Beef, Dinner, Pressure Cooker, Recipes

Best Pressure Cooker Beef Stew

July 7, 2013

Beef StewAfter contemplating buying a pressure cooker for a long time and reading a recent review in Cook’s Illustrated, John finally hit the “place your order” button on Amazon and in a week we had our new 8 1/2 quart Fissler pressure cooker.  We agreed on beef stew as our first trial recipe. I found a few recipes that I thought would guide me in the right direction and just gave it a go.  The beef stew turned out remarkably good. I was in love with our pressure cooker from that day on.

Beef Stew VeggiesI did learn that the vegetables needed less cooking time because they were a bit too soft the first time around so I decreased the cooking time to 5 minutes and they were perfect.

Demi glaceSwanson beef stock works really well in the stew. With the addition of a few tablespoons of veal demi glace, the gravy turns out rich and flavorful just as though you had simmered your stew for hours yet it takes just 25 minutes in the pressure cooker for fork tender beef stew.

Beef Stew meatI bought a little over 3 pounds of chuck roast and trimmed it really well.  I ended up with 2 1/2 pounds of good looking meat for my stew.  Below is my recipe for perfect pressure cooker beef stew.

Beef Stew 2

Pressure Cooker Beef Stew

Serves 6 – 8

Ingredients

2 1/2 pounds well trimmed chuck roast cut into 2 inch cubes

2 tablespoons flour

2 teaspoons kosher salt

freshly ground pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 26 ounce box Swanson Beef Cooking Stock

2 tablespoons veal demi glace (optional but highly recommended, we use  Williams Sonoma brand)

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 14 ounce can diced tomatoes with liquid, pureed in a food processor

4 medium carrots, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces

1 1/4 pound potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces (I used fingerlings, I love the way they keep their shape)

3 teaspoons fresh thyme

1 cup green peas

Preparation

Trim the meat well and cut into large cubes, about 2 inches (they will shrink considerably).  Place meat in a large bowl and season with 2 teaspoons of kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper making sure to coat all sides well.  Sprinkle in the flour and with your hands (I use disposable gloves) mix the seasoned meat with the flour.

Combine the beef stock and demi glace with the Worcestershire and Dijon mustard.  Set aside.

Quickly puree the diced tomatoes in a food processor, just a few pulses does the job.  Set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in your pressure cooker over medium-high heat.  Add half of the beef to the pan and brown well without moving the pieces then turn over and brown the other side.  (Just an advance warning. Once you add the meat to the hot oil there will be a lot of wild spattering going on so use a spatter screen if you have one). Remove browned pieces to a plate and continue cooking the other pieces adding more olive oil if needed.  Once all the beef has browned, discard any excess fat in the pan.

Turn the heat down to medium and add the onions and garlic and sauté for about 2 minutes just until the onion softens.  Stir in the beef stock mixture and tomatoes and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.  Return the beef to the pressure cooker and bring the mixture to a simmer.

Cover the pressure cooker, lock the lid in place and over medium-high heat bring it to full pressure. Once the pressure cooker comes up to pressure, lower the heat to a low burner setting so that it maintains pressure without exceeding it and set the timer for 20 minutes.

Remove the cooker from the heat and release the pressure using the quick release method by pressing the button on the handle or by running cold water over the lid in the sink.  Taste the gravy and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Add the carrots, potatoes and thyme to the pressure cooker.  Cover the cooker once again, lock the lid and bring back to high pressure.   Once the cooker is at full pressure, turn the heat down to low to medium low and cook for 5 minutes.

Remove the cooker from the heat and release the pressure.  To thicken the gravy add a few shakes of Wondra and let the stew simmer for just a few minutes. Stir in the peas before serving.  We like spooning the stew over hot rice that soaks up all the delicious gravy.

***I used an 8 1/2 quart pressure cooker.

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  • Shanna Koenigsdorf Ward December 22, 2013 at 12:59 pm

    Kiyo,
    This looks SO delicious! You really can’t go wrong with potatoes, carrots, onions and garlic (the basis of most great recipes!)… add then in the demi glace, beef, peas… with a delicious gravy… Yum. Nice idea to serve it over rice! 🙂 When I lived in Spain, the wonderful woman I lived with (she was in her 60’s, single and had a great flat in the center of Madrid) made a similar dish in her German pressure cooker. However, it also incorporated lentils (or lentejas!) and a bit of red wine. This recipe is so versatile… you could use lamb and sweet potato in place of the beef and white potato and put the dish over barley for an Irish stew version! Thank you for sharing. This is a perfect winter meal – and would be a lovely Christmas dish or New Year’s Eve treat, as well.
    Best regards,
    SHanna

    • Kiyo December 23, 2013 at 4:00 pm

      Aloha Shanna ~ We are so glad we finally bought a pressure cooker! Now we can cook meals that used to require lots of time, and only made on our days off from work. I like the idea of lentils in stew, they are so delicious. I can imagine that lentils would cook in just a few minutes in a pressure cooker. I like your suggestion of adding sweet potatoes and serving the stew over barley. Yum, yum, yum! Mahalo!

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