Instant Pot Granny's Italian Beef - Dump and Go Dinner
With every forkful fall apart tender and perfectly seasoned this Instant Pot adaptation of our classic Granny's Italian Beef stands out as a hearty no fuss dinner. Pair with creamy mashed potatoes or another favorite vegetable for a taste of comfort to share around the table.
Ingredients
- 2 ⅓ pounds quarter Beef Roast
- 2 teaspoons Red Wine Vinegar
- ¼ cups Water
- 1 ⅓ teaspoons Bouillon, Beef, Granules
- 2 ⅓ teaspoons mince Garlic, Cloves
- ⅓ teaspoons Pickling Spice
- ⅔ teaspoons Salt
- ⅛ teaspoons Black Pepper
- 1 whole Bay Leaf
- 10 ⅔ ounces Whole Tomatoes, Canned
Containers
Supplies
Cooking Instructions
Freeze For Later Cooking Day Directions
These directions help you cook or prepare this meal PRIOR to being frozen for serving later (see Serving Day Directions when you are ready to prepare it to eat).
Why would I want to freeze this?
- Trim fat from meat.
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Make From Frozen Serving Day Directions
These directions help you cook or reheat this meal AFTER it's been frozen for when you are ready to eat it.
- Prep from frozen
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Make It Now Cooking Directions
These directions are for cooking this recipe to serve immediately and NOT to freeze for later.
- *Due to the nature of pressure cooking there is always room for inconsistency. The times given here are based on 4 servings fresh. If you are using more servings you may need to increase your cooking time.**
- Trim fat from meat and cut beef to fit inside inner pot.
- Place all other ingredients into inner pot over beef.
- Lock cover into place and seal steam nozzle.
- Cook on high pressure for 35 minutes.
- Naturally release pressure for 5 minutes then quick release remaining pressure.
- Remove bay leaf before serving.
Nutrition Facts
- Servings Per Recipe
- 4 Servings
- Serving Size
- about 9 ounces Amount Per Serving
- Calories
- 408
- Total Fat
- 14g
- Saturated Fat
- 5g
- Trans Fat
- 0g
- Cholesterol
- 172mg
- Sodium
- 835mg
- Total Carbohydrates
- 9g
- Fiber
- 3g
- Sugar
- 2g
- Protein
- 59g
- WW Freestyle
- 8
35 Comments
Join the discussionThose beef granules you suggest using are not paleo. they contain sugar, soy and other non-paleo ingredients.
Thank you for your concern and letting us know! In the meantime, we hope you find a Paleo substitute (we’d love to hear what you use!) so you can still enjoy this recipe.
Yeah, it is too bad there are no “real food” bouillon options available to purchase. Since the recipe also calls for water anyway, what I have done is to start with a cup of bone broth for each teaspoon of bouillon in the recipe (so, for “1 1/3 teaspoons bouillon granules” I would use 1 1/3 *cups* bone broth), then simmer it to reduce it down to the volume of water called for in the recipe (in this case, 1/4 cup). And I add about 1 teaspoon sea salt. It takes a little while, but it is mostly a hands-free task, and so worth it to skip the chemicals in commercial offerings.
Oh, this is great – thank you so much for sharing!
I believe the Wildtree brand beef soup base is sugar free. Does have Tamari.
I use “Better than Bullion”
https://www.amazon.com/Better-Than-Bouillon-Organic-Reduced/dp/B006ASVJ9C
I admit – it’s still not 100% paleo (it contains cane sugar), but it is real food, and a much better than most bouillon cubes or granules. I’ve decided for the convenience, I’m ok with this option.
An added convenience/cost savings is the Costco near me usually carries it.
To make it Paleo simply omit the Beef Granules and simply substitute the 1/4 cup of water, with 1/4 cup of Beef Broth or Bone Broth.
Could you just add some beef broth at the time of cooking? Or even freeze the broth along with other ingredients?
Beef broth instead of one of the other liquids?
Any suggestions on making this fall apart tender? Mine came out dry and chewy.
Cindy, sorry to hear your meal turned out dry and chewy. With pressure cooking, there are always variables. You might enjoy this post for some ideas when you make this again (quarter meat, cook a couple mins less, QR, etc.). We’d love to hear what you do differently next time and how it works out!
I had to do mine for 55 mins versus 35 mins.
Thanks for sharing what worked best for you!
Did you QR or NR? Use the Natural Release method to get your meat tender. it makes a BIG BIG difference when using your IP.
What is quarter beef roast? I have never heard of this, and don’t come up with anything when I google it. Thanks!
Quartering means to cut the meat into fourths. This way it will cook faster in your Instant Pot and not be frozen in the center. We hope that helps!
“2-1/3 pound beef roast, quartered” might make it less confusing.
She said quarter meat, lol. Sheesh people are harsh!
I agree. I’m not sure what it means. Is it 2 AND 1/3 pounds of roast quartered, or is it 2 of 1/3 pound roasts quartered. That’s a huge difference.
Hi Anna. The recipe calls for 2 and 1/3 pounds of beef roast. Once A Month Meals always instructs to cut the meat into quarters for even cooking in the Instant Pot instead of solid hunk of frozen meat going into the Instant Pot. Members have access to a prep sheet and this is instructed to do during prep (typically the day/night before a cooking day). I hope this is helpful!
I wish I would have read more comments. I didn’t know what 2 1/3 “quarter” was so I did not cut it in half. Perhaps that should be part of the instructions to cut it in quarters. So now my roast is still rare and I’m trying to slow cook it for an hour.
Amy, I’m sorry for the confusion. Hopefully the beef turned out well after slow cooking.
Is this recipe meant to be cooked prior to freezing and then reheating? Or is it for freezing all of the raw ingredients and cooking from frozen?
It is up to you. You have a couple of options:
1. Make to eat now. Cook it and eat it.
2. Freeze for later. Combine all ingredients and freeze for later (do not cook now).
I hope that helps!
Can you use ground beef instead? That’s what I have on hand and am trying to avoid the store!
Sure. It will make a little bit of a different final product but the meat will be ground instead of shredded. I am sure it would be delicious!
Since this recipe is part of a menu that will serve a family of 4 twice does that mean every thing should be cut in half an put in 2 containers?
The recipe as written makes 4 servings. Recipes are not automatically doubled unless they have been added to a menu.
This is my second time using my IP with your recipes. Both times the meat (one chicken and now the beef) is only half done when the time is up. What am I doing wrong?? Also, where does it say to shred the beef—seems like more detail needs to be included with some of these recipes. Thanks for your help.
Hi Lesia, You are supposed to quarter the beef in this recipe (cut into 4 pieces). Once it’s cooked, it should just shred naturally for you when you take it out and serve it. Lesia, just a few questions to see if we can help troubleshoot for you: 1) how many servings are you cooking, 2)are you cooking from frozen and 30 what size Instant Pot are you using?
“Wine Vinegar” Is this red wine vinegar, rice wine vinegar, white wine vinegar?
Hi Stacy, that’s a great question. We have sent this recipe to our Menu Builder team to update and review. From their advice, they say red or white wine vinegar would work well for this dish.
What does the pickling spice add? Can I sub with something that will give similar taste? TIA
Hi Lael, the pickling spice adds a floral/herb flavor. The main components in most pickling spices are whole coriander, whole mustard seed, whole dill seed, and whole peppercorn, so if you have any of those spices individually, you could add them / make your own pickling spice. Of all the spices, I would say coriander is the most important. Hope this helps.
They say online if you aren’t actually pickling you can use peppercorns, garlic, onion, and bay leaf.