Instant Pot Beef and Broccoli

Instant Pot Beef and Broccoli is a flavorful Chinese meal made in minutes by pressure cooking. For this recipe slices of beef chuck are marinated in a sesame, soy, ginger, and garlic mixture. The beef is cooked until tender in a soy and oyster sauce base. Broccoli florets are steamed in the Instant Pot until crisp-tender. The dish can be served with rice and garnished with sesame seeds.

Hi there! It’s Jessica Gavin, Certified Culinary Scientist and I’m excited to share this classic beef and broccoli recipe with you. The key to success when using a pressure cooker to prepare this dish is selecting the right cut of beef. Using pieces of chuck roast stays tender when cooked in elevated temperatures.

The beef cooks in a combination of soy sauce and oyster sauce, which provides a burst of umami flavors with each bite. I often utilize these two ingredients in my Asian cooking, such as in this easy stir-fry sauce where it pairs well with any combination of proteins or vegetables. An advantage of using the Instant Pot is that you can quickly steam the broccoli all-in-one place for a tasty one-pot meal! So skip the takeout and make healthier balanced meal option any day of the week.

Choosing the right beef for pressure cooking

Typically when I make my traditional beef and broccoli recipe, I use a simple stir-fry technique and fast cooking beef like short ribs or flank steak. However, using an electric pressure cooker changes the rate at which the beef is cooked. Enclosed vessels create superheated steam at about 10 to 12 psi (pounds per square inch), which elevates the temperature above boiling (around 239 to 248ºF), cooking the foods at a faster pace. You check out my Instant Pot guide to learn more about how this multi-cooker works.

If the right cut of beef is not selected, then it can become dry very quickly. Lean cuts don’t work as well, but cheaper pieces like chuck roast or chuck eye roll (my first choice) from the shoulder is plentiful in connective tissue and benefit the most from moist heat cooking.

How to Cook Beef and Broccoli in an Instant Pot

• Cut the pieces of meat into even sized pieces for even cooking.
• Use a steak marinade to quickly infuse flavor inside and out of the beef.
• Lightly stir-fry the beef before pressure cooking to develop layers of flavors.
• Pressure cook for a brief time period and use the “quick release” method to rapidly release the pressure.
• Use a cornstarch slurry as a thickening agent for the sauce towards the end of cooking.
• Use the saute function and close the lid to quickly steam the broccoli.

After about 10 minutes of cook time, the pot is filled with juicy beef coated in a savory sauce that’s going to make you salivate. It’s a nice bonus to be able to prepare the broccoli florets alongside the beef.

I like to serve this dish with fluffy white rice, but a great low carb option is sauteed cauliflower rice. This recipe makes the perfect amount for a family of four, or delicious leftovers the next day. It’s a crowd-pleasing dish that’s extremely easy to prepare, even on busy weeknights.

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Instant Pot Beef and Broccoli

4.50 from 2 votes

Instant Pot Beef and Broccoli is a flavorful Chinese meal made in minutes by pressure cooking. For this recipe slices of beef chuck are marinated in a sesame, soy, ginger, and garlic mixture. The beef is cooked until tender in a soy and oyster sauce base. Broccoli florets are steamed in the Instant Pot until crisp-tender. The dish can be served with rice and garnished with sesame seeds.

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes minutes

Servings: 4

Ingredients 

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Beef Marinade-

• ▢ 1 ½ pounds beef chuck eye roll or chuck roast cut into ¼-inch thick slices, 2-inches long
• ▢ 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• ▢ ½ teaspoon sesame oil
• ▢ 1 teaspoon minced ginger
• ▢ 1 teaspoon minced garlic

Sauce-

• ▢ 1 cup unsalted beef stock
• ▢ ⅓ cup oyster sauce
• ▢ ⅓ cup soy sauce
• ▢ 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• ▢ ¼ cup water

Beef and Broccoli-

• ▢ 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
• ▢ 5 cups broccoli florets about 2-inch sized pieces
• ▢ Black pepper as needed for seasoning

Instructions 

• In a medium-sized bowl combine beef slices, soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, and garlic. Marinate the beef at room temperature for 15 minutes.
• Select "Saute" on the Instant Pot. Allow pot to heat, it will indicate "Hot" on the display when ready.
• Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the pot. Once hot, work in two batches, add beef and lightly brown on one side for 1 minute, flip over and brown another 1 minute. Press “Keep Warm/Cancel”.
• Add all the beef back to the pot and pour in the sauce.
• Make sure that the release valve is in the "Sealing" position.
• Place the lid on the Instant Pot, turn and lock the lid.
• Press "Manual" button on the Instant Pot on high pressure, and then set the timer to 6 minutes using the "+" or "-" buttons.
• Once cook time is complete, carefully quick release the pressure.
• Carefully remove the lid, opening the top away from you as steam will be released from the pot.
• In a small bowl combine cornstarch and water to make a slurry.
• Select "Saute" on the Instant Pot, once the stewing liquid begins to boil add the cornstarch slurry.
• Cook, stirring until the liquid is thickened, 60 to 90 seconds.
• Add the vegetable oil and broccoli then stir to combine. Cover pot with the lid and tighten, and cook the broccoli until the florets are tender on the “saute” function, about 3 to 5 minutes.
• Season beef and broccoli with black pepper as desired.
• Serve with rice.

Nutrition

Calories: 146kcalCarbohydrates: 15gProtein: 6gFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 6gSodium: 2150mgPotassium: 430mgFiber: 3gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 710IUVitamin C: 101.5mgCalcium: 64mgIron: 1.5mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Dinner, Main Course

Cuisine: American, Asian American, Chinese

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