Frozen Stew Meat Instant Pot

Instant Pot frozen stew meat recipe turns out tender and juicy simmered in a thick flavorful gravy. Perfect protein packed meal and one of the most popular on our recipes using beef stew meat on our blog.

How to Cook Frozen Stew Meat

I am all about easy one pot meal ideas so let’s just go with this one shall we? Even with the “stop in the middle to break it up” time cooking frozen meat this way is done in a little over an hour. Any other method will take 4x that long so to me it is really a no brainer as to which I would choose over and over again.

in Ninja Foodi

You either want to cook it for a long time on low heat or make it this way quickly but with high pressure as an easy Ninja Foodi recipe. It doesn’t matter the brand of the pot but with this one you use the one that is not attached, not the other one at all.

THIS is seriously the only way you should do it. Using high pressure for about an hour you too can get the tenderest pieces of beef. This may be a really cheap recipe but nobody would guess it. We have made a defrosted Instant Pot stew meat recipe in the past but this turned out surprisingly well too without defrosting at all.

We have used this cut in many ways. Why? It is SO cheap that it just tempts me at the store saying “make me!” every time I see it. You can thicken the gravy at the end like our slow cooker beef tips, or cook to tender in order to use it in another dish.

Ingredients

1. Frozen stew meat – 1.5-2 pounds feeds the 5 of us served with sides
2. 2-3 gravy packets – These aren’t necessary if you don’t want it thick and simply want to cook them to tender
3. Beef broth – You could very well use water instead but seriously the meat will have ZERO flavor
4. Seasonings like salt and pepper and/or garlic salt are a must – If you leave them as is it won’t taste like much. I suppose if you were just making this for your dog you would leave as is with nothing but we’re talking dinner for humans here.

Substitutions

With this cheap Instant Pot recipe I add a few gravy packets right into the broth when cooking, leaving one for later to thicken it up. If you have your homemade sauce then by all means use that as the base and our timing below to soften.

You can use some all or none of the seasonings we have used. The biggest difference will be the amount of flavor your meat will have with or without it, and how thick the sauce will be. I prefer just a touch in the cooking process and salt to taste when done.

As far as the liquid, broth is my preference but anything goes. For richer you could use half red wine, or a dash of Worcestershire sauce. Water works just fine if you are making something else with it when done. I mean you could add beer instead if you love that flavor. It would add a bunch of yum with that if you ask me.

Submerged in some sort of liquid, pressure cooker gravy is probably our favorite, this gets more tender the longer it cooks. Yes you could do the same thing on the stovetop or in a dutch oven in the oven but it would take WAY longer. This method does take one intervention in the middle to break it up but the other would take a lot more of your time.

Tips

Whether you find this one sale and freeze it in a freezer bag, or buy meat in bulk like we do from local farmers and get it in paper the same directions apply. The pieces will be stuck together in a big clump either way. This means you will need to break it up after about 25 minutes so the inner pieces cook evenly and get soft too.

My wrapped packages come in about 1 lb. increments so I throw in two of them at a time. You want to whisk the dry gravy mix in with the broth before pouring it in so it is well incorporated. If not the powder may stick to the bottom and trigger the burn notice.

Like I said, you could just add the broth and seasonings and skip the thickener, gravy, all together if you preferred. That would of course have less calories but very little flavor so you do the math. We want tasty feel good meals at our house so this is a must. Even my picky husband gave this a resounding thumbs up made as stated below.

You can find packets in the grocery store alongside the canned beans typically. There are tons of varieties to make chili, pot roast, alfredo and this popular sauce during the holidays. I always have several of each on hand because it has “all the things” together and all I have to do is pour it right in. Means EASY dinners for us.

Seriously you can make all sorts of things with this. I prefer my Crockpot and IP myself because it means the least prep and work for me. There is a printable recipe below with exact ingredients you will need but here is a quick rundown for you to get started.

Frozen Stew Meat Recipe

How to thicken the gravy

You can do part of it too. For a bit more flavor but not so much that it thickens you can add the 2 at the beginning and skip the third in the middle. A cornstarch slurry can thicken it up even further if desired at the end too using the saute mode.

Remove the lid and serve tender beef over Ninja Foodi rice or mashed potatoes. This is what it looks like if you do not add the dry gravy mix. At the top you can see how much thicker it is with them added. I think not only does the sauce add flavor but makes it a bit more fork tender as well.

One you love this you may want to buy a bunch when you find it on sale and store for later. We do this with a deep freezer in the garage. Just separate into 1 lb. chunks and put into freezer bags. I do the same thing with larger hunks so we can make Instant Pot frozen roast on other nights!

What to make with leftovers

You always want food to cool completely before storing in a container in the fridge. I would suggest you make something like our Instant Pot beef stew casserole with it within 3 days ideally. In this case when you add meat that is already cooked, you can just use the saute function which makes it even faster.

You can also make Ninja Foodi beef stew with meat after this is done, or the next day. You can totally do that too. 😉 In about 20 minutes you’ll get the perfect texture if it is fresh or defrosted meat…if you’ve remembered to take it out. lol This method is a bit easier to add vegetables into since it isn’t cooking quite as long. Easiest you can serve with gravy and reheat in the microwave in 30 second increments, it’s a great next day lunch.

Follow directions as stated for best results. Do not skip the step of breaking up the meat halfway thru or it will be tougher than you’d like it to be at the end. This I might admit is even better the next day too!