Beef Bourguignon in Instant Pot (Julia Child Recipe)

Prep Time

0H15mins

Cook Time

01H10mins

Total Time

01H25mins

Certainly, adapting Beef Bourguignon recipe from Julia Child’s book Mastering the Art of French Cooking is an exciting culinary adventure. Here is an updated and revised version of Beef Bourguignon Instant pot recipe. We tried it in all possible ways and honestly we loved Pressure Cooker adaptation better than the Slow Cooker, Stove Top and Traditional Method.

There are many reasons for giving an award to the Beef Bourguignon Instant pot recipe. I will mention just a few.

Obviously it is much faster (at least 3 times) than making the same Beef Bourguignon by using any other method. There are always fans of the slow cooker version but… I wouldn’t even think of making it in a slow cooker unless you really want to surprise your family in the morning after Christmas night.

Here are some tips for you to make this multi-step recipe as delicious as possible.

The main secret for making juicy and tender Beef Bourguignon is to use brisket as it has some fat.

We used a Pinot Noir rather than a Burgundy. It is obvious that the rest of the bottle of my excellent Pinot Noir won’t go to waste.

Lastly, you might be missing a couple of ingredients as the classic version beef bourguignon Julia Child recipe has no bacon, no carrots and no large onion.

Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
3 lbs (1 1/2 kg) beef brisket, trimmed of fat (chuck steak or stewing beef) cut into 2-inch chunks
6 cloves garlic, minced (divided)
1 tsp salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tbsp flour
12 small pearl onions
3 cups red wine like Pinot Noir, Merlot, or a Chianti — for a milder sauce, use only 2 cups of wine
1 cups beef stock
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp fresh thyme, finely chopped
2 bay leaves
1 lb fresh small white or brown mushrooms
4 tbsp butter (2 for making the sauce, 2 for frying mushrooms)

Equipment

Instant Pot DUO80 8 Qt 7-in-1 Multi- Use Programmable Pressure Cooker, Slow Cooker, Rice Cooker, Steamer, Sauté, Yogurt Maker and Warmer

Above all, make your choice based on the budget, number of family members, kitchen size and other relevant considerations.

For example, here is a quick tip to consider when selecting the size of Instant Pot:

3Qt size – good for 2 people
6Qt size – good for 3-4 people
8Qt size – good for 5-6 people

Nonstick skillet

Instructions

Rinse the beef and dry it off with the paper towels.
Set Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker to Sauté function. Pour olive oil into the Instant Pot. Sear the beef in batches until browned on all sides.
Add red wine to the Instant Pot. As it is the Beef from Burgundy it is better to use red Burgundy, a wine made from Pinot Noir grapes. The red wine will help you de-glaze the bottom. Julia Child calls the glaze as Treasure of cooking.
Add beef stock. It should be barely covering the meat. Add tomato paste, season with thyme, bay leaves, minced garlic and salt.
Cancel “Sauté” program. Close the lid, turn the steam release handle to “sealing” position. Select (Pressure cook) program, set the “Pressure Indicator” to “High Pressure” and then manually adjust time to 40 minutes. Set the “Keep Warm” button off.
While the beef is in Instant Pot, let’s prepare our buttered mushrooms. Rinse the mushrooms thoroughly. Heat the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add in the mushrooms. Cook for about 6 minutes, while mixing the mushrooms occasionally to coat with the butter. Don’t overload the pan and remember that properly sauteed mushrooms shouldn’t have any juice. Set aside.
When time is up, open the lid by using quick release i.e. turn the steam release handle to “venting” position. Open the lid and add the pearl onion and buttered mushrooms. Mix it well and close the lid. Turn the steam release handle to “sealing” position. Select (Pressure cook) program, set the “Pressure Indicator” to “High Pressure” and then manually adjust time to 5 minutes. Set the “Keep Warm” button off.
When time is up, open the lid by using quick release.
Open the lid, cancel “Pressure Program” and Select “Saute” Program and setup time to 5 minutes. Mix room temperature butter with flour. You can mash it with a fork or a spoon. Add into Instant Pot and mix it well. Stir it occasionally.
Remove the bay leaves.
Add ground black pepper and salt (if needed).

Nutrition Facts Disclaimer

(Nutrition Facts provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.)

Other Pressure Cooker Recipes

Certainly, once you go through the process a couple of times you will make your own twists to the Beef Bourguignon Julia Child recipe. You might stick to the Beef Bourguignon Instant pot recipe or switch to Slow Cooker or Oven version. As I mentioned before, we tried all of them and found than among all Beef Bourguignon recipes the Instant pot is the fastest and most reasonable for busy families. You can check our website for other delicious meat recipes:

How to make Beef Stew

Finally, stay tuned as the list of our simple step by step recipes is updated frequently. In addition, we focus on the healthy recipes only. For example, the pressure cooker recipes and ideas become more and more popular. No doubt, this exactly matches our strategy as well as our promise to our customers is “Best recipes for busy families”.

Certainly, all the best recipes for busy families have been thoroughly tested by us. By the way, we only recommend recipes and kitchen appliances that we use and like. In conclusion, take a look at our unbiased review of Instant Pot. After that, enjoy your instapot recipes.