Ingredients: 1 pound beef, cut into 1-inch cubes 1 onion, diced 3 cloves garlic, minced 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 teaspoon dried thyme Salt and pepper, to taste 2 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth 1/4 cup dry white wine 1/4 cup red wine vinegar Instructions:

  1. Add the beef cubes to the Instant Pot and sauté in olive oil until browned. Add the garlic and continue cooking for a minute. Pour in the chicken broth or vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes.
  2. In a small bowl, whisk together the white wine and red wine vinegar. Pour over the simmering beef mixture and stir until well combined. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.
  3. Serve over cooked rice or noodles and enjoy!

The dish is often thought of as the equivalent of the French beef stew. Mushrooms, Beef, and Bourbon – what could taste better! What is Beef Bourguignon?Beef bourguignon is a beef stew braised in red wine, and beef stock, typically flavored with carrots, onions, garlic, garnished with shallots pearl onions, mushrooms, and bacon. Beef bourguignon is usually served with potatoes or mashed potato, or even alone as the flavor is amazing. However, you can also serve it with rice or pasta. Normally to make a complex flavored stew like this takes hours. However, in a pressure cooker or Instant Pot, you can have an amazing plate of food in less than an hour!!. This dish really is great and freezes really well, in fact, you may notice the flavors intensify the second time around – when you eat one that you have frozen.

Key Flavor Enhancers for Beef Bourguignon

Red Wine

Commonly a deep Burgundy is used, however, that is not necessary any red wine will do. My advice is however to use the best red wine you can as it will pay off in the flavor and taste of the final dish.

Bacon

Below we show a photo of Speck – which is a type of bacon that we used – it lets you develop a better flavor and also slightly chunker bacon bits – which also help improve the flavor. Lardons can also be used. If these are not available then streaky bacon also works well.

Bourbon

When it comes to cooking with liquor, bourbon is one of the best in fact it is one of our favorites. Its smoky and caressing caramel with a hint of vanilla flavor adds a special nuance to this beef dish. Do not skip the bourbon it really enhances and lifts the whole dish.

Prepare all your ingredients first

It really does help to get organized by getting all your ingredients measured and organized first.  Why – because when you have never made a recipe before – having all your ingredients ready means that you can firstly check them off against the recipe before you start so that nothing is missing.  Secondly – as you are moving through the cooking steps it lets you focus on the dish preparation rather than jumping around looking for or preparing a missed item.We have used Bourbon in this recipe and the result was amazing – the purists might say you must use Brandy – but the Bourbon worked just fine.

Dice the Beef to a similar size

Here we show all the beef diced to a similar or even size.Having it all a similar size helps with the even cooking and dispersal of the flavor.

Saute and Brown the Beef

Oil the bottom of the instant pot slightly and set it on saute high.  Put in the beef and leave it on one side for about 3-5 minutes for it to go brown. Resist the urge to stir or turn your beef too early. What you are doing in addition to browning off the beef – is searing in the flavors by searing the sides beef, thus locking in the juices. After that side is done – repeat for the other sides and again leave them to brown. After the first two sides are done I do resort to a more general stir for the others – leave it standing.

Add in the bacon and the onion

I really like the depth of flavor that bacon can add. So giving it a good saute so the fat is rendered just helps the overall flavor. Typically this will take about another 5 minutes till you are finished.  It is then time to just add all the other ingredients to the instant pot.  First, add the wine and use it to deglaze any material stuck on the bottom of the instant pot during the browning beef. This is important as this deglazing releases a lot of flavors.  Then add the rest of the ingredients and give them a good stir so you also have all the meat covered. Then put on the lid and follow our recipe.

Beef Bourguignon Complete

This is what the final Beef bourguignon looks like after it has finished cooking in the instant pot. You can see a nice shiny look, which is always a good sign of a deep rich sauce and flavor Now get ready to plate up and eat.

Plating Up 

It was a colder evening when we made this so we felt like having the Beef Bourguignon with mashed potato. This is how Rosie plated it up – it was delicious.You can equally serve this with a side of Rice or Pasta – both would be great.