Paleo Beef Stew
Beef stew is a most comforting dish. My version is Paleo of course and it makes for a great family dinner. This elegant and classic Paleo beef stew recipe can easily scale up to serve more, even for a dinner party. And perhaps best of all, this Paleo beef stew is made in an Instant Pot. It comes together in just over an hour instead of taking all day. This is definitely Paleo comfort food and the perfect choice for the first recipe to be shared on this site.
When I first got my Instant Pot, a Paleo beef stew was one of the first dishes I wanted to make. I started (and this recipe started) from Nom Nom Paleo’s Pressure Cooker Beef Stew recipe, which Michelle Tam notes, is “a foundational beef stew.” There’s lots you can do with her basic recipe.
Here’s what I do with it: I omit the mushrooms (I don’t like them, sorry fungus lovers), thyme (I love thyme but not in this dish), fish sauce (I don’t have any), reduce the onions and dice them small (request from kid #1), add bacon lardons (don’t we all love bacon?), sear the meat prior to pressure cooking (always a good idea), and add beef broth (for deglazing and added volume). When serving, I add roasted-in-the-oven potatoes, carrots and shallots to the bowl and then top with the stew.
So while you will save a lot of cooking time with the Instant Pot, there is still a lot of prep and sauteing to do before you can set it to cook. Let’s start here: take a couple of thick slices of Paleo approved bacon (i.e. no sugars) and cut it into ¼ inch strips (lardons) and brown it in the Instant Pot on saute mode. Remove the bacon when it is done; then brown the stew meat in the leftover bacon fat and a little coconut oil.
I’ve found that you can spread about 2 pounds of stew beef on the bottom of the pot. If you are making more, you may need to sear the meat in batches. Finally, you saute onions and garlic and deglaze the pot with beef broth before adding all the ingredients and pressure cooking the stew. You get great depth of flavor from starting the stew off this way with bacon and searing your beef.
The result is a very beefy tasting, hearty stew that warms the soul. You can enjoy it just like this. But I prefer to add some classic roasted root vegetables: potatoes, carrots and shallots.
Don’t cook the vegetables for the stew in the pressure cooker; I tried it that way but I found that even adding them for a short 3 minutes of high pressure cooking turns them all to mush. I much prefer them roasted in the oven separately and then added to your bowl when serving. You will have an hour after setting the Instant Pot (given the natural release). This is plenty of time to roast the vegetables in the oven and make a salad. It also adds great roasted flavor and a little texture to the dish.
To serve, spoon out the roasted vegetables into a bowl and then top with a couple of ladles of Paleo beef stew. Large soup bowls or pasta dishes are great for this dish. You can also mix the vegetables into the stew before serving, but they will get soggy. I prefer to keep them separate until serving individual portions (you can also control what kid doesn’t like carrots vs the kid who doesn’t like shallots).
Tonight, I added some of the leftover vegetables from Sunday’s family dinner Roast Chicken for Les Paresseux in addition to roasting some additional carrots and potatoes. They tasted great.
Potatoes in a Paleo Beef Stew?
OK, OK – white potatoes are not approved on the Paleo diet. There is a lot of discussion on this within the Paleo community, but there really is no question: the short answer is always no. I’ve reluctantly come to the same conclusion as far as my personal Paleo diet plan goes.
However, and this is a big HOWEVER, RobbWolf.com’s post “Meat & Potatoes: Back on the Menu” makes a good point about eating meat with potatoes which is extraordinarily relevant to this dish:
We’re all about food quality here. What I’m talking about is a homemade stew with a big joint of meat with potatoes, onions, and carrots in the mix. This is easy to make and kicks ass in every way possible as far as nutrition is concerned. And it’s cheap. Here’s the kicker. Meat and potatoes is probably the most Paleo of all meals. While the men were out hunting the women were gathering. What were they gathering? More often than not, tubers.
“A homemade stew with a big joint of meat with potatoes, onions and carrots in the mix….” Yeah, I’ll have some of that but you need to make this decision for yourself.
You can omit the potatoes in this recipe for Paleo beef stew if your personal Paleo diet plan does not include them. Replace them with additional carrots and shallots or other root vegetables (parsnips are a good alternative). Japanese sweet potatoes would be an obvious solution as they have a mild taste and roast well.
Ingredients: Where’s the Thyme?
I love thyme. It’s one of my favorite spices. It’s makes everything taste French. I especially love it in chicken dishes and with pork. But I don’t like it much with beef or at all in this recipe so I took it out. It made it smell off to me and I don’t miss it.
| Prep Time | 45 minutes |
| Cook Time | 1 hour |
| Servings |
people
|
- 2 slices bacon Thick Cut, Paleo (no sugar)
- 1 Tbsp Coconut Oil Organic Virgin
- 1 cup Onion Organic, Sweet, Cut into Small Dice
- 4 cloves garlic Organic, Peeled & Smashed
- 2 lbs Stew Beef Chuck, Lean, Grass fed
- 1 tsp Salt Kosher
- Black Pepper Fresh Ground
- 1 Tbsp Coconut Aminos Organic
- 1 Tbsp Tomato Paste Organic
- 1 cup Beef Broth Organic, Low Sodium
- 1 Bay Leaf Organic, Dried
- 1 lb Potatoes Organic (or substitute Japanese Sweet Potatoes)
- 3 Carrots Organic, Large, Rainbow
- 4 Shallots Organic, Peeled and Halved
- olive oil Organic, Extra Virgin
Ingredients
Roasted Vegetables
|
|
- Prep the Beef: Cut lean stew beef into large chunks (if necessary), then season with kosher salt and pepper. Mix and set aside in a bowl
- Cook the Lardons: Set Instant Pot to Saute - Medium Setting. Let it get hot, then add cut bacon and cook until most of the fat is rendered. Take it out with a slotted spoon before it becomes too crisp. Turn off Instant Pot (cancel button).
- Sear the beef: Set Instant Pot to Saute - High (Saute button, then Adjust button so "More" is lit. Add coconut oil. When the pot is hot, add the stew beef and brown/sear it on all sides (to extent possible) - spread it around the bottom and leave it for 3-4 minutes then mix it up and turn browned sides up. Do this few times then remove beef to a platter or bowl.
- Saute the Onions and Garlic: Add the diced onion to the pot and saute for about 5 minutes until it becomes translucent and softened. Add garlic and saute for 1-2 minutes more.
- Deglaze the Pot: As the onion and garlic starts to brown, pour about 1/3 of the beef broth to the pot and deglaze the pan with a wooden spatula.
- Add Ingredients for Pressure Cooking: Return beef, lardons and any drippings from the beef to the pot. Add coconut aminos, tomato paste, the balance of the beef broth and a bay leaf and mix all ingredient around with a wooden spoon or spatula. Turn off Instant Pot (Cancel button).
- Pressure Cook the Stew: Put on lid and set to pressure cook for high pressure - 45 minutes (either through manual or stew settings).
- Preheat Oven: Once you have started the pressure cooking cycle, begin the process of roasting the vegetables. Preheat your oven to 400 degree F.
- Prep & Season the Vegetables: Cut root vegetables into large spoon sized portions. Toss in a bowl with olive oil and a little salt and pepper. If you want to add an additional French flavor to the stew, sprinkle with a little Herbes de Provence. Set aside until pressure cooking cycle has 20-25 minutes left.
- Roast: Spread the vegetables out onto a roasting pan and put in a 400 degree F oven. After ten minutes, stir vegetables around so they cook evenly on all sides. Repeat after another 10 minutes. Repeat every 5 minutes after that until they are cooked through and have a little char on the outside.
- Remove from Oven: Let them rest in the roasting pan until ready to serve. You can plate them from here in the kitcher. If you are plating at the table, transfer them to a serving bowl.
- Taste: Let pressure release naturally on the Instant Pot. Remove lid and fish out the bay leaf with a spatula or fork; taste and season with additional salt and pepper if needed.
- Plate: Spoon roasted vegetables into a soup or pasta bowl then top with beef stew. Enjoy!
This recipe scales up easily. The simplest way to get a couple of more servings out of this dish is to increase the meat to three pounds; proportionally increase the onion (to 1½ cups) and garlic (6 cloves) but I would leave pretty much everything the same. The amount of roast vegetables you add is also highly customizable based on your own preferences. I’ve found that 2 pounds of lean stew meat is perfect for my own family of four so that’s how I make it.
I add a full cup of beef broth but it doesn’t need it this much - I like the added liquid in the final dish. If you want a thicker experience, use just enough broth to deglaze the pan - about 1/3 of a cup should do it.
I like to cook it a full 45 minutes at high pressure and let the pressure release naturally - this results in really fork tender meat. If you prefer your stew meat more substantial, you could reduce the cook time to 35 minutes.
You can mix the roasted vegetables into the stew before serving, but they will get soggy. I prefer to keep them separate until serving individual portions. This way you can also control for individual family member preferences. For example, I have one kid who will add only the roasted potatoes; a second adds potatoes and a couple of carrots. This leaves extra carrots and shallots for my wife and myself. That's a pretty good deal.