This is the quickest and easiest Instant Pot Beef and Noodles recipe you’ll ever try. Traditional hearty beef and noodles in a fraction of the time and work of most beef and noodle recipes, but still yields the same tender seasoned bites of beef and tons of creamy noodles in under an hour!
Beef and noodles is known for being easy comfort food, but it’s usually comfort food that takes a good long while to cook. This method of cooking beef and noodles is the ultimate shortcut method because we’ll utilize not one easy shortcut to lessen prep and cook time, but 2! 
Most instant pot beef and noodles recipes call for chuck roast and that requires quite a bit of prep work. First the roast has to be trimmed and cut into small pieces or completely cooked and then shredded.
For this recipe we’re going to use store bought cubed stew beef. Most packaged stew beef you buy at the grocery store is odds and ends of chuck roast and round. There can be other cuts of meat included as well. Because the store bought stew beef is already cut into bite sized pieces, all you’ll need to do is throw it in the bottom of the instant pot!
Here’s a beginners’s guide to using the Instant Pot in case you need one before we start.
Step 1:
Open your package of stew beef and throw it in the bottom of an instant pot that’s at least 6 quarts or larger. Toss the butter in on top of the meat.
Step 2:
Add the seasonings: garlic powder, salt, onion powder, pepper and browning sauce. Now I realize that probably not everyone has browning sauce in their pantry, but I think it’s absolutely critical for this recipe.
What is browning sauce? A highly concentrated blend of vegetable stock, spices, and herbs with caramel coloring added. It makes anything beefy just taste a little richer and gives it a great color. I always add it to my beef stews and gravy.
Step 3:
Add the frozen noodles, broth and consomme.
Do you have to use frozen noodles?
Yes, indeedy. Frozen noodles are the only noodles that can hold up to the cook time it will take for the meat to get tender. Dried noodles or fresh noodles would be mush at the end of 28 minutes in the Instant Pot. Pour the beef consomme and beef broth over the top of the frozen noodles.
And that’s it! Put the lid on the instant pot, seal it up and cook on manual for 28 minutes. Do a quick steam release. Stir it all together really well and then serve! 
You’ll notice at the end of the cook time that the beef will still be in chunks, but it will be fork tender and easily shred!
How can you quickly and easily make this without an Instant Pot? I’m sorry, but you just can’t. The Instant Pot makes tough cuts of meat cook up tender in a flash and I don’t know of anything else does the same thing. If you don’t have an Instant Pot yet, you need to get yourself one! I use this 6 quart model because it’s big enough for my family of 6. You can find them for under $80 on Amazon.
More Easy Instant Pot Recipes:
Instant Pot Turkey and Noodles
Instant Pot BBQ Swiss Steak
Instant Pot BBQ Swiss Steak
The Easiest Instant Pot Beef and Noodles
Traditional hearty beef and noodles recipe in 3 easy steps and under an hour.
Ingredients
- 1 to 1 1/2 pound package of precut stew beef
- 4 tablespoons butter
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp browning sauce
- 1 (10.5 ounce) can beef consomme
- 1 quart (32ounces) beef broth
- 1 (24 ounce) bag frozen noodles *
Instructions
- Place the stew beef in the bottom of the Instant Pot. Then put in the butter.
- Add the garlic powder, salt, onion powder, black pepper, and browning sauce.
- Add the frozen noodles to the Instant Pot. Pour the consomme and broth over the noodles and beef. Place the lid on the Instant Pot and set the valve to seal. Cook on manual high heat for 28 minutes. When the timer goes off do a quick steam release. Give the beef and noodles a generous stir and serve!
Notes
* No substitutions on the noodles. Frozen noodles must be used for this to turn out correctly.
The amount of liquid after cooking depends a lot on the fat content of your stew beef. If your beef and noodles is too liquidy, you can make a slurry with cornstarch and water to thicken it up. They will thicken up some on their own as the beef and noodles cools to eating temperature.
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26 comments
This was really tasty! My only gripe was that it was WAY too watery. Had 3 extra cups of liquid!
Sorry Kathy, that’s kind of a bummer isn’t it! Unfortunately it’s hard to gauge how much liquid will come from the meat as it’s cooked because the fat to meat ratio is so variable. What you can do though is make a cornstarch slurry to thicken it up!
Hope you’ll still enjoy this recipe in the future and be able to get it just how you like it.
Amy
I would like to add veggies into this, should I do it at the end since the IP cooks for a long time?
Yes, Jenny, I’d say your instincts are spot on on that. If you’re adding veggies I would add them at the end.
Do you have to brown the beef first?
No, you don’t have to brown the beef first.
I am new to the Instant Pot and am looking for recipes to try. I’d love to try this as we love beef and noodles. I am not familiar with browning sauce. Where do you find this in stores? Would it be with the broth?
Hi Heather,
In the grocery stores in my town, I generally find the browning sauce shelved near the Worcestershire sauce! Of course if you have trouble, you can always ask an employee if they know where the it’s located. But the easiest? Just adding it to your online shopping basket!!!
Amy D.
I love this recipe. I have made it 4x’s now. I cook it for 30 mins. to make sure the noodles are done. Thank you !
If One doesn’t have an instant pot… can be in the oven?
No. It won’t work. You have to have an Instant Pot for this recipe to work the way it is written and described.
I’m dying to try this but haven’t been able to find beef consomme anywhere!! 😂 Is there anything I can use instead??
Christine,
Beef consomme is kind of like bigger, beefier tasting beef broth. It just adds more flavor to the finished recipe. My suggestion for making this recipe without beef consomme would be to add an extra cup of beef broth to replace the consomme and about a half a teaspoon of some high quality beef soup base, like Better Than Bouillon. Hope you get to try it soon!
Amy
This recipe will not disappoint!! My boyfriend said it tastes like someone’s grandma made it. 😂 I’ll take that as a win! Have passed on your recipe to several family members who are anxious to try it. Thanks!
I LOVE this recipe. It has such wonderful flavor and so easy to make. Have you ever tried adding sour cream to it just before serving it to make it more like a beef stroganoff? Do you think it would ruin the dish?
Hi Sandy,
I have never tried that, but I think it would be a great addition! Sounds yummy to me.
Amy
Can you use normal egg noodles?
Tyler,
No, unfortunately they won’t work in this recipe. Dry egg noodles cook much faster and are less substantial than the frozen egg noodles called for in this recipe. They can’t hold up to the cooking time required for the beef in the instant pot and would be mush by the end of the cook time.
How would I adapt this using frozen stew meat?
I’m sorry, Tammy. I haven’t cooked any meat from frozen in my instant pot, so I can’t say for sure from my own experience. I did find this article from Jillee at One Good Thing By Jillee that suggests 2 extra minutes.
Sooooo good!!! It wasn’t as thick as I thought it was going to be.. wonder if I could put a little corn starch in it to thicken just a little? Otherwise it was delicious 😋
So glad you enjoyed it Mindy. The thickness of the broth really comes down to how much liquid cooks off the beef as it is cooking. If you have fattier cuts in your stew beef this is going cook out and the broth will be less thick. Leaner cuts will produce a thicker broth. It’s kind of a gamble.
Just finished cooking it, smelled amazing right away! I tasted a noodle soon as I stirred it and the flavor is amazing, I think it could have cooked another min, but my guess is that it will continue to cook while I finish up the mashed potatoes and will be perfect! I find due to the altitude I live at, I have to add an extra 1-2 minutes on most recipes I make. Plus it won’t be too mushy when I reheat! The beef just fell apart, it is like I cooked a pot roast all day long! I will be adding this to my go to quick and easy meal list!!
So glad that your family enjoyed them! And that’s a great note on the high altitude, I rarely think of things like that when developing recipes since I’m not in an area where it’s an issue.
Where do you find the noodles. My stores don’t have them.
Hi Cathy! Here they are in the freezer section of the grocery store most generally near the frozen potato products. If your stores don’t carry frozen noodles, you can always ask if they could start stocking them. In my experience most grocery stores are happy to order product in if they know that there’s a need for it and it will sell.