.
Pressure Cook: Secure and seal lid. Cook at high pressure for 15 minutes (Note 7). Meanwhile, cook broccoli by microwaving for 3 to 4 minutes until tender. When pressure cooker is done, turn release knob to venting position for quick pressure release.
Thicken Sauce: Uncover pressure cooker and remove 1/4 cup of liquid. Mix with corn starch in small bowl until completely dissolved and smooth, then add back to pot. Turn on sauté mode for medium heat. Simmer sauce for about 5 minutes to thicken a bit, stirring frequently. Turn off sauté mode.
Serve: Add cooked broccoli back to pot and briefly stir to coat with sauce. Serve immediately (Note 8).

NUTRITION

Makes 4 Servings

Amount Per Serving:

Calories 520 (52% from fat)
Total Fat 30g	45%
Saturated Fat 10g	52%
Cholesterol 134mg	45%
Sodium 1330mg	55%
Net Carb 7.5g
Total Carb 10g (Note 9)	3%
Dietary Fiber 2.5g	10%
Sugars 1.5g
Protein 51g

Vitamin A 11% · Vitamin C 128% · Calcium 9% · Iron 22%

PHOTOS

beef and broccoli served with riced cauliflower

beef and broccoli leftovers stored in glass containers

NOTES & TIPS

(1) Beef. Choose a well-marbled boneless chuck roast or chuck steak cut, which becomes tender when pressure cooked. Marbling refers to the fat within the meat, between the muscle fibers. High quality steaks have plenty of evenly distributed marbling, which results in a juicier texture. Large sections of fat should be trimmed off. I find it easiest to cut thin slices of beef by using a sawing motion with a serrated knife, slicing against the grain.

(2) Broccoli. About 12 ounces weight. You can cut florets from a head of broccoli, or you can buy a bag of pre-cut raw florets located in the refrigerated produce section of many U.S. grocery stores. I recommend cutting the florets into smaller pieces (no larger than 2 inches) so that they cook quickly. I use fresh florets, but frozen should be fine — you may need to cook them longer in the microwave and thoroughly drain to remove moisture.

(3) Soy Sauce. I use low sodium soy sauce by brands like Kikkoman or Trader Joe’s. Avoid regular soy sauce, which will be too salty. “Light soy sauce” refers to color and is not the same as “low sodium soy sauce.” If you follow a paleo, whole30, or gluten-free diet, substitute with coconut aminos.

(4) Sweetener. Use any dry granulated sweetener, such as brown sugar. I use erythritol, which is a zero-calorie and zero-carb sweetener.

(5) Corn Starch. This provides a nice glossy finish to the sauce and allows it to easily stick to the beef. One tablespoon of corn starch has 7 grams of net carbs for the whole recipe, or less than 2 grams per serving. Xanthan gum doesn’t tend to work as well because it’ll thicken into a gooey and gelatinous sauce, not glossy. It’s also easy to accidentally use too much xanthan gum and end up with a gloopy mess.

(6) Pressure Cooker. I use a 6-quart Instant Pot. You can use a different size of electric pressure cooker as long as all ingredients fit within the maximum capacity line.

(7) Pressure Cooking. Before cooking, remember to seal the pressure cooker by turning the pressure knob from “venting” to “sealing,” otherwise the pot will not pressurize. After cooking, to perform a quick pressure release, turn the knob back to “venting” and wait for the pressure pin to drop before uncovering. If you scale the ingredients up or down for a different number of servings, the pressure cooking time remains the same.

(8) Serving. Serve with an appetizer like Asian cucumber salad and a side dish like riced cauliflower to help soak up extra sauce.

(9) Carbs. The nutrition calculation assumes you are using erythritol, whose carbs are non-impact and therefore not included in the nutrition estimate. Apps that count sugar alcohols will show a higher number of carbs.

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newest oldest most voted

Barbara

My husband loves vegetables, so I added sautéed onion, pepper, mushroom and carrot strips with the broccoli. He gave it a 5 star rating!

Julia

Yum! Those sound like delicious additions.

Chris

This was really good and definitely making again. If you use low sodium broth and say sauce, you’ll be good to go. I used even less of the soy sauce and couldn’t even tell. I used Udon noodles, cooked in boiling water for one minute and because they are somewhat long, cut them into smaller pieces. I microwaved the fresh broccoli for a minute and it was perfect. Tossed the broccoli and noodles in the pot after the sauce was thickened. This was perfect for two people and not four as the recipe stated.

Ellen

I made this twice. I had to add more water. Plus I also added red pepper flakes and Chinese Five spice. Extra soy sauce too.

Diane

How much Chinese five spice did you add?

Johnna

This recipe was great, easy to make and little clean up. I substituted Xanthan Gum for the Corn Starch. Will definitely make again.

Cindy

Wow this was amazing! So delicious, even better than what I get in the Chinese restaurants. I can’t wait to make this again! I’m so excited to have found your site and to try more of your recipes!

Melissa

Can I use liquid aminos instead of the soy sauce?

That should be fine.

Deb

This was delicious!! Paired it with organic light brown rice tonight (Yoga Organics) but could substitute zoodles, cauliflower rice, or quinoa. Doubled the recipe. Sweetner I used 2 tablespoons of Agave and organic beef broth instead of water to boil the rice. YUM!

Harry

Been making this for a while now as it’s made itself into my rotation of meals I do. One thing I’ve found is I prefer Cube Steak for the cut of beef. I’ve found it’s much easier on the wallet and more tender plus the sauce clings to it much better than other cuts I’ve tried thus far. Also, the other change I made is I used Frozen Broccoli and steam it for exactly 7 minutes to obtain the perfect tender yet still slightly crispy bite you want while the top is a literal sauce sponge. Soooo good. Give this a try.

Linda

Made this tonight for dinner. I graded it excellent. Am definitely keeping this recipe. As someone commented I added sliced onion to the meat along with the broccoli I seared the meat in two batches using the meat juice to brown the onion. I seared the meat in an electric skillet. My first taste was Wow! Thank you for this great recipe.

Laura

I never write recipe reviews, but I would give this 10 stars with no hesitation. It is the ONLY meal I have found that ALL SIX of our picky kids (and us) enjoy. We make it exact with rice on the side. I hope I can find more easy recipes they all love on here.

Danielle

This was very good – I substituted pineapple juice for sweetener, flank steak and cooked for 7 min high pressure, and broccolini. I will make this again!!

This is the best! Added red pepper flakes.

Joe P

I made this last week. My kids said it tasted like they were eating at Panda Express. There were no leftovers. I recommend this recipe.

Jimmy B

I made this last night and it was very good. I browned the beef in a large cast iron skillet as I would have had to do that in two batches in the Instant Pot. If you plan to make this do take heed to the warnings about sodium. I did not have any “low sodium” soy sauce but had two bottles and used the one with 1/3 less sodium. I used a half teaspoon of “Better than Bouillon” mixed into a half cup of water. Even at that it was saltier than I really like. I served it over unseasoned white rice which helped offset the salty taste a bit. I will make sure to have some low sodium soy sauce and buy some unsalted beef stock for the next time I make it. The recipe is very easy to make and the instructions are easy to follow. It is definitely a keeper! This was better than beef and broccoli I have had from numerous Chinese restaurants. I will certainly be making this again. Thank you for making this recipe available.

Audrey Demers

This is absolutely delicious and so easy! My kids couldn’t get enough of it, and they are picky eaters!

How can I double this recipe in the instant pot? Is it the same cooking time?

To double the recipe, just double the ingredients but keep the pressure cooking time the same. Enjoy!

Randy

I used more beef and no extra broth. Also used honey but a 1/4 cup. Turned out excellent!

JMFS

Ugh, forgot the brown sugar! That’s what I did wrong. 🙁 I had to combine your recipe with another one because I wanted to do it all in one shot so I added uncooked long grain enriched rice (white rice? – I’m woefully out of touch with the bajillion types of rice available). Next time I shall add the brown sugar because it was lacking something. The beef turned out very tender – we used a rump roast because the chucks were über lean. Due to the addition of rice I was lacking in moisture to thicken the sauce; however, even after emphatically rinsing the rice prior to cooking there was enough starch to thicken the sauce so it worked out. The husband’s only critique was that it was a Tad salty so I suppose I need to purchase low sodium soy sauce after all.

My Instant Pot was delivered this afternoon and this was my first Instant Pot recipe – I thought you should know that. 🙂 With all the options out there yours seemed the most appetizing and simple to give the ol’ girl a whirl.

Ray

Made this last night. Came out great! Used unsalted beef broth and two tablespoons of agavs as sweetener.

Dee Matheson

I have made this several times. It is a fan favorite in our house. I add water chestnuts, baby corn and mushrooms to it. So yummy!!!

Felipe Parker

Fantastic site. A lot of helpful info here. I’m sending it to some buddies ans additionally sharing in delicious. And naturally, thanks on your sweat!

Anne

Finally found the recipe that tastes good!!

LaDonna Willis

Do I slice the beef before pressure cooking?

Yes. If you look at the Ingredients section of the recipe, it says “1.5 pounds boneless beef chuck, trimmed and sliced into thin strips”

Angelina

Wow so good !! All 3 of my kids kept saying how this was the best dinner ever!
I used coconut sugar instead of brown sugar. Added mushrooms, and bell peppers too

Judy Stiles

I apologize ahead of time, but I’m totally perplexed! I’ve made this several times…love it! Made it last night and my husband and I BOTH had major bathroom issues! The only thing different was I used xanthum gum and served it over Costco cauliflower rice. PLEASE…any thoughts on why….was it the xanthum gum?

I’m so sorry to hear that! If that was the only difference, then it probably was the xanthan gum. This article https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/xanthan-gum has a section that describes digestive issues if you consume at least 15 grams of it, which is a fairly large amount. Any effects that it has on you might also depend on the source that xanthan gum is made from, which could be wheat, corn, soy, or dairy. Hope that helps!

voni

Erythritol can effect people the same way

Natasha

Can I use ground sirloin?

Instant Pot Beef And Broccoli