Weeknight quick comfort food: Instant Pot Korean Beef

Gochujang, a Korean fermented pepper paste, and a host of pan-Asian ingredients create a comforting beefy antidote for winter dinner blahs. Recipe below.

WE SOMETIMES REFER TO OUR APPROACH IN THE KITCHEN as cooking with a magpie eye. Like those inquisitive, acquisitive birds, we’re always looking for shiny new objects. For us, that can mean new-to-us ingredients, techniques, ideas. So when we recently came across recipes for Korean beef, we already had most of the ingredients on hand—and some sense of what they could do together.

When we started exploring recipes, whether for the Instant Pot or slow cooker, many ingredients were givens—garlic, onion (green, yellow or both), soy sauce, ginger, beef broth, brown sugar, sesame seeds, rice vinegar… Surprisingly, gochujang was not. This fermented pepper paste is a Korean staple. The peppery, funky flavor and mild bit of heat it adds made this dish for us.

For the beef, you can use stew meat already cut up, or chuck roast. The pressurized cooking of the Instant Pot nicely tenderizes these flavorful cuts. We’re also beginning to see that the Instant Pot tends to mellow flavors considerably. So go big with the aromatics; you’ll still end up with a complex, flavorful dish when you do.

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Instant Pot Korean Beef

The Korean fermented pepper paste, Gochujang, and a host of pan-Asian ingredients create a comforting beefy antidote for winter dinner blahs.

Cuisine Korean

Servings 4

Equipment

• Instant Pot

Ingredients

• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 3 large cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger (see Kitchen Notes)
• 1/2 cup reduced-sodium beef broth
• 1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1-1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 4 teaspoons gochujang (see Kitchen Notes)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 pounds beef stew or chuck roast cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• white sesame seeds, for garnish
• green parts of green onions, for garnish
• cooked white rice

Instructions

• Put onion, garlic, ginger, beef broth, soy sauce, sesame oil rice vinegar, gochujang, brown sugar and black pepper into the inner pot of the Instant Pot and stir to combine.
• Add beef to pot and stir to completely coat meat with sauce. Close Instant Pot, being sure to set the valve to seal. Set for high pressure cooking for 35 minutes.
• When the pressurized cooking is done, let the pot naturally depressurize for about 15 minutes. Start cooking your rice at this point.
• Mix the cornstarch with 3 tablespoons cold water, stirring until it is completely dissolved. Carefully turn the sealing valve on the lid to vent, to release any remaining pressure. Set the Instant Pot to sauté. Add 3 or 4 spoonsful of the cooking liquid to the cornstarch mixture, one spoonful at a time. This will gradually warm it and keep it from clumping up in the pot. Stir the warmed cornstarch liquid into the pot and let it cook 1 to 2 minutes, stirring frequently, until liquid slightly thickens into a sauce.
• Serve the cooked beef in shallow bowls alongside rice. Be sure to spoon some sauce over the meat and the rice. Top with sesame seeds and green onions and serve immediately.

Kitchen Notes

Fresh ginger in a tube? As we said in last week's recipe, since we don't always keep fresh ginger root on hand, we've been really taken with fresh ginger stir-in paste. It's essentially finely minced ginger in a squeezable tube. It measures the same as minced ginger and stays fresh for weeks after opening. The brand we're currently using is Gourmet Garden.

Gochujang substitute? First, you really should try to find it. It's more and more available these days; Target even has their own Good & Gather store brand of it. And bonus, you can also use it to make Gochujang Chicken and Cauliflower. If you can't find it, substitute sriracha or a 1/2 teaspoon or more of crushed red pepper flakes.