Instant Pot Korean Beef
by Chungah
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The BEST and easiest Korean beef with 10 min prep or less! And the meat comes out amazingly juicy, flavorful and melt-in-your-mouth tender!
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reasons to make korean beef in the instant pot
- Quick prep. All you need is 10 min of prep time. There’s no searing, no sautéing, no nothing, perfect for those super busy weeknights between soccer pick up and homework!
- Tender beef. Thanks to the Instant Pot®, the beef comes out so tender and juicy, simply melt-in-your-mouth perfection, infusing the meat with so much flavor (as if it’s been simmering for hours on end!).
- The sauce. The sauce is simply the best part about this recipe, the quintessential balance of sweet and savory. Serve it over rice, serve it over noodles, serve it over all the things.
- Freezer-friendly. Instant Pot Korean beef freezes and reheats like a dream, great to have in your back pocket for weeknight meals, lazy weekends, or for a friend recovering from surgery.
tips and tricks for success
- Use reduced sodium soy sauce. Reduced sodium has less sodium and less salt without compromising flavor.
- Add vegetables. Mushrooms, carrots, bell peppers or snow peas can be added for a more heartier meal.
- Add some heat. For a spicy kick, add gochujang (Korean red chili paste), contributing a slightly savory, spicy, sweet taste to the dish.
- Make a cornstarch slurry. Adding cornstarch directly into the pressure cooker can cause lumps. Always use a mixture of cornstarch and cold liquid (aka cornstarch slurry) to thicken the sauce, yielding a smoother, gravy-like consistency.
- More protein. In need of more protein? Top your Korean beef bowls with a fried egg.
- Serve with your favorite grains. White rice, brown rice, cauliflower rice, quinoa or farro are all great options.
- Freeze as needed. Korean beef freezes like a dream! Label, date and freeze up to 2 months, great for meal prep and making weeknight (and weekend) meals even easier and quicker.
freezing and storing korean beef
Storage
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
Reheating
Let the meat sit at room temperature for 10-15 minutes. Reheat over low heat, stirring frequently, until heated through.
Freeze after cooking
Let cool completely. Transfer the meat into individual servings in plastic freezer bags. Label, date and freeze up to 2 months. To reheat, thaw overnight in the fridge, reheating over low heat, stirring frequently, until heated through.
more favorited korean recipes
Tools For This Recipe
6-qt Instant Pot®
Instant Pot Korean Beef: Frequently Asked Questions
Black pepper can be substituted but because black pepper has a stronger, spicier flavor than white pepper, start with a smaller amount and adding more, to taste.
Gochujang is a red chili paste, a pantry staple in Korean cooking. It can be found in most grocery stores in a red, rectangular tub.
A cornstarch slurry is a mixture of cornstarch and cold liquid (such as water or stock) used as a thickening agent. To avoid over thickening, always add the cornstarch slurry towards the end of cooking time.
Korean beef can be served over a bed of white rice (or your favorite grains) with a side of kimchi, cucumbers, perilla leaves and ssamjang.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
Yes! Let cool completely; portion into plastic freezer bags in individual servings, squeezing out any excess air before sealing. To reheat, thaw overnight in the fridge, reheating over low heat, stirring occasionally, until heated through.
100%! This is one of our favorite crockpot recipes, perfect for those chilly months.
Instant Pot Korean Beef
Video
Ingredients
- ½ cup beef broth
- ⅓ cup reduced sodium soy sauce
- ⅓ cup brown sugar, packed
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha, or more, to taste
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon white pepper
- 3 pounds boneless beef chuck roast, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together beef broth, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, ginger, Sriracha, onion powder and white pepper.
- Place chuck roast into a 6-qt Instant Pot®. Stir in beef broth mixture until well combined.
- Select manual setting; adjust pressure to high, and set time for 15 minutes. When finished cooking, quick-release pressure according to manufacturer’s directions.
- In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and 3 tablespoons water; set aside.
- Select high sauté setting. Stir in cornstarch mixture and cook, stirring frequently, until the sauce has thickened, about 2-3 minutes.
- Serve immediately, garnished with green onions and sesame seeds, if desired.
Equipment
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Beyond delicious!! The flavors are intense and the tender meat is beautifully enveloped in the sauce that thickened perfectly!!! My family and I loved it and it’s definitely one of my new fave dishes. Followed the recipe exactly and got perfect results!! So happy! Thank you!
We love that!
Made this last week and the beef came out SUPER tough.. not sure what happened. Made it exactly as you described. The flavor was great but the meat was hard to eat.
Sometimes it depends on the cut of meat you got. So sorry it didn’t turn out quite right!
We loved it! This was my first Instant Pot recipe–thank you for making it so successful. A few notes: I have the Lux model and as someone else noted, there’s no way to adjust the Manual setting to High. So I followed that person’s suggestion and used the Meat/Stew function on High. I cooked for 20 min, and then cooked on Saute for probably 5 min. Most of the meat was perfect, but some was still a little chewy. I blame the meat itself: there were some parts that were less marbled than others. Overall, it was a hit. I think the total cook time was probably closer to 40-45 min, at least for me.
Good to know! I have the 8 qt. lux model with this recipe going now and have 5 minutes left of 15. Yikes! Thankfully, I was able to set the pot to go another 6 minutes after the first program completed. The beef used did not have very much marbling in it, so a little extra time seemed prudent. From everyone’s comments I am really looking forward to sharing this with my family!
I gave this to my wife to try for dinner! Amazing! We will have to experiment with some broccoli or carrots next time.
5 star
I haven’t taken my instant pot out of the box yet (Christmas gift) but bought all the ingredients to make this as my first recipe. I’m reading a lot of comments on a blog I’m on that say never do quick release with meat dishes. It says it toughens the meat. Can you please clarify I should (or should not) quick release with this recipe? I really want my first recipe to be a success. Thank you!!
I recommend quick-releasing as directed in the recipe. 🙂
I just bought an 8 qt IP Ultra. How do I adjust your 6 qt IP recipe? I read that some modifications are needed when using a 6 qt recipe with an 8 qt IP. Thanks in advance. Can’t wait to cook your dish. 🙂
When using an 8qt Instant Pot, the timing should stay relatively the same. It would just take a little longer for it to come to pressure. But as always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications.
Made this tonight. WOW. I doubled the sauce and added the extra at the end to thicken…..my kids love sauce. Since I doubled the sauce, next time, I’ll back off of the ginger when I do double it. My family LOVED this, and it’ll be a regular in my monthly meal plan. SUPER EASY….AND I MEAN EASY.
Wow, just wow this dish was perfect!!
Amazing and tender. So easy.
I have an instapot that seems to be different from others. I can’t program it as easy for time. So put it in for Pressure Cook and put my timer on to make sure numbers would show up, then put my timer for 30 min. (which ended up coinciding with the timer on the instapot). Used the “browning” function to heat up for the slurry.
It worked wonderfully for 30 min done to perfection.
Thank you for your feedback!
I am a food prepper, so I spend a few evenings a week or a half day on Saturdays making food in quantity and then freezing for quick weekday meals. Does this recipe freeze and reheat well? Thanks so much!
Unfortunately, we cannot answer this with certainty as we have never tried freezing this ourselves. Please use your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
I don’t know for sure but my rule of thumb is that I do freeze meats as long as there’s enough liquid surrounding the meat. For items with milk products, I add after it’s defrosted and I’m finishing it off.
One if my first recipes with my instant pot. Amazing flavor and so easy to make!!
Yay! So happy to hear it!
Wow, what a fantastic recipe! I made this for dinner tonight and it was Soo good! Probably #2 on my list of most delicious instant pot dinners! I didn’t have rice wine vinegar so I used half a tablespoon of rice vinegar and half of white wine vinegar, I also accidently put a tablespoon of siracha. It tasted amazing and the meat was perfectly cooked! Thanks so much for posting what is sure to be a bi-monthly staple!
Thank you for your feedback, Eve!
Made this tonight and I’m sad to say it was awful. It totally overcooked the beef and the flavor was bleh. We stopped eating and threw everything out. The mixture smelt really good before cooking, but once cooked it was terrible.
So sorry it didn’t turn out for you! 🙁
Perhaps you forgot to use the instant release? Not sure why it didn’t turn out for you, it was fantastic when I made it!
Tender but bland. All my amounts were exact, I even verified afterwards, but there was just no Korean flavor, or not even a hint of Asian. Not sure how that’s even possible. It made plenty of sauce, and instructions were easy to follow.
I made this tonight for the family and it was
Crazy delicious! My 8 year old had 2 helpings!
This was awesome! All 6 of us loved it (4 kids). The only thing I did different was added some mushrooms at the end. Will definitely make again!
Love that!
I had to give mine an extra 7 minutes of cooking time until it was tender enough (the chuck roast I used seemed to have a lot of “stuff” running through it), but once I did it was a hit with my family. Easy and delicious. Definitely a make-again!
Love your recipes Chungah (that crockpot creamed corn is a staple on our Thanksgiving table!), looking forward to seeing more for the IP.
I made this Whole 30 compliant by using pineapple juice in place of the beef broth, leaving out the brown sugar, and using coconut aminos in place of the soy sauce. It was delicious!
This looks yum I will be trying this week. One question .. i’m a sucker for these bowls – could you share where you got them – love them!
CB2! 🙂