Easy & Quick Instant Pot Beef and Noodles: Your Ultimate Comfort Food Recipe
Craving a bowl of classic comfort food but short on time? This Instant Pot Beef and Noodles recipe is about to become your new weeknight hero! Forget spending hours simmering for that perfect tender beef and creamy noodle combination. With our simple, ingenious shortcuts, you’ll achieve traditional hearty beef and noodles in a fraction of the time, delivering the same melt-in-your-mouth beef and richly flavored noodles in under an hour. It’s truly the quickest and easiest version you’ll ever make!
Beef and noodles is synonymous with ultimate comfort, but historically, it’s a dish that demands patience and a long cooking time. Not anymore! This Instant Pot method revolutionizes the process, making it the ultimate shortcut recipe. We’re not just using one smart trick to minimize prep and cook time; we’re using two powerful shortcuts to get you to dinner faster!
Most Instant Pot beef and noodles recipes typically recommend chuck roast. While delicious, chuck roast often requires significant preparation, including trimming excess fat and dicing it into smaller pieces, or cooking it whole and then shredding. Our method skips these steps entirely, saving you precious time and effort without compromising on flavor or tenderness.
The Two Game-Changing Shortcuts for Speedy Beef & Noodles
Shortcut 1: Pre-Cut Stew Beef – No Trimming, No Dicing!
For this incredibly easy recipe, we’re taking advantage of readily available store-bought cubed stew beef. This fantastic shortcut means the meat is already cut into convenient, bite-sized pieces, eliminating the need for you to do any knife work. Most packaged stew beef at your local grocery store consists of a mix of chuck roast and round cuts, which are ideal for pressure cooking as they become wonderfully tender under high pressure. All you need to do is open the package and toss it straight into the Instant Pot! This simple swap saves you at least 10-15 minutes of prep time.
Shortcut 2: Frozen Egg Noodles – The Secret to Perfect Texture
This might sound counterintuitive, but frozen noodles are absolutely crucial for the success of this Instant Pot recipe. We’ll delve deeper into why below, but the short answer is that they are the only type of noodle that can withstand the pressure cooking time required to tenderize the beef without turning into mush. This eliminates the need to cook noodles separately, making it a true one-pot wonder!
If you’re new to the world of pressure cooking, here’s a beginner’s guide to using the Instant Pot to help you get started before we jump into the recipe. It covers everything from basic functions to essential safety tips, ensuring a smooth cooking experience.
Step-by-Step: Making Your Easiest Instant Pot Beef and Noodles
Step 1: Lay the Foundation with Beef and Butter
Begin by opening your package of pre-cut stew beef and placing it directly into the bottom of your Instant Pot. Ensure your Instant Pot is at least 6 quarts or larger to comfortably accommodate all ingredients. Next, add the butter on top of the meat. The butter will melt down and contribute a rich, unctuous flavor to the beef and gravy.
Step 2: Season for Deep Flavor (Don’t Skip the Browning Sauce!)
Now it’s time to add the flavor-boosting seasonings: garlic powder, salt, onion powder, pepper, and the star ingredient, browning sauce. I understand that browning sauce might not be a pantry staple for everyone, but I truly believe it’s absolutely critical for this recipe’s success. It provides an incredible depth of flavor and a beautiful color that would otherwise require hours of slow cooking.
What is browning sauce? Browning sauce is a highly concentrated blend of vegetable stock, spices, and herbs, often with caramel coloring added. Its purpose is twofold: it significantly enriches the savory taste of any beef dish, making it taste deeply beefy and complex, and it imparts a gorgeous, rich brown hue. I always incorporate it into my beef stews and gravies to elevate their appearance and flavor profile. You can usually find it in the condiment aisle near other sauces or gravies, or sometimes in the international foods section of larger grocery stores.
Step 3: Add Frozen Noodles, Broth, and Consommé – The Final Layer
Carefully add the frozen noodles on top of the seasoned beef. Then, pour both the beef consommé and beef broth over the noodles and beef. Make sure the liquids cover most of the noodles to ensure even cooking.
Do you absolutely have to use frozen noodles? Yes, indeed! This is non-negotiable for the texture of this dish. Frozen noodles are the only type of noodle that can withstand the intense heat and extended cook time required for the beef to become perfectly tender in the Instant Pot. If you were to use dried or fresh noodles, they would undoubtedly turn into an unappetizing, soft mush after 28 minutes under pressure. Frozen egg noodles, however, maintain their chewiness and integrity, resulting in that delightful, creamy noodle texture we all love. Make sure to pour the beef consommé and beef broth over the top of the frozen noodles to ensure they cook evenly.
Cooking and Serving Your Instant Pot Masterpiece
And that’s it! Once all your ingredients are in, simply place the lid on your Instant Pot, ensure the sealing valve is set to the ‘Sealing’ position, and cook on manual high pressure for 28 minutes. When the timer signals your dish is done, perform a quick steam release by carefully turning the valve to ‘Venting’. Once all the steam has escaped and the float valve drops, open the lid. Give the beef and noodles a really good, generous stir to combine all those incredible flavors, and then serve immediately!
You’ll notice that at the end of the cook time, the beef will still be in chunks, but don’t worry! It will be incredibly fork-tender and easily shreddable with just a gentle push. You can break it up with your spoon or fork as you stir, or even remove it briefly to shred it further if you prefer a pulled beef consistency.
Why an Instant Pot is Essential for This Recipe (and Your Kitchen!)
Many people ask, “How can I quickly and easily make this without an Instant Pot?” The honest answer is: you simply can’t achieve this level of speed and tenderness with traditional methods. The Instant Pot is a marvel of modern cooking technology, capable of transforming tough cuts of meat into succulent, fall-apart tender morsels in a fraction of the time it would take on a stovetop or in a slow cooker. There’s truly no other appliance that accomplishes the same feat with such efficiency. If you don’t own an Instant Pot yet, I highly recommend investing in one! It’s a versatile kitchen tool that will undoubtedly become a favorite. I personally use this 6-quart model, which is perfectly sized for my family of six. You can often find them for under $80 on Amazon, making them an accessible upgrade for any kitchen.
Troubleshooting & Tips for Perfect Instant Pot Beef and Noodles
- Too Soupy? The amount of liquid remaining after cooking can sometimes vary depending on the fat content of your stew beef and the exact size of your noodles. If your beef and noodles appear a bit too liquidy for your liking, you can easily thicken it. Simply remove about a quarter cup of the liquid, whisk in 1-2 tablespoons of cornstarch until smooth to create a slurry, and then stir it back into the Instant Pot. Use the “Sauté” function (on low) for a few minutes, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens to your desired consistency. Keep in mind that the dish will also naturally thicken slightly as it cools to eating temperature.
- Serving Suggestions: This hearty dish is fantastic on its own, but it pairs wonderfully with a simple side. Consider serving it with steamed green beans, a fresh side salad, or a basket of crusty bread to soak up all that delicious gravy.
- Leftovers: Leftovers store beautifully in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days. Reheat gently on the stovetop or in the microwave, adding a splash of beef broth if needed to loosen the sauce.
More Easy Instant Pot Recipes You’ll Love:
Instant Pot Turkey and Noodles
Instant Pot BBQ Swiss Steak
Big Batch Instant Pot Shredded Chicken
Instant Pot Beef Stew
Instant Pot Cabbage Roll Soup
The Easiest Instant Pot Beef and Noodles
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Ingredients
- 1 to 1 1/2 pound package of precut stew beef
- 4 tablespoons butter
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp browning sauce
- 1 10.5 ounce can beef consomme
- 1 quart 32ounces beef broth
- 1 24 ounce bag frozen noodles *
Instructions
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Place the stew beef in the bottom of the Instant Pot. Then put in the butter.
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Add the garlic powder, salt, onion powder, black pepper, and browning sauce.
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Add the frozen noodles to the Instant Pot. Pour the consomme and broth over the noodles and beef. Place the lid on the Instant Pot and set the valve to seal. Cook on manual high heat for 28 minutes. When the timer goes off do a quick steam release. Give the beef and noodles a generous stir and serve!
Video
Notes
The amount of liquid after cooking depends a lot on the fat content of your stew beef. If your beef and noodles is too liquidy, you can make a slurry with cornstarch and water to thicken it up. They will thicken up some on their own as the beef and noodles cools to eating temperature.
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