An instant pot ground beef is a kitchen hack that every chef needs to know. This ground beef instant pot recipe will be a lifesaver for everyone out there.
So, it’s dinner time and suddenly you came to know that you forget to take out a hamburger for dinner and you find yourself thinking can you cook frozen beef in an instant pot? The answer is YES!
Now, let’s take a look at the step-by-step directions regarding the recipe below.
Ingredients:
Extra lean-ground Beef: This is another beef ground variant that is not extra lean but definitely affects the nutritional information. Moreover, the same cooking instructions will follow suit for any other ground meat.
Beef broth: The beef broth compliments the taste of the beef. But if you are in a pinch, then you can also use vegetables.
Ground Beef:
If you forget to thaw your ground beef, then don’t worry. Because you can also cook your beef straight from frozen. And the best thing is that the cooking instructions for frozen beef are fairly easy.
To cook the frozen ground beef, skip the sauté step which will come later in this guide. Instead, simple pressure cook the beef for about 10-12 minutes. Once this process is completed, do a natural pressure release and you’re done with it.
Some ideas on how to use it:
Ground beef is an incredible ingredient for various lunch & dinner recipes. But if you still feel confused, then here are some useful ideas:
- Make Chilli cheese fries
- Add ground beef to nachos for added protein
- Work into a casserole dish
How To Thaw Ground Meat in a Pressure Cooker
When it comes to defrosting your ground beef in the instant pot, you must have to cook it. Because this is no other method to thaw or defrost it without cooking.
So to do this, first of all, you should add water to the pot (about 1 cup for a 6 qt instant pot). After this position the trivet on the rack and place the ground beef on it. Now, pierce the frozen ground beef with a sharp knife as far it can go to help vent so that the inside part of the meat also cooks.
However, if your frozen ground beef has a flat form – it will take approximately 15-20 minutes. But if it has a tube or cylinder shape, this may take 25-30 minutes to reach a safe cooking temperature (165 degrees F).
After this, you should season and sauté the ground beef to add flavour so that you can use it in the dish you want. No doubt, you can cook a ground turkey in the instant pot instead. In fact, you can also cook any type of ground meat such as ground chicken.
How To Pressure Cook Ground Meat
You will have multiple options when it comes to cooking ground beef in a pressure cooker. So, let’s take a quick look at both of these two options:
Option One: Sauté The Meat:-
- Press the sauté button on the instant pot, and then press “adjust” to change the temperature to normal.
- Now, leave the instant pot for about 2-3 minutes. Some instant pots show “hot” once heated, while some do not. But after the mentioned time, you can start to sauté the meat.
- After this, drop a couple of teaspoons of oil and leave it for about 1-minute. Now, add the ground meat and allow to cook while breaking the meat into small pieces. This process will take 5-7 minutes, once it's done, turn the instant pot off.
Option 2: Steam The Meat:-
- Pour some tap water in the bottom of the instant pot, now place a trivet or rack inside the inner pot.
- After this, place 1 to 2 pounds of ground beef on your trivet and seal the instant pot closed. But be sure to form the beef into one brick so that it cooks properly.
- Now, set the pot to high pressure and leave it for about 5-6 minutes.
- Once done, carefully remove it from the instant pot and break it up into small pieces. You’re done with it.
- Lastly, discard the water from your instant pot base.