Perfect Instant Pot Beef Stew

Thirty weeks. I keep doing the math: ten weeks to due date, roughly. Ten weeks sounds manageable. Ten weeks sounds like something with an end point. Then I stand up from a chair and my back announces itself and ten weeks sounds like a sentence.

The Fitzgeralds had us for dinner on Saturday—Linda made pot roast and didn't ask me once if I was uncomfortable, which is actually the kindest thing you can do for a very pregnant person. People want to comment on the belly, want to tell you how big you are, want to speculate about twins. Linda brought out the pot roast and poured me water and talked about other things and I could have wept with gratitude.

Ed Fitzgerald asked about the name and when I said Liam he nodded and said "good Irish name." Sean said "we thought about Patrick" and Ed put his hand up like he was stopping traffic. "Liam's better," he said. I didn't know Ed had opinions about this. Apparently Ed has opinions about everything, he just chooses them carefully.

I made Sean bring the crib furniture upstairs this week. He'd been putting it off on the grounds that we still had time, which is technically true but I'm nesting at a cellular level now and time is not the metric I'm using. We put together the crib on Sunday, all three pieces of documentation spread across the nursery floor, and it took two hours and one very controlled disagreement about which way the side rail faced, and at the end we had a crib and it was right there in the room with the Harbor Fog walls and the handmade quilt and the stocking on the mantel and it was real. It's been real for months. But the crib made it a different kind of real.

Linda’s pot roast has been on my mind all week—the way the beef just gave way under a fork, the way the whole house smelled like someone loved you. I’m not making a roast from scratch at thirty weeks, but this Instant Pot beef stew gets me to the same place: tender meat, root vegetables gone soft and sweet, a broth that feels like it simmered all day even though it didn’t. It’s the kind of meal you make when the crib is finally built and the nursery walls are Harbor Fog and you just want to sit down to something warm and not think about the side rail.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 35 minutes | Total Time: 55 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

2 pounds beef chuck roast, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup dry red wine (or beef broth)
2 cups beef broth
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 stalks celery, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 cup frozen peas
2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons cold water
Fresh parsley, chopped, for serving

Instructions

Season the beef. Pat beef cubes dry with paper towels and season generously with salt and pepper on all sides.
Sear the meat. Set the Instant Pot to Sauté mode. Add olive oil and, working in batches, brown the beef on two sides, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Build the base. Add onion to the pot and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and tomato paste and stir for 1 minute until fragrant and the paste deepens in color.
Deglaze. Pour in red wine and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Let it simmer for 1 minute.
Combine everything. Add beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, and bay leaf. Return the seared beef and any juices to the pot. Add potatoes, carrots, and celery. Stir gently.
Pressure cook. Lock the lid, set the valve to sealing, and cook on High Pressure for 35 minutes. Allow a natural pressure release for 10 minutes, then carefully quick-release any remaining pressure.
Thicken the stew. Remove the bay leaf. Set the pot to Sauté mode. Stir in the cornstarch slurry and let the broth bubble for 2–3 minutes until thickened. Stir in frozen peas and cook for 1 minute until warmed through.
Serve. Ladle into bowls and top with fresh parsley. Serve with crusty bread.

Nutrition (per serving)

Perfect Instant Pot Beef Stew — The Kind of Dinner That Makes It Real