This Instant Pot Beef & Barley Stew recipe is a classic stew with super flavorful beef broth that has cooked-all-day flavor in just 30 minutes! It is full of tender beef, vegetables, and perfectly cooked barley. This is a hearty beef and barley soup that will fill you up, which makes it a perfect winter dinner.
Since this Stew is so comforting, filling, and easy it also makes a great dinner to take to a family with a newborn, a new neighbor, a family grieving a loss, or for a meal train.
RELATED: Instant Pot Beef Stew
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Secrets to Really Good Beef & Barley Stew
There are a few secrets that will ensure you have a great Beef & Barley Stew that is full of flavor.
Use a really good beef stock that has a lot of flavor. If you have homemade, great, but if not look for a beef stock instead of broth. A stock generally has more flavor.
Cooking in the Instant Pot allows you to get cooked-all-day flavor in just 20 minutes!
Use a quality Beef Base, like Better Than Bouillon Brand (see below. If you are not familiar with beef base, it comes in a jar and can be found in the soup aisle at the grocery store. It comes in a paste form and has super intense beef flavor. It is like the grown up brother of beef bouillon. I always keep beef base and chicken base in my kitchen!
Let the tomato paste sauté a little to caramelize the flavors a little, but make sure you deglaze the bottom of the pot completely before pressure cooking!
Seasoning the soup properly with salt and pepper always enhances flavors perfectly!
Dinner with the Instant Pot
If there is one thing I can say about the Instant Pot is that it can make dinner prep super fast!!! Beef and Barley Stew is something that would normally take about an hour to prep and cook. But, with the pressure cooker it is done in a flash.
I use the Instant Pot Duo Plus 60 6 quart 9-in-1, I also recommend the Instant Pot 6 quart 7-in-1. I like these two pots because of the size, 6 quarts. This is the perfect size for just about any Instant Pot recipe you will come across.
I’m not sure I will ever use all the functions, like sterilize or yogurt. But, If I want them they are there! The functions I use most are the Soup/Broth, Meat/Stew, Sauté, Pressure Cook, and Bean/Chili.
I will definitely use the slow cooker mode too, but right now I’m obsessed with the quicker cooking recipes using the pressure cooking modes!
More Instant Pot Recipes To Love
Some of my other favorite Instant Pot Recipes are this Instant Pot Beef Stew, Chicken & Rice Soup, Cajun Rice with Chicken & Sausage, and Turkey Meatballs. Or you can check out ALL my Instant Pot recipes here.
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Did you make this recipe?
I would love to hear your review, especially if you have tips and tricks to add! Pop down to the comment section and connect with me
Instant Pot Beef & Barley Stew Recipe + Video
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 yellow or white onion chopped
- 2 celery stalks, sliced
- 3 plump garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 ½ cups carrots, sliced
- ½ teaspoon each- onion powder & garlic powder
- optional 2 teaspoon fresh chopped rosemary or thyme
- 1 ½ tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 teaspoon beef base
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 32 oz beef broth or stock
- 1 ½ cup water
- 1 ½ lbs beef stew meat - cut into 1 inch chunks (can be anywhere from 1-1 ½ lbs)
- 1 cup pearl barley - I use Bob’s Red Mill brand
Instructions
- Add the oil, onions, carrots, celery, and garlic to the Instant Pot on sauté mode. Sauté for 5 minutes.1 yellow or white onion chopped, 2 celery stalks, sliced, 3 plump garlic cloves, chopped, 1 ½ cups carrots, sliced, 1 tablespoon oil
- Add the onion powder, garlic powder, Worcestershire, tomato paste, salt, pepper, and beef base, stir to combine with the veggies.and optional rosemary or thyme½ teaspoon each- onion powder & garlic powder, 1 ½ tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, 1 tablespoon tomato paste, 2 teaspoon beef base, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon black pepper, optional 2 teaspoon fresh chopped rosemary or thyme
- Pour in the beef stock and water and deglaze the bottom of the pot, scraping up any bits stuck to the bottom. This will prevent the burn notice.32 oz beef broth or stock, 1 ½ cup water
- Turn off the sauté mode.
- Add in the stew meat and pearl barley. Make sure all the barley is submerged.PRO TIP: if you have a sensitive pot that gives you the burn notice do not stir at this point, just let the barley sit above the meat, but make sure it is all submerged in liquid or at least touching the liquid.1 ½ lbs beef stew meat, 1 cup pearl barley
- Close the Instant Pot and set to meat/stew mode (or manual/pressure mode), high pressure, for 25 minutes.
- Do a quick release. Give it a good stir and let it cool for about 5-10 minutes.It will thicken as it cools!
- Serve!
reb says
Nice that people can adapt to their tastes! I thought the flavor was great (and I only had veggie broth). We are trying to eat less meat so I added 1/2 c more barley and a tad more water. And the house smells great!
Katrina says
This was delicious – however it caused my instant pot to spew out the liquid (all over my ceiling, walls, and counters (in my panic I didn’t think to throw a tea towel over it) It’s an average size instant pot, where did I go wrong?
Susie Weinrich says
I am so sorry that happened! I use a 6 quart, if yours is smaller then that it could have been too much liquid? You were right to throw a towel over the vent. Another option is to use a wooden spoon (or something long) and poke the vent closed/sealed and let it natural release for an additional 5 minutes.
Katrina says
I realized after I’d commented that I’d added a can of diced tomatoes, which clearly added too much liquid. I’m a bit of a calamity in the kitchen apparently! It was a good excuse to clean the walls anyway. 🙂
Margaret says
I made this for the first time tonight and it was delicious. I’m not a huge onion person so I used half the onions and added additional carrots. It’s really flavorful. My husband loved it and asked for seconds!
Christan says
First thing I made in my new instant pot! Excellent result. I added about half a cup of red wine. So so so good, thank you!
Sheegs says
This is wonderful. I made this last night. Thanks so much for posting this recipe.
Jane Langlotz says
The overall flavouring was good, but it was way too thick with barley..almost looked like porridge. I suggest you lessen the amount of pearl barley to 1/2 or 1/3 cup.
Susan Matney says
Could you use already cooked beef in this recipe? If so, would there be any changes to the time? Thanks
Susie Weinrich says
You will still need to cook for about 20 minutes to get the barley cooked all the way through.
James says
Got this recipe from a coworker and tried it tonight. Absolutely loved it. The barely was a nice change from rice or potatoes and I enjoyed it. Making this in the instant pot i was able to make dinner and take a nap after working! Thank you for sharing this. It’s going to become a new favorite!
Susie Weinrich says
A nap while making dinner is probably the best thing in the world!!! I’m so glad you loved the recipe.
Susan Matney says
Thank you! We are cooking this tonight!
Kristin says
Excellent recipe. Easy to follow and super quick. The flavor of my Mom’s award winning beef stew, but lighter and… better! Will definitely make again soon.
CandyC says
Really, really good! Thank you!!
Rechelle says
I can’t seem to find Barley Pearls, would Pot Barley work?
Susie says
that should work too!
KevinM says
Very Tasty. I made it per the recipe with 2 exceptions. I used a cup of red wine instead of the water and we like spicy so I used Sriracha Chili Paste instead of tomato paste. I am now letting it simmer to thicken it up just a bit.
Susie says
Great subs!!! I hope you loved it.
Renee says
Too beefy. Overall this is a good recipe, but I think I’d leave all the bass out and leave it to the beef stock and steak. It has no depth. All I get it beef flavor and barley texture.
Kirstyn says
Thinner than my usual, but the taste is fantastic! Love this and bookmarking!
Anne Thomas says
Soooo good!!! Husband had never had barley before. This will be in regular rotation for us. We add a little heat, but its great as is!
Karla says
Can I use ground beef instead of beef stew meat? If so, are there any time changes? Thanks!
Susie Weinrich says
You can absolutely use ground beef instead. I would crumble and brown the ground beef to start, drain any grease, and then move on with the recipe as written. You will still want to pressure cook for 25 minutes for the pearl barley.