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.
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 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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Instant Pot Beef & Barley Stew Recipe
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.Â1 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!
If nutrition facts are provided they are calculated as an estimate to the best of our knowledge.
Todd Bultynck
Awesome!!!!
Sherry Berbit
this recipe is great !! I had to use farro, as I didn’t have barley. also used ketchup vs tomato paste, and it still was just fantastic. I have made it several times, once as a gift and it was a huge hit. best soup I have made in maybe forever!
Opal
We love this stew I make it every week for my husbands lunches. I like the thyme better than the rosemary. Thank you SO much!
Cat Lemmons
My family was crazy about this beef barley stew, they couldn’t get enough, a real winner
Nicole
Made this last night with venison. My husband and I enjoyed this recipe, thank you!
Dave
So good. This was the best version of Beef Barley soup I’ve ever had. Followed the recipe exactly. No suggested modifications.
Carolyn
I made this the other day as a soup and we’re eating it for breakfast and loving it! It’s the best-flavored barley soup/stew I’ve made. You’re absolutely right about the tomato paste. It makes a huge difference. Worchester sauce… same thing.
Things I did differently for your recipe were to saute in an iron skillet and then deglaze and put into the I.P. I love my InstantPot, but not for sauteeing. I did stir the tomato paste into the skillet when the onions/carrots etc were just about done and let that brown a bit, too, to push up the flavor. I also added a pinch of cayenne. I just about doubled the broth as I wanted a soup more than a stew.
Otherwise, it was just as directed, and the soup is great. I do have to add a little water reheating, but that’s always the case with barley.
This is an excellent recipe. Thank you so much!
Diane
I am making tonight, noticed you don’t sauté the beef, If I do would that change the cooking time by much?
Thanks!!
Susie Weinrich
No, the cooking time is a mix of the beef and the barley needing to be cooked. Let me know how it turns out!
Sue
Very tasty! I will reduce the barley next time as there wasn’t much broth left. My family loved this!
Kurt Blodgett
*please don’t share this with my mother*
This is the best damn beef barley stew I have ever had in my 53 years! It was easy to make, tastes phenomenal, and it hits the spot on a cold winter night! Wow! What a great testament to what Mom’s Dinner is all about! Next: https://momsdinner.net/4-ingredient-bread/ as an accompaniment at a future meal.
Susie Weinrich
What high praise, thank you so much!!! I am so glad you loved the stew. Easy recipes with lots of flavor is what we are all about!
Alex
The prep time on this is a little under estimated on the prep time. 10 minutes is closer to the time needed to bring the meal up to high pressure, plus th N the time to cut and measure all the ingredients.
Vic
Hi,
would be great if you could add the metric measures as here in Europe we use g/kg and ml/l …. and the conversion is sometimes difficult as US cups and UK cups are also different
Dana
This was the best beef stew recipe I’ve tried! Thank you 😊
Elizabeth
So good! The flavor brings me back to my childhood! My mother would cook stew with the same flavor profile. This recipe is a keeper and so easy to make! Love it!
Seprenna
I made this yesterday and it was soooooooo good im having the leftovers today with bread and butter
Lilly
I added 2 cups of potatoes and about 2 cups extra broth…..we loved it and im making it again tonight with the leftover prime rib from the holidays 😊