Instant Pot Cube Steak and Gravy

This Instant Pot cube steak will make you feel like a superhero in your own kitchen! Tender bites of meat smothered in a creamy mushroom gravy in under 30 minutes = a total winner of a dinner. You can serve this over butter noodles or rice.

If you loved our air fryer cube steak but want to skip the crisp entirely, this is the way to do it! Even kids clean their plates with this meal.

Ninja Foodi Cube Steak

I know you’re busy, aren’t we all??!! It’s hard to find time to cook a complete meal, and find time to spend together. Using your pressure cooker, Crockpot Express or making it as an easy Ninja Foodi recipe just makes life easier. If you are trying to eat together more as a family this is the answer.

You can cook frozen cube steak slow cooker style but that takes all day. Instead, throw it in under high pressure with gravy and OMG. That is right, it doesn’t matter whether your meat is fresh, thawed or frozen. Cut into bite size pieces is key to getting it fork tender with tons of flavor.

Pressure Cooker Cube Steak

Here is where you start. It’s kinda’ fun pounding your beef out with this guy! Have you ever actually made cube steak? Yes you can buy it already pounded out but oh the satisfaction of doing it yourself. 😉 You can leave the pieces whole, but just like my steak bites, I prefer to cut my meat into bite size pieces. 

It makes the meat more tender and easier for the kids to eat. It is a trick I have been using for years and years and not just with beef. Same goes with chicken too where you get the gravy and seasonings to really seep in the most.

If you can’t find this cut at the store you can pound it out at home too so you can get this done. Way easier than you think it is but generally a cheap cut the butcher will offer often.

As with any recipe the seasonings that you add to the outside comes down to personal preference. With a bit tossed with salt and pepper with the mushroom gravy here it makes for a yummy meal. Make it your own with what you have on hand I say!

Is cube steak bad?

Actually, it doesn’t include a whole lot of marbling. Cube steak is a very lean cut. You won’t get a lot of fat from the meat by itself on this one as you can see here. I mean everything in moderation but compared to other cuts it is leaner than most so I would venture to say no to this question.

Instant Pot Cubed Steak

The reason why this type of meat is called what it is is…I don’t really know. I mean it is pounded or in stores, run thru a machine that creates punctures that don’t go all the way thru the piece but makes it more tender.

1. First you want to tenderize your meat and cut it into bite size pieces. This is the way we prefer it. Or you can just buy cube steak already done this way.
2. We use a gallon baggie to shake the flour on to the meat.

Alternatively you can toss in a bowl gently with a fork so all your pieces are coated. You will want to shake off the excess either way you do it so it isn’t overwhelming but a bit will create a coating on the outside.

InstaPot Cube Steak and Gravy

Here’s a quick step by step but there is a printable recipe card at the bottom of this post too. Pound your eye of round steak with a meat tenderizer/mallet on both sides (helps make meat tender, can buy it at store already tenderized too).

• Cut into bite size pieces. Or could cut in half if preferred.
• Fill a gallon size storage bag with flour, garlic salt and pepper. Shake to combine.
• Set Instant Pot to saute medium and add olive oil.
  Put steak pieces inside baggie, zip closed and shake to coat pieces.
• When Instant Pot is hot use your fingers to take pieces of floured meat out of bag shaking off excess flour before putting it into the pot.
• Cook all pieces until they are lightly browned on both sides, then turn pot OFF/Cancel button – Important step! Remove meat from pan and pour some beef broth in to deglaze the pot.
• In a bowl whisk together cream of mushroom, onion soup mix packet. Worcestershire sauce, and remaining beef broth.
• Add diced onions on bottom of the pot. Then put browned meat on top of that followed by soup mixture into your pot. Put lid on and close steam valve.
• Set to pressure high for 5 minutes followed by a natural release for 5 minutes. Then quick release rest of steam.

Lift lid and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes so sauce thickens more. Serve over rice or as is. I usually sprinkle with a bit of salt when serving because everyone prefers a different amt. of salt. It is important to give it a few minutes to rest in the pot once it’s done. Like any other steak it become more tender and maintains juiciness when it has time to rest.

Instant Pot cubed steak and gravy 

If you wanted to add some heat to make it a bit spicy that is an option as well. I would use 1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes for this. Taste and adjust at the end. Cook time is under 15 minutes which is much faster than a slow cooker version. If you’re looking for a hearty meal smothered with brown gravy here it is. Pressure cooking is definitely not going away!

1. Pressure cooker
   1. If you have an Instant Pot I HIGHLY suggest getting a non stick pot
2. Cube steak
3. Olive oil
4. Flour
   1. coats meat and thickens the gravy
5. Garlic salt
6. Cream of mushroom soup
7. 1 packet onion soup mix
8. Onion
9. Beef broth
   1. could use half cup of water and rest broth
10. Instant Pot white rice, egg noodles, or mashed potatoes to serve on the side

Find more easy recipes on our Instant Pot beef recipes page here. You can use steaks of all kinds for things other than just cooking them plain. We share even more Instant Pot steak recipes here too!

What kind of meat is cube steak?

• It’s usually top round or top sirloin, used in our air fryer chicken fried steak too
• It is tenderized and flattened by pounding with a meat tenderizer, or an electric tenderizer.

What cut is pork cube steak?

• This is a cut of meat from the sirloin of the pig.
• It too is pressed by a special machine to break up the fibers in the meat to tenderize it.

Is cube steak the same as minute steak?

• Cube steak is sometimes referred to as minute steak. It is actually a different cut of beef.
• It is cut from the round steak, or chuck steak, and then tenderized.

Can you make Crock pot cube steak too? <—- YES, here is the recipe.