Instant Pot Frozen Ground Beef Can Be Thawed And Cooked In No Time At All If Youre Forgetful Like Me Thawing Frozen Ground Beef Has Never Been Easier
If youre like me and need to know how to make Instant Pot frozen ground beef so its defrosted in under 25 minutes, Im going to show you how. Added to our list of 101+ easy Instant Pot recipes and pressure cooker tips its something I use on a semi weekly basis and now am sharing it with all of you.
We cook a lot of frozen meat in Instant Potbecause I tend to be forgetful.
If you need easy Ninja Foodi recipes, you can use that pot instead.
Lets start with a few basic tips:
- Make sure to Bookmark our InstaPot recipes page. We add new ones each week!
For reference, this is the pressure cooker I have and use for all recipe creations.
I love thawing frozen ground beef in my pressure cooker because its keeps its juiciness, drains out all the fat.
- Since I am forgetful I no longer have to worry if Ive forgotten to take it out of the freezer the day before!
Instant Pot Frozen Roast
This recipe may have originated out of necessity when I forgot to thaw my roast in advance, but its quickly become our chosen way of making roast! The results are so tender, that I dont see the need to thaw the meat in advance anymore.
If youre looking for pull-apart tender pot roast with minimal effort and time, this is definitely the recipe for you!
What Can I Make With This Instant Pot Ground Beef
Thats the beauty with cooking this meat in the Instant Pot this way. After the meat is browned, the worlds your oyster! You can use this beef for anything you need cooked ground beef for! You could make:
- Instant Pot Lazy Lasagna
- A quick Beef and Broccoli dish
- Beef and Barley Soup
- Easy Beef Mac n Cheese
If you are looking for more meats you can cook from frozen you should also try this shredded beef from frozen recipe. Not only is it handy, but mouthwatering as well!
Are you new to the Instant Pot pressure cooking? Are you a little hesitant working with it? Check out my Instant Pot for Beginners Guide to help you feel a little more comfortable around the appliance!
Also, are you looking for more Instant Pot Recipes? Try these scrumptious recipes to add some extra flavor to your life.
Also Check: What To Do If Your Instant Pot Says Burn
Tips For Cooking Frozen Ground Meat In Your Instant Pot:
- You can also use this Instant Pot method to cook frozen ground turkey, venison or pork.
- If you have two pounds ground beef to cook, increase the cooking time by about five minutes. Some of this is just experimenting with your Instant Pot.
- Use the meat in any ground beef recipe like One Pot Chili Mac and Cheese, Pressure Cooker Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, or Sloppy Joes
- If you want to make this but you still havent taken your Instant Pot out of the box , you may want to give my post about Instant Pot fear first and Ill walk you through getting started in Instant Pot Basics.
I may earn money as an affiliate from certain product links within posts. I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe you will find helpful.
Shopping For The Perfect Ground Beef
When you go to the market, and you see the hamburger section, it can be so overwhelming with all the choices. Its like a field of options and if you dont understand what all of it means you wont know which way is best for you. Here is a breakdown to help guide you through the ground beef buying process:
- Regular Ground Beef It can have up to 30 percent of fat content in it.
- Medium Ground Beef The fat content in medium ground beef is not allowed to have more than 23 perfect fat.
- Lean Ground Beef When making lean ground beef, it cant be more than 17 percent fat content.
- Extra Lean Ground Beef This has the least amount of fat content and isnt more than 10 percent.
The choice of ground beef that you buy will depend on your preference for fat content. Low carb / Ketogenetic lifestyle followers will choose a higher fat content ground beef, whereas those who are following a lower-fat diet will obviously choose something closer to the lean or extra lean category.
A higher fat content usually results in more flavor, as the old adage goes Where theres fat, theres flavor. So most people will use more added seasonings to season up the lower fat ground beef.
Read Also: How To Make Yogurt In Instant Pot Without Yogurt Button
Tips And Notes On This Instant Pot Frozen Ground Beef
- If youd like to season your beef , I suggest cooking on high pressure for half of the time to thaw the beef, quick release, remove the beef, pour out remaining liquid, and remove the trivet before putting the meat back in the Instant Pot on sauté mode. Season and finish cooking on sauté.
- For meal prepping, I store my ground beef in an airtight glass container.
- It takes 5-10 minutes for the Instant Pot to come up to pressure before the countdown starts so dont be worried if it doesnt start counting down right away.
- I use either a potato masher or just two forks to break up the cooked ground beef to make it look like ground beef if it was cooked on the stove top.
- As this recipe isnt seasoned, I usually pair this ground beef with a sauce.
How To Add Veggies To Ground Beef:
- Looking to add more veggies to your diet? Riced cauliflower blends in perfectly with ground beef, especially when its seasoned! Add in one bag of cooked cauliflower rice to each pound of ground beef. If youre feeding it to a picky crowd, start with 1/2 cup of cauliflower per pound of beef and slowly work your way up.
- If youre trying to hide cauliflower rice in your ground beef, add 1/2 cup of diced onionstheyll camouflage the veggie taste, and the rice wont be as easily identifiable because it kind of looks like diced onions.
Also Check: How To Reheat Tamales In Instant Pot
How To Thaw Ground Beef In The Pressure Cooker:
In order to defrost your ground beef in the Instant Pot, you will have to actually cook it. There is no function to thaw or defrost it without cooking it!
To do so, add water to the pot , position the trivet or rack, and then place your frozen ground beef on top of the trivet. Pierce the frozen ground beef with a knife as far it can go to help vent so the inside meat cooks better.
If the frozen ground beef has a flat form, it will take around 20 minutes. But it has a tube or cylinder form like mine, it will take about 25 minutes to reach a safe cooking temp which is 165 degrees F .
After that, you may season and saute your ground beef to add flavor and use it in whatever dish you want to.
Of course, you can make a ground turkey in the Instant Pot instead! In fact, you can cook any type of ground meat such as ground chicken, pork, etc. not only beef.
How long to cook ground beef in the Instant Pot?
It depends on whether the meat is fresh or frozen and also its form/shape.
If the meat is fresh, it takes around 6 minutes to 8 minutes to cook in the Instant Pot.
But if the beef is frozen, the cooking time will be longer about 20 to 25 minutes .
In any case, always check the cooked ground beef internal temperature to safely consume it. The meat thermometer must register 165 F .
For more Instant Pot recipes and their cooking times, get the charts and see how to use a pressure cooker.
How To Cook Frozen Ground Beef In Your Instant Pot
My method to quickly thaw and cook ground beef is super easy. All you need is water, frozen ground beef and your Instant Pot.
Trust me, you wont find many recipes that simple, right?
As an added bonus no an added necessity the meat cooks up juicy and tender, not tough and dry.
We raise our own beef here on the farm and it is absolutely out of this world. So I have absolutely no interest in ruining perfectly fabulous meat, you know??
And we have a freezer full of frozen meat so it goes without saying I use this cooking method all the time!
Heres how were gonna cook our frozen ground meat.
Read Also: How To Defrost Ground Beef In Instant Pot
How To Thaw Ground Beef In An Instant Pot:
After you have added your liquid, place your frozen ground beef on top of your trivet .
After the cooking time is up, place your ground beef on a plate and cut into it to see if it cooked all the way through. If it didnt, which happens, simply finish cooking on the Sauté setting.
Note: if you merely want to THAW your ground beef see the recipe note! You dont need to cook it nearly as long in the Instant Pot and then you can finish cooking your ground beef however you need or want to!
Very similar instructions if you just want to cook your fresh ground beef in the Instant Pot just a reduced cooking time!
Its SO easy isnt it! This one is going to come in handy save and share!!
How To Cook Frozen Ground Meat In Instant Pot
- Prep: To Instant Pot, add 1 cup water and place frozen meat on a trivet. You have to use trivet to avoid boiling the meat and possible Burn.
- Cook red meat :15 minutes for thawed when you open the pot, meat will look cooked and brown outside. But once you remove it into the bowl and start breaking with a fork, you will see that it is red/pink inside. 25 minutes for fully cooked is great if you just need to thaw the meat and proceed with any other recipe.
- Cook poultry: 7 minutes for thawed and 15 minutes for fully cooked.
- Wait 5 minutes and release pressure: Turn valve to Venting after 5 minutes to avoid strong pressure pulling all moisture from the meat.
- Then remove onto a plate and break into pieces. Season with any combination of spices like salt, pepper, taco seasoning, chili powder, garlic powder etc. Or check out this Instant Pot taco meat recipe from my friend, Denise, at Sweet peas and Saffron.
- Recipes to use in: Use seasoned meat in tacos, taco salad, lasagna and casseroles. So convenient!
Read Also: Sushi Rice In The Instant Pot
How To Cook Frozenmeat In The Instant Pot
Last year we wrote a fantastic guide, with a free downloadable printable showing you how to cook frozen meat in the instant pot.
We recommend you head over and go and download it as it will show you how to cook more than just frozen steak in the instant pot.
Plus it gives you quick frozenmeat cook times so that you can use it for quick reference each time you cookyour frozen meat.
How Long Does It Take To Cook Frozen Meat In The Instant Pot
How long it takes to cook frozen meat in the Instant Pot depends on the meat.
I have found that if you are cooking meat that is included in the cooking time chart at the back of the Instant Pot recipe booklet , its quite easy to adjust the time for frozen meat.
Usually frozen meat will take about 1.5 times as long as fresh meat to cook. So for instance, if youre cooking chicken breast they take 8 minutes to cook at high pressure if theyre fresh, and 12 minutes if theyre frozen.
Also Check: How To Steam Tamales In An Instant Pot
Option : Saute The Meat
Using the saute function on the Instant Pot, is nearly the same as browning the meat on the stove.
- Hit the saute function on the Instant Pot and then hit Adjust to change the heat to normal heat.
- Let the Instant Pot heat for 2-3 minutes. Some models display Hot once heated, some do not, but after a few minutes of time, you can begin to saute the meat.
- Add in a couple of teaspoons of oil and let the oil heat for 1 minute.
- Add the ground meat, and allow to cook, breaking the meat up into small pieces as it browns.
- Once the ground beef is cooked thoroughly, this takes about 6-7 minutes, turn the Instant Pot OFF.
- Drain off any excess grease and then use as desired. This works great for recipes like Instant Pot Beef Stroganoff, Instant Pot Chili, or Instant Pot Hamburger Helper.
A note to this method–it seems silly to get out your pressure cooker if you are just sauteing your meat , but if you are using it to start another recipe you will finish in your Instant Pot, it is a great method to use!)
Can You Overcook Meat In Instant Pot
Unfortunately, once you overcook a piece of meat in the pressure cooker, theres no going back. You ll be left with a pile of dry, crunchy, tasteless fibers and no amount of additional pressure cooking is going to put that moisture back into the meat. Well, that doesnt just apply to potatoes, it applies to meat, too.
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How To Cook Frozen Ground Beef In An Instant Pot Without A Trivet
Place one pound of frozen ground beef in your Instant Pot. Add about a cup of water.
Close and set it to pressure cooking for eight minutes. Do a quick release to let the steam out of the pot.
At this point, your beef is about halfway cooked through. Drain the fat & water and return to the pot.
Okay, not so appetizing at this point but bear with me, its working!
Set the Instant Pot to saute and continue to cook the ground beef. Break it up with a spoon or spatula until the beef is fully cooked through. Drain if necessary and use the ground beef for your recipe!
Unlike the microwave defrost function, thawing and cooking frozen ground beef in the Instant Pot keeps the flavor of the meat AND you only have one dish to clean up.
That, my friends, is a win in my book!
How To Make Cook Frozen Ground Beef
- Add Water : Place the trivet in the Instant Pot pressure cooker pot. and then add the water to the bottom of the pot.
- Season: Next, season one side of the beef with 1/2 teaspoon House Seasoning Blend and then place the beef, seasoned side down on top of the trivet. Continue by seasoning the other side of the beef with the remaining House Seasoning Blend.
- Cook: Attach the lid to the pressure cooker and ensure that the vent is in the sealed position Set to high pressure for 24 minutes.
- Release:Once cooking is complete, do a quick pressure release and carefully remove the meat from the pot. Discard liquid.
- Create: Break up the ground beef and use in your favorite recipes.
LOVE INSTANT POT RECIPES? TRY THESE FAVORITES
Recommended Reading: Reheat Frozen Tamales In Oven
Do You Quick Release Beef Roast
No! I have seen this the other day where someone took all the time to cook their roast and quick released and it was so dry and tough I am sure they tossed it out.
A good rule of thumb is to never quick release meat in the Instant Pot. You want the meat to naturally release so it helps to tenderize and lock in juices. Shredded beef is no exception.
How To Cook Ground Beef In The Instant Pot Easy Photo Tutorial
Your IP should have come with a trivet. Its that little metal stand thingy. Cant find yours? You have plenty of options on Amazon, or can even repurpose your steamer insert. Youre going to need it in order to get the best texture out of your ground meat.
Step 1: Place the trivet in the base of the Instant Pot insert.
I know what youre thinking isnt the meat going to fall through the trivet?! Nope. It stays together. Its okay. I didnt believe it until I saw it, either.)
If you dont have a trivet, this method will still work youll just have a slightly different texture of meat because it will be boiling in the water.
Step 2: Load up your trivet with frozen ground beef and add 1 cup of water or whatever is your pressure cookers minimum liquid requirement.
For the sake of this recipe, I am using 2 pounds. Ive had friends cook upwards of 5 pounds of ground beef at a time!
DO NOT MISS THIS STEP.
The water is NOT optional its needed to build up enough steam to come to pressure.
Step 3: Put on the lid, move the valve to sealing, and select 25 minutes on manual mode at high pressure.
When the timer is up, carefully release the pressure .
Step 4: Use a meat thermometer to take the interior temperature of your meat. Youre aiming for a minimum of 160° F.
Step 5: Remove the ground beef into a bowl using tongs. Youll notice that it stayed together as a log/block and didnt disintegrate.
Step 6: Simply use a sturdy spoon or potato masher to break into chunks.
Read Also: Can You Put Foil In An Instant Pot
