I know it's not "stew season" as summer is just around the corner, but this Easy Instant Pot Hearty Stew is still a staple in our weekly meal prep! It's comforting, delicious, and filling. This recipe makes enough for 6 large meals, so usually we will make it fresh for dinner and then make 2 lunches out of it. Stew is also one of those things that just gets tastier with time :)
This recipe was the first recipe I tried with my Instant Pot. I don't know why it took me so long to start using my Instant Pot... about 2.5 years to be exact. I bought it on sale (for like $60?!) and it literally sat in my cupboard for that long! For some reason I thought the Instant Pot was very time and labor intensive - boy was I wrong. It's now one of my favorite cooking methods! Although I have yet to try the yogurt setting... Anyways I promise that more Instant Pot recipes will be coming soon!
This stew is such a great meal prep recipe because it tastes delicious, has good quality carbohydrates (potatoes), protein (beef), good fats (olive oil), and lots of vegetables! It's a very nutritionally well-rounded lunch or dinner recipe. It is also totally customizable, so here are some tips to make the stew exactly how you like:
Vegetarian Stew: substitute beef with 1 can of black beans and 1 can of chickpeas, and substitute beef broth with vegetable broth.
Vegetable Broth: to continue from point #1, when using vegetable broth I usually recommend increasing the balsamic vinegar or red wine to 1/4 cup, and adding some extra garlic, thyme, and rosemary. You can also add a splash of soy sauce, which increases the umami flavor.
Different Vegetables: feel free to mix it up depending on your preferences, and what you have in the fridge! For example, you can use sweet potatoes/yams, corn, peas, beans, kale, spinach, cauliflower, the list goes on!
Okay, let's get started!
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 80 mins (but completely hands-off, except for searing the meat!)
Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
2-4 pounds of rump or chuck or blade roast, trimmed of excess fat
1 yellow onion, chopped
4-5 cloves of garlic, roughly minced
1-2 beets
5-6 small potatoes, halved
4 large carrots, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
2-3 tbsp balsamic vinegar or red wine
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp brown sugar
A few sprigs of fresh thyme
A few sprigs of fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
900 mL beef broth
*I also threw in ~1 cup of frozen corn at the end for the sole purpose of cooling the stew down so we could eat it faster LOL
Instructions:
Set Instant Pot to "saute", and heat olive oil
Season roast with salt and pepper, and sear on all sides until browned
Add the onions, garlic, beets, potatoes, carrots, celery, balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, brown sugar, thyme, rosemary, black pepper, and beef broth. Place lid on Instant pot with steam valve closed.
Set Instant Pot to 'manual' pressure cook mode for 60 minutes on 'high' pressure.
Once the 60 minutes is complete, allow the pressure to release naturally for 15-20 minutes before releasing remaining pressure.
Carefully remove the lid and enjoy!
We hope you enjoy this recipe! Please comment below and share on social media if you do :) @vancouverdietitians