Instant Pot Beef Bourguignon – Recipe!

Beef Bourguignon is French beef stew if you are not familiar with it.  Julia Child was probably the first cook to introduce us to this fantastic recipe.  Julia’s recipe does involve quite a few steps, but it does create a most magnificent bowl of stew and it would probably would fall into the “Weekend Meal” category.  However, my Instant Pot version is fairly simple and very obtainable for an outstanding weeknight meal.

The first step in any stew is to brown the beef, which you can do right in the pot.  Then, a quick process of building flavor begins with sauteing garlic with celery and a spoonful of tomato paste.  A rich red wine or Burgundy is the key to French beef stew, it separates it from our traditional American version and creates a rich decadent sauce that is incomparable in my opinion.

The entire meal takes less than an hour to make start to finish (an hour and a half less than if you make it on the stove top) and most of that is “Instant Pot” time, not actual physical cooking.  When finished, this stew is an earthen-red meaty-mushroom bowl of goodness that you won’t be able to get enough of, so share your experience with some family and friends.  I like to serve it with fresh green beans and a toasted piece of rustic bread for dipping, but that’s just me.

Ingredients

3 ounces lardons or pancetta, diced

2 pounds beef chuck or round, cut into large chunks

2 stalks celery, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 1/2 cups Pinot Noir or red Burgundy wine

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 pound Crimini or baby Bella mushrooms, cut in half

8 ounces frozen pearl onions, defrosted

3 sprigs fresh thyme

salt and pepper

(Serves 6-8)

To Prepare:

1. Saute Pancetta in Instant Pot until crispy, about 4 minutes, remove and set aside.  Season beef heavily with salt and pepper.  Add meat to pot in batches and sear until brown, remove and set aside.
2. Add celery, garlic and flour, stir for 1 minute.  Add tomato paste and stir to combine.  Add wine and chicken broth and stir.  Add mushrooms, onions and browned beef into pot and stir.  Add fresh thyme and crispy pancetta, seal pot with lid.
3. Cook on high pressure for 45 minutes, let naturally release with done.  Press Saute and reduce liquid for 5 minutes.  Remove thyme stems and ladle into bowls, serve.  Enjoy!