Instant Pot Beef Stew with Sweet Potatoes

My first post back on the blog world, and of course it would be a hearty healthy stew! Now I can't take the credit for creating this recipe, this comes from the Fixate Collection of Recipes from Beachbody. But I did make some adjustments I want to share with you! 

The original recipe is for the stovetop and simmers for hours, but if you know me I'm impatient at times and well... It was a rainy day here in Yuma which happens like 5 times a year and I wanted stew! So I planned this with 2 hours til dinner time and I still had to get all the ingredients...haha! So Instant pot was my go to, and my oh my was it perfect!!

I could give you some lengthy diatribe about this recipe, but I'm not going to. As I have stopped blogging these last few years, and started browsing more, I tend to skip and go straight to the recipe these days, so if you are like me and you just want to get to the point, well friend this is for you!! Enjoy!

Serving Size is 2 cups.

Portion Fix breakdown: 1 Green, 1/2 Yellow, 1 1/2 Red

Ingredients:

1 Tbs. olive oil
1 lb. 10 oz. raw lean beef stew meat
1 cup onion chopped
1 1/2 cups carrot, sliced (I used frozen sliced carrots)
1 cup celery stalks chopped
4 cloves garlic finely chopped
8 cups low sodium beef broth
1/2 cup red wine (I used a cooking wine)
1/4 tsp sea salt or Himalayan salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground paprika
3 bay leaves 
1 15oz. can diced tomatoes no salt
2.5 cups of frozen or fresh diced sweet potato

2.5 cups of frozen or fresh diced butternut squash
2 Tbs. cornstarch
lukewarm water

Directions:

• Turn your Instant pot on to Saute mode, I set mine for 30 minutes and it was perfect! 
• Pour in the olive oil, and once warm add in your beef. Let that cook about 5-10 minutes until browned. 
• While this is cooking dice up your veggies, I put mine directly into a measuring cup to be sure I got the right amount. 
• Once the beef is done cooking, place on a plate with paper towel to drain off the grease. Add  your onion, celery and carrot to the pot and let saute for 3-5 minutes, until the onion starts to become translucent and the veggies soften. 
• Then add in garlic and cook another minute. 
• Add in the wine, and use a spoon to deglaze the pan, scraping up all the little bits, allow this to cook for 5-8 minutes til the mixture thickens and the wine cooks out. 
• Next add in your seasonings, tomatoes and 1 cup of broth. Let that simmer for a few minutes. 
• Turn off the instant pot and add back in the beef, the remaining 7 cups of broth, and the sweet potatoes and squash. 
• Once your lid is on and sealed cook on high pressure for 35 minutes (I used the soup/stew option on on pot, but normal high pressure should work just the same.) 
• Once done manually release the pressure and mix the cornstarch with equal parts water, and pour into the pot so the stew will be nice and thick. You can turn saute mode back on for just a couple of minutes to let it simmer and thicken. Serve warm!

I hope you all enjoy this delicious stew as much as my whole family did! I loved how easy it was and the instant pot did all the hard work for me! Be on the lookout for the Portion Fix Approved Cornbread coming soon!!