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My Instant Pot Beef & Barley Stew recipe is a classic stew with super flavorful beef broth that has cooked-all-day flavor, 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.
How to Make Good Beef & Barley Stew
There are a few steps that will ensure you have a great Beef & Barley Stew that is full of flavor.
- Use a 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. 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!
- Add a little tomato paste at the end to give it another layer of flavor.
- 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, Saute, 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!
Some of my other favorite Instant Pot Recipes are my Chicken & Rice Soup, Cajun Rice with Chicken & Sausage, and Turkey Meatballs. Or you can check out ALL my Instant Pot recipes here.
I hope you will give this recipe for Instant Pot Beef & Barley Stew a try in your kitchen.
Love- Susie
Instant Pot Beef & Barley Stew
Ingredients
- 1 yellow or white onion chopped
- 2 celery stalks, sliced
- 3 plump garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 ½ cups carrots, sliced
- 1 tablespoon oil
- ½ teaspoon each- onion powder & garlic powder
- 1 ½ tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoon beef base
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 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
- 32 oz beef broth or stock
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
Instructions
- Add the oil, onions, carrots, celery, and garlic to the Instant Pot on saute mode. Saute for 5 minutes. Turn off saute mode.Add the onion powder, garlic powder, Worcestershire, salt, pepper, and beef base, stir to combine with the veggies.Add the stew meat, pearl barley, beef stock, and water.
- Close the Instant Pot and set to meat/stew mode (or manual/pressure mode), high pressure, for 25 minutes.Do a quick release. Stir in the tomato paste.Serve!
If nutrition facts are provided they are calculated as an estimate to the best of our knowledge.
Jennifer
Sooooo good & hearty! Added a can of drained & rinsed black eyed peas on New Year’s Day for luck in 2022!
Susie Weinrich
What a PERFECT way to get in your black eyed peas! Happy New Year!
Pat Moshimer
This recipe is amazing! Thanks so much for sharing.
I tossed the beef in flour and sautéed it separately then mixed it in with the rest. It turned out nice and thick. Added petite peas after and everyone loved it.
Sharon
Making this tomorrow. My husband isn’t a fan of tomato paste. Can I leave that out? What are your thoughts on adding red wine? I saw that someone mentioned it in a comment. Thanks
Susie Weinrich
You can absolutely leave the tomato paste out!! And YES use red wine, I love cooking with red wine!!! I would do half red wine, half beef broth.
Carol Yunes
I’ve made this several times and without the beef base. My husband absolutely loves it! I’ve shared it with friends and get great compliments back. It’s fast, easy to prepare and the meat is always tender. It’s even company worthy for a cold winter night. Yum!
lauren M. Krebs
Made several times already and family loves it
Mary Kay
What is beef base?
Susie Weinrich
Beef base is similar to bouillon but WAY more flavorful. It will be in the soup aisle. It comes in a jar and is in paste form. I like to use “Better Than Bouillon” brand.
Marie Heath
Beef base is a paste in a jar as opposed to bullion cubes. My opinion it gives much better flavor. However, it’s also high in sodium.
Carolyn B LeJeune
it is found in the soup aisle
S. Taylor
I made one mistake in the recipe, but I don’t think it hurt the outcome. I put the tomato paste in with the other seasonings. Next time, I will add it at the end as instructed. There will definitely be a next tim. My husband loved it so much that he begged me to put the leftovers away so he wouldn’t overeat.
Natalie
Made it last night as directed and it was a hit. Not sure if I accidentally went too heavy on the beef base amount, but it was a little salty for me. I added extra water just to take down the sodium level. Family loved it as prepared but I think it was still hearty after I added 2 cups of water. Having some now for leftovers and added in a handful of chopped kale for some greens! Yum!
Debbie
I’ve made this several times now, and it’s DELICIOUS just as written. Quick, easy and tasty – win, win, win! My husband & I both love it. Wonderful comfort food on cool autumn evenings!
Bonnie
This was delicious! Because I wanted more of a vegetable soup as well as beef barley so I added frozen peas, frozen green beans from our garden & a can of fire roasted tomatoes. Even my picky husband loved it. The beef was so tender. Thank you.
KIMBERLY M KIRK
Great idea with the extra veggies
Jo
Can you keep this on warm in the instant pot , for about 4 hours??
Susie Weinrich
It will thicken quite a bit in 4 hours. You may need to add a little broth or water before serving.
Steve
Love this recipe. I don’t do the cellrey or carrots, not a good vegetable eater but substituted small white potatoes and is great. Making agian tonight and the wife loves it to. Thanks for the recipe.
Steve Lubrant
Love this recipe. I don’t do the celery or carrots, not a big fane of vegetables but substituted small white potatoes instead and came out great. Wife loved it too. Making it again tonight. Thanks for the recipe.
Lynn
This beef and barley stew is delicious. My 3-year old grandson loved it. Thank you for sharing.
Susie Weinrich
Thank you so much! I made it this week too, perfect for fall!
Ann P
Excellent! I added a half bag of frozen petite peas at the end. Hearty and wonderful.
Amber
I added diced golden potatoes and only about 1/2 cup barley and a bay leaf. To ensure beef tender enough, i cooked for 35 min, 5 min natural vent then quick vent. SOOOOOO good and easy. Hubs LOVED it. This will be in heavy rotation this fall/winter. Thank you!!
Anne
Made the most delicious stew!! Great flavors! Thank you! Family is loving it
Sandra
Hi Susie,
Can this recipe be doubled or would that be too much for the 6qt instant pot?
Susie Weinrich
I think it should fit. Since the barley puffs up a little I would make sure it is not on or over the max fill line in the pot before you start it.
JenniferJ
This was delicious! I made it just the way the recipe is written.