The Instant Pot is a perfect appliance for cooking ingredients that require a long cooking time, such as beans and meat. For dishes such as braised beef, it reduces hours of cooking into one hour (or less, depending on the cut you use) and creates a great result. Today I want to introduce this Chinese braised beef that you can make in the Instant Pot.
Why this recipe
It’s easy to prepare and only requires 15 minutes of active cooking time.There’s no browning required! It will make the cooking much easier and less messy.I’ll introduce a secret sauce to make your braised beef immediately even tastier.The finished dish is very well balanced and rich with buttery tender meat.
Which cut of beef to use
The rule of thumb when braising beef is to use a well-marbled and fatty cut. The more fat it contains, the more tender the meat will become.
My personal favorite cut is shin bones. Shin bones contain a lot of collagen between the lean meat. It will become super tender after cooking and taste heavenly. Fatty brisket is great, too, and it’s usually less expensive. The layer of fat will protect the lean meat, so the meat will be super tender after braising.Beef neck bones are another good option. The meat and broth will be extra flavorful, but will yield less meat since it’s mostly bone.Chuck is another good option and requires less cooking time, even though it’s on the leaner side compared to the other cuts.
NOTE: Avoid stew meat when possible. It’s usually very lean and cut unevenly, so it isn’t suitable for braising. In this recipe I used a VERY fatty cut of brisket, due to the availability at my local market.
How to cut beef for braising
DO NOT trim off the fat. That’s the one thing that matters most. The fat will protect the lean meat from drying out during cooking, producing an extra tender result. You will see that the cut of brisket I used is super fatty.
I split the meat down the middle of the fat layer, so the lean meat would have some fat attached. Then I cut the meat into 2” (5 cm) chunks, as evenly as I could.
A lot of the fat will melt away during the cooking. But don’t worry. You can easily skim the oil off the liquid once you’re done cooking. If you do not like the fat attached to the lean meat, simply trim it off of the cooked beef.
Secret sauce
Chee Hou Sauce (柱候酱, Zhu Hou Jiang), or Chou Hou Sauce, is a thick dark brown sauce that is made with soybeans, ginger, garlic, sugar, and sesame seeds. It is somewhere between the taste of oyster sauce and hoisin sauce, with a savory essence that is lightly sweet. It’s a sauce that’s commonly used in Cantonese cuisine, especially for braising beef brisket. We tested the Instant Pot braised beef with and without the sauce. We found that the version with the sauce has a much better aroma and is more well-rounded in flavor. NOTE: If you do not have that sauce, oyster sauce is the best replacement. TIP: Have leftover Chee Hou sauce once you cooked this recipe? Check out my super easy Choy Sum with Garlic Sauce, that uses Chee Hou sauce to create a scrumptious side dish in no time!
Cooking process
Cooking Instant Pot braised beef is so easy. There are only two steps:
(1) Blanch the beef
Boil the beef with aromatics.Skim off the foam.Let it cook for 10 minutes.Rinse the beef to remove any excess foam.
This process will remove the impurities from the beef and create a clear broth at the same time. You will use some of the blanching liquid in the cooking, and you can reserve the rest to use as beef stock. NOTE: I did this step in a separate pot. But you can do it in the Instant Pot as well.
(2) Set up the Instant Pot
Saute the aromatics to release their fragrance.Add everything, set the timer, and wait.The beef will be done in 1 hour (or less, depending on the cut you use)
How to serve
I highly recommend making the braised beef ahead of time and letting it sit in the fridge overnight before eating it. The sauce will have a rounder taste and the meat will be more flavorful. I enjoy serving the beef with the sauce on steamed rice with a side of steamed veggies. The veggies will taste great dipped in the braising sauce. You can also use some of the braising liquid to cook veggies, such as napa cabbage, daikon radish, cauliflower, baby bok choy, and broccoli. Making a balanced meal couldn’t be easier!
More delicious Instant Pot recipes
Instant Pot Black Beans (5-Ingredient, Vegan)Instant Pot Chinese Sausage RiceInstant Pot Pork Ribs (Chinese-Style)Instant Pot Oxtail SoupAsian-Style Instant Pot Pulled Pork
If you give this recipe a try, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it (once you’ve tried it), and take a picture and tag it @omnivorescookbook on Instagram! I’d love to see what you come up with.
Lilja Walter is a part of the Omnivore’s Cookbook team who work with Maggie closely to develop and test this recipe.
