Instant Pot Korean Beef is tender, flavorful Korean beef made in a pressure cooker. Recipe includes an explanation of gochujang and a gochujang substitute.
This Instant Pot Korean Beef recipe is a variation on my slow cooker Korean beef recipe, which is one of my favorite crock pot recipes.
The Korean beef is super tender and packed with flavor. The recipe makes plenty of sauce, and I love to serve it spooned over the beef.
Rather than having to slow cook it all day, the Instant Pot cuts the total time cooking from 6-8 hours to just over an hour. Most of that time is hands-off, which makes this a pretty easy dinner recipe.
How to make Korean beef in the Instant Pot
This is a really easy dinner recipe!
Step 1: Simply stir the first ten ingredients together for the sauce.
Step 2: Place the cubed meat in the inner pot, and pour the sauce over the meat.
Step 3: Close and lock the lid.
Step 4: Turn the pressure release valve to sealing position. Press the meat button and adjust the time to 40 minutes.
Step 5: Let the pressure release naturally for 25 minutes, and then turn the pressure release valve to venting position.
What is gochujang?
Gochujang is a key ingredient in this Korean beef. It’s a sweet and spicy red chili paste that’s commonly used in Korean cooking.
Not to be confused with Thai sweet chili sauce or a spicy chili sauce like Sriracha, gochujang sauce adds unique flavor to this dish.
There are several different brands of gochujang sauce available, and I’ve seen it everywhere from my local supermarket to Walmart, Target, and Amazon.
We prefer it to Sriracha. Even my kids love the flavor of the sweet and spicy sauce.
**Note – be sure to get gochujang sauce, not paste. The paste is more concentrated and will give you a much spicier result.**
What can you substitute for gochujang?
I highly recommend buying a bottle of gochujang sauce.
If you can’t gochujang sauce (or just don’t want to purchase it), you can substitute a mixture that consists of a little Sriracha, a dash of additional soy sauce, and a little additional brown sugar to taste instead.
What to serve with this dish
I usually serve this beef topped with sesame seeds and sliced green onions over rice with steamed broccoli on the side. It goes well with any number of steamed veggies (snow peas are also really good with this).
You can also serve it as Korean beef tacos in tortillas topped with shredded cabbage.
Storage
Any leftovers should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. The beef will keep for up to 4 days when properly stored.
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Instant Pot Korean Beef
Equipment
- Instant Pot/electric pressure cooker
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
- 1/3 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/4 cup reduced-sodium beef broth
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
- 2-4 tablespoons Gochujang sauce1 depending on desired heat
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 3-4 pound boneless beef chuck roast cut into 1-inch cubes
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together first 10 ingredients (up to roast).
- Place cubed roast into Instant Pot.
- Pour sauce over cubed meat.
- Close the lid, and make sure the pressure release valve is turned to “SEALING”.
- Press the MEAT program button, and adjust time to 40 minutes. The pot should reach pressure within 10-15 minutes.
- Once the pot reaches pressure, it will begin counting down.
- Once it has finished cooking, it will beep and switch to keep warm.
- Allow beef to remain in pot for 25 minutes NPR (natural pressure release).
- Carefully release any pressure left at that time by turning the pressure release valve to “VENTING”.
Video
Notes
- See notes above recipe for an explanation and substitute. Also, be sure to get gochujang sauce, not paste.
- Nutrition facts are estimates.
Nutrition
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Reader Interactions
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Comments & Reviews
Stacey says
Could you do this in a slow cooker?
Kate says
You can! I have the recipe for the slow cooker version here.
Maryann Tamrazi says
Hello! I only have 1.5 pounds meat. Should I half all the wet ingredients? I have no problem having extra sauce, I just don’t want it to affect the cooking of the meat.
Thanks!
Kate says
Hi! I wouldn’t cut the liquid portion in half because you usually need 1 cup of liquid for the IP to reach pressure. However, you will need to reduce the cooking time. I haven’t tested it with 1.5 pounds of meat, but I would reduce the cooking time to 20 minutes.
Jeremiah says
Just made it with 1lb meat. 30 minutes high pressure, 15 minutes natural release. Perfection!
Kate says
Thank you for sharing that!
Dianne says
Hi this looks great. Any idea what changes would have to be made to use a couple pounds of ground beef as the protein? Thanks.
Kate says
Hi! Thank you! I have a non-Instant Pot version that uses ground beeff.
Dianne says
Thanks!
Shari says
This was delicious! Easy and very tasty! Didn’t have Gochujang sauce, just paste and used a tablespoon amount. Added some potato chunks to soak up the yummy sauce. Will make again, great recipe! Thanks!
Kate says
Thank you! The potato sounds like a great addition. =)
Rose says
The only complaint from my family was that I didn’t make enough. The meat was melt in your mouth. I did’t have the sauce, but used chili flakes with excellent result.
Kate says
I’m glad that it was a hit! =)
Tamara says
This was a bit, no leftovers.
Kate says
I’m so glad that it was a hit! =)
Kelly says
We made this recipe exactly as written. We made extra sauce and stir fried some vegetables and served with rice. It was so delicious. It will be in our regular rotation. My husband made it at work and all of the firemen loved it and some are going to be purchasing their very own Pressure cooker so they can make this recipe. Thank you!
Kate says
Yay!! I’m so glad to hear that! Thank you for commenting!
Natalie says
THis was delcious and it’ s a hit with my family. Thanks for the recipe!
Kate says
Thank you so much!
Michelle says
Hi Kate, If I’ve only got Gojuchang paste, is there a way to thin it into sauce? Maybe by adding water and soy sauce to it? I always have the paste on hand, but haven’t seen the sauce very much in local supermarkets? Thanks for the tip!
Kate says
Hi! There is! You can add rice vinegar, a bit of sesame oil, garlic, and sugar (to taste) to make a good substitute for the sauce. Hope that helps!
Russell says
Trying this recipe tonight. Does it really take 40 minutes to cook? Seems like a very long time for an InstaPot. I’d think it would be half that time in a pressure cooker.
Kate says
The cooking time in an an electric pressure cooker is determined by the weight of the meat, and it does take that long to cook.
Frank says
Do you have a source for this? Because I have never heard this before and to me it makes no sense to me that it should be the case. The thickness of the meat is relevant just as it is in an oven. but the amount of diced meat is irrevellant. that is like saying the amount of pasta you put into a pot of boiling water changes the cooking time. The combined amount of stuff will change how long it takes to get to pressure as there are more stuff to heat up. but that is it.
This is not to bash on you but I am almost 100% sure that you are wrong about this and I just want to help you avoid future issues with cooking time.
But I do agree with the time here. a good rule of thumb is that pressure cooking takes between 1/4 and 1/3 the time to cook. and roast chuck like this would usually be simmering 2-4 hours on the stove top.
Kate says
Yes, I do. You can see the recommended cooking times on the Instant Pot page. The times are listed by type of meat, cut, and almost every recommended time is given as minutes per pound. For example, the recommended cooking time for beef in small chunks is 15-20 minutes per pound.
I tried out several variations on the cooking and pressure release times and found that the combination given in the recipe worked best.
KC says
Okay, not happening with soy sauce. Could I substitute 1/2 cup coconut aminos instead???
Also, I could just buy stew meat and use that, right?
Thanks for your help, I’ve been wanting to try a Korean dish in the IP for a while.! Love my IP but I am NOT a cook so it’s all a challenge for me…
Kate says
I think so! You may find that you need to adjust the brown sugar according to taste because the coconut aminos are going to be a bit sweeter than soy sauce. However, I think that as long as you keep the ratios for the liquid, you should be fine. Yes, you could use stew meat. Hope that helps!
Alyssa says
I see in the picture both scallions and sesame seeds but those items are not listed in the recipe. If I used those ingredients how much would I use and when would I add them?
Kate says
Hi! They are both used as garnishes, so you can add them to taste.
Gretel says
Hi there. I made this last night. The flavour is great, but the beef came out super dry. It was flaky, but hard to chew. Do you think the recipe would be better if the beef was browned first to keep the juices in? I used two pounds of beef – is the problem that I should have cooked for less time? I’d love to try this again with an adjustment that might have it come out nicer.
Kate says
Hi! I’ve tried browning the beef, and it didn’t change the flavor/texture of the finished dish. I’m sure that it was because of the cooking time as the cooking time is based on the weight of the beef. So if you use two pounds of beef, you would need to decrease the cooking time accordingly. I hope that helps for next time!
Gretel says
Thanks. I had read somewhere that when you cook more volume, you don’t necessarily increase cooking time, so I assume it worked in reverse as well. How many minutes would you suggest for 2 lbs of beef in this recipe? trying to learn how to calibrate myself for future.
Seth Lassman says
Awesome! I could tell it was going to be great before I pushed any buttons!
I upped the sesame oil and rice vinegar to quarter cups. And of course used gochujang paste. ??
Added a few dashes of fish sauce and subbed in a miso ginger broth instead of beef. Removed the meat at the end and cooked down the sauce for a while.
Served over a simple cauliflower fried rice (cauli, egg, soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds) with some sauteed garlicky bok choy and garnished with cashews. Outstanding!
Kate says
I’m so glad that you liked it! =)
Elaine says
This looks really good and I’d like to try it. If I only have the paste, do you have a recommendation on how to convert it to sauce?
Elaine says
And thank you. :)
Kate says
You’re very welcome! =)
Kate says
Thank you! The sauce is basically the paste + rice vinegar + an oil (usually sesame) + a sweetener. You can use less of the paste (depending on how much heat you’re looking for), and you should be fine. I would start off with, maybe, 1-2 teaspoons of paste and then add in more as needed. Hope that helps! =)
Anastasia says
I just got an Instant Pot last week and have been testing new recipes with it. This was SO DELICIOUS!!
Kate says
Thank you so much!
Iza says
My family and I enjoyed this recipe. Very simple and the meat came out perfect. I substituted the rice vinegar with apple cider vinegar and added corn starch to thicken up the sauce at the end. Will definitely make again. Thank you for sharing this!
Kate says
Thank you! I’m glad that it turned out well for you!
Jenn says
This was a huge hit at my house! I marinated the meat while it defrosted in bulgogi sauce before cooking in the instant pot. The meat was so flavorful and tender.
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad that it was a hit!
TripletsMum says
I followed the recipe to a T yet mine came out very runny/watery. Still tastes good but the overall texture wasn’t what I hope for.
Kate says
Hi! Some roasts seems to put off more liquid than others, but an easy way to fix a thin sauce is to add a couple tablespoons of cornstarch to the sauce and then saute for a minute or two until it thickens up. Hope that helps for next time!
Rose says
I got a burn notice halfway through the cook time and had to turn it off. Meat was cooked but really tough. :( I’m suspecting that this isn’t enough liquid and will add more broth next time.
Kate says
I’ve never experienced anything like that, nor had anyone else report that. The meat was tough because it wasn’t finished cooking, and that type of meat has to break down as it cooks. Feel free to add more liquid if you prefer, but I would also check other things like your sealing ring.