Instant Pot Beef Stew

Last year for Christmas I bought an Instant Pot for my sister. We use it sometimes to try new recipes. This is one of those recipes and it turned out yummy. The recipe is from A Bountiful Kitchen, a website that gives great instructions for cooking with the Instant Pot. The Instant Pot cooks much quicker than the stove top or slow cooker, however the recipes make it seem a lot quicker than the actual cooking time. The Instant Pot has to come up to temperature (for the pressure) and then you also have to wait for it to release the pressure. This recipe will take about 60-75 minutes to complete, even though the time shown below is only about 36 minutes. However, that is much quicker than 6-8 hours in the slow cooker or several hours on the stove/in the oven. Plus, the meat is so incredibly tender.

2 lbs. beef stew meat
1-2 Tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper to season meat
2 Tbsp. flour
3 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
2-1/2 C. no-sodium beef broth
1 lg. onion chopped into one-inch pieces (yields about 2 C. chopped onions)
2 stalks celery, chopped into one-inch pieces (yields about 1 C. chopped celery)
1 lb. bag baby carrots
2 lbs potatoes, red, white or russets, cleaned, cut into 1-1/2 inch cubes
Sliced mushrooms
1 14-oz. can chopped tomatoes or 2 C. chopped tomatoes with juice
1 Tbsp. Knorr beef seasoning or 2 beef bouillon cubes (preferably with no MSG included)
1 tsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. oregano
1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. cornstarch (optional)

Turn the Instant Pot to the saute setting. Pour olive oil into the pot. Place the meat into the pot, season generously with salt and pepper (this is in addition to the seasonings added with the vegetables). Add flour to the meat and saute on high until the meat is browned a bit. This takes about 2-3 minutes. Toss meat around so the flour is not visible and the meat browns. Add Worcestershire sauce, garlic, and broth. Turn the pot to the manual setting and use the up arrow until the display shows 20 minutes. Place the lid in the locked position with the seal in place and the vent to the closed position. Start the pot. While the meat is cooking, chop the veggies. You should have about 10 cups total of any combination of vegetables listed in the recipe. When the timer goes off and the meat is finished cooking, let the pressure naturally release for about 10-15 minutes. Release any remaining pressure using the pressure release valve. Add the vegetables to the Instant Pot, along with the canned or fresh tomatoes, beef flavoring, pepper and dried herbs. No need to mix yet. The pot will be VERY full. Set the lid on the Instant Pot and using the "steam" setting, set the steam for 6 minutes (it will take about 10-15 minutes before the vegetables will start steaming). Lock the lid in position and turn the pot on. After the vegetables have steamed, manually release the pressure and give the stew a mix. If it is not as thick as you'd like, remove some of the liquid from the pot (about 1 cup) and add the tablespoon of cornstarch to the liquid and whisk. Add back to the pot and stir gently. Leave the pot on the warm mode and it will come to a boil, stir until thickened, then turn off pot to serve.

Notes:
If the meat is frozen or you don't have time to brown the meat, add the meat to the pot and omit the browning step. Do not add the flour. Simply add the meat and follow directions for adding rest of ingredients Worcestershire, garlic, salt, pepper and broth and cook.

I omitted most of the salt from this recipe. There is so much salt in the bouillon, that I do not think more salt needs to be added (or at least can be added by the diner).