Instant Pot Beef Barley Mushroom Stew With Sour Cream

I will be honest, my health has not been the greatest. As a result, I have been on the hunt for super-easy recipes. This one is for the Instant Pot but if you are looking for an old school stovetop beef and barley recipe, go here. 

The Recipe

You will need 1/2 to 1 lb stew beef cut into small chunks, 1 small yellow onion chopped, 1 garlic clove minced, 3 cups beef broth (I used 1 1/2 cup beef broth and 1 1/2 cup shiitake mushroom broth)…

… 1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp coarse ground black pepper, 1 bay leaf, 1 fresh thyme sprig…

… 1 tbsp tomato paste, 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce and 1/2 cup uncooked pearl barley (I used pot barley).

Place all above ingredients into pressure cooker. You could brown the beef in oil or butter together with the chopped onion if you have time. I did not bother.

Bring pot to pressure and let cook for 25 minutes on meat setting. Let pressure drop of its own.

Remove bay leaf and thyme spring.  Taste and adjust salt and pepper accordingly. I added some soy sauce too to give it some salty umami flavour. 

I added the sour cream to the bowl of my soup right before serving.

Foodie Results

I was shocked at how good this was. I could not believe how easy this was to make. You definitely have to work with the seasoning to get it just right but once you do, it is lovely.

I give this recipe four and a half out of five wooden spoons.

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