This classic French beef stew just got an upgrade! This Instant Pot Beef Bourguignon is the ultimate comfort food, made in just a fraction of the time of Julia's recipe. Tender chunks of beef in a rich red wine gravy, with bacon, and vegetables. Serve over mashed potatoes for an ultra-satisfying French classic.
Disclosure: This is a paid partnership with Strauss. Their Grass Rooted brand features delicious, 100% grass-fed beef stew meat. Taste the difference between commercially raised beef, and cattle that grow up roaming pastures and eating grass! Thanks for supporting the brands that make A Full Living possible.
This hearty dish is a sped-up version of Julia child’s beef bourguignon recipe that you would find in her best-selling cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. In fact, it's made in half the time as her original recipe!
This is not your average simple beef stew recipe. While it does take a little effort to create a rich flavor, pressure cooking makes this classic french food all the more approachable.
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❤️Why you'll love this
- Transforms tough cuts of meat - This is a great way to take tougher cuts, and turn them into flavorful, tender beef.
- Classic French stew - As we mentioned, this stew is a classic, made easier with modern appliances in half the time. Instead of cooking this meal in a dutch oven on the stove top, which takes around 4 hours, this stew is ready in under 2 hours from start to finish.
- Gluten free & low carb - We've made this recipe naturally gluten free without an all purpose flour mixture to thicken the sauce, so this dish fits multiple diet types! Serve with mashed turnips or cauliflower in place of potatoes for a delicious low carb meal!
- Made with staple ingredients - While there are a few steps to making this recipe correctly, everything in the dish is a kitchen or pantry staple. Anything you don't have on hand already can be found at nearly any grocery store!
🥕Ingredients
You can find full quantities and nutritional information in the recipe card.
✏️Ingredient Notes
Here is a list of ingredients, you can see the recipe card for quantities.
- Olive oil - For cooking the bacon, stew meat, and vegetables.
- Thick cut bacon - Cut into small pieces.
- Grass Rooted beef stew meat - These pre-cut stew meat chunks are of amazing quality. Like all stew beef, it's a tougher cut of meat, so it requires a little extra cooking time, and the instant pot helps us speed up the process. Grass Rooted also has an amazing quality chuck roast that you can use, and you can cut it into bite-sized chunks.
- Carrots - Large carrots peeled and cut into chunks work well, but baby carrots can be used.
- Onion & garlic
- Tomato paste - Really helps create a rich flavor, and is a traditional ingredient. You can use tomato sauce instead if you prefer.
- Dry red wine - This is staple in the flavor.
- Beef stock - Beef broth can also be used.
- Unsalted butter - Added with the mushrooms and pearl onions.
- Baby bella mushrooms - Can be cut in half or even left whole.
- Pearl onions - Optional, but more of a traditional ingredient and very tasty!
- Kosher salt & black pepper
- Fresh thyme & parsley - Dry thyme can also be used.
- Bay leaves
📖Instructions
🔪Prep work
- Blanch and peel the pearl onions. This step can also be done while the stew is cooking.
- Clean and halve mushrooms.
- Peel and cut carrots into rounds or chunks.
- Slice onions into thick strips.
- Mince garlic, and parsley. Prepare the fresh thyme by removing the leaves from the stems.
- Dry beef stew meat off really well with paper towels before seasoning.
🥓Cook the bacon
Set your instant pot setting to sauté function on medium. Add about 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Place bacon bits in the pan over medium heat and render out all of the fat.
Continue to scrape the bottom of the pan to get the brown bits from the bottom of the pan and prevent burning.
Once the bacon is browned after about 7 minutes, remove the bacon bits, and leave the bacon fat in the pan using a slotted spoon. Set aside on a paper towel-lined plate to soak up excess bacon grease.
🥕Cook the vegetables & aromatics
Don't drain the fat, and add onion and carrots to the inner pot. Season with a pinch of salt, and cook for about 5-7 minutes to soften.
Once softened, add in tomato paste and garlic, and cook until tomato paste has deepened in color, about 2-3 minutes, then remove from the Instant Pot and set aside.
🥩Brown the beef
Season the beef chunks generously with salt and pepper in a mixing bowl.
Increase to medium-high heat on the sauté function. Add more olive oil to the pot, and cook the meat in 2-3 batches so as to not overcrowd the pan.
Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side. The meat doesn't need to be cooked through completely, but we want some good color on the meat for maximum flavor. As you cook the meat, remove it from the pot and move the browned beef to a plate.
After the last batch of beef is browned, add the remaining beef to the pan.
Pro tip: Searing in batches will ensure you don't steam the beef. Getting a hard sear on the beef maximizes flavor, and locks in the juices.
🧅Prepare to pressure cook
Add the cooked carrots and onions mixture and bacon, followed by the beef stock, red wine, beef bouillon, fresh thyme, and parsley. Use the flat edge of a spatula or wooden spoon to scrape the bottom of the pot for browned bits.
Give the mixture a stir, then top with a bay leaf or two, before putting on the lid of the Instant Pot and setting it to high pressure. Pressure cook for 40 minutes.
🧈Finish the stew
After the mixture has been pressure cooked for 40 minutes, allow it to natural release for 10 minutes, then do a quick release and remove the Instant Pot lid. Remove the bay leaves and discard them.
Return the Instant Pot to the sauté setting, and add in the butter, mushrooms, and pearl onions with a pinch of salt and pepper.
Simmer for 10 minutes or so, until mushrooms have softened. The cook time of the mushrooms may vary slightly depending on their size.
Hint: If you'd like to thicken the sauce, you can always make a slurry of corn starch or flour, and the red wine gravy in a small bowl, then add it to the pressure cooker and allow it to simmer for a few minutes to thicken. Personally, we didn't think the gravy needed to be thickened so we opted out of this step.
Add more fresh parsley and thyme, and adjust seasonings to taste.
Serve over mashed potatoes, mashed turnips or cauliflower (for a low carb option), or with egg noodles. Enjoy!
💭Frequently asked questions
Use a dry red wine you'd actually want to drink for this beef bourguignon recipe. Since wine makes up such a large portion of the flavor in this stew, it should be good quality and tasty, but it doesn't need to be expensive.
Julia Child's recipe calls for a burgundy wine, but some other good options are pinot noir, Malbec, or Cabernet sauvignon.
Yes, definitely. Follow all of the same steps that you would for the Instant pot version, and then when it comes time to add the red wine, beef broth, and bay leaves, cover and slow cook for 2-3 hours on high, or 4-6 hours on low.
We suppose you could skip the wine in this recipe, but it would no longer be considered beef bourguignon. The flavor would be altered drastically, and essentially what you've made is a beef stew!
🍴Equipment
Luckily, this recipe is pretty standard and you don't need anything super fancy. We have the 8-quart Duo Plus Instant Pot, and we love it! There's plenty of room to make a large batch. 6-quart Instant Pots may be a bit on the small side for this recipe, but you could always scale the recipe back to make a smaller batch.
You can use any stovetop or electric pressure cooker you prefer for this recipe.
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🥣Storage
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat gently in your Instant Pot, in the microwave, or on the stove. The flavor is even better the next day!
To freeze, allow the dish to cool completely, then store in a freezer-safe container for up to 6 months.
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📖 Recipe
Pressure Cooker Beef Bourguignon
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 8 ounces bacon, cut into small pieces
- 4 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
- 1.5 teaspoons coarse black pepper, divided
- 200 grams carrots, peeled and cut into rounds (about 5 small - medium carrots)
- 1 large yellow onion, sliced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 pounds Grass Rooted grass-fed beef stew meat
- 2 cubes beef bouillon
- 2 tablespoons fresh minced parsley
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
- 12 ounces dry red wine (use Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, or Burgundy wine that you like to drink)
- 16 ounces beef stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 12 ounces pearl onions, blanched and peeled
- 16 ounces mushrooms, halved
Instructions
- Set your instant pot setting to sauté function on medium. Add about 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Place bacon bits in the pan over medium heat and render out all of the fat. Continue to scrape the bottom of the pan to get the brown bits from the bottom of the pan and prevent burning. Once the bacon is browned after about 7 minutes, remove the bacon bits, and leave the bacon fat in the pan using a slotted spoon. Set aside on a paper towel-lined plate to soak up excess bacon grease.
- Don't drain the fat, and add onion and carrots to the pot. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper, and cook for about 5-7 minutes to soften. Once softened, add in tomato paste and garlic, and cook until tomato paste has deepened in color, about 2-3 minutes, then remove from the Instant Pot and set aside.
- Season the beef chunks generously with salt and pepper in a mixing bowl. Increase to medium-high heat on the sauté function. Add more olive oil to the pot, and cook the meat in 2-3 batches so as to not overcrowd the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side. The meat doesn't need to be cooked through completely. As you cook the meat, remove it from the pot and move the browned beef to a plate. After the last batch of beef is browned, add the remaining beef to the pan.
- Add the cooked carrots and onions mixture and bacon, followed by the beef stock, red wine, beef bouillon, fresh thyme, and parsley. Use the flat edge of a spatula or wooden spoon to scrape the bottom of the pot for browned bits. Give the mixture a stir, then top with a bay leaf or two, before putting on the lid of the Instant Pot and setting it to high pressure. Pressure cook for 40 minutes.
- After the mixture has been pressure cooked for 40 minutes, allow it to natural release for 10 minutes, then do a quick release and take off the lid. Remove the bay leaves and discard them. Return the Instant Pot to the sauté setting, and add in the butter, mushrooms, and pearl onions with a pinch of salt and pepper. Simmer for 10 minutes or so, until mushrooms have softened. Add more fresh parsley and thyme, and adjust seasonings to taste.
- Serve over mashed potatoes, mashed turnips or cauliflower (for a low carb option), or with egg noodles. Enjoy!
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat gently in the Instant Pot or on the stovetop.
Video
Notes
- You can substitute some beef stock for some of the wine if you prefer, but we cannot guarantee how this will impact the taste.
- We have tried adding the mushrooms and onions directly to the Instant Pot before pressure cooking, but they turned too mushy in our opinion. Adding them separately at the end and simmering is the best method.
- Pearl onions are optional, but a traditional ingredient and should be blanched beforehand to be peeled easily. If you decide not to use pearl onions, you could always add an extra onion when you are sautéing. We just absolutely love the flavor of onions & can't get enough!
- If you'd like to thicken the sauce, you can always make a slurry of corn starch or flour, and the red wine gravy in a small bowl, then add it to the pressure cooker and allow it to simmer for a few minutes to thicken. Personally, we didn't think the gravy needed to be thickened so we opted out of this step.
Nutrition
These nutrition facts are provided as a courtesy and are only estimates. We cannot guarantee the accuracy.
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