Instant Pot Beef & Barley Stew - A hearty, soul warming stew that doesn't actually need to "stew" all day.
Don't ya just love a big ole bowl of stew on a cold winter day? I do.
As winter is quickly settling in, I'm cooking more "comfort food" recipes. The other day I was about to make my Beef & Barley Stew and thought to myself "why am I not making this in the Instant Pot?".
You guys know by now how much I love my magical machine. So, I gave it a try and it was goooooood. The beef ended up so tender, I couldn't believe it. This is definitely the way I'll be making my stew from now on.
Don't worry, if you don't have an Instant Pot yet you can still make a delicious stew the old fashioned way by following this Beef & Barley Stew Recipe Link.
But, if you do have an Instant Pot, you are in luck!
Be sure not to crowd the beef or it will steam rather than brown nicely. I used a pound of stew meat and was able to do this in two batches. If you have more than that, you may need 3 batches.
You want to make sure your beef gets a good brown "crust" on it.
Add a small amount of broth (or red wine) to deglaze the pot.
(Deglazing is a cooking technique for removing and dissolving browned food residue from a pan to flavor sauces, soups, and gravies. - Wikipedia)
Please dismiss the terrible photo - I'm really cooking over here - there was steam coming up at me!
If you are new to Instant Pot cooking. Please note, the timer is set to 25 minutes, however, please keep in mind, the pot needs time to come to pressure and also to natural release. Once you use your IP more often, you'll start to understand the process a little more each time.
Instant Pot Beef Barley Stew
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pound cubed stew meat (anywhere between 1 and ½ pounds is fine)
- ½ Cup flour all purpose
- 1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt divided
- ½ teaspoon black pepper freshly cracked
- 2 Tablespoon vegetable oil or other oil with high smoke point
- 2 medium sized carrots diced
- 1 small sweet onion diced
- 4 ounces mushrooms sliced or diced
- 1 Tablespoon worcestershire sauce
- 4 Cup beef broth or stock
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 teaspoon fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dry
- 1 Cup pearl barley
Instructions
- Place the flour, ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon of pepper in a large bowl or a large resealable bag. Toss the beef cubes in the flour mixture to coat.
- Set Instant Pot to saute and add oil to pot. Once hot, add half of the coated beef. Cook a few minutes until browned and then turn over and brown the other side. Remove beef from pot and repeat with remaining beef. Remove beef and set aside on plate.
- To Instant pot, add onion, carrot and mushroom. Cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour in ¼ C of broth to deglaze (or you could use red wine) pot by scraping all the bits off the bottom. Add remaining ingredients, including the remaining broth to pot.
- Cover and seal. Using the meat/stew function, set to timer to 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, allow a natural release. Serve.
Nutrition
If you love stew but the mushrooms and barley aren't you thing, give my other Instant Pot Beef Stew recipe a try!
Jean says
Made a cross between the soup and stew. Didn't have mushrooms but had celery. Added a splash of balsamic and a glug of red wine. It was delicious.
foodyschmoody says
Sounds like good change ups to me! Thanks for letting me know you tried it!!!
Valerie says
This was a great recipe. I replaced the mushrooms with potatoes and parsnips. Delicious.
foodyschmoody says
Great change up. I actually love parsnips in stews! Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for the feedback!
Amy says
Can I use regular barley in place of pearled? Would any adjustments need to be made and if so what would that be? Thanks
foodyschmoody says
The only way I've made this is with the pearled barley. I believe regular barley requires longer cooking time but I wouldn't be able to give you an exact instruction. Sorry.
Amy says
Can I use regular barley in place of pearled? What would I need to do?
foodyschmoody says
I have yet to try it w/ anything other than the pearl barley so I can't say for sure. I'd love to hear your results if you give it a try.
Abbe says
Just used my IP for the first time to make this. It is delicious. Only changes I made were to add celery and decrease the thyme to I tsp.
foodyschmoody says
I'm so glad you enjoyed it. I usually add celery to mine too, I must have been out the day I created this 🙂
Barb says
Is this 6 at or 8 qt? If 6 can i double?
foodyschmoody says
I have a 6 qt. I'm sorry, I haven't tried to double it.
Gary says
We really enjoyed it! For more color, I added some frozen peas to the stew after pressure was released and the pot set on warm. Otherwise I followed the recipe. Next time I will use a full eight ounce package of mushrooms because I can.
Lori says
I bought an Instant Pot today and tried this recipe. A soon after putting on stew for 25 minutes it beeped and said "burn." Tried twice. After 2nd time opened pot to burnt stew. Was I to wash the pot after the sauteing? Also I used instant pearl barley. Does that matter?
foodyschmoody says
Oh no, let's see if we can get to the bottom of this for you. Did you "deglaze" the pot w/ the broth as directed? The dreaded burn notice tends to occur when the pot has a lot of food stuck to the bottom, as results when not deglazed.
Paula says
Delicious on a very cold night! Made half recipe (used 3 cups beef bone broth) and still was thick and yummy. Leftovers for tomorrow!
foodyschmoody says
Glad you enjoyed it!
Minnie says
The best beef and barley stew I have ever made. It was so simple with simple ingredients but the taste was outstanding I didn’t have mushrooms so I added celery but other than that I followed it to a T.