Instant Pot Beef Curry with Coconut Milk

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Tips and Substitutions

Because the curry isn’t heavy on spices, I like to add more jalapeno peppers than I normally do – it gives it that extra kick of spice which is balanced out by the coconut milk. You could easily make this a meal-in-one and serve this curry as a stew with fresh bread on the side.

To save time, you could choose to skip the browning of the beef step, but the flavor won’t be the same.

I use stew meat but you can use any cut of meat that has some fat: beef chuck, bottom roast, bottom round….  Meats with higher fat content do very well in the Instant Pot pressure cooker, but make sure your trim the fat so it’s not excessive.

When you’re browning the beef, don’t crowd the inner pot.  Do it in batches so you don’t end up boiling the meat!  You can even do the browning of the beef in a large non-stick frying pan.

I find that jalapeno pepper spiciness can vary and it’s hard to get a consistent level of heat and so I like to use serrano peppers which I find are fairly consistent in their spiciness.

I frequently use baby carrots rather than sliced carrots and keep the same pressure cooking time.

The recipe has an unusual ingredient, which is A1 Steak Sauce.  I make another family recipe from my mother-in-law and she adds it to the beef to give it that extra oomph, that umami.  That’s why I incorporate A1 into this recipe.  You can omit it and still have a super-tasty Instant Pot Beef Curry Stew.

If you’d like a thicker curry with less liquid, feel free to increase the quantity of beef and vegetables and/or decrease the quantity of broth.

You can use either beef broth or chicken broth.  I generally use chicken broth because that’s what I usually have on hand.

• Add onions, garlic, ginger, jalapenos and stir well.

• Press ‘Saute’ again.  Add a tablespoon or two of broth and deglaze the inner pot.  Saute till onion mixture is golden brown, stirring often.  This will take about 3 to 5 minutes.  Deglaze as needed if the onions start browning too much or sticking to the bottom.
• Add the salt, pepper, turmeric, and A1 steak sauce.
• Stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. *

* If the Instant Pot becomes too hot and the ingredients are burning, turn it off to cool it down and turn back on once cooled.  You don’t want to burn the spices! Again, if the mixture sticks to the bottom, deglaze by adding a tablespoon of broth and stirring to remove the browned bits.

• Stir in the remaining broth and make sure there are no brown bits stuck to the bottom of the inner pot.
• Stir in reserved beef.

Instant Pot DUO Pressure Cook:

• Close the lid and make sure steam release handle is in ‘Sealing’ position
• Press ‘Manual’ (or ‘Pressure Cook’) and ‘+’ or ‘-‘ until the display reads ‘15′ (15 minutes).

Instant Pot ULTRA Pressure Cook:

• Close the lid.
• Select Pressure Cook mode and adjust the time to 15 minutes (00:15).
• Press ‘Start’.

• Instant Pot display will change to ‘On’.
• Once the Instant Pot is pressurized, the float valve will go up.
• The display will count down from 15 to 0; it will then switch to ‘Keep Warm’ mode and display ‘L0:00’  or ’00 00′ and begin to count up.

• Move the steam release handle to ‘Venting’. I like to place a folded towel over the steam release handle and move it to the venting position. Remove the towel after turning the knob.
• When your Instant Pot is depressurized, the float valve will be in the down position.
• Press ‘Cancel’ and open the Instant Pot.

Instant Pot ULTRA Quick Release:

• Press down on the Steam Release Button until it locks into place, and steam begins to come out of the Steam Release Valve.
• When your Instant Pot is depressurized, the float valve will be in the down position.
• Press ‘Cancel’ and open the Instant Pot.

Instant Pot DUO Pressure Cook:

• Close the lid and make sure steam release handle is in ‘Sealing’ position
• Press ‘Manual’ (or ‘Pressure Cook’) and ‘+’ or ‘-‘ until the display reads ‘3′ (3 minutes).

Instant Pot ULTRA Pressure Cook:

• Close the lid.
• Select Pressure Cook mode and adjust the time to 3 minutes (00:03).
• Press ‘Start’.

• Instant Pot display will change to ‘On’.
• Once the Instant Pot is pressurized, the float valve will go up.
• The display will count down from 3 to 0; it will then switch to ‘Keep Warm’ mode and display ‘L0:00’  or ’00 00′ and begin to count up.

• Move the steam release handle to ‘Venting’. I like to place a folded towel over the steam release handle and move it to the venting position. Remove the towel after turning the knob.
• When your Instant Pot is depressurized, the float valve will be in the down position.
• Press ‘Cancel’ and open the Instant Pot.

Instant Pot ULTRA Quick Release:

• Press down on the Steam Release Button until it locks into place, and steam begins to come out of the Steam Release Valve.
• When your Instant Pot is depressurized, the float valve will be in the down position.
• Press ‘Cancel’ and open the Instant Pot.

Instant Pot Beef Curry with Coconut Milk | Kerala Beef Stew

With hearty beef and turmeric-spiced coconut milk, this flavor-packed Instant Pot Beef Curry recipe is classic comfort food with an Indian twist. Tender bites of beef and vegetables come together in an aromatic curry adapted from the South Indian state of Kerala. This curry can also be served as a beef stew, which is how my family loves it. Make it more or less spicy by varying the quantity of green chili peppers.

5 from 19 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Dishes

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: beef curry, beef curry recipe, indian beef curry, instant pot beef curry, kerala beef curry

Main Ingredient: beef

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 55 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Servings: 6

Calories: 550 kcal

Author: Paint the Kitchen Red

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp vegetable oil for searing
• 2 lbs beef stew meat cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 cup onion chopped
• 5 tsp garlic minced
• 1 Tbsp ginger chopped finely
• 1 jalapeno or serrano pepper or to taste, seeded and chopped finely *
• 2 cups beef broth or chicken broth
• 1 tsp salt or to taste
• 1 tsp black pepper or to taste
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tsp A1 steak sauce optional
• 1 1/2 cups carrots peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 1/2 cups potatoes cut into 1-inch cubes
• 14 oz. coconut milk unsweetened, regular fat (1 can)
• 1/2 cup cilantro chopped

Instructions

• Press ‘Saute’. Add oil to Instant Pot and working in batches, sear beef until browned on all sides, stirring frequently. Be careful not to burn. Turn off Instant Pot if it gets too hot. Remove beef with a slotted spoon and set aside.
• Turn Instant Pot off and add onions, garlic, ginger, jalapenos and stir well.
• Press ‘Saute’ again and add 1 to 2 tablespoons of broth to deglaze Instant Pot, scraping up all the brown bits.
• Saute onion mixture till golden brown, stirring often. This will take about 5 minutes. If the mixture sticks to the bottom, add a tablespoon or two of broth.
• Add reserved beef, salt, black pepper, turmeric, A-1 steak sauce and saute briefly to coat the beef with spices.
• Add broth and stir.
• Close Instant Pot Lid and pressure cook on high pressure for 15 minutes.  Do a quick release of pressure (QR) and open the lid.
• Add potatoes and carrots to Instant Pot and close the lid again.
• Pressure cook for 3 minutes on high pressure and do a quick release of pressure (QR).
• Add coconut milk to the Instant Pot beef curry and stir to combine. Taste and season with salt to taste.
• Select ‘Saute’ mode and heat through.
• Turn off Instant Pot, sprinkle beef curry with cilantro and stir.  Serve with crusty bread, naan or over rice

Notes

• Prep time does not include steps that are already accounted for in the ingredient list, e.g. chopped onions, minced garlic, cubed beef, etc.
• * Use jalapeno or serrano peppers with care: add them per your spice tolerance. To make this a thicker curry, reduce the liquid at the end in 'Saute' mode, or use 1 1/2 cups broth instead of 2.
• Adapted from Chef Asha Gomez in Bon Appetit.
• Please read the blog post for some useful tips.

Nutrition

Serving: 1 /6 quantity | Calories: 550 kcal | Carbohydrates: 32 g | Protein: 37 g | Fat: 32 g | Saturated Fat: 17 g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 7 g | Cholesterol: 97 mg | Sodium: 388 mg | Fiber: 3 g | Sugar: 5 g

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I am not a certified nutritionist.  I provide my best estimate of nutritional information merely as a courtesy to my readers.  If you depend on nutritional information for dietary or health reasons,  I suggest using your favorite online nutrition calculator to confirm the nutritional value of this recipe based on the actual ingredients that you use.

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