Instant Pot Frozen Ground Beef

Instant Pot frozen ground beef can be thawed and cooked in no time at all. If you’re forgetful like me, thawing and cooking frozen meat in a Ninja Foodi pressure cooker has never been easier!

Frozen Ground Beef in Instant Pot Recipe

I love thawing frozen ground beef in pressure cooker because it’s keeps it’s juiciness and drains out all the fat as it sits on a trivet. Since I am forgetful I no longer have to worry if I’ve forgotten to take it out of the freezer the day before! It’s one of the best ways of how to cook frozen ground beef we share on the blog.

in Ninja Foodi

If you need easy Ninja Foodi recipes, you can use that pot instead. All electric cooker brands will work the same, with the high pressure function. The only difference with this one is that you will use the lid that is not attached.

Whether I mix it with other ingredients to make taco meat or make meatballs to throw in spaghetti with it, there’s always something I can make with a package for dinner. But that is not all!! You can use these same basic steps for Instant Pot Frozen Ground Turkey too!

We cook a lot of frozen meat in the Instant Pot…because I tend to be forgetful. 😉 There is nothing worse than everyone getting home around dinnertime and realizing you have nothing thawed. You are all hangry and not prepared to go out to eat. What to do? We have help for you using your pressure cooker tonight.

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 cook frozen ground beef in no time. This works for frozen ground turkey too of course.

We have a list of Instant Pot beef recipes and add to it quite often. As I experiment with other frozen beef cooked in the pressure cooker, I will include them and share on my website as well.

• 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.

How to thaw Instant Pot frozen ground beef

If you are TOTALLY new to the pressure cooking world, an Instant Pot will change your life. It took me a little while to get to know all the buttons and now I use this thing like all the time, I mean daily.

You just use a trivet, I like the ones with handles! It makes it a bit easier to lift out when it’s done. If you do not have one of these, first off I suggest you get one because it is useful for so many things. BUT if you don’t have one yet I have an alternative.

Without Trivet

If you do not have one of these metal gizmos first off I suggest that you do because they are quite handy. BUT in the case that it is lost etc… you can still follow these steps with a small tweak. You do want to keep meat out of the water, or it will get soggy and not a pleasant texture. Just wad up one or two pieces of tinfoil to keep it up about 1.5 inches and you have yourself a good alternative.

You could use a ramekin upside down and place on the bottom with a small plate on top you can use that. The negative to that is the fat won’t drain away like it would with a trivet but it will work. Make sure the plate is oven safe and use a pot holder to lift it out because it will be really hot.

This method drains almost ALL of the grease and fat away from the meat. It ends up at the bottom of the pot (seen below). It’s a great tip to have in case you forget to thaw it out the night before. You can thaw ground beef in about 20 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. Now I’m sharing this tip with all of you.

I think other than saving me a ton of time it saves those days when I’m forgetful. Dinner is saved!

Typically I buy 80/20 ground beef, turkey or chicken would work just fine too. When we bought a cow earlier this year though I didn’t know what those were. For the most part they are rather lean.

Combined with the water you add to the bottom, now you just dump it before you turn it to saute. Fat is gone!

Below are quick directions but I also have a printable recipe card at the very bottom for you as well. It is a lot quicker to defrost and then cook than Crockpot ground beef.

Directions

Set to saute and cook as you normally would. It is now no different than if it had been fresh.  Add taco seasoning and anything else to make an Instant Pot casserole or any sort of beef dinner recipe you want.

Tips

Do NOT quick release. It is important to allow the meat to continue heating during that extra ten minutes at the end. This allow the thickest part of the center to defrost. Be careful when lifting the lid as it will be very steamy and can burn you. Don’t be alarmed at the way it looks when done, break it up and cook. Used immediately you will get the best results.

Recipes to Make with your Cooked Ground Beef

Now you can make our Instant Pot taco meat in no time. Starting with a rock hard pound of frozen beef even, it’s still great! OR follow these directions for air fryer ground beef (thawed) and add seasoning packet at the end.

I am sure you have a handful of your favorite dishes with this type of protein, go with your fave. Here are a few of our favorite Instant Pot ground beef recipes to make once this is done!

• Instant Pot cheeseburger macaroni is amazing like goulash in a sense
• Our 5 ingredient Instant Pot chili is probably the most popular since you just need 5 main ingredients
• Make our pressure cooker stroganoff casserole with your meat tonight!
• Try this Slow Cooker Hamburger Casserole that is loaded with all the things as a one pot meal.