The Secret To Making Beef Tips In An Instant Pot

If you've ever made beef tips before, you've likely made them in a slow cooker. After all, there's just something about tender, fall-off-the-fork meat that's been cooking all day long that just hits different. Add in the deliciously savory gravy that the beef is cooked in and is then served over creamy mashed potatoes? It's a comfort food for the books, that's for sure.

But what if you don't have a slow cooker? Or, what if you don't have hours to wait for your steak to cook (i.e. your family is expecting dinner on the table in less than an hour)? Fortunately, there are other ways to whip up tasty, succulent beef. One such way? In a pressure cooker, like the wildly popular Instant Pot. If you have one, here's what you need to know about using it to make beef tips in just a fraction of the time it takes a slow cooker.

To get beef tips that are as tender as the ones you'd get from your slow cooker, you can't simply toss the raw meat in your pressure cooker and "set it and forget it." Many bloggers recommend searing the steak first before you pressure cook it. Creme De La Crumb suggests using the sauté function on your Instant Pot to brown the beef, which she says should take just over a minute or so at high heat. Taste of Home adds that depending on how much meat you're cooking, you may need to do this in batches so that all of the steak is browned evenly.

One note: Simply Happy Foodie cautions that you only want to sear the steak so that it's brown on the outside. You don't want to cook it all the way through during this step — otherwise, it could overcook during the pressure cooking process. No thank you.