Beef Stew in the Instant Pot ( or use a pot because the taste of this stew is sooo good)

Winter is a perfect time for Beef Stew & making it in the Instant Pot is great. Of course you can make this in a to on the stove or even in the oven if you do not have an Instant Pot. The recipe is delicious!

I find that sometimes the beef chunks in beef stew are hard & too chewy…but not when the stew is cooked in the Instant Pot!

This recipe is from AMY & JACKY PRESSURE COOK RECIPES.COM  Here is the link to the original recipe.

I changed the ingredients a bit to suit our taste but I used the technique that was in the recipe. The meat is browned on the sauté function of the instant pot, then removed & set aside. Then the vegetables are cooked first…. once they are cooked, some of the cooked veg are removed & set aside before the meat is added back to the pot to finish cooking the stew…. the remaining vegetables get very soft during the cooking process & are mashed up to make the sauce thick. It worked but made the sauce a bit mushy, so I might not leave as many potatoes in as I did in the pot… but it was ok. Murray didn’t even notice!

Have a look at the original recipe to see the other ingredients that I have left out…just a couple… sherry, fish sauce & peas… They have some interesting tips about this recipe on the website… as an example, you can just dump all of the ingredients into the Instant Pot if you want to skip the sauté part, but that the flavour is ‘upped’ if the meat is sautéed…

Get the ingredients for the stew ready, set aside,  then you will make a cooking sauce. I had everything ready to go before I started cooking

I served this on a soft polenta… I included a recipe for this made in this microwave..from The Kitchn…at the end of the instructions for the stew

Ingredients

For the Stew

1/2 large onion

3 cloves of garlic

2 stalks of celery

2 carrots

1 can sliced mushrooms, drained

3 potatoes

2 tbsp vegetable oil…divided…you will use 1 tbsp + 1 tbsp

2 lb stew meat

salt & pepper

2 bay leaves

1/4 tsp dried thyme

1 tbsp flour *** this is sprinkled on the cooked meat before it is added back into  the pot

For the Cooking Sauce

2 1/4 cups  cups of water *** you can use chicken stock if you have some…I didn’t

2 tsp dry chicken bouillon powder

1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

1 tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp tomato paste

Method

1. Prepare the ingredients… dice the onion, crush the garlic, cut the celery & carrots  into 1-2 inch chunks..
2. Cut the potatoes into chunks & set aside
3. The instructions for the Instant Pot are not that much different then if you are not using one…. I will add both ways   You can cook the stew on the stove or in the oven..if you want to cook it in the oven, make sure your pot can go from stove top to oven
4. Instant Pot:  put the saute function on & when the pot is hot, add 1 tbsp oil   Pot: heat 1 tbsp oil
5. Brown the beef cubes, stirring sometimes so they do not stick… the meat released liquid & it just cooked away…
6. Remove the browned meat from the Instant Pot or pot & set aside
7. Add the remaining 1 tbsp of oil to either cooking vessel
8. Saute the mushrooms & you can remove them when they are browned…I forgot & it was fine!
9. Add the cut onion to the pot & saute until soft, stirring so it does not stick
10.  Add the crushed garlic, stir & cook for a few seconds until it becomes fragrant
11. .Add the cut-up celery, carrots & potatoes, stir & cook for a bit
12. Season with salt & pepper
13. Mix up the cooking sauce ingredients together
14. .Add about 1/4 cup of the cooking sauce to deglaze the pot…do this by using a spoon to scrape up the bits on the bottom
15. Add the bay leaves & dried thyme
16.  Add the cooking liquid
17. Close the lid to the Instant Pot & put on high pressure for 4 minutes, do a quick release.  If you are using a pot I would add the meat now too & put your pot in the oven at 325f for about 2-3 hours… or cook on the stove at this point… stir often …until the meat is cooked & tender… I think it will take several hours…make sure the heat on the stove is not too high otherwise the stew can burn on the bottom…. I would pop to in the oven, Stir occasionally
18.  Once the vegetables are finished cooking… open the lid of the Instant Pot
19.  Remove 1/2 of the cooked vegetables…you will add these after the meat is cooked…the vegetables left in the pot will be mashed up after the stew is cooked to thicken up the sauce
20.  Sprinkle the flour over the cooked meat that you had set aside, toss to coat as much of the meat as you can
21. .Add the meat to the Instant Pot… just tuck the meat into the liquid,,, they say not to mix it in to the liquid
22. Close the Instant Pot. I set my pot to the Stew function for 40 minutes… in the recipe it says to put it on High Pressure for 32 minutes… My meat was a bit frozen actually so I wanted to cook it longer.
23. After the stew is cooked, a 10 minute Natural release then release the rest of the pressure
24.  Use the back of a large spoon or wooden spoon to mush up the vegetables that are in the pot…give it a stir…this thickens up the sauce
25.  Add the reserved vegetables to the pot… stir, taste & adjust seasonings if you need to
26.  I made a soft polenta to serve this stew on, I made it on the stove but it stuck so badly to the pot, next time I am going to make the polenta in the microwave!  You can serve the stew as is since there are potatoes in the stew…

*** Polenta in the Microwave. recipe is from The Kitchn… i just changed the quantities…. you have to have a large microwave safe bowl since this bubbles up & if your bowl is too small you will have a huge mess!!!

2 cups of water

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/4 tsp salt

Mix together. Put in the microwave , on High, uncovered for 2.5 minutes…after the 2.5 minutes take the bowl out & stir the cornmeal… put the bowl back in the microwave & cook for another 2.5 minutes.  Check to see how thick the cornmeal is getting..It might take a bit longer or shorter time depending on your microwave

Enjoy!