Pressure Cooker Chinese Pepper Steak

Pressure cooker Chinese pepper steak and onions is packed with flavor and perfect for dinner tonight. Throw it into your Instant Pot or Ninja Foodi for a healthy pressure cooker steak meal. 

Instant Pot Chinese Pepper Steak Recipe

You can make this in your Crockpot Express or as a Ninja Foodi recipe too. Any brand will work as long as it has the high pressure function. Electric versions do and it makes the meat super tender.

The beef is tender, packed with flavor, and it’s full of fresh vegetables too. Add as many as you’d like really. a fresh tomato and red bell peppers were used this time. You can make it as spicy as you’d like or mild, that is the great thing about making things homemade.

Ninja Foodi Chinese Pepper Steak

Here’s a peek at the vegetables we used. There are lots of bell peppers that are red but you could use any colors you want. If I find these on sale I will buy a bunch to make this and a batch of green pepper jelly too. You can make that quickly in your IP after this is cleaned up on the saute function.

You can really load up the veggies with this one. They get nice and tender in no time at all. A really healthy one pot meal for sure that even my kids enjoyed.

Make it as spicy as you like or leave it on the milder side. You can do this in several different ways of course. Seasonings like dry Sriracha are great as well as diced jalapeno, use your favorite combos.

It is easiest if you do all the prep work beforehand, but that doesn’t take long. You could put the meat and marinade in a freezer bag and put into the fridge overnight too if you wanted. I will do this with our Ninja Foodi beef and broccoli to create really bold flavors.

This would create a really intense Asian tastes since the steak would absorb the sauce. That is totally up to you but that would require you to think about dinner the night before. You can use a bottled sauce like our Instant Pot teriyaki chicken but a homemade blend is quite simple and you can adjust how spicy you want it that way too.

What is Chinese pepper?

Sichuan pepper is a spice in Chinese cuisine that is commonly used in the Sichuan cuisine The pericarp is most often used. The leaves of various species are also used in some regions of China.  You can use regular pepper if you prefer, that is what we feature in this recipe to make it easier.

What meat should you use for pepper steak?

We typically use the same to make this or our Slow Cooker Pepper Steak with onions. Flank steak or skirt steak are the best options as they are marbled and get more tender the longer they are cooked. Here are the ingredients we used on this go around, like I said you could add heat with cayenne or dry Sriracha too if you wanted.

Ingredients

• Vegetable oil we used here
• Skirt steak, flank steak, or sliced thin boneless beef round steak
• Minced garlic
• Salt and Black pepper, or Szechuan pepper diced very small
• Hoisin sauce gives it sweetness
• Sugar is optional
• 1 Roma tomato, diced
• Red bell peppers, cut in strips, onions and green peppers work too
• Cornstarch to thicken the sauce
• Water or beef broth
• 4 green onions, chopped
• Serve over brown or white rice

Substitutions

You could us a bit of sesame oil in there to add more Asian flavors. Canned diced tomatoes work instead of fresh. Any color peppers work, slicing thick will maintain the texture so they don’t fall apart.

You could make pressure cooker quinoa or Ninja Foodi rice instead which is what my kids love. They all work great, just depends on what I have on hand at the time really.

How to Make Pepper Steak in a Pressure Cooker

1. Remove excess fat from your steaks. Cut into thin beef strips.
2. Turn your pressure cooker to saute. Add vegetable oil and let it heat for 1-2 minutes, then add in the steak. Saute for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add in the garlic, seasonings, hoisin sauce, sugar, tomato and bell peppers. Turn pot off.
4. Whisk cornstarch with the cold water or broth in a small cup until smooth. Pour it into the your pressure cooker and stir all the ingredients together.
5. Close the lid and steam valve.
6. Set to pressure cook on high pressure for 3 minutes, followed by a natural release for 2 minutes. Then release rest of steam.
7. Serve beef and peppers on top of rice! A splash of soy sauce on top is great too.

This reminds me somewhat of how we make our Instant Pot fajitas with tons of bell peppers. The key to these is how thin you cut the beef. That way it is easier to eat, chew, and smaller means the most tender meat that will soak up the sauces so well.

It is a bit like our Instant Pot stir fry but with some heat!

If you love this one, try our pressure cooker hoisin chicken which has some of the same flavors. It is mild and has chicken instead of beef, a great dinner for tomorrow night though.

Looking for other pressure cooker Ninja Foodi recipes? Pressure cooker sausage, onions and peppers is so easy, cheap and healthy. Let us know what you think of this Instant Pot pepper steak recipe.