Recipe This | Instant Pot Beef Stew And Dumplings (2024)

Instant Pot Beef Stew And Dumplings are the perfect winter comfort food to load into the pressure cooker on cold winter days. Featuring homemade cheese and parsley suet dumplings along with a beef stew made of beef, swede, potatoes, and onions.

Just a few simple ingredients make this the best instant pot beef stew and dumplings, plus you will love what I do with the leftovers!

This instant pot beef stew and dumplings recipe was originally published in early 2017, just after purchasing our first instant pot. We are updating it for you with more pictures, more recipe ideas and even more instant pot beef stew tips.

Plus, as well as our free newsletter, we also have a free instant pot mini course. It is ideal for instant pot beginners or those that want to get more confident with their instant pot. The free course runs for 5 days with a new lesson delivered each day to your inbox.

Instant Pot Beef Stew UK

I get it, as a Brit we often search the internet for one of our British classics and we can not find a single British recipe. I know that because I have done it and worn the T-shirt many, many times.

You see recipes instead for instant pot frozen pot roast and whilst it looks amazing, you want to sink homemade suet dumplings into the instant pot and steam them using the magic of the instant pot.

Well, I hear you and I too, love nothing more than a bowl of just cooked instant pot beef stew and dumplings.

Today’s recipe is an instant pot beef stew uk recipe, that is easy to adapt with your favourite stew ingredients and ideal for a dump it into the instant pot, kind of Sunday stew.

Edit: If you live in the USA, you can follow this recipe and then make beef stew with bisquick dumplings instead of our suet variation.

Why Make Instant Pot Beef Stew With Dumplings

Because it is amazing. Its one of those beef stew recipes, that you didn’t realise you needed in your life, until you tasted it after it had been pressure cooked.

The benefit of instant pot beef stew with dumplings, is that the beef stew is much quicker than the slow cooker, and you can prep the dumplings, whilst the beef stew cooks and then add the dumplings later.

When you tuck in you will not realise that you have made English beef stew and dumplings using the instant pot and many will assume you have used the slow cooker.

With that said, you can also do many variations. Whilst the first thing I ever cooked in the slow cooker was beef stew and dumplings, you can convert any stew with dumplings to the instant pot.

Here are a few examples:

Instant Pot Lamb Stew & Dumplings – You can follow our slow cooker lamb stew and dumplings recipe, then use the cook times we have provided in this recipe. You can also mix and match what lamb you have. Remember, the instant pot does an amazing job with cheap cuts of lamb.

Instant Pot Vegetable Stew & Dumplings – Whilst you can follow our slow cooker vegetable stew and dumplings recipe, do note, that because there is no meat you don’t have to release pressure inbetween and can cook the stew and dumplings together in JUST 8 minutes.

Can You Overcook Dumplings In A Stew?

Yes, you can. And even though they will taste good, they will not hold the dumpling shape and you will end up with a mushy dumpling.

Our plan B when making a simple beef stew and dumplings, is to add the dumplings towards the end of cooking. They will then sit in the stew, get all the flavours of the stew, but will still have the fantastic dumpling texture.

Does Meat Get More Tender The Longer You Pressure Cook It?

Yes, it does. Think of it from a just cooked prospective. Braising beef or chuck roast as you might call it, is technically cooked after JUST 5 minutes. But it will be tough and unless you have amazing teeth, you are likely to need dental work before you are done.

However, the longer you pressure cook your beef the more tender it will become. I recommend when making a beef stew in the instant pot that you aim for a cook time of between 45 minutes or 1 hour 15 minutes depending on how big your pot of stew is.

Instant Pot Beef Stew & Dumplings Recipe Ingredients

Beef – I recommend any beef stewing meat for this recipe. We used braising steak (chuck roast) that we had bought cubed from Morrisons supermarket. But you can vary it with what you have.

Onion – When I make a beef stew in the instant pot, I love to sauté the onion first and give some flavour to the instant pot, before browning the meat.

Swede – For me an English stew is not the same without some chopped up swede, or as they call it in the USA, rutabaga.

Potatoes – The potatoes are what helps keep it all together and gives it that wonderful beef stew flavour. You can also use the potatoes to thicken the beef stew if necessary.

Seasoning – I love to season my beef stew with mixed herbs, thyme, parsley, and salt and pepper. You can of course mix and match with what you have in.

Dumplings – For me, nothing beats homemade dumplings in your beef stew. I will make a double batch of suet dumplings as I find one portion is not enough when making a big batch of stew.

Then for the kitchen gadgets that we have used in this instant pot beef stew and dumplings, it has just been our Instant Pot. We have this one and it does an amazing job and is also ideal for sauteing and then pressure cooking your stews.

How To Cook Pressure Cooker Beef Stew & Dumplings?

• Prep. The first step is to peel and dice your vegetables and wash any that need washing.
• Browning. Next, I love to saute my onion, add some flavour to the instant pot and brown my meat. Then I will deglaze the instant pot with red wine before pressure cooking.
• Mix. Add all the ingredients into the instant pot (apart from your dumplings dough) and mix well.
• Cook. Instant pot your beef stew until wonderfully tender and do a 15 minute natural pressure release.
• Make. Whilst the instant pot is working its magic, I recommend making your suet dumplings and letting them sit on your worktop to get some air to them prior to loading them into the instant pot.
• Dump. After your instant pot has finished, reduce the stock by half, and then add in your dumplings, take the instant pot back to pressure and do a zero minute cook. This will cook the dumplings.
• Serve. Then once back at pressure, do a quick pressure release before serving.

Why Extra Beef Stock?

I do this on purpose so that I can create extra beef stock for another recipe. I will add double the liquid needed for the stew, drain half and then reserve this half for another recipe.

I also do this because it will take longer for the instant pot to go to pressure and this will make the beef even more tender.

How Long Does Beef Stew Take To Cook In The Instant Pot?

This depends on how full your instant pot is. But for the average sized stew that would feed six people, then note that you are wanting to pressure cook for 45 minutes.

Though note, that because the instant pot is often full when making beef stew, you will have extra cook time for the time it takes to go to pressure.

What Is The Meat/Stew Setting On The Instant Pot?

The meat and stew setting on the instant pot, is a preset button, to make it easier for you when cooking stew in the instant pot.

It saves you having to push the button all the way up to 45 minutes on manual and you can choose if you use it or not.

What To Do With Beef Stew Leftovers?

I am sure I am not alone, with being the one that has an instant pot of leftover stew and no dumplings. And how every family member argues over who gets the last dumpling.

But what I love is to save the leftover stew for another day to make into something yummy.

But I did something different with this beef stew. I made sure the ingredients used matched what was traditional for a Cornish pasty, that way I could make air fryer Cornish pasties with what is left. This of course suits it more, when you don’t have as much leftover, if you have a lot, I recommend instead reheating the beef stew for 0 minutes and then serving it with warm crusty bread.

Listen To Instant Pot Beef Stew

Want to learn more about our Podcast? Then click here and you can browse through past episodes and subscribe to the Magic With Gadgets Podcast.

More Stew & Dumplings Recipe Suggestions

• Air Fryer Dumplings Without Suet
• Air Fryer Suet Dumplings For Stew

Can’t make it now? Then pin it for later!