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I have the best, quick, easy, and cozy Wednesday dinner, Better For You Instant Pot Spicy White Bean Beef Stew.
Apparently this week is all about midwest..ish style comfort foods. With Monday’s Spaghetti Pie and today’s Beef Stew, I’m going back to my Ohio roots. Not sure what’s gotten into me, but I got this idea for a spicy white bean beef stew and really loved the sound of it. Normally, beef stew is not something I really have a strong desire to make. Anything beef and stew just doesn’t usually come to mind, but again, something came over me and this just sounded really good.
So I took the idea and went with it, which is something I’m trying to do more of, instead of sitting on it for days and then deciding it’s actually a bad idea. The way my brain works, it’s great and so awful at the same time.
Anyway, I went for it and since I’m on a quick and easy kick, I decided to try this out in the Instant Pot. I was nervous. I’ve had a few successes with the instant pot, see this chicken ramen (love, love, love this recipe so much) and these turkey meatballs (with spaghetti squash so it’s healthified!). But for my two successes, I’ve had countless fails. To say that figuring out the Instant Pot has been tricky would be an understatement. I gave up for a while, but I’m pretty happy I decided to give it another try because this easy beef stew is game changing.
Here’s how this goes. Add everything to the instant pot, set it to the meat and stew setting for thirty-five minutes. Transfer the stew to a baking dish, broil for a few minutes to caramelize the meat and veggies. EAT. With plenty of toasted bread and maybe some parmesan too. If you’re into that, which I am.
Okay. I realize that a lot of you are like, wait, why do we have to dirty another dish and broil this?
Here is why. The meat needs some caramelization on it to add flavor. Normally, I would brown the meat before cooking the stew, but I don’t love browning meat in the Instant Pot. It’s a little small and it’s hard to control the heat. Trust me, this broiling method makes life easy and makes for a delicious, non-chewy stew. Plus, it’s only one additional step, making this entire dinner a two-step process.
Guys you got that. You can do it.
Also, finishing the stew in a baking dish or a pretty cast iron dutch oven makes for a much prettier presentation. So, if you wanted to serve this as a holiday meal, no one would ever have to know that it did not actually slow cook all-day.
Seeing as this last week was heavy on the comfort foods, and just food in general (hello to all those Thanksgiving appetizers and pies), I though it might be nice if I also lightened this recipe up a bit. Meaning, I added a ton of carrots (mainly because carrots cooked in red wine are maybe one of my favorite things ever), lots of protein and fiber rich white beans, and a few large handfuls of greens. For the greens, I used spinach because it’s what I had on hand, but I’d use a hearty winter green like a chard or kale. These will hold up better in the stew. That said, the spinach was still delicious.
I also added some chili peppers to give the stew a little unexpected heat. The spice in the chili peppers is said to really rev up our metabolisms, making this the perfect post Thanksgiving week dinner.
Who says comfort food can’t be healthy too!
Instant Pot Spicy White Bean, Beef, and Potato Stew
Servings: 6 servings
Calories Per Serving: 626 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds beef chuck, fat trimmed and cubed
- 1 sweet onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced or grated
- 4 carrots, chopped
- 1/2 pound mixed baby potatoes, halved
- 3-4 jarred hot chili peppers in oil roughly, chopped (I buy Delallo Brand)
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour or arrowroot powder (gf option)
- kosher salt and black pepper
- 2 cups low sodium beef broth
- 2 cups red wine
- 1/3 cup tomato paste
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 can (14 ounce) white beans, drained
- 2 cups winter greens, such as char kale or spinach
Instructions
- 1. In the bowl of your instant pot, combine the beef, onion, garlic, carrots, potatoes, chili peppers, flour, and a large pinch of both salt and pepper. Toss to combine. Add the broth, wine, tomato paste, thyme, bay leaves, and season again with salt and pepper. Seal the instant pot and set to the meat/stew setting for 35 minutes. Preheat the broiler to high. 2. Once the instant pot has finished cooking, Transfer the stew to an oven safe pot. Stir in the white beans and greens. Transfer to the oven and cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring 2-3 times throughout cooking, until the beef is browned and the sauce thickened. Remove from the oven. Remove the thyme and bay leaves. Divide the stew between bowls. Serve with bread. Enjoy!
To make in Oven
- 1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. 2. In a large oven safe dutch oven, combine the beef, onion, garlic, carrots, potatoes, chili peppers, flour, and a large pinch of both salt and pepper. Toss to combine. Add the broth, wine, tomato paste, thyme, bay leaves, and season again with salt and pepper. Transfer to the oven and cook 2 1/2-3 1/2 hours or until the meat is fork tender and falling apart. Preheat the broiler to high.3. Stir in the white beans and greens. Transfer to the oven and cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring 2-3 times throughout cooking, until the beef is browned and the sauce thickened. Remove from the oven. Remove the thyme and bay leaves. Divide the stew between bowls. Serve with bread. Enjoy!
Guess it’s a cozy stew kind of Wednesday night.
Husband gives this stew a 5 star! Absolutely delicious. Served with homemade croutons and parmesan cheese. We will be making this again.
Hey Mary,
Happy Wednesday! Thanks so much for making this dish and sharing your feedback, so glad to hear it turned out well for you! xT
Hi Tieghan! You’re so great to do this for all of us trying to put yummy things together for our families! I tried this twice with variations in our crock pot. I seared the meat first but in the end it’s still not as tender as I’d like. I’m using chuck. I see that some people coat the meat in flour first. Does that help? Or what would you recommend to get the meat more tender in the crock? Do I need a different kind of beef? The flavors are there and we enjoy it but would love to make it better. I wonder your suggestions! Hugs Deb
PS I’m not a crock pot person but see the benefits for busy days but want to make food that tastes really great!! 💖
Hey Debra,
Thanks so much for trying this recipe, so glad to hear you are enjoying the flavors! Are you cubing your chuck? It should be in 1 inch square pieces, after a few hours in the slow cooker it should be quite tender. If not, try the oven, that might work better for you! I hope this helps! xT
You’re so sweet! I’ll give it all another try. Any other type of meet you like for this just in case? Thanks for all that you do! 🙂
You could do boneless beef short ribs!
Needed a ton of salt but WOW I loved this recipe!! Will make again. Shocked I could make something so yummy!
Hey Ryan,
Happy Wednesday!!👻 I truly appreciate you giving this recipe a try and sharing your feedback, I love to hear that it was enjoyed:)
Could this be made in the slow cooker? If so, how long?
Hey Montana,
Totally, you can cook on low for 6-8 hours. Please let me know if you have any other questions, I hope you love the recipe! xT
Delicious!!!
I cooked in the oven, covered, for 3 1/2 hours. After reading the reviews, I started with less liquid, but eventually added the full 4 cups. I didn’t have any jarred hot peppers, but added a tablespoon of gojuchang and it added good flavor. I also had fresh mushrooms that I added about 2 hours into the cooking time. Next time I will add the kale at that time (allowing an hour of cooking time) so it is more tender. Definitely a new twist on traditional beef stew!
Hey Judy,
Happy Wednesday! I am thrilled to hear that this recipe was a winner, thanks a bunch for making it! xT
If making in the Dutch oven, do I cover it?
Hi Julia,
Yes, you can cover the pot:) I hope you love this recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! xx
I followed the recipe exactly and I feel like something is missing. The depth of flavor isn’t there.
Hi Cassandra,
Thanks for making this dish and sharing your feedback, sorry to hear it wasn’t enjoyed. Please let me know if there is anyway that I can help! xT
Great recipe as always!
I got a new instant pot for Christmas and wanted to try it out. This is the sort of recipe that I would normally make in a slow cooker that would take 8 hours to cook, but with the instant pot, the cook time was closer to 1 hour, which was amazing. It was very quick and easy to prepare. All of the ingredients are very easy to find at any grocery store. It was the perfect warm, hearty meal for the cold weather. Looking forward to trying other instant pot recipes from this site!
Hey Jonathan,
Fantastic!! I am thrilled to hear that this recipe was a winner, thanks so much for making it! xTieghan
This was amazing. I did the oven version and cooked for about 3 hours. WOW!!! It’s my fiancé’s new favorite. So delicious.
Hi Marissa,
Wonderful! I love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks a lot for giving it a try! Happy Holidays! xTieghan
Just made this in the Instant Pot and it is definitely beef soup, not beef stew. WAY too much liquid. Added some flour to a cup of the liquid and am desperately trying to boil it down on the stovetop in a dutch oven.
Hey Ellen,
So sorry to hear this, please let me know if I can help in anyway! xTieghan
I just popped mine into the oven. Question, do you cook with the lid or without if you are using a Dutch oven? Thanks!
Hey Christina,
I would cover the dutch oven. Please let me know if you give this recipe a try, I hope you love it! xTieghan
Definitely agree, I pulled 2 1/2 cups of the liquid out before broiling, but the recipe calls for too much liquid in an instant pot. I’ve made a TON of your recipes with good results…..this one, just didn’t work out.
Do yourself a favor and make this recipe ASAP. The flavors are amazing!!!!
I decided I wanted to make this in the crockpot, so I browned the meat first, then deglazed the pan with the red wine. I put those two items and everything else (minus the kale and beans) in the crockpot on high until it started bubbling and then I turned it down to low. I also added some celery and cubed butternut squash (in attempt to clean out my fridge). I let it cook for 6 hours. After 4 hours of cooking, I added more beef broth and a cup of dried barley. Then after 5 hours, I added the kale and beans and let it cook for an hour longer. Since I browned the meat a the beginning, I opted to skip the broil method at the end.
It turned out amazing!!!!! I’m sure her recipe unmodified is also amazing. I just love to jazz things up in the kitchen, plus the barley added a lovely extra texture.
Hey! Thank you so much for trying out this recipe, I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Happy Monday ? xTieghan
Stewriffic! This is hands down THE BEST beef stew I’ve ever made. I used Kale as my leafy green and loved the texture & color it gave. The spice from the peppers was just right. I used my Dutch oven and went the low and slow method. I can’t say enough about how stinking good this was!
Hey! Thank you SO much for trying out this recipe, I’m so glad you enjoyed it! xxTieghan
I hate it when people post reviews and change the recipe! Well here I go, sorry. I used white instead of red wine, flank steak, roasted red peppers and red chili flakes for peppers and added mushrooms.In my defense, I was using what I had on hand :). It was so good! Thanks for another awesome one. I will try it as written next time.
Hi there! Thanks so much for making this recipe, I hope you enjoyed it! Happy Weekend 🙂 xTieghan
This was so good! My husband loved it! My grocery store didn’t have spicy chili peppers so I used about 1/3 cup Mama Lil’s peppers (pickled and in oil), added a serrano pepper, two stalks of celery and a zucchini and yellow squash I had in the fridge, bumped up the garlic to 6 cloves minced. Used purple kale. Did 2.5 cups broth and 1.5 cups wine. Stirred every 3 minutes in the oven for 12 minutes. Will definitely be making again! Next time may add a little more flour or little less liquid to make it a bit thicker but no complaints!
Hey Jess,
I love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, I truly appreciate you giving it a try!! Thanks for sharing what worked well for you. ? xTieghan
All I can find are pickled peppers in oil. Do you think that would taste fine or would it be weird?
Hey Jess,
That might be okay to use! Let me know if you give the recipe a try:) Tieghan