Homemade Beef Stew in the Ninja Foodi (2024)

Ready to make the PERFECT Beef Stew in your Ninja Foodi under pressure? Worried about getting the "water" notice? Don't be!

I've found a fool-proof method to make the most delicious beef stew in no time at all, right in the Ninja Foodi! This recipe requires very little prep work, is ready in under an hour, and is the BEST beef stew I've ever tasted! I bet you will love it, too!

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Making thick stews in a pressure cooker can be nerve racking. In fact, I had to think long and hard to develop a recipe where the meat is tender, the veggies cooked perfectly, the base of the stew is thick and luxurious, AND no "Water" notice!

They are tricky for sure! Anytime we want to pressure cook, we have to use a thin liquid and maintain a thin enough liquid not to trigger the "water" or "burn" notice. I'll get into that a little later, for now, just know that YOU can make this recipe with great success! I promise. It's easy, and I'm going to walk you through it.

A quick hack for making Beef Stew

Use leftover pot roast! There is nothing easier than using your leftover pot roast with veggies to make an easy & tasty beef stew. I used to do this all the time when I owned an Assisted Living Facility. The residents would enjoy their pot roast dinner and 2 days later, they would enjoy their beef stew for lunch!

All you have to do is cut up the beef and veggies into bite size pieces, add to the inner pot of the Ninja Foodi. Pour in your leftover gravy and add some beef stock until it is your desired consistency. Use the sear/saute on medium if you are using your Ninja Foodi and warm. Check your seasonings and add more if needed.

Serve and Enjoy!

This is exactly what I had planned for the pot roast I made a few weeks ago. The problem is, there weren't any leftovers! That is so unusual for us, it's just Jeff and me here... but this pot roast was so good, it was gone before I could make beef stew!

If you haven't tried my pot roast recipe, I really hope you will! Here is where you can find it:

You may end up like me and not have leftovers to make beef stew from, no worries, it takes a little longer, but it's delicious made from scratch too!

What cut of meat should I use for Beef Stew?

There are several cuts of meat you can use for beef stew, my favorite is the chuck roast. This cut comes from the shoulder of the cow and benefits from a wet cooking environment like we have in the Ninja Foodi under pressure. It's the same cut of meat that I recommend in my Pot Roast Recipe, too.

You can also use a round roast which is a cut from the rear of the cow. While, this cut works fine, I don't think it has as much flavor as a chuck roast. It tends to be a little drier as well.

You can also use oxtail or short ribs, but either of these will result in a VERY rich stew and they are pretty pricey, too! Personally, I'd save those two cuts for other recipes and pick up chuck roast for this one.

Most grocery stores carry, what they call, stew meat. This isn't always one particular cut and at times it can be a combination of several. You can certainly use it, but check the price per pound, you might find that chuck roast is less expensive. Don't worry, cutting it up yourself is easy!

Can I use Beef Stew packets to make this recipe?

I really suggest you don't. Most of the seasoning packets are full of thickeners, like corn starch and xanthan gum. They actually have very few seasonings and a lot of stuff you really don't need in a beef stew. For a list of ingredients in a popular seasoning packet, click here: McCormick's Beef Stew Seasoning Mix.

When you add these types of packets at the beginning of pressure cooking, there is a good chance you will get the water notice. This happens because the liquid gets too thick too fast and cannot produce the steam needed to maintain the pressure. The thicker liquid tends to stick to the bottom of the inner pot and burn. So, even if you don't get the water notice, you might find that your stew has burned on the bottom.

I wrote a pretty in depth article on pressure cooking that goes into more detail about the types of liquids you should use, if you want to read it, you can find it here: Pressure Cooking 101

I know people love to use these packets and I'm not knocking them...but, it is so easy to make this recipe without one, I hope you will give it a try!

Why do we need thin liquid to pressure cook?

I mentioned earlier that we need a thin liquid to come to pressure. This is where I see a lot of mistakes being made that result in the water notice or burned sauces. This happens because the sauce or liquid used as the main liquid in the pot is too thick.

When liquids are too thick to produce the steam needed to build pressure, the water notice can be triggered and/or burn the food or sauce on the bottom.

Some liquids that are often too thick for pressure cooking

• Tomato sauce
• Gravies
• Cream soups
• Cream based sauces

Steam is essential for pressure cooking and thicker liquids inhibit the steam from being released. I go into more detail in this article: Pressure Cooking 101

How can I switch ingredients in this Beef Stew?

I realize that everyone doesn't always like the same ingredients in their beef stew, so here are few suggestions for changing the recipe to better suit you.

• Red Wine: If you don't like wine, just skip it and use all beef stock.
• Mushrooms: These are totally optional, so just leave them out if you want and you don't need to make any changes.
• Potatoes: If you want to cut down on the carbs a bit, consider using rutabaga chunks instead of potatoes. Rutabaga takes a little longer to cook, so I would either make your chunks ¼"-½" in size or put them in with the beef and pressure cook the entire time. I have not tested this recipe with rutabaga, so I cannot guarantee the outcome.
• Tomatoes: If you like tomatoes in your beef stew, you can certainly add them in. If you usually use a thick tomato sauce, I would add that in during the 2 minute pressure cook with the veggies. Diced tomatoes can be added with the beef and pressure cooked the entire time.

I'm sure there are more that I can't think of, and I'd love it if you leave me a comment and let me know what I forgot!

Can I make this recipe using the Ninja Foodi Slow Cooker function?

Yes, absolutely! I happen to love the slow cook function on the Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooker & Air Crisper. Since you don't have to worry about thick liquids when slow cooking, I would make sure the beef is well coated with the flour mixture and brown it up. Then add the remaining ingredients and slow cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4-6 hours.

If your beef stew is not thick enough, use the same technique as in the pressure cooked version to thicken it at the end.

How to make Beef Stew in the Ninja Foodi (Pressure Cooking)

The first thing you want to do is combine the flour, salt, thyme, and pepper into a medium size container with a lid or bag.

*the thyme I used is dried thyme leaves, if you have ground thyme, only use ¼ teaspoon

Then cut your meat into about 1-1½" cubes. If you bought the prepackaged stew meat, cut them down to size so they cook evenly and completely in the 20 minutes of pressure cooking time. Dredge about ½ of the meat in the flour mixture. I like to use a plastic container with a lid and I just shake it, but a bag works fine too.

Add the olive oil to the inner pot of the Ninja Foodi and turn the sear/saute on high. When the oil is very hot, add the floured and unfloured beef cubes and let them sit for 3-5 minutes to brown, then flip a couple of times to brown the other sides. This takes about 10 minutes.

Cut one onion into large chunks. Reserve the other 1-2 onions for later. Add one onion to the pot and then deglaze with the one cup of wine. Scrape the bottom of the inner pot with a non-stick-safe utensil. The tool I find the most helpful for this is my (affiliate link)Scoop & Spread from Pampered Chef. This tool has two ends to it, and the end with the serrated edge is a little stiffer and does a great job of scraping of those brown bits (fond) from the bottom without scratching your pot.

You want to cook the wine for a minute or two to burn off the alcohol. The wine will thicken, don't worry we take care of that in the next step.

Add in 2 cups of the beef broth (reserve ½ cup for later) and the Worcestershire sauce to the inner pot. Stir well. Put the pressure lid on and turn the black valve to seal. Pressure cook on high for 20 minutes. When the time is up, immediately release the pressure.

Please do not worry about doing an immediate release, the meat will NOT dry out because it is submerged in the hot liquid.

While the beef is pressure cooking, cut up the carrots into ½" slices, quarter the mushrooms, and cut the potatoes and onions into 1" pieces.

Tip for cleaning mushrooms: Do not wash them under running water, they are sponges and will absorb the water. You want the mushroom to absorb the flavor of the stew and there won't be room for that if they absorb water. Instead, take a damp paper towel and gently wipe off any dirt you see.

When the pressure has been released, add in the vegetables. Place the pressure lid on and turn the valve to seal. Pressure cook on high for 2 minutes. When done, immediately release the pressure.

Don't worry that your stew looks more like a soup, we are taking care of that next!

***IMPORTANT***

Please do this next step in the exact order. DO NOT USE A PLASTIC CONTAINER. DO NOT add the flour to the room temp broth and then add to the hot liquid. YOU MUST cool down the hot liquid with the room temp or cold beef broth first to avoid bubbling and potential pressure from building in the jar. Also, please use an actual canning jar with a metal lid.

Remove about 1 -1½ cups of the broth from the inner pot and place in canning jar or other heat-safe container with a lid. Add ½ cup room temp beef broth and put flour on top. Shake well to combine the flour with the broth. Add back into the inner pot with the remaining stew and stir. Heat on a medium simmer for 10 minutes or so to cook the added flour and thicken the stew.

Serve & Enjoy!

Don't forget to make the biscuits! You can watch how I made drop biscuits on a rack right above the beef stew in the YouTube video: Beef Stew in the Ninja Foodi

Or, make cut biscuits and I have the BEST recipe for those: Homemade Biscuits in the Ninja Foodi

ABOUT THE RECIPE AUTHOR, LOUISE LONG

Louise is a full-time recipe creator and food blogger @ The Salted Pepper. She has over 30 years ofexperience with cooking and recipe development. She owned a restaurant for several years and was a full-time RN until retiring to blog full-time.

She published her first cookbook in the Fall of 2018 and is very interested in writing several more.

Louise is also the creator of an online Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooking Course with over 100 instructional step-by-step videos. People absolutely rave about the course and all the value they have received from it.

Louise has several very active Facebook groups that help people with the basics of cooking and getting the most out of the Ninja Foodi.

Ninja Foodi 101

Simply Cooking with Louise

Louise is also a YouTube creator and you can find most of her recipes in video format onThe Salted Pepper YouTube channel.

She is very responsive to messages and eager to help in any way she can.

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