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+ servings
bowl of pressure cooker beef stew
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5 from 2 votes

Pressure Cooker Beef Stew

FAST, delicious, tender and perfect Pressure Cooker Beef Stew that works in either an Instant Pot OR a stove top pressure cooker!
If you prefer Beef Stew with Potatoes, add some in there!
Like Beef Stew with Tomatoes? Add a 15 oz can of diced or stewed tomatoes instead of the water.
Prefer stew with actual onions and garlic? Add it in there instead of the powder! It will work.
There are lots of variations that you can make with this stew.
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time25 minutes
Natural Release10 minutes
Total Time40 minutes
Course: main
Cuisine: American
Keyword: pressure cooker beef stew
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 207kcal
Cost: $8

Equipment

  • knife
  • cutting board
  • measuring cups and spoons
  • pressure cooker & stove or instant pot
  • serving spoons

Ingredients

  • 1 lb stew beef cut into 1" pieces
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 3 ribs celery chopped
  • 3 carrots chopped
  • 2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1/4 cup Worcestershire
  • 2 bay leaves

Instructions

  • Place all ingredients into the bowl of the pressure cooker. Secure the lid and bring up to full pressure/temperature.
  • Cook on high pressure for 25 minutes. Allow pressure cooker to come back to room pressure by natural release. Remove the bay leaves before serving.

Video

Notes

  • You can start with frozen stew beef as long as you give it a few minutes longer, if you watch the video, you'll see that's what I do.
  • Cut the beef into bite sized pieces (about 1" cubes).
  • The secret to tender beef stew is cooking it a LONG time (if cooking on the stove top and really 25 minutes in a pressure cooker is a long time!). If your stew beef is too hard to chew, it's because it didn't cook long enough. Stew beef tends to have a lot of connective tissue and that takes a long long time to break down (which is just a few more minutes in the pressure cooker than something like chicken).
  • Add peeled potatoes cut into 1- 11/2 inch cubes if you prefer.
  • People often say, "I don't like celery" or "I don't like carrots". Actually, those just add some flavor and because they get quite soft, you don't really taste them individually. That said, the flavors they add to the beef are really on point. For the most part, the carrots and celery break down completely and you barely see them in the stew.
  • Add a 15 oz can of diced tomatoes instead of water if you prefer a tomato based beef stew.
  • You'll give a nice pop of flavor if you serve up some cheese, sour cream, green onion and a bit of shredded cheddar with your beef stew.
Substitutions
  • You can substitute Pork Shoulder for the Beef if you like, but then, of course, it isn't beef stew.
  • 1 chopped whole onion for the onion powder
  • 3 cloves minced garlic for the garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp celery seed for the celery
PRO TIP: 
Serve over a bed of rice or baked potato for a delicious alternative. 
Add in fresh veggies like squash and zucchini in the summer time for a healthy addition.

Nutrition

Calories: 207kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 26g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 70mg | Sodium: 872mg | Potassium: 802mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 8040IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 76mg | Iron: 4mg