Name: Instant Pot Beef Stew
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 50 min
Ingredients: 4 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped; 4 stalks celery, roughly chopped; 1 onion, peeled and roughly diced; 1 potato, peeled and roughly diced; 3 cloves of garlic, minced; 3 pounds of stew beef; 2 tablespoons tomato paste; 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce; 6 cups beef broth (1 32 oz box plus 2 cups); 6 tablespoons cornstarch

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Can we just…can I just….can you just…LOOK HOW COMFORTING THIS IS. As I am writing this post, it is forty degrees and super gray and rainy outside my window. Do you know how hard I could go for a piping hot bowl of this beef stew right now?! There are no words.

The broth is ridiculously thick, rich, and loaded with flavor from the meat and veggies that have pressure cooked into the liquid for half an hour. The veggies are so tender and soft. The beef is tender and moist and basically falls apart in your mouth as you take each bite. It is for reals the perfect fall and winter meal. The EPITOME of the ideal cool weather food, people.

And want to know one of the best parts? It only cooks in your Instant Pot for 35 minutes. Traditional stove top beef stew simmers for hours before the beef gets tender and all the flavors combine together to the point they are here. But the glorious Instant Pot in all its wonderfulness gets ‘r dun in just about half an hour.

Not only is this beef stew quick and stupidly delicious, it’s also crazy easy! There is no browning the beef, no sauteing the veggies, you literally just rough chop your veggies and throw em into the instant pot with your stew beef, throw in some beef stock and a few other goodies, stir it all together, and pop the lid on.

After the IP comes to pressure and the stew cooks for 35 minutes, you do a 10 minute natural release and then it’s all tender and flavorful and delicious! From there we skim some fat off the top and add a whole bunch of cornstarch to make the broth rich, thick, and perfect.

It’s comfort food at its finest. One of my absolute favorite things!

Speaking of comfort food and rainy, cold weather, it has NO JOKE been raining, gray, and cold since we got back to Kansas weeks ago. Like…how is this even scientifically possible?! I don’t think there’s been one sunny day. Maybe there has been and I’m just forgetting, but it has for sure been cloudy and rainy for AT LEAST the large majority. I’m ready for some SUN, people.

Some crisp fall weather that I can enjoy instead of constant, constant rain. Then again, the rain does make things feel nice and cozy, so I can’t complain too much. And it’s watering our flowers for us, which is nice. But it’s a little more of an inconvenience when you have a one year old who likes to go out and do stuff!

Hopefully things will clear up soon and we’ll get some of that beautiful fall weather that we all love so much.

Until then, I will arm myself with cozy soups and stews and post up next to the fireplace with a blanket to ride out this rainy phase. And I can’t be too mad about that!

Instant Pot Beef Stew

Author: Annie Chesson
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 35 mins
Total Time: 50 minutes
Yield: 9 servings 1x

Ingredients

Scale

4 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
4 stalks celery, roughly chopped
1 onion, peeled and roughly diced
1 potato, peeled and roughly diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 pounds of stew beef
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
6 cups beef broth (1 32 oz box plus 2 cups)
6 tablespoons cornstarch

Instructions

Add all of your chopped veggies + your beef into the Instant Pot. Add your tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, and beef stock. Season liberally with salt and pepper – there is a lot of stuff in there to season, so don’t be shy!
Stir it all together, pop the lid on the Instant Pot, and cook on manual high pressure for 35 minutes. Let the pressure naturally release for 10 minutes and then quick release the rest of the pressure
Skim the fat off the top of the soup with a spoon and discard
Whisk together a cornstarch slurry with your 6 tablespoons of cornstarch + enough water to make it liquidy and pourable
Turn your Instant Pot onto the saute setting. Once the stew is simmering, stir in your cornstarch and let the stew simmer until it is nice and thick – it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes! Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve