Instant Pot frozen ground beef can be thawed and cooked in no time at all. If you’re forgetful like me, thawing frozen ground beef has never been easier!
If you’re like me and need to know how to make Instant Pot frozen ground beef so it’s defrosted in under 30 minutes, I’m going to show you how. I love thawing frozen ground beef in my pressure cooker because it’s keeps it’s juiciness, drains out all the fat, and since I am forgetful I no longer have to worry if I’ve forgotten to take it out of the freezer the day before! Added to our list of 101+ easy Instant Pot recipes and pressure cooker tips it’s something I use on a semi weekly basis and now am sharing it with all of you. 😉
- Yes, forgetfulness happens often so I started by explaining how to cook frozen meat in an Instant Pot in this pressure cooker frozen whole chicken post.
- All of this is for “those days” when everything seems to slip your mind but NO worries now because you can go from a rock hard block of frozen meat to juicy dinner in no time at all.
I use ground beef at least 2 times each week to make and create new recipes.
Whether I mix it with other ingredients to make Instant Pot turkey meatloaf or make meatballs to throw in our Instant Pot Italian Wedding soup, there’s always something I can make with a pound of ground beef.
This year we made the big move from CA to ID and out here a lot of families buy meat fresh from local farms and we did as well. A large freezer now lives in the garage and is packed with meat that will last us the entire winter. After we purchased a quarter of a cow recently I started cooking with beef even more so I needed a way to figure out how to go from frozen to thawed in no time.
We have a list of Instant Pot beef recipes here and will share info. as I experiment with other frozen beef cooked in the pressure cooker, but am just focusing on Instant Pot frozen ground beef right now.
- When it comes to pressure cooker frozen meatballs you can really just throw them right in with some sauce and they will be just fine.
- However with a larger piece of ground beef you really need to thaw it out first, and then cook it the rest of the way on saute as you would normally with a pound of fresh ground beef.
If you are TOTALLY new to the pressure cooking world you should first read this post on how to use an Instant Pot and then come back, that will help you a lot to just understand how it works and the basic buttons I use.
There aren’t a lot of Instant Pot accessories needed to thaw Instant Pot frozen ground beef
- You just use a trivet (this is my favorite one with handles)!
Benefits of thawing ground beef in a pressure cooker
- This method drains almost ALL of the grease and fat away from the meat and into the bottom of the pot (seen below) so you get leaner ground beef to cook.
- It’s a great tip to have in case you forget to thaw it out the night before in the fridge.
- You can thaw ground beef in about 30 minutes versus overnight.
I honestly have been doing this for quite some time but since it’s such a simple thing I ignored the fact that I hadn’t written a post about it sharing this tip with all of you, sorry about that.
- I think other than saving me a ton of time and saving those days when I’m forgetful and dinnertime is soon, I love #1’s benefit above the best.
I typically buy 80/20 ground beef but when we bought the cow earlier this year I honestly had no idea what the percentage was on those packages. For the most part they are rather lean but I’ve always had an issue with draining the fat well and in the past I’ve poured the cooked ground beef into a strainer, then turned on the hot water and rinsed it off to get the most fat off possible.
Now it’s done for me!!
Look…..the fat drains away from the meat using this Instant Pot frozen ground beef method, combined with the water you add to the bottom, and you just dump it before you turn it to saute and create your recipe.
Here are the basic steps you’re going to take to thaw Instant Pot frozen ground beef and cook it thereafter
- Pour 1 c. water into your pressure cooker
- Place a trivet inside at the bottom, high enough so meat doesn’t touch water
- Put your pound (or up to 2 lbs. really) on your trivet
- Close your lid and steam valve
- Set to high pressure for 20 minutes
- Do a quick release
- Lift out trivet with thawed meat on it (that’s why I like this one with handles)
- Pour out liquid and fat that has accumulated inside your Instant Pot
- Place thawed ground beef back into your pot
- Cook as you normally would had this been fresh ground beef
Here are a few of our favorite Instant Pot ground beef recipes to make once this is done!
- Instant Pot cheeseburger macaroni
- Pressure cooker meatloaf and potatoes are cooked at the same time here!
- Instant Pot chili is probably the most popular since you just need 5 main ingredients
- Instant Pot taco casserole is amazing and a kid fave
- Instant Pot hamburger potato casserole
Now you don’t only have to make a pressure cooker recipe once you’ve thawed your meat, you can make things like this smoked burgers recipe or crockpot lasagna casserole too, the possibilities are endless!
- If you need to know how to cook frozen chicken in the Instant Pot I have info. on that as well as free printable Instant Pot cooking times sheets so you know how long each item takes to cook.
- This is how to cook frozen Instant Pot shrimp as well, we love seafood so that has been helpful.
Now you can make our Instant Pot taco meat in no time at all starting with a rock hard pound of frozen beef!
Instant Pot Frozen Ground Beef
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef up to 2 lbs.
- 1 c water
Instructions
- Pour 1 c. water into your Instant Pot and lower a trivet down.
- Place frozen ground beef on your trivet.
- Close your lid and steam valve and set to high pressure for 20 minutes.
- Do a quick release, lift out ground beef and drain liquid in your pot.
- Cook your thawed ground beef as you wish.
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If you’d like to save an additional 20 minutes of time and own a microwave, consider purchasing the Pampered Chef large micro-cooker and the mix-n-chop. My wife and I received 2 of these for our wedding in October and have never thawed or cooked meat traditionally since. It takes 10 minutes to fully cook 1 pound of frozen beef in the microwave using it. We’ve even done up to 2 pounds of meat in it still cooking in less than 15 minutes. Only step is to take out about halfway through cooking time, drain the grease through the easy drain lid, and chop up the beef using the mix-n-chop before continuing to cook. We’ve loved ours so much that we’ve given them as gifts this Christmas season. Lot easier than the instapot with half the cleanup.
I love the mix n chop!! It works really well!
Oh my gosh, this was an absolute life-saver for dinner tonight! Will definitely use this method again and again!
Yeah!!
This worked perfectly! I never seem to get the ground beef out of the freezer in time. Thank you!
So glad!!
I can always use tips and tricks for safe cooking/thawing of raw meats. Love this!