Name: Instant Pot Beef Stew
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 80 min
Ingredients: 1 pound stew meat or chuck roast (cut into 1 inch pieces); 3 tablespoons flour; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/2 teaspoon pepper; 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder; 3 tablespoons olive oil; 1 large onion (diced (2 cups)); 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce; 1 1/2 tablespoons Worchestire sauce; 1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar; 1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste; 1 1/2 teaspoons salt; 1 tablespoon minced garlic; 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning; 3 cups beef broth; 3 cups red or russet potatoes (chopped); 1 cup carrots (diced or whole baby carrots)

Instant Pot Beef Stew is a family classic. It’s ready in a fraction of the time when you use an Instant Pot instead of the traditional Crock-Pot!

a bowl of Instant Pot beef stew on a blue napkin

The tastiest Instant Pot beef stew recipe

It’s fall, which means that we’re swapping our sundresses for scarves and our sorbets for soups. This Instant Pot Beef Stew recipe has been super highly requested.

It’s the perfect union of fall’s best ingredients: luscious potatoes, fresh carrots, and savory chuck roast. It’s tied together in perfect harmony with creamy tomato paste and a hint of acidity from red wine vinegar.

This pressure cooker beef stew gives you fork-tender stew meat that’s perfect for a cozy bread bowl on a nippy fall evening.

two bowls of beef stew made in the Instant Pot

How to make beef stew in an Instant Pot

To make a really good beef stew in an Instant Pot, there’s one key step that you can’t skip: browning the meat. If you don’t brown the meat before adding the broth, your end product just won’t be as good!

Step 1: Prep the stew meat for the Instant Pot

To prepare your meat, toss the stew meat with flour, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. I use a large gallon sized bag (or other container). Shake things around until each piece is completely covered in the seasoned flour.

As you’re doing this, set your Instant Pot to saute mode and allow it to heat up.

Step 2: Brown the stew meat

Add oil to your Instant Pot and wait until it’s hot and shiny. If you don’t wait until the oil is hot, you’ll just get oily beef—not good. We want browned beef. And your Instant Pot will help! When it reads “hot,” your oil is likely ready to go. Taking care not to overcrowd the pot, add the floured pieces of beef in a single layer. If all of your meat doesn’t fit, brown the meat in batches.

Sear the beef for five minutes on one side (or until very browned), then flip and repeat. Remove the meat to a separate bowl.

Step 3: Deglaze the pot

The empty pot that has some oil and beef bits stuck to the bottom. Immediately add the onion, soy sauce, worchestire sauce, red wine vinegar, tomato paste, salt, garlic, and Italian seasoning. Scrape all of those browned beef bits off of the bottom of the pot.

Keep stirring constantly to prevent your tomato paste from burning. Continue stirring until the onions are soft, about 7 minutes. Pour in the beef broth and scrape all the browned bits off of the bottom of the pot.

an Instant Pot with a ladle holding beef stew

Step 4: Create the stew

At this point, you should be looking at a big pot of seasoned broth. Add in the potatoes, carrots, browned meat, and any juices left behind by the meat (lots of flavor there!). Stir completely, then turn off saute mode.

Put the lid onto the Instant Pot and turn the knob to sealing. Pressure cook on high pressure for 30 minutes. Allow a 20 minute natural pressure release.

Once your stew is cooked, give it a quick stir and adjust the salt to taste. It’s ready to serve!

A note on liquids: broth, vinegar, and wine

Different beef broths will have varying flavor notes and amounts of salt. I recommend starting with 1 ½ teaspoons of salt in the recipe. Add more after pressure cooking if it lacks a certain depth and flavor. I also recommend adding beef flavored Better than Bouillon to bolster the flavor if you find that it’s still lacking.

If you’re a big balsamic vinegar fan, feel free to use it here! It’ll supply a flavor that’s quite different than if you’d used red wine vinegar; the best way to describe it is to say that it’s just deeper.

You can substitute one cup of red wine for one cup of beef broth.

a closeup of a bowl of beef stew with bread, parsley, and salad

Frequently Asked Questions

How to use Instant Pot beef stew?

Instant Pot beef stew is arguably best that first night right out of the pot; however, it’s practically just as good reheated. Make a big batch and leave the leftovers in the fridge. it’s easy for kids and spouses to reheat throughout the week for an easy meal or snack.

Instant Pot beef stew is also easy to serve in a variety of ways. I love it as a main dish with a fresh green salad on the side. It’s also great served inside fresh sourdough bread bowls, or as a side with another entree!

I take Instant Pot beef stew and add Japanese curry roux to it the next day. Serve over rice.

How long to cook Instant Pot beef stew

Instant Pot beef stew will take about 50 minutes to cook plus prep time. I’d recommend setting aside about 1.5 hours from start to finish (but only 30 of those minutes will require active effort on your part!)

Do I have to brown the meat for beef stew?

While browning the meat before cooking it isn’t strictly necessary, I highly recommend it! Searing the mean adds all the flavor to the stew that is impossible to replicate without. With that said, don’t be afraid to make this stew if you don’t have time to brown the meat! It will still turn out delicious.

How do you fix runny beef stew/ how to thicken Instant Pot beef stew

You’ve just finished your beef stew, but it’s too runny! What now? Can you thicken beef stew after it’s cooked? If you’re not someone who loves a brothier soup, this might feel like a disaster. Thankfully, it’s an easy fix! You can easily thicken a runny beef stew with a simple cornstarch slurry or some mashed potatoes.

This Instant Pot beef stew recipe was thick enough for me without adding additional thickeners. However, if you’d prefer a thicker beef stew, you may add a cornstarch slurry. Combine 2-3 tablespoons of cornstarch with equal parts cold water. Stir together and drizzle into a simmering stew. Stir until the stew is thickened.

If you decide to use mashed potatoes to thicken your stew, you can take dry mashed potato flakes. Sprinkle them into the stew 1 tablespoon at a time. If you happen to have any leftover mashed potatoes, you can stir those into the soup to thicken.

Should I add cornstarch thickening at the start or at the end of the stew?

Always add cornstarch at the end of the cooking process. Adding cornstarch at the start of the cooking process could result in a stew that’s too thick. It may also be too thick for the Instant Pot to come to pressure, causing a burn notice.

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