Classic comfort food at its best, this Instant Pot beef stew is packed with rich, savory flavor. Tender chunks of beef, hearty vegetables, and fragrant herbs come together in a deeply flavorful gravy. Thanks to pressure cooking, you get all the slow-simmered taste in a fraction of the time-faster than stovetop or slow cooker methods. Enjoy it fresh or freeze for an easy, comforting meal later.
Beef stew is one of those timeless meals that never goes out of style. It's warm, hearty, and deeply satisfying-perfect for chilly nights or when you're craving something cozy. The Instant Pot makes it even better by locking in flavor while cutting down on cook time. No need to simmer for hours-just set it, let the pressure work its magic, and enjoy a rich, homemade stew in no time.
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Why You'll Love Instant Pot Beef Stew
What makes this Instant Pot beef stew recipe a flavor bomb? Tomatoes, tomato paste, worcestershire sauce, and optionally, Parmesan. They all add umami, that fabulous fifth taste.
- The flavors are fantastic (so report my friends and family).
- Homemade beef stew is a classic dish.
- An Instant Pot or electric pressure cooker makes it faster than stove top.
- Plenty of vegetables keep it healthy and a meal in a bowl.
Another "umami bomb" of flavor is these steakhouse mushrooms.
Ingredients You'll Need
Don't let the list of ingredients deter you; it's worth the prep work.
- Beef: Buy boneless chuck roast, not pre-cut stew meat; it's easy to find.
- Onion: A savory flavor base for a stew, use sweet, yellow, brown, or white onions.
- Carrots: A sweet vegetable flavor addition and must-have for soups and stews.
- Celery: Choose a head with large ribs or use an extra smaller ribs.
- Potatoes: Gold potatoes work best and hold together; russet potatoes fall apart.
- Cooking fat: Use both olive oil and unsalted butter, or all olive oil.
- Herbs: Dried herbs work great as they rehydrate in the pressure cooker, use Italian seasoning.
- Wine: Preferably a dry red wine or white wine. I use the mini airline size for cooking.
- Tomato paste: Adds a savory richness and "umami" flavor.
- Paprika: Adds a mild sweetness to dishes, adds color and flavor, either regular or smoked.
- Beef broth: Use a good beef bone broth like this one. Skip canned or boxed if possible, and if that's the only option, read labels carefully. Check the freezer section for good options.
- Diced tomatoes: Use canned tomatoes, regular or roasted.
- Peas: Frozen peas are easy to add, thaw first. Petite peas are more tender.
- Worcestershire sauce: Gives the beef stew a deep, satisfying flavor.
- Bay leaf: Either dried or fresh, adds depth of flavor.
- Cornstarch: To make a cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce if desired.
Please see the recipe card for salt, black pepper, and measurements.
Substitutions and Variations
- If you don't have a dried Italian blend, use a combination of dried basil, oregano, thyme, and/or rosemary.
- Substitute broth for the wine.
- Try a dry sherry or a splash of cognac.
- If you want to add green beans, chop them into small pieces and add with the potatoes.
For another hearty recipe with beef, try these slow cooker shredded beef sandwiches, with either regular or gluten-free buns.
Chef's Tip: Shortcut the process by doing your prep work ahead. Trim and cube the meat, chop the vegetables, etc. then refrigerate until 30-45 minutes before cooking your beef stew.
How to Make Instant Pot Beef Stew
Why use an electric pressure cooker? Because it produces a beautiful beef stew with rich, concentrated flavors done in a fraction of the time of stovetop or slow cooker beef stew recipes. I use an Instant Pot®, but you can make pressure cooker beef stew by using another brand of electric pressure cooker.
Step 7: Carefully unlock and open the lid and stir in the the peas, the remaining tomato paste, and the worcestershire sauce. Close the pot back up and allow the remaining heat to warm the peas through for a few minutes. If using the slurry, add with the peas.
The Best Beef for Stew
Boneless chuck roast makes the most tender and flavorful beef stew, and it is the most traditional cut of beef for making stew. As is, it is tough cut, but pressure cooking or long cooking make it tender. There is quite a bit of trimming to do, so buy a little larger piece than you might think and trim out extra fat and tendons. Buy about a 2 ¼ pound - 2 ⅓ pound piece.
Don't buy pre-cut beef stew meat. It's the cheapest and toughest option with a mix of piece sizes and you don't know what you are really getting. Uneven sized pieces won't cook at the same rate and some bites could be more tough than tender.
Beef Stew Serving Suggestions
Instant Pot beef stew is a meal in itself. Garnish with grated Parmesan cheese and a sprinkle of fresh chopped parsley. Serve with crusty bread to soak up the fantastic juices (skip for low carb).
Beef stew keeps in the refrigerator for 3 days or freezes well for longer term in an airtight container, labeled and dated.
Recipe FAQs
Pressure cooking does tenderize the meat, but more importantly, choose the right cut of meat for beef stew. Skip "stew meat" as the pieces are usually different sizes and a mix of cuts. Do choose a boneless chuck roast. It's comes out tender with big beef flavor for Instant Pot beef stew. When you buy a piece, get a little more than you need to allow for trimming.
The beef stew setting on an Instant Pot is a pre-set for 35 minutes at high pressure. It's the same as manually choosing the pressure cooker high setting and setting your own time. I set my own time for beef stew as I my beef stew recipe cooks for just 15 minutes at high pressure with tender and delicious results. 35 minutes is not needed with the right cut of meat (go with boneless chuck roast). You can use the setting, just set a manual timer for 15 minutes.
It depends on the time you have and the method you prefer. I prefer the speed and results (tender meat and great flavor) of pressure cooking for beef stew. A slow cooker is more hands off for a longer period of time.
More Delicious Dinner Recipes
While beef stew is a casual dish, if you love beef try my slow roasted beef tenderloin for special occasions.
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📖 Recipe
Instant Pot Beef Stew Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ pounds boneless chuck roast (see notes below)
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 bunch carrots ¾ - 1 pound
- 3 large celery ribs
- ¾ pound gold potatoes
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 large garlic cloves chopped fine
- 1 tablespoon dried Italian herb blend oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ cup dry red or white wine optional, sub broth
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste divided use
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ cup low sodium beef bone broth
- 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes drained
- ½ cup frozen peas
- 2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch or arrowroot starch optional to thicken gravy
Optional Garnishes for Serving
- 2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
Prep Meat and Vegetables
- Trim extra fat from the chuck roast, then cut it into 1 ½" pieces. Next, chop vegetables: peel and chop onion, peel and chop carrots into 1" pieces, chop celery into ½" pieces, peel and chop potatoes into 1" pieces.
Start Cooking
- Set the Instant Pot to saute function to level "more"(press the saute button 3 times) for 30 minutes (so it stays hot and doesn't turn off). When the inner pot is hot add the olive oil. Add half the beef, browning on one side, then turning to brown the other. Don't crowd the pieces for best browning. Remove the pieces to a bowl and repeat with the remaining beef pieces. Add them to the bowl with any juices.
- Add butter (or more olive oil) to the pot and when hot add the onions and cook until softened, then add garlic and dried herbs and cook another 30 seconds, stirring. Add wine and cook down for a minute. Add carrots, potatoes, celery, tomatoes, paprika, salt, pepper and bay leaves, broth and the browned beef. Lock lid into place, turn vent (float valve) to closed, and set the function to pressure cooking, high pressure, for 15 minutes.
When Timing is Complete
- When pressure cooking is complete allow pressure to come down naturally for 10 minutes then release any additional pressure manually by turning the vent open. When all pressure is released and the gauge drops, open lid carefully and stir in tomatoes, peas, worcestershire, and the last of the tomato paste. Put lid back on and allow vegetables to heat through in the hot stew. Serve immediately or cool and refrigerate for enjoying later. Stew will keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 days and freezes well.
Optional: To Thicken the Sauce
- Mix the cornstarch with 2 teaspoons of cold water and stir smooth. Stir into the pot with the peas, lock on the lid, and allow it to heat through for a few minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
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Porsche Guy says
Normally im not a big stew person but the pictures looked so delicious. I decided to try it and glad i did! Great rich flavor and leftovers made a super lunch.
Debra Christian says
Hi Sally,
Love your website and regularly make dishes from your delicious, nutritious recipes! Just a heads-up on the Beef & Vegetable Stew with Rosemary recipe above. Wanted to try this tonight but there seems to be a problem. On my computer it starts out fine, then switches to a roasted chicken recipe. I'm not sure where to look for the Beef Stew recipe now. Any thoughts?
Sally Cameron says
Hi Debra. Wow, that was weird. Got to love technology. Its all fixed. Thank you so much!
Denise says
Yummy! Next on weekend list. I was thinking the same Rod, to serve with polenta or some cornbread. Thank you!
Rod Archer says
We made the stew last night. it was a hit on a cold snowy day. I added some fresh green beans for more color since I did not have fresh rosemary. I served it on polenta which was a very good complement to the rich beef flavor.
I will be looking over your other recipes for healthy, good food. thank you for this one.
Sally says
Thanks for commenting Rod. The polenta and green beans are a great idea. Hard thinking about snow in April when I live in CA! Stay warm and well fed.
Ron says
Lovely recipe. Had it for dinner last night and everyone enjoyed it.
Slight correction. This is missing between steps 3 and 4:
"Return the set aside beef to the pot and add the ½ cup of water."
Putting the beef back in is obvious, but if I hadn't already had the water measured out I would have missed adding the water in.
Sally says
Thanks Ron for the catch! I've updated the recipe!
Erin says
I made this adapted for stove-top since I don't have a pressure cooker. It was wonderful! I especially loved the seasoning and the non-mushy carrots!
Thanks for the recipe!!
Chris says
We analyzed 14,000 recipes from over 2,000 unique website and this was the third most nutrient dense ... the only beef dish to make the top 10! You can read more about the study here. http://blog.yumprint.com/2012/10/the-ten-most-nutrient-dense-recipes-on.html
Debs @ The Spanish Wok says
I love stews of all kinds, whatever the season LOL.
You are welcome to join in my monthly food blogger event THE SOUP KITCHEN, here all bloggers are welcome, hope to see you participate soon. Different theme each month.
Jesica @ pencil kitchen says
AWESOME looking stew!!! I miss stew all of a sudden!
myfudo says
Love the sweet, delicate freshness of rosemary in stews. Delicious recipe!
Laura @ hip pressure cooking says
This recipe sounds delicious - and the photo is stunning!
Ciao,
L