Instant Pot Ground Beef

Name: Instant Pot Ground Beef
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 23 min
Total time: 28 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1-2 lbs. frozen ground beef; 1 – 1 1/2 cups water (for the bottom of the Instant Pot (needed to come to pressure).

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Have you ever forgotten to pull your ground beef from the freezer in time for dinner? Use this quick & easy, hands-off method for Instant Pot Ground Beef to save your meal plan and get dinner on the table! Perfect for making tacos or my homemade hamburger helper!

Got frozen ground beef? Easily cook ground beef perfectly in the Instant Pot for all of your favorite ground beef recipes on your meal plan.

Everything You Need to Know About Instant Pot Ground Beef

1. Ingredients Needed for Instant Pot Ground Beef

2. How to Cook Frozen Ground Beef in the Instant Pot

3. Tips for Making Instant Pot Ground Beef

4. FAQs for Instant Pot Ground Beef

5. Instant Pot Ground Beef

Have you ever forgotten to pull the meat out of the freezer for dinner, but you didn’t realize it until it was already too late?

Me too!

I have a few “back pocket” types of recipes when that happens, like Instant Pot frozen chicken breast, 30 minute cashew chicken, or 15 minute Italian meatballs.

But I know the real problem is me, and I’ve been working really hard to stack the habit of “thawing meat” with “kitchen clean-up,” because I’ll never forget to clean the kitchen, but I can EASILY forget to thaw the meat, LOL.

I tend to forget though on the nights when things get a bit out of order, like Wednesdays when my husband cleans up while I take the kids to youth group. I don’t realize it until Thursday though when I’m stuck at the last minute trying to either get my meat to thaw, or come up with a Plan B for dinner!

If this is you, know that you are not alone and that you can make Instant Pot Ground Beef from FROZEN in under 30 minutes!

A wooden spoon full of freshly cooked ground beef in the Instant Pot.

Ingredients Needed for Instant Pot Ground Beef

1-2 lbs. frozen ground beef
1 – 1 1/2 cups water (for the bottom of the Instant Pot – needed to come to pressure).

How to Cook Frozen Ground Beef in the Instant Pot

Step 1. Measure 1 cup of water (for a 6 quart IP) or 1 ½ cups of water (for an 8 quart IP) into the Instant Pot.

Two pounds of frozen ground beef on a trivet inside of an Instant Pot ready to be cooked.

Step 2. Place the trivet in the Instant Pot, and 1-2 lbs. frozen ground beef on top of the trivet. Make sure you’ve removed all packing material from the ground beef!

Two pounds of fully cooked ground beef inside of the instant pot.

Step 3. Cook on HIGH pressure for 20 minutes for 1 lb., 23 minutes for 2 lbs. Let the pressure release naturally for at least 5 minutes (longer is fine too). Turn the pressure release valve to release the remaining pressure.

Step 4. Use a potato masher to break up the ground beef and use in your favorite ground beef recipes!

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A potato masher is used to break up perfectly cooked ground beef from the Instant Pot.

Tips for Making Instant Pot Ground Beef

This works best with ground beef that is about 1” thick.
If your ground beef is thicker, or shaped in a tube, use a meat thermometer to make sure the internal temperature reaches 160F.

A white serving dish with freshly cooked ground beef from the Instant Pot. Garnished with chopped scallions and ready to be used in your favorite recipes.

FAQs for Instant Pot Ground Beef

How do you cook ground beef in a pressure cooker?

Just follow this super simple recipe, and you’ll have perfectly cooked ground beef in less than a half hour. It’s hands-off and super convenient to cook it from frozen – ideal for those days that you forgot to pull the meat from the freezer!

Do you need to brown ground beef before pressure cooking?

No, you don’t need to brown the ground beef before cooking it in the Instant Pot. In fact, this ground beef recipe is designed to be cooked from frozen! It’s quick, easy and convenient!

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