I ordered stewing beef from the ranch a while back, and in my freezer it sat. Inspirationless.
Until one cool summer day (because yes, I live in the Canadian Prairies, and sometimes it’s cold in July. Like sweaters and jeans cold. For real…) a craving for beef stew popped into my head. Off I went to google a recipe to play with, and went from there. It started simmering, and as the afternoon beat on, the aroma wafting around the kitchen was completely making me salivate.
It was delicious. Like, ridiculously yummy. Like eat-two-bowlfuls-and-hope-hubby-forgets-to-take-the-leftovers-to-school-for-lunch kinda good. The kids gobbled it up, even the little one who thinks that breastmilk is pretty much the perfect food ever and why would you ever want anything else? 🙂
So, without further ado… here’s the recipe for you all to enjoy. Do come back and let me know if you enjoyed it after you finish licking the bowl 🙂
Looking for more posts like this one? Check these out:- 19 Easy (Real Food) Instant Pot Recipes for Hesitant Beginners
- 4 Things I Learned About My Instant Pot in the First 6 Months
Ingredients
- 1/3 c. butter
- 2 lbs stewing beef cut into chunks
- 8 cloves of garlic
- 8-10 c. homemade bone broth I used chicken broth because that's what I had on hand, but the logical choice would be beef broth
- 1/8 c. tomato paste
- 1-2 T. honey I didn't measure, I just took a large spoonful out of the honey bucket
- 1 T. dried thyme
- 1.5 T. worcestershire sauce I buy a gluten-free version at my local health store
- 2-3 bay leaves depending on their size
- 1/4 c. butter
- 5 cups peeled and chopped potatoes
- 2 small or 1 large onion chopped
- 2 cups carrots chopped
- 1/4 c. rice flour or any other thickener and water
Instructions
- Melt 1/3 c. butter in a large stock pot. Brown stewing beef on all sides. Add garlic, saute for 2 minutes. Add half of your bone broth, along with honey, tomato paste, thyme, worcestershire sauce, and bay leaves. Simmer on low, mostly covered.
- While the above is simmering, melt 1/4 c. butter in a frying pan (cast-iron is best if you have one), and saute onions, carrots, and potatoes for 2 minutes. Add the rest of the bone broth, and simmer for 20 minutes, until veggies are tender.
- Add veggies concoction to the beef mixture. Stir together. Keep simmering.
- In an air-tight container (a mason jar works well), shake rice flour and 1 c. water, until dissolved completely. Add to stew, stir, keep at a bubbling simmer until thickened, then turn off heat, and serve.
- For cooking in the Instant Pot:
- Use the IP's sauté function to brown the stewing beef on all sides (You don't need to cook it though, just sear it to seal in the juices).
- Remove to a bowl, and sauté potatoes, carrots, and onions for five minutes.
- Add meat back in, along with all other ingredients, minus the rice flour.
- Set Instant Pot on manual for 25 minutes, and allow to release pressure naturally.
- When you open the lid, press sauté button, add rice flour (pre-shaken into water to prevent lumps - I use a sealed mason jar) to stew, and simmer until stew is thickened.
Kristin
This was my very first instant pot meal, today! Thumbs up all around the table. A quote from my 15-year-old, “why does this taste so much better than regular beef stew?”
My pot doesn’t have the “manual” button; I read somewhere to use the beans/chili button, which worked, but it seemed to take a while to come up to pressure. Ideas?
Beth
Yay!! So glad you loved it! As far as the manual button – I don’t know! I didn’t know that there were IP models without it. It may reassure you to know that coming up to pressure does commonly take a while. The most I’ve ever had it take is 30-40 minutes when cooking a solidly frozen whole chicken, so I would say that any time up to that is totally normal. How full your IP is also affects it.
LL
For how quickly this came together, it was delish!
Beth
Right?! It’s one of my all-time faves. Glad you liked it too!
Lynn
Sounds delish! I never thought about adding honey to my stew. Looking forward to trying. I can often end up with lumps (even with the cold water mix), so one of the tricks I do to thicken the stew is: after chunking the meat into bite size pieces, throw them in a Baggie with some Mrs Braggs Liquid Aminos (I use instead of Worcestershire sauce), then add the flour to the bag, toss it all around til the meat is well coated and then brown them in the sautéed butter/onions/garlic. Once you add the stock, which I agree makes all the difference in the world, and the rest of the ingredients, it can cook down to your preferred thickness. It’s cool here in CT this week so I’m on the hunt for warm comfort food that’s also nutritious. This sounds like it fits the bill perfectly! Thanks for sharing!
Debbie @ Easy Natural Food
Yay, beef stew! This sounds so good! I also love using Worcestershire Sauce in beef stew, and Lea & Perrins is my fav too!
Thanks for sharing this with Sunday Night Soup Night! Sunday Night Soup Night is taking a break over summer and will return in the Fall. In the meantime, I’d love to see you at Summer Sunday Salads whenever you have a salad receipe to share!
Marci
Can I just say that I made this at Easter this year – with lamb instead of beef – and it was a total hit!!! Oh.My.Goodness! Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Sarah@EmergingMummy
Wow – that sounds fantastic! I know what I’ll be making this weekend!
Beth
I hope it lives up to expectations… I’m going to make it again this week also 🙂
Crystal
Yummi yummi. You should bring some frozen for camping. I just might do that myself, actually! Speaking of camping, Bob has Thursday and Friday off work, so technically we are interested in coming probably later in the day on Thursday (either that, or Friday morning). Would it be possible to book Thursday night for camping as well? And…did you book Friday night for us? I can’t remember… If you have a sec, fb me, since I’m not sure I get notified of comments on your blog…
Beth
Frozen stew for camping is a brilliant idea. We should talk food… I will FB or call you at some point soon. We should share at least some meals, if not most.
Krista
Sounds, and looks, very good! Will have to keep that in mind. 🙂
Krista
Beth
It’s easy too!
sadie
Sounds awesome Beth! I’ll be sure to try it.
Beth
Good recipe for year-round here in Alberta 😉 Hope you love it!