Easy Pressure Cooker Beef and Broccoli Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How much liquid do I need to Pressure Cook beef? ›

Pour in at least two cups of water; use 1 to 2 cups more if the beef is a tough cut or to reach the minimum amount recommended by the pressure cooker's manufacturer.

Chuck roast, brisket and short ribs are the best cut because they contain a lot of connective tissue. During both slow & pressure cooking, that connective tissue breaks down and turns into gelatin giving the beef a rich, meaty flavour and a tender, juicy texture.

Steam penetrates food easily under pressure. So connective tissues in cubes of beef for soups or stews soften in 15 minutes or less, and a pot roast will be medium-rare in 30 minutes.

Traditionally cheaper cuts of meat always slow cook better. Slow cooking breaks down the connective collagen in meat, which turns into unctuous gelatine. This creates that soft and tender mouth feel we all crave.

While you may cover meat almost completely for a conventional braise, use just enough liquid for the cooker to reach pressure – during pressure cooking the meat will release it's own juice and braise in that flavorful liquid, instead. DO use fresh herbs.

Overfilling your Instant Pot can affect the pressure that builds up inside, so you might end up with a mushy meal, or one that doesn't cook properly. Also, an overly-full Instant Pot can lead to a clogged pressure release knob, because food and liquid can get sucked up inside.

Place 1-2 pounds of ground beef on your trivet, seal the instant pot, and be sure the vent knob is closed. Be sure to form your meat into a thick patty/brick so that the meat cooks uniformly. Just the way meat comes in the Styrofoam tray. Set to high pressure and cook for 6 minutes.

Slow cookers are much better for cooking root vegetables and tough cuts of meat because the long, low-temperature cooking process is great for adding moisture and breaking down fat. Pressure cookers can get hot enough for meats and vegetables to brown in them when cooking, but slow cookers can't.

Unfortunately, once you overcook a piece of meat in the pressure cooker, there's no going back. You'll be left with a pile of dry, crunchy, tasteless fibers and no amount of additional pressure cooking is going to put that moisture back into the meat.

To prevent a chewy beef steak, you need to avoid using too much high-pressure heat. Of course, start with pressure cooking your roast (that's why you're using the Instant Pot anyway), but keep that high-pressured phase to a few minutes only.

How do you keep meat moist in a pressure cooker? ›

The tightly sealed cooker creates a high-pressure environment that quickly and efficiently steams whatever is inside of it at an extra-high heat. This technique also forces moisture into the food quickly.

Cooking time: When cooking a pot roast in an Instant Pot, allow 20 minutes for every pound of meat.

You can still pressure cook leaner pieces – like eye of round and top sirloin – but these work best if they've been stuffed, shredded or rolled (with other ingredients). Best cuts of beef to use: Chuck steak, Round Roast, Shoulder, Pot roast, Ribs, Brisket, Oxtail.

Also, don't forget to add at least 1 to 1 1/2 cups of water. You absolutely must add water so that the Instant Pot can create the steam it uses to pressure cook the meat. Tip: You can also use stock for some extra flavor.

Is cooking in a pressure cooker healthy? Yes, cooking in a pressure cooker is healthy. Unlike a slow cooker, which cooks foods for a long time at a lower temperature, pressure cookers do use high heat when cooking - but not for a long time. This means that most of the nutrients won't be lost.

Add Liquid

“Jiggle top” cookers need a minimum of one cup of water, while valve cookers need at least half a cup. Put food in the cooker first, then add water. When learning how to use a pressure cooker, make sure the unit is never more than two-thirds full of liquid, so the steam has enough space to accumulate.

Follow this tip: While at least 1/2 to 1 cup of liquid is essential to well-cooked food in the pressure cooker, too much liquid will pull the flavor out of foods. Unless otherwise specified in the recipe, use just enough liquid to bring the cooker to pressure.

Beef. It takes approximately 1,847 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of beef — that's enough water to fill 39 bathtubs all the way to the top.

Take beef, for example. It's the most water-hungry food product -- in the U.S., on average, it takes 106.3 gallons of water to produce 1 ounce of beef. About 98% of the water in beef's footprint is devoted to produce the feed that cows consume, such as grass, soybean and corn.