I love this Instant Pot beef stew dish: it’s an easy, simple, and incredibly comforting beef stew with vegetables like pearl onions, carrots, potatoes, and mushrooms.
Beef stews are one of my favorite cold rainy day, curl-up-on-the-couch dinners. Think Hungarian paprika beef stew and Cuban beef stew (ropa vieja). It’s also one of the first recipes everyone always asks me about for the Instant Pot: “Hi Julia, your Instant Pot artichokes/salmon/chicken tikka masala looks great! But… do you have a recipe for how to make beef stew in the Instant Pot?” It makes sense; beef stew is one of those recipes that really makes the Instant Pot shine. You don’t have to cook for hours to get really tender beef; just 35 minutes. You can brown the beef and pressure cook it all in the same pot, so that means fewer dishes to clean. I use the Instant Pot, but you don’t have to — any multi-cooker with a saute and pressure cooking function will do.
You will love the texture of this pressure cooked beef stew: meltingly tender chunks of beef with very soft carrots, potatoes, and onions. Plus, bites of juicy mushrooms. It really doesn’t get better than this. I think the stew is thick and hearty, but if you like it even thicker, you can just add less beef stock to the pot. It’s always easy to thin it out later if it isn’t to your liking.
This recipe makes what I consider to be a very basic beef stew. You won’t find any weird or secret ingredients lurking about here, just your typical stew ingredients. It’s a simple recipe that hits home every time.
I recommend serving this beef stew with biscuits, a simple salad like this Greek salad, or loaded mashed cauliflower. All good choices and all so delicious.
Video: watch how to make beef stew in the Instant Pot pressure cooker:
Instant Pot Beef Stew With Potatoes
DESCRIPTION
INGREDIENTS
- 1 1/2 pounds chuck roast or beef stew meat cut into 1-2 inch chunks
- 16 ounce bag frozen pearl onions
- 8 ounces carrots about 3, peeled and chopped into 1 inch chunks
- 1 pound Russet potato about 1 large, peeled and chopped into 1 inch chunks
- 10 ounces mushrooms quartered
- 2 cups beef stock
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 teaspoon salt
INSTRUCTIONS
- In a bowl, toss beef chunks with flour until coated.
- Add butter to the pressure cooker. Turn on the saute setting at medium heat. When the butter is melted, add beef chunks. Cook until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add beef stock to the pot, stirring well and breaking apart any beef bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. Add salt and tomato paste, stirring until dissolved.
- Add remaining ingredients (frozen pearl onions, carrots, potatoes, mushrooms) to the pot. Stir.
- Close and lock the lid on the pressure cooker. Select the meat/stew function and set the cooking time to 35 minutes. When finished, let sit for 10 minutes to naturally release the pressure before using the steam release handle to vent.
- Open the lid and stir. Taste and add additional salt if needed. Serve hot and optionally garnish with chopped parsley.
I made this tonight. I changed the recipe by omitting the mushrooms, used half of the bag of pearl onions, added celery, and also added a half bag of frozen mixed vegetable. It was delicious !
Love this recipe! So easy. I added some thyme, rosemary and oregano for additional flavor. Served in a bowl with cheese garlic biscuits. Yum!
So I just made this for the family and it turned out really really good! Doubled the recipe in my 8-Quart Instant Pot. However, I must say if I ever can’t find frozen pearl onions again i’m NOT getting fresh pearl onions cause it is not really that fun peeling 2 pounds of tiny onions and it is extremely time consuming. I’d expect I would be able to swap in some roughly chopped regular sized onions if that happens again. I’m also not really sure what I could even do to improve the recipe tbh. Perhaps half beef stock half red wine for the liquid with a touch of Balsamic Vinegar? But tbh it’s absolutely fantastic as it is written!
I was wondering if red wine can be incorporated into this recipe for more flavour. I really like the recipe and intend to make it in the Instant Pot but was wondering about using some wine 🙂
Using some red wine sounds delicious. I would sub some of the beef stock with wine, which will help deglaze the pot as well.
If I double this will it fit in 6qt instant pot? And should I increase cooking time?
I don’t think it’ll fit in a 6 quart Instant Pot. The pressure cooking time wouldn’t change.
Is this calling for beef broth or beef stock?
Either will work in this recipe.
I made this for dinner tonight and Oh my goodness, we loved it. We’ve already decided we need it on our menu once a month. I left out the mushrooms this time because hubs doesn’t like them and the only other change I made was that I used 8 ozs of tomato sauce because I didn’t have pasts. I’m giving it all 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️s.
Woohoo I’m so glad to hear you loved it! Hope you get a chance to make it again soon 🙂
Can this be cooked in the 3 qt instant pot?
No, I don’t think the ingredients would fit. You could try halving the amount of ingredients and keeping the pressure cooking time the same.
Can you not use tomato paste in this Stew My Family likes the Beef flavor better then Tomato can I not use it
The tomato taste isn’t strong. You can use less, like 1-2 tablespoons instead of 3.
My family doesn’t like onions or mushrooms. Could I omit these ingredients? or would it turn out poorly? If I do omit the onions/mushrooms would it help to add some onion powder to help with the flavor? (BTW, this is the best sounding/looking recipe for Instant Pot Beef Stew that I found on Pinterest)
I think you can omit those ingredients, and adding some onion powder should be good. How about adding more carrots/potatoes as well?
Just ate the beef was really good .thanks for sharing..I did add a little more feef stock. I will be making this recipe often ,so easy.
I’m assuming you can make this in a Dutch oven on the stove too, just a longer cooking time. Any suggestions to make it work? Thanks!
I suggest adding more beef stock or water since moisture will escape from a dutch oven (unlike a sealed pressure cooker), and simmering with a lid on until the beef is tender.
Also, I have a different recipe for beef stew that uses a dutch oven: https://www.savorytooth.com/hungarian-beef-goulash/
Should it be “venting” or “steaming”
When you use the steam release handle, it will be steaming out of the vent as it rapidly releases pressure.
This was our first time using our instant pot. This recipe is easy to follow and it turned out great. My wife usually makes beef stew in the crock pot which is very good but takes all day. This recipe from start to finish took an hour and fifteen minutes including prep to opening the instant pot.
This is our go to recipe from now on for beef stew. Thanks for posting this on Pinterest.
Just made this as my second IP meal. So delicious and meat so tender it didn’t need to be chewed. Thanks
Could I put a cut up onion in instead? I couldn’t find frozen pearled onions.
Yes, roughly chopped onions will work as well.
Picture is what it looks like. Tastes delicious. Added extra broth for soup rather than stew.
My first meal in my instant pot, it turned out great. Thanks for sharing
This was the first recipe I tried in my instant pot and one that I now make often. It is so yummy and comes out perfect every time. Thanks for sharing
I have a three quart so only used one pound of meat. When it was finished I added defrosted mixed vegetable and put it on ssure for additional 5 minutes. Love the recipe. Thanks for sharing.
We tried your recipe as our first in using our new Instant Pot. The appliance alone is a huge time saver. We really enjoyed the heartiness and flavor. Thank you so much for sharing this. We will definitely make it again!
Thank you Laurie, I’m so glad that you enjoyed it! Hope you get to use your Instant Pot again soon 🙂
Made this stew for dinner last night in the instant pot. I was amazed at how simple it was to prepare. It turned out excellent. It has a think, rich broth and the meat and veggies we’re perfectly done.
Awesome, glad it turned out well for you Wendy!
This looks good, but I am wondering if there is a way to adapt it to add either dumplings (bisquick type) or biscuits on top of it while it’s cooking? Would the recipe be adjusted?
Hi Sue! I haven’t tried adding dumplings or biscuits to this recipe, so I can’t say how it’ll turn out. I’m fairly certain the recipe will have to be adjusted though.
Just wanted to let you know that I made this last night and loved it! I didn’t have tomato paste on hand so I used tomato sauce, but this recipe was so good! Thank you for sharing! 🙂
Great, I’m glad it turned out well for you 🙂
Hello!
I would like to double the recipe – would the cooking times change if so? Thank you!
Diane
Hi Diane, the cooking time would remain the same, even though you’re doubling the recipe’s ingredients. Make sure your Instant Pot is large enough to fit all of the ingredients — you’ll probably need something larger than a 6 quart pot. Hope that helps 🙂
It does! I’ll have to do 2 rounds 😬 Thank you!