Black Friday got us. Black Friday got us good. Here is one example:
You know Black Friday got you good when you spend nearly $100 on something you didn’t even know existed earlier that morning. That’s what happened to me when my friend Diana advertised the Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker
And then I had to do all this research to figure out how to use this thing without blowing the house up. It’s actually way easier and safer than I had imagined… whew! But we’re kinda superdupercautious about everything in our household (like we actually unplug the toaster oven when it’s not in use… and we use it like 5x/day), so I felt I had to study the manual and all that.
Then it was time for recipes. The Instant Pot came with a recipe booklet, but who ever uses recipes from the booklet that comes with the thing? Really?
Actually, I did. I tried the creme brulee recipe from it, only because I fell for Costco’s half gallon of heavy cream again and didn’t have time to make ice cream. (FYI I think it’s worthwhile to make it the traditional, non pressure cooker way in the future). I guess I also tried the “Jasmine Rice” recipe from it, only because we needed some white rice in a pinch and for some reason our rice cooker takes foreverrrrr to make rice so I thought I’d try this “4 minute white rice.” Let me tell you now, though. Four minute rice doesn’t mean four minute rice. It means 1) let the pressure cooker take 10 minutes to get up to pressure, and then 2) add an additional 4 minutes to cook the rice, and then 3) add an additional 2 minutes to depressurize the thing before you can safely access the rice. So really, that’s like 15 minute white rice. Just so you know. Cuz I didn’t.
So far, I was 0 for 2 on the appliance. It’s not that things were turning out badly, but neither the creme brulee nor the rice tasted better than the kind I made before, even if it took a little less time. It was the typical thing where a shortcut appliance was turning out food semi-faster, but not necessarily as delicious. Like microwaving veggies instead of roasting them. Shorter? Yes. Tastier? No. So to me, that’s not really worth it. But still, I clung onto hope that this appliance would earn its keep in my kitchen with two things that have always eluded me: jook (aka congee) and beef stew.
Because those things sit on your stovetop for hours. and hours. and hours. and hours. Which means you’ve got to be HOME for hours. and hours. and hours. and hours. And who has got time for that? Not I. So I leave the beef stew-making to my dad and the jook-making to the Chinese cafes around us. But then I don’t feel like a legit mom because I don’t really make jook, and I feel like I’m depriving my second (third?) generation ABC kids of what little pieces of my heritage I know about. Because even all my peer ABC friends make jook for their kids. So that needed to make its way into my repertoire soon.
And maybe, with the Instant Pot, I would finally expand my repertoire to include things like pot roast, pulled pork, and french onion soup. And maybe risotto would make more frequent showings, and fall-off-the-bone baby back ribs could be done in under an hour instead of three.
I have yet to experiment with the foods in the last paragraph there, but I can tell you that I covered jook and beef stew this past weekend, and it was a win! To be fair, the jook was really only successful because my friend Wendy came through at the last minute and brought me some freshly roasted turkey meat, turning my plain jook into turkey jook which is wayyyyyy more exciting!
The beef stew is what I’m here to talk about, though. My dad started making Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon when I was in high school. You don’t even want to know how I pronounce that in my head to get myself to spell it correctly. But you do want to know how it tastes: AMAZING. I think it was the first time I really started to enjoy and appreciate complexity in food. He spent hours slaving in the kitchen, browning his beef, making this and that and I don’t even know what. I remember thinking nothing could be worth all this work… but I was so wrong. It was so, SO out of this world amazing. However, it is a 6+ hour recipe, and rated as “difficult” online. That’s saying something.
When I got married, I thought I’d be amazing and make it, too. It took me forever, and it did not come out nearly as well. It felt like such a failure because the most anticipated ingredient (to some) is supposed to be the tender, melty beef, but mine was hard and chewy. My impatience with the cooking times showed, and even though it was as flavorful as anything, the gastronomic experience was not what I had hoped for. A few years later, I attempted it again, and have since left that recipe for my dad to cook for us.
UNTIL NOW. Instant Pot has made it possible for me to make something beef stewy and red winey and boeuf bourguignony in less than TWO HOURS. With fork tender meat chunks and all. The recipe below is a mish-mash of ingredients and instructions that came from reading about 6 different beef stew recipes (none of them actually Julia’s hah), but I can actually say that the recipe is MINE! Wow. Feeling so legit right now. Maybe it could even be done in 1-1.5 hours now that I have my own single recipe to follow (instead of skimming six recipes simultaneously to figure out what I want to do next). It’s a bit soupier than a real beef bourguignon, because I’m always scared to lower the liquids too much as I’m still new to the Instant Pot, so feel free to adjust and lower the liquids. It should be fine as long as you have at least 1.5 cups of liquids in there!
I’m recording it in writing so I can do it again someday, which shouldn’t be too far away, since it’s not nearly as daunting to make anymore! I will probably make adjustments over time to make it suit our tastes more and more, but we’re enjoying the beef stew we’ve got going so far!
Instant Pot Beef Stew with Red Wine
Makes 6 servings
I followed Miss Vickie’s recommendation to cook use the “interrupted cooking method” in order to keep the vegetables from getting too soggy. This means first cook one batch of stuff, then depressurize, add more stuff and cook a little longer. It’s a little more work, but worth it!
Ingredients
- salt and pepper
- 1.5 lbs beef stew meat
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 lb bacon, cut into 2″ pieces
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 bay leaf
21 cupsred wine (2020 edit, now that I have kids…)- 2-3 cups beef stock, depending on how saucy/soupy you like it
- 1 tbsp tomato paste (2020 add on. I like it after all.)
- 1 large onion (or 2 medium onions), chopped (or 12 pearl onions, peeled)
- 5 carrots, peeled and chopped into 1″ chunks
- 3-5 stalks of celery, cut into 1/2″ pieces
- 20 oz. white mushrooms, quartered
- Optional: 5 gold potatoes (small round ones, about 2-3″ diameter), peeled and chopped into 1″ chunks
- 2 tbsp flour
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
- Season beef chunks with salt and pepper, then coat with flour
- Turn on “Saute” function on Instant Pot, and brown meat in two batches. Put browned meat onto a plate covered with a paper towel.
- In a separate frying pan, fry bacon over medium high heat, removing cooked bacon onto the beef plate. Discard bacon fat (or save in a tupperware in fridge for some other application).
- Fill Instant Pot with beef, bacon, garlic, bay leaf, wine, and beef stock. Close and set Instant Pot to “Manual” and set it to cook on high pressure for 20 minutes (which will take closer to 30 minutes since it has to get up to pressure first).
- Meanwhile, brown onion in the same pan as the bacon. Set aside. (I’m not always a mise en place kinda gal, so this is also the time when I would peel and chop my carrots, potatoes, celery, and mushrooms).
- When the first 20 minutes are up with the beef, do the quick pressure release. Add in the onions, carrots, potatoes, celery, and mushrooms (2020 edit: and tomato paste). Salt and pepper to taste. Close the lid, set the vent thing back to pressure cooking position, and set it to cook for another 10 minutes (again, this will take closer to 15-20 minutes).
- Make a slurry with the flour and water and some salt and pepper. After the “10 minutes” are up, I let mine sit for another 10 minutes, press “Cancel,” and then do the quick pressure release. (I think this is officially called the “10-minute natural release” in the manual). Turn it back onto “Saute,” stir in the slurry and let it cook until it reaches the consistency you like.
- Done! Serve with some warmed french bread and ENJOY!!!
Really, don’t skip the bread. Ben says it matters.
Yum!
15 responses to “Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Beef Stew with Red Wine”
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My wife makes beef stew all the time in the Instant Pot! One tip is to avoid buying “beef for stew” at the grocery store – even though it’s conveniently pre-cut to size in the package, the meat is often not as good quality. Instead, get a chuck roast and cut it up yourself – chuck has more connective tissue that breaks down during the braise and the end result is more tender and overall delicious.
How do I know this? I bought the “beef for stew” last time and Vicky was sad, haha.
AWESOME tip thanks!! Totally doing that next time!
I got an InstantPot too about 5 months ago and wasn’t too thrilled with the couple recipes I tried so I’ve been waiting for some friends to recommend some. This is perfect! I did bring the IP to Tahoe and it was really nice to have have a slow cooker / rice maker / pressure cooker with us.
Ooh yay yes let’s share recipes! Do you have a good one for jook? My last one was okay but a bit thick. I already forgot what proportions I used :p so absent minded
Sam’s brother made us beef noodle soup in the IP and it turned out amazing! Can share the recipe after Sam translates it to English =)
Oooooh yes please ASAP!! That’s on the menu for this week but I’ll wait til Friday to make it if Sam can get that recipe to me! Thanks!!!! I even have all the ingredients and everything.
I also got a pressure cooker for Christmas (different brand, but similar.) I tried it the first time last weekend to cook an elk roast with potatoes and carrots. Everything turned out great in only about two hours instead of 7 – 8 hours in my crock pot. I loved reading your descriptions and your recipe because they made total sense to me after trying mine last weekend! One question about your recipe: is there a substitution for the wine? I know the alcohol is supposed to cook off, but we are a totally non-alcoholic family so I don’t want to use it at all. Do you think plain grape juice would work? Or just more beef broth? I’m excited to try your recipe (probably with elk or venison, as that is what I have in my freezer.) Thanks for sharing!
Lorna says you can try rice vinegar (or any vinegar!). Personally I’d probably go with more beef broth! 🙂
I use vinegar – usually rice vinegar (not the seasoned kind), but I’d guess any vinegar would work.