Hola Mi Gente,
Today I’m coming to you with a recipe that tastes just like home. When we were in Georgia last year, my mom made Carne Guisada for us one night–a Latin American stewed beef, and I knew the moment I saw it that Ben was going to fall in love. It’s a stew with a simple-but-hearty tomato base, with meat that is fall-apart tender. You can dress it up with a little cilantro and avocado if you like, and then serve it over rice– sopping up all the delicious juice with fresh, warm tortillas.
On first glance, this might seem to you like just any other beef stew. However, the fact that this stew is so heavily tomato based, combined with the flavoring power is beef bouillon–a concentrated form of beef umami flavor, and a combination of spices whose home base is in a lot of Latin American cooking–cumin, chili powder, oregano. These give it a flavor profile unlike what you’re used to in a beef stew. It is also a lot thicker than your traditional stews, so it soaks and absorbs into your rice really beautifully.
One of the elements you can most look forward to in this dish, is tender fall-apart meat. The tomatoes in this recipe work their acidic tenderizing magic on your affordable stew meat, so you don’t ever have to worry about getting a headache from chewing on tough meat. And because we sauté the meat beforehand with onions (in the instant pot!) and seasoning, the meat itself is delicious.
On the stovetop this recipe could take you anywhere between 2-3 hours. When I first asked my mom for her recipe, she told me the longer it’s on there, the better it is (for the sake of tender meat). However, I’ve come to know y’all pretty well, and I recognize that we don’t all have 2-3 hours to get dinner on the table, so I started experimenting with an instant pot version, to get us the same results in half the time (less in this case!).
Much to my joy, this is exactly the kind of recipe that thrives in an instant pot. The tomatoes both add flavor AND tenderize the meat at the same time, and having them in there cuts down the amount of time it takes to get our stew meat right where we want it. From start to finish, this recipe takes about 45 minutes (this includes the time it takes for the IP to pressurize). Just manually release the steam at the end, and you have a beautiful Latin American dinner ready in a fraction of the time it would usually take!
A couple of notes about ingredients:
- I like to add in a little bit of sugar to mine. This is totally optional. If you’re doing a round of whole 30 just skip it; it will still be delicious. The reason I add a teaspoon or two of sugar, is that with such a heavy tomato base, it sometimes needs a little bit of sugar to tone down the acidity level. This I leave completely up to you, though. I generally taste when it’s all done, and add in one teaspoon at a time, giving it a generous stir between each tasting, until it’s reached the flavor profile I’m looking for.
I hope this Guisada brings your tastebuds an eye-closing moment of comfort, like it does to me in these long winter months.
Love, love, love,
Instant Pot Carne Guisada
Ingredients
- Oil for Cooking Enough to cover bottom of IP
- 1 Large Onion Diced
- 2 TSP Cumin Plus more as needed
- 1 TSP Chili Powder
- 1 TSP Dried Oregano
- 2 Cubes Beef Buillon
- 2 TBSP Coarse or Kosher Salt Plus more as needed
- 2 LBS Stew Meat
- 1 35 OZ Can Stewed Tomatoes I use Cento San Marzano Tomatoes
- 1 12 OZ Can Tomato Sauce
- 2-3 Sprigs Fresh Thyme
- 2 Large Carrot Stalks Sliced
- 2 Small Potatoes Cubed
- 1 C 1" Green Bean Pieces
- 1-2 TSP Sugar Optional
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot on to Sauté function and add in oil + onion. Sprinkle in beef bouillon, cumin, oregano, chili powder, and salt, sautéing until onion is translucent. Add in meat and cook until fully browned. Drain excess liquid from the meat, and add in the rest of the ingredients, except for the sugar. Cook under the Stew/Meat function on the instant pot for 25 minutes with the vent in the sealed position.
- At the end of the cooking time, release the steam manually and taste the stew. Adjust the seasoning as needed with sugar (to counteract acidity from tomatoes), salt, and adobo seasoning. Serve over rice, and enjoy!
Mary-Beth Johnson
Mary-Beth is a creative, food-obsessed, Georgia transplant living Chicago. She is proudly and fiercely Latina, and more specifically Chapina. In her day to day she is a food educator to students around Chicagoland aged 3 to 80+, both virtually and in-person. She is passionate about cultivating the truth that every person has an understanding of food that deserves being brought to the table, and that time in the kitchen can be sacred, passionate, and an act of love for self and others. Outside the kitchen you can find her at the intersections of infertility, chronic illness, and a deep love for the dignity of all humans. She hopes to create a space that is holistic about the role of food in the social, political, relational, and physiological dynamics of our world.
