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
Did you make this recipe?
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Came out perfectly, I’ll be making this again!
Made this last night…SUPER tender…so many flavors (will kick up the heat level next time)….all of the Chungah recipes have been awesome!
Amazing, taste is inverse to effort needed to make this, great taste / little effort! we wear out our Instapot making this great recipe. Make it you will be happy and full. p.s. we make phase 1 of recipe, take out the meat and make Instapot rice, remove rice and then put the meat back in for the final step of sautés.
Great flavour but agree with other reviewers that the beef was way over cooked! I think the cooking times need to be reduced quite a bit, might try this again and see!
This recipe every time is hands down a winner! I use Wegmans brand already sliced for stir fry sirloin beef. The meat practically melts in your mouth. Thanks for sharing your delicious recipes!
It was so yummy…had to skip the sriracha, but still oh so good. Thank you for sharing
I would classify this as beef stew (maybe Asian inspired, but definitely not Korean beef.) It did have a good flavor, but there was way too much liquid even after the cornstarch. We used some of it to stir fry carrots and green beans. My husband is Korean, so after looking at the reviews,I was excited to try. After he ate it, he had the same opinion. Good flavor for a beef stew, but not Korean beef. His suggestion was to add more sesame oil and onions (we also used gochujang, and Korean chili paste inteas of sriracha.)
Not good. I was surprised in that the meat didn’t have to be seared first but followed the recipe to the letter, with the exception of adding mushrooms (I love me some mushers).
The meat was quite chewy, NOT tender as suggested. The dish tasted almost more of a stew opposed to Korean beef.
I was both surprised and disappointed bc I usually LOVE alllll of Damn Delicious’ recipes. Probably won’t make it again, but if I do, next time I’ll sear first and try without the mushrooms. ☹️
I’ve made this twice now. The first time it was delicious. The meat came out tender and very flavorful. The 2nd time it was completely different, the meat was hard and chewy and the “sauce” came out more like a soupy stew. Have no idea what I did different! 🙁
Delicious. Only thing I changed was letting the instapot naturally release for a few minutes. Meat was so tender, but I did cut chuck roast to 1 inch cubes and trimmed as much fat off as possible. Great with white rice and brocolli.
I haven’t tried this yet but your other recipes have been wonderful so I have high hopes. I wanted to thank you for making sure that your recipes fit on one printed page.
The cooking time is just wrong for this dish. I made it and the meat ended up being SO TOUGH. It ruined a perfectly good chuck roast. I made it again but this time, I cooked it for 45 minutes, and it came out perfectly. You should edit this. Did anybody else have this experience?
Wow, 45 minutes in the Instant Pot? That’s a very long time – almost as long as you would need for a pot roast! Did you cut the 3 pounds of boneless beef chuck roast into 1-inch cubes?
Nutrition information for your recipes would be extremely helpful!
Hi Denise! Nutritional information is provided only for select recipes at this time. However, if it is not available for a specific recipe, we recommend using free online resources at your discretion (you can Google “nutritional calculator”). Hope that helps!
I have made your recipe a number of times and it is always a hit and super easy. So many bloggers just don’t get their flavour profiles right but yours is bang on. Thanks!
Thank you for such a sweet compliment!
I made this dish a few weeks ago and I haven’t stopped thinking about it. Definitely Damn Delicious!!! Making it again tonight and may add some sautéd onions and mushrooms at the end. I’ve also shared this recipe with friends. We all agree!! It’s soooooo good!!!!!! Thanks for bringing this deliciousness into our lives!!
Huge hit in the house tonight! Made this with beef for my husband and sons. Made it with veggie broth and tofu cubes for me! Everyone was happy!
Hi! Love your site. I was wondering if you know if I this would turn out if I used frozen meat? I often buy when it’s on sale and cube it and freeze it. Another question I gues would be if you think it would work to make this into a freezer meal by mixing everything and freezing it in a ziplock and tossing it in the pot??
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. But if you get a chance to try it, please let me know how it turns out! 🙂
I really love this recipe because it quick and delicious. I did make some adjustments to make it a bit lighter. I use about 2lbs beef and add 2lbs frozen stir fry veggies (thawed) after adding the cornstarch flurry. I always serve it with plain white rice and it’s fantastic. My husband can’t get enough. I highly recommend you try it!
I doubled the recipe, used stew meat so it was already chopped, used the same times as the recipe calls for and it was AMAZING!!!!
Simple to make yet so delicious. Thank you for this recipe!!
I just found this but I have been using your stovetop beef bowl recipe on cubed beef in IP and it’s a favorite. Just doubling the sauce!! Thanks for recipes that don’t disappoint.
Made this for the first time last night. It was good. Based on other reviews, I pressure cooked for 20 minutes and did a natural release, not manual. This increased the cook time by 15-20 minutes. The beef was very tender, but my family thought the sauce tasted too much like beef broth and not enough other flavors. If I make this again, I’ll up the spices.