Instant Pot Beef Stock. Ninety minutes under pressure does the work of six hours of simmering, and results in richer stock. The technique: brown oxtails and soup bones, sauté onion, carrot, celery, garlic, and tomato paste until dark, deglaze with red wine, add water, and pressure cook with a natural release to trap all the flavor in the pot. Strain, and it's ready for soups, stews, and braises.
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Beef stock is not as versatile as chicken stock; chicken stock can blend into the background of a lot of dishes. Beef stock is proud of what it is, and shouts BEEF when I use it.
It's also more expensive to make, so I save it for when I really need it - beef soups especially, but it's also great as the backbone for beef stews and short rib braises (though the stews and braises can get away with chicken broth in a pinch).
Pressure cookers are the perfect vessel to make stock. Pressure cooking is faster; 90 minutes under pressure does the work of 6 hours of simmering. More important, pressure cooker stock just tastes better! Heston Blumenthal and Chris Young showed that cooking under pressure extracts more flavor into the liquid, and those flavors are trapped in the stock by the sealed pressure cooker.
Ingredients Notes and Substitutions
- Beef: Great stock needs bones, marrow, fat, and meat; ll three carry the beefy flavor that is extracted into the stock. The fat, meat and marrow come from oxtail. The beef soup bones add gelatin, which gives the broth its body. (All bones would taste bland, and all meat has no body - you need a mix.) Beef shanks are a great substitute for the oxtail, and beef neck bones are a good substitute for the beef soup bones.
- Wine: A cup of red wine adds a hint of acid and fruit flavors to the stock. If you don't (or can't) have any alcohol in your diet, skip it. Any cheap, dry red wine works - you don't need to get fancy.
- Tomato paste: Tomato paste adds umami, which deepens all the other flavors.
- Spices: Peppercorns and thyme add a subtle taste of spice and herbs to the broth that I like. You can skip them, or only use one or the other. Heston Blumenthal recommends a piece of star anise, which is great when I know I'll be making an Asian dish with the broth. (For more general use, I skip the star anise.)
How to make Instant Pot Beef Stock in Pictures
Brown the beef
Brown the beef in two batches (don't crowd the pan) using sauté mode
Sauté the aromatics
Sauté the thin-sliced carrots, onions, and celery, then add the tomato paste and garlic and sauté until the tomato paste turns a darker red color
Deglaze with red wine, then everything in the pot
Pour in the cup of wine and bring to a simmer. Scrape the bottom of the pot with a flat-edged wooden spoon, then add the beef, thyme, peppercorns, salt, and water to cover.
Pressure cook for 90 minutes
Lock the lid and pressure cook for 90 minutes with a natural release
Strain and save
Scoop out the solids, then strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer. (You can add a napkin to the strainer like I do in the picture, but it's not necessary.)
Tips for better Instant Pot Stock
Natural Pressure Release means more flavor in the stock
For the best results, don't quick release the pressure! Pressure cooking extracts more flavors into the stock, including volatile aromas that would normally boil off - but they're trapped by the sealed pot. (All the wonderful smells when simmering on the stovetop are flavors that are escaping from the pot.)
Quick releasing the pressure lets those volatile aromas escape; leaving the pot sealed lets them condense back into the liquid. The result of a natural pressure release is the ultimate in beefy goodness.
(Of course, if you're in a big hurry, go ahead and quick release the pressure - it will still be a great beef stock.)
Defatting the stock
Oxtails and soup bones tend to be very fatty, so I like to defat the stock. Storing the pot of stock in the refrigerator overnight lets the fat congeal into a thick fat cap that can be lifted off of the stock.
Scaling
This recipe works best in an 8-quart pressure cooker, though it can just fit into a 6-quart pressure cooker. (The added water will be closer to the 8 cups than 12 cups in a 6-quart pressure cooker.) If you want to make a smaller batch, cut everything in half and it will fit in a 4-quart pressure cooker.
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Instant Pot Beef Stock
- Total Time: 2 hours 5 minutes
- Yield: 2-3 quarts of beef broth 1x
Description
Instant Pot Beef Stock. Rich and full of body, done in about 3 thanks to the pressure cooker.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 pounds meaty oxtails (or beef shanks or bone-in short ribs)
- 2 pounds beef soup bones
- 2 medium onions, peeled and thin-sliced
- 2 carrots, peeled and thin-sliced
- 2 stalks celery, thin-sliced
- 3 cloves of garlic, peeled
- 1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
- 1 cup dry red wine
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 10 peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- Water to cover (8 to 12 cups)
Instructions
- Brown the Beef in Two Batches: Set an Instant Pot to sauté-high (or a stovetop pressure cooker over medium-high heat) and heat the vegetable oil until it starts shimmering. Add the oxtails and sear until browned on the bottom, about 4 minutes, then remove the oxtails to a bowl. Put the beef soup bones in the pot and sear until browned on the bottom, about 4 minutes. Add to the bowl with the oxtails.
- Sauté the Aromatics and Tomato Paste: Add the onions, carrots, and celery to the pot and sauté until the onions just start to soften, about 4 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pot with a flat-edged wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits of beef. Add the garlic, then stir in the tomato paste. Cook the tomato paste, stirring and scraping to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot, until the tomato paste darkens, about 3 more minutes.
- Deglaze the pot with wine (optional): Pour in 1 cup of red wine, bring to a simmer, and simmer for 1 minute, scraping the bottom of the pot with your flat-edged wooden spoon to make sure nothing is sticking.
- Everything in the Pot: Add the browned bones and any juices in the bowl to the pot, and stir to coat with the onions and tomato paste. Add the thyme, peppercorns, salt, and pour in 8 to 12 cups of water (stop at 12 cups, or at the pressure cooker's max fill line, whichever comes first.)
- Pressure Cook for 90 Minutes With a Natural Release: Lock the lid on the pot. Pressure cook on high for 90 minutes (1 hour 30 minutes) in an Instant Pot, or for 1 hour in a stovetop PC. (Use Manual or Pressure Cook mode in an Instant Pot.) Let the pressure come down naturally, which will take about 40 more minutes. (12 cups of water hold a lot of heat, so it takes a while for the pressure to drop.) A full natural release captures all the flavors in the pot, but if you get impatient, you can quick release any remaining pressure after 30 minutes.
- Strain the stock: Using tongs and a slotted spoon, scoop out as much of the solids as you can and discard. Strain the stock through a fine mesh strainer into another large pot, and discard anything the fine mesh strainer catches. The stock is now ready to use or store.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Category: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 13
- Sugar: 0.4 g
- Sodium: 492.8 mg
- Fat: 0.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 0.4 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 2.5 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Notes
- Oven browning the bones and aromatics: For deeper flavor, roast the beef and aromatics. Heat the oven to 425°F. In a large roasting pan, rub the tomato paste over the oxtails and beef bones. Cut the onions, carrots, and celery in half, and add them to the pan. Put the pan in the oven and roast for 30 minutes. Turn the beef and aromatics and roast for another 15 to 30 minutes, until the beef and aromatics are browned. Scrape everything into the pot, including any browned bits you can scrape from the roasting pan. Add the wine and bring to a simmer, then continue with the "everything in the pot" step.
- Defat the stock: After cooking, refrigerate the pot of stock overnight. The fat will float to the surface and form a hard cap. Scoop the fat cap from the top of the stock, then use or portion into storage containers.
- No pressure cooker? No worries: Don't have a pressure cooker? Make stock in your oven for a long, slow, even simmer. (You don't get the extra flavor pressure cooking gives you, but it will still be much better than any store-bought broth.) Use the ingredients from this recipe with the following oven-simmering technique: Turkey Stock Done Right. Simmer in the oven for 6 hours.
Storage and Freezing
To store the stock for later, pour the stock into 1 quart containers (for soups) and/or 2 cup containers (for pan sauces), let the containers cool at room temperature for an hour or two, then refrigerate for a few days or freeze for up to six months. (Pour the stock into the containers before cooling, because the smaller containers will cool down much faster than the big pot of stock.)
What do you think?
Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.
Related Posts
Looking for some suggestions on how to use Instant Pot Beef Stock? It is the basic technique behind a lot of my pressure cooker beef recipes, like Pressure Cooker Beef and Noodle Soup with Mushrooms and Carrots, Instant Pot Beef Gravy, Pressure Cooker Beef and Barley Soup, Pressure Cooker Provencal Beef en Daube, or Pressure Cooker Mexican Beef and Tomatillo Stew.
For other pressure cooker stock recipes, try Instant Pot Chicken Broth and Pressure Cooker Turkey Stock Revisited. For straining details, check out my Straining Stock post.
If you're looking for something else, here is my index of Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes.
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Nicole M. says
This recipe seems to be for an electric pressure cooker. Do you have one for a stove top model?? I have an All American pressure cooker and can’t seem to find directions anywhere online (or in their manual) for “cooking” the bone stock in the pressure cooker (not canning it) Right now I’m just going with 10lbs of pressure for 2.5hrs. Then a natural release as per their normal canning instructions.
Mike Vrobel says
This recipe will work in a stovetop pressure cooker on high pressure as written. High pressure is 12 to 15 PSI - in don’t know what that translates to for a pressure canner, but I hope it helps.
N. Mazza. says
Thank you. My All American #915 is a gauged and weighted cooker/canner so there is nothing on it that says “high”. Just the jiggle weight that has 5, 10, 15lbs. Now that I’m thinking, I guess that’s Low, Medium, High🤔🤷🏻♀️. Thank you for your answer. I cooked my broth on 10lbs but it was actually just over that on the gauge so I should be good. Second batch went 3.5 hrs and the beef bones came out softer this time. (Even though I forgot the vinegar🤦🏻♀️)
Dave says
I have 4 pounds beef back ribs with very little meat on them in my freezer. I assume these would work also?
Thanks
Mike Vrobel says
Yes, they would!
Nrat says
This recipe is awesome. Oxtails are expensive now but it is well worth it. I cannot find shanks so I use necks. I also like to marinate the bones in worsestishire and soy sauce and season them with coarse garic powder and onion powder before browning them. I freeze the stock in ice cube trays so I can pop them into whatever I am cooking. Your recipe takes dinners to a whole new level. Thanks so much!
jmk says
For the smaller (1# of meat) recipe, do you cut the time to a fourth (15m) too?
Mike V says
No. It needs the same amount of time to extract the flavor from the meat and bones.
Mike V @ DadCooksDinner says
You're right - beef stock is expensive. My best case is a couple of bucks a pound for oxtail at my local Mexican market, but even that is a lot more expensive than .49 cents a pound chicken backs at my grocery store or butcher.
If price matters, *always* use chicken stock - just substitute it in whatever recipe you need. It won't have the exact same flavor, but it's close enough that most people won't notice.
Mike Parr says
So my issue is that I got almost 1 3/4 cup from the 1/2 recipe. I spent 8$ to get to this point. I cannot afford to do. We shopped at a grocery store for the ox tail's. This is my first time shopping for ox tail's or beef shanks. Is there a better suggestion on where to find cheaper meat. I also made the chicken broth but spent about 7$ and got 12+ cups out of it.
Mike V @ DadCooksDinner says
Great! Glad you're enjoying it - it's one of my favorites.
Nicole says
Love this! So tasty, I don't think any will make it to the freezer. I've been eating it like soup! This will be a winter staple.
BobO says
FYI - I decided to place the bowl of beef stock back in the refrigerator for another night. A total of about 36 hours in the refrigerator. The stock did partially congeal which made me feel somewhat better. Again, I will keep you posted. Thanks again.
BobO says
I used only beef shanks as I could not find oxtails at my local market here in Thailand. The beef shanks were quite meaty. I will give the beef stock I have made a try and let you know how I make out. Many thanks for getting back to me.
Mike V @ DadCooksDinner says
No, it's probably not the red wine. The stock congeals because of gelatin extracted from the bones of the beef. Did you have both beef shanks and oxtails? They have a lot of gelatin in them, and if you had more meat than bones, that would mean less gelatin. Also, the older the beef, the less gelatin; that's why veal stock is so popular in French cooking.
It should taste great even without the extra gelatin, though; give it a taste.
Mike
BobO says
I recently successfully made some chicken stock with a pressure cooker and it congealed nicely after an overnight stay in the refrigerator. I followed your recipe for beef stock and although it looks and smells great it did not congeal after an overnight stay in the refrigerator. Is this because of the red wine I added??