I’ve had many requests for recipes. I’m not sure why. I never had any cooking lessons, unless you count a few years of watching the Food Network. But I do enjoy cooking. I find it enjoyable, creative, relaxing and a fun challenge.
Cooking became easier over the past 5 years when I transitioned to a more Keto-Carnivore lifestyle. It became much easier to cook a few steaks as a meal instead of pasta with a vegetable, starch and salad. And yes, I enjoy my steaks more than pasta. Now it is easier for me as I got so much healthier when I went gluten free about 15 years ago, so pasta and bread and such were no longer an issue I had to deal with. BTW- I am not fun to be around if gluten gets into me. Trust me on that one.
So as it felt like Winter this weekend, I decided I wanted a little bit of comfort food, keto style. So I made IMW Beef Stew in an Instant Pot pressure cooker. It was absolutely #delicious. A key to making it keto style is more beef and less veggies.
Ingredients:
2 lbs of beef stew meat- I purchased Organic Grass-Fed stew meat at Mom’s Organic grocery store on Kings Highway in Cherry Hill, across from the Whole Paycheck
1 large Sweet onion
2 carrots peeled and sliced to a similar size as the stew meat
1 sweet potato, skin remained on, and sliced to a similar size as the stew meat
2-3 cloves of garlic- sliced
16 ounces of Organic Grass Fed Beef bone broth
Olive oil
Salt
White and black pepper
Smoked Paprika
Onion/Garlic powder
Smoked Balsamic Vinegar
2 teaspoons of ketchup (optional)
1 teaspoon of arrowroot powder to thicken gravy (optional)
The key to making this beef stew more keto is simply more meat and less veggies. I have seen recipes for beef stew with 1 lb of meat and 2-3 potatoes, carrots as well as peas and string beans. I dunno bout you but I prefer more meat.
How to cook
Turn your Instant Pot to the sauté mode and when hot add some olive oil. Then add the stew meat into the pot, add some black and white pepper as well as salt and let cook for 4-5 minutes. Then stir it around and let it cook another minute or so.
Remove the meat into a bowl and add any remaining meat into the pot and repeat first step. When done remove the meat into a bowl.
Add some more olive oil and the add the onions and sauté for a few minutes. Then add in the garlic and sauté a few more minutes.
Add the chopped sweet potato and carrot to the onions and stir. Then add in the 16 oz of beef bone broth and the meat, some smoked paprika and stir in a few tablespoons of Smoked Balsamic Vinegar.
Put the lid on the Instant Pot, set the pressure cooker for 22 minutes and hit start. It will take about 7-10 minutes to fully pressurize then the 22 minutes will countdown, so about 30 minutes. When it beeps, let it slowly depressurize for about 5 minutes then click the fast release button to quickly depressurize. It looks like this when removed from the pot.
Remove all the meat and veggies to a big bowl, leaving the broth/gravy in the Instant Pot.
Turn the Instant Pot back to sauté setting to thicken up the gravy. Here is where you do a taste test. Option- you can add a teaspoon or two of ketchup and some onion/garlic powder as well to taste. Also I added a teaspoon of arrow root powder to help thicken the gravy.
When the gravy is the correct thickness to your liking, turn the Instant Pot off and add the beef and veggies back into the pot and stir
Serve on a plate and dig in and enjoy
My daughter, whose dream job is to be a food critic, said it was very good and actually asked for seconds. She said it tasted a bit like the brisket I often make. The stew meat and the brisket both do well in the Instant Pot or slow cooker so I guess she has a point.
Here was the finished product.
As you can see, it has a higher meat to veggie ratio than most Beef Stews I see. Using 1 sweet potato instead of a 2-3 regular white potatoes gave it a nicer flavor as well as less carbs.
This beef stew may need to go on my “rotation” of food I often cook as it was just that good.
So what do ya think?
Will you be trying this at home?
I will try to add more recipes in the future so make sure you are subscribed.
Looks like we are having stew tomorrow evening. Thanks for the recipe!
I do something very similar, a take on Julia Child's Bouef Bourginon. I add a cup of red wine to the bone broth and replace potatoes with radishes. Great winter meals!