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 Indian beef curry adapted from the state of Kerala.
Table of Contents
Introduction
This is a delicious and easy beef curry recipe made with coconut milk. It’s adapted from a recipe that comes from the South Indian state of Kerala, which is where my family lives.
This Kerala beef curry recipe is a beef stew that’s referred to as ‘ishtu’ (pronounced ‘ish-too’ and derived from ‘stew’). There are vegetable, mutton, and chicken versions of the recipe.
This Instant Pot Indian beef curry comes from a recipe by Asha Gomez, an Atlanta-based chef, who shared the recipe in Bon Appetit magazine. It’s a mildly spiced recipe that gets its heat from green chili peppers (jalapeno or serrano).
Learn more about your Instant Pot…
- Natural vs Quick Release: What are the different types of steam release and when should you use them?
- Instant Pot Tips and FAQs: What are some of the most commonly asked questions about the Instant Pot?
- Instant Pot Not Sealing: Why is your Instant Pot not sealing and what can you do to fix it?
- Common Instant Pot Problems: What are the most common problems encountered by Instant Pot users and how to solve them.
- Instant Pot Sous Vide: If you have a Sous Vide button on your Instant Pot, learn how to use it for perfectly cooked foods.
My pressure cooker beef curry recipe is great for a busy weeknight and it’s one that’s often requested by my family! I love how the pressure cooker curry has such a beautiful golden color.
Beef cooked in an Instant Pot comes out so tender and flavorful. It almost melts in your mouth. The Instant Pot is the best way to cook beef!
And if you have leftover beef curry, it tastes even better the next day. I even like to make this recipe a day ahead of time for maximum flavor.
Fresh crusty bread is so delicious with the curry, allowing you to soak up all the wonderful curry sauce. That’s what my family likes to do.
More Instant Pot recipes …
- Rendang Curry is popular in Southeast Asia including Indonesia and Malaysia. It’s a delicious and spicy curry with creamy coconut milk, tender meat, and bold spices.
- Thai Massaman Curry is a delicious beef curry with vegetables and creamy coconut milk. The beef is cooked to tender perfection in the Instant Pot!
- Korean Beef is an Instant Pot adaptation of Korean beef bulgogi that tastes amazing with vegetables over rice!
What are Some Tips for Making Indian Beef Curry Stew in the Instant Pot?
Spiciness
A lot of Indian food uses curry powder, or individual spices such as red chili powder, garam masala, coriander, and cumin.
But this curry has simple ingredients and doesn’t rely heavily on Indian spices. I like to add more chile peppers than I normally do in other Indian recipes – it gives it that extra kick of spice which is balanced out by the coconut milk.
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.
Make it more or less spicy by varying the quantity of green chili peppers.
Beef
I use stew meat but you can use any cut of beef that has some fat: beef chuck, chuck roast, bottom roast, or 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.
To save time, you could skip the browning of the beef, but the flavor won’t be the same because you wouldn’t get all that caramelization incorporated into the curry.
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! It’s actually easier to brown the beef in a large non-stick frying pan.
Flavor
I use a secret ingredient in this recipe, and that’s A1 Steak Sauce. My mother-in-law adds A-1 to an Indian beef recipe that I love and it gives it so much flavor and umami. So I had to include it in this recipe!
Vegetables
This recipe uses potatoes and carrots. You can substitute other vegetables with a similar cooking time. If using quick-cooking vegetables, cook them in Sauté mode.
Carrots: I frequently use baby carrots rather than sliced carrots and keep the same pressure cooking time.
Potatoes: I like to use Yukon gold potatoes but any kind will work.
Broth
You can use either beef broth or chicken broth. I generally use chicken broth because that’s what I usually have on hand.
This curry has a lot of liquid because that’s how we like to eat it. 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.
FAQS
This curry has a lot of sauce for those who like to eat it as a stew. Reduce the broth to 1 cup to make it thicker.
Yes, you can double the recipe. Keep the cooking time the same. You can also halve the recipe with no other changes.
Make the recipe spicier by adding more green chili peppers (serrano or jalapeno). To make it less spicy, reduce the quantity or omit the chiles.
You can keep this beef curry in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. It’s important to cool the curry to room temperature before storing it in an airtight container in the fridge.
You can freeze it for 2 to 3 months. To freeze coconut beef curry, allow it to cool to room temperature before transferring it to an airtight container. To reheat the curry, remove it from the freezer and allow it to thaw in the fridge overnight.
Freezing can sometimes affect the texture of the coconut milk in the curry, causing it to separate. You could add a small amount of cornstarch before freezing, which can help prevent separation.
Yes, first prepare the ingredients on the stovetop (sear beef, saute onions) and transfer all ingredients to a slow cooker including the coconut milk. Omit or halve the broth if you want a thicker curry. Slow cook on on high for 4 to 5 hours or on low for 7 to 8 hours.
Yes, this recipe can be made on the stove. More details are in the recipe card.
The beef curry tastes even better the next day, so you can definitely make it ahead of time and refrigerate it.
Pressure Cooker Beef Curry Ingredients
- Broth
- Beef
- Carrots
- Ginger
- Turmeric
- Salt
- Potato
- Onions
- Garlic
- Jalapenos
- Steak sauce
- Pepper
- Cilantro
- Coconut milk
- Oil
How to Make Beef Curry in the Instant Pot (Step by Step Instructions)
- Saute Beef Cubes and Add Onion, Garlic, Ginger
- Deglaze, Add Spices, Broth, and Beef
- Pressure cook and release pressure
- Pressure Cook the Vegetables and Add Coconut Milk
Saute Beef Cubes and Add Onion, Garlic, Ginger
- Put Instant Pot on Saute mode. Once the Instant Pot has pre-heated, add oil and heat until it’s shimmering. Add the beef cubes.
- Working in batches, sear cubed beef pieces until browned on all sides, stirring frequently. *
- Remove beef and set aside. Press Cancel to turn Instant Pot off, to keep the onions from burning in the next step.
- Add onions, garlic, ginger, and jalapenos and mix well.
* This step can be done in a large nonstick frying pan, which is quicker.
Deglaze, Add Spices, Broth, and Beef
- Select Saute again. Add a tablespoon or two of broth and deglaze the inner pot. Saute till the 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 of the pot.
- Season with salt and pepper, turmeric, and A1 steak sauce. Stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. *
- Stir in the remaining broth and make sure there are no brown bits stuck to the bottom of the inner pot. The bottom of the pot should be completely clear.
- Stir in reserved beef pieces.
* If the Instant Pot becomes too hot and the ingredients are burning, turn it off to cool it down and turn it back on once cooled. You don’t want to burn the spices! Again, if the mixture sticks to the bottom of the pot, deglaze by adding a tablespoon of broth and stirring to remove the browned bits.
Pressure Cook and Release the Pressure
- Close the Instant Pot lid.
- Program the Instant Pot to pressure cook on high pressure for 15 minutes.
- The display will go from On to 15:00. The float valve will go up after a few minutes. The display will count down to 00:00.
- Release the pressure using the quick release method. The float valve will go down and the lid can be opened.
You can also do a full natural release or 15-minute natural pressure release where you wait for 15 minutes and then release remaining pressure by moving the steam release valve from Sealing to Venting.
Pressure Cook the Vegetables and Add Coconut Milk
- Stir in the carrots and potatoes. Close the lid again and pressure cook for 3 minutes on high pressure.
- Release the pressure using the quick release method and remove the lid.
- Stir in coconut milk.
- Heat through on Saute mode to thicken the sauce. Stir in chopped cilantro.
Serve as a soup or stew with bread or as a curry with Instant Pot white rice or jasmine rice or naan.
Try My Other Indian Curry Recipes!
How to Make Beef Curry on the Stovetop
- Heat oil in a dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sear cubed beef until browned. Remove beef and set aside.
- Add onions, garlic, ginger, and jalapenos, and cook until fragrant.
- Stir in salt and pepper, turmeric, and A1 steak sauce.
- Stir in the broth and reserved beef.
- Cover the pot and simmer until the beef is tender.
- Add carrots and potatoes and simmer until vegetables are cooked through.
- Add coconut milk and heat through to thicken the sauce. Stir in chopped cilantro.
See the recipe card below for detailed instructions.
Instant Pot Beef Curry Recipe with Coconut Milk
Equipment
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 powder 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
Instant Pot Instructions
- Select the Saute function. 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.
- Select 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 3 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. [Read More: The Different Pressure Release Methods]
- 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.
Stovetop Instructions
- Heat oil in a dutch oven over medium-high heat. Working in batches, sear cubed beef until browned on all sides, stirring frequently. Remove beef and set aside.
- Add onions, garlic, ginger, and jalapenos, and cook until fragrant, about 2 to 3 minutes. Deglaze the pot with some broth as needed.
- Add salt and pepper, turmeric, and A1 steak sauce, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Stir in the broth and reserved beef, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cover the pot. Simmer until the beef is tender, about 1 hour. If the curry becomes too thick, add some extra broth as needed
- Add carrots and potatoes and simmer until vegetables are cooked through,, about 10 to 15 minutes. Add coconut milk and heat through to thicken the sauce. Stir in chopped cilantro.
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.
- ** This curry, as written, has a lot of gravy because that’s the way we like to eat it – as a stew. If you prefer a thicker curry, reduce the quantity of broth.
- Adapted from Chef Asha Gomez in Bon Appetit.
- Please read the blog post for some useful tips.
Nutrition
Thank you for visiting Paint the Kitchen Red. All photos and content are copyright protected. Please don’t use any content without prior written permission. If you’ve made this recipe and would like to share it with your friends, please link back to this recipe. Thank you!
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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More Beef Recipes
Instant Pot Beef Rendang
Thai Instant Pot Massaman Curry with Beef
Instant Pot Korean Beef
Stephanie
This was delicious and the whole family (kids 10 & 8 loved too)! We did not have A1 sauce so I left that out and the flavor was still so delicious!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Stephanie, this is a special recipe because it comes from Kerala, where I’m from. So I’m always thrilled when I hear that people like the recipe!
Abd
I wanted to try my Instant Pot which I got for Christmas and found this recipe online. It’s definitely a keeper! The whole family loved it! The only thing I would probably do the next time I make it is to slightly cut down the amount of broth. Thank you so much for such an amazing, delicious, & easy to follow recipe!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thank you so much for taking the time to comment. I’m glad you had a good experience with your new Instant Pot!
Mark Formby
Quick tasty what’s not to like.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thank you, Mark!
Lauren C
Made this last night with some substitutions and it turned out amazing! I bet it would be even more so with the right ingredients! We purposely substituted the beef for venison (because we have plenty on hand and I wanted a new way of cooking it besides the typical country roast or steak smothered in gravy. We didn’t have ginger so i used half nutmeg and half allspice. We also didn’t have turmeric but had curry powder. Will definitely make again & share with friends!
Paint the Kitchen Red
That’s fantastic, Lauren. Curry powder is a good substitution because it does have turmeric and more Indian spices. The beauty of this recipe is that even with a few simple spices like turmeric and black pepper, the taste is so good! Thank you for taking a moment to comment – much appreciated!
John R Fernando
Most of your recipe’s are simple and easy to cook. Thank you. Thank you also for posting useful tips.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Aww, thank you so much John! I’m very happy to hear that because I always wonder about the amount of detail I put in the recipes 🙂
Jan
I made this tonight. I also added a tablespoon of guaram marsala. This was so tasty. Will definitely be making it again. Thank you so much for the recipe. Fyi, I usually do enjoy your recipes. I’ve made a few others, & they were delicious also.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Jan, thank you for your comment – I’m so glad you liked one of our favorite recipes 🙂
Jules Julian
Could I use baby yellow potatoes?
Paint the Kitchen Red
Jules, yes you absolutely can. Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Randy POLACSEK
Thanks so much for the separation of the meat and veggies, new to me. Will let you know., i am Adding Garam Masala 2 tsp, 1 cup yogurt, 2 xtra tsp ginger Iuv it, and a can of diced tomatoes with the potatoes and carrots. Cross your fingers
Paint the Kitchen Red
Randy – hope it turned out well 🙂
Matthew
Hi Neena,
In step 1, when i try to brown the beef, a whole bunch of water got released. What would you recommend? Thanks!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Mathew, that can happen sometimes, especially if the meat has been previously frozen. In the future, you can saute in batches making sure not to overcrowd the pan. You can also do this in a frying pan on the stove. But in the case of the water already having been released, I would remove the beef using a slotted spoon and saute the liquid till it evaporates (should be quick), then add the beef back in and continue as usual. Hope you like the recipe – one of my faves!
Matthew
Came out great. Thanks, Neena!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Mathew, I’m so glad to hear it. Love this recipe especially in winter 🙂
Catherine
Thank you for sharing. My husband I really enjoyed this beef curry. Think I include the seeds from the jalapeno pepper to add some more spicy heat to the dish.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Catherine, glad to hear you like one of my favorite recipes. My husband also likes it spicy 🙂
TimeParadogs
Really good recipe. Everything was cooked perfectly and the flavor was quite nice, especially considering how simple it was. I ended up using a cup of broth which I reduced a bit and thickened with corn starch, and it went perfectly with rice. I’d recommend adding cayenne; the one jalapeno I used didn’t add nearly enough spiciness.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thanks so much for your comment. This is one of my family’s all-time favorite recipes! Here’s a tip: use serrano chiles. They’re so much more consistent in their heat content (in my experience). Cayenne works too 🙂
John
Not sure…it’s pretty standard but I forget the brand. But I’ll decrease the broth. Thanks!
KS
I used white turmeric because it is all that I had. I added some flour mixed in some cold water at the end and cooked for an extra minute to thicken it up. You have to do it in the saute mode because otherwise it will gunk up your lid.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thank you KS! I’m embarrassed to admit I don’t even know what white turmeric is! I needed to look it up 🙂
John
Do you recommend adding corn starch to thicken it a bit? I’m finding it not very thick even after reducing some of the liquid
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi John – what kind of coconut milk did you use? Some brands and also light coconut milk can be quite watery. Also, sometimes beef can give off liquid e.g. if it’s been frozen. Yes, you could thicken with some cornstarch if you needed to. Next time, I would decrease the quantity of broth to 1 1/2 cups.
Aaron
Hi, do you think this recipe will fit in a 3-quart Instant Pot?
Paint the Kitchen Red
Aaron, as long as you don’t go over the 2/3 full mark, you should be okay. I think it will fit. Hope you like the recipe – it’s one of my family’s favorites.
Mary
Wow! Great taste! I didn’t have jalapeño so used a chipotle in adobo sauce (just one!). Gave it great heat.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi Mary, thanks for trying out the recipe. It’s one of our absolute favorites!
Roger senior
Very good
Emily
Delicious curry. The kids loved it.
Paint the Kitchen Red
It is such a comforting curry – I’m glad your family enjoyed it.
Joyce
A1 sauce! :O this must add another dimension of spices and flavours! This is so cool! Such a comforting dish, I love your step by steps! 🙂
Paint the Kitchen Red
I said that the secret ingredient is coconut milk, but maybe it should be the A1. My mother-in-law gave me this trick!
Romain
What a fascination fusion of styles. I have never been able to meld Indian with any other cuisine but you have taken a traditional beef stew and put an Indian twist on it with the ginger, chili, turmeric and coconut milk. Bravo. Oh, and I would never skip the browning step personally. You would lose too much flavour. Maillard reaction rules!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thanks Romain! I hope you get to try it out.