A warm and cozy meal of cube steaks and gravy. Make it in your Instant Pot or your Crockpot.
How to make cube steaks in the Instant Pot
This is a basic recipe for cube steak in the Instant Pot or the Crockpot. It’s simple but tastes delicious! Greg said, “this reminds me of the 80s.” Haha! I’m sure both of our moms made this meal when we were growing up. We served our cube steaks and gravy over mashed potatoes (you can cook the potatoes at the same time!). Another idea is to serve the cubed steak over buttered egg noodles.
What is cube steak?
Sometimes you’ll pick up a package of what you think is ground beef and realize it’s cube steak! It looks a lot the same. The steak has a waffled surface that looks a lot like ground meat. Cube steak is also called cubed steak or minute steak. It is taken from the top or bottom round and it is pounded with a meat tenderizer to give it its unique appearance.
How to get cube steak tender?
Cube steak is easy to get tender when you use your Instant Pot or Crockpot. Slowly braising the meat leads to the breaking down of the collagen and fork tender meat. You’ll want to make sure to cook the meat long enough to break down. And for the Instant Pot you’ll want to use a natural pressure release.
Ingredients/Substitution Ideas
- Olive oil–or another type of oil to sauté the onions in
- Onion–I sliced the onion in half and then cut into thin slices
- Water–or beef stock
- Cubed steaks
- Onion soup mix–or make your own
- Cornstarch–or arrowroot or flour
- Garlic powder
- Onion powder
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
- Potatoes–these are optional. I cooked the potatoes for mashed potatoes on top of the steaks with a tall trivet*.
Steps
Making cube steak in the Instant Pot is easy! It cooks in about 20 minutes and gets ultra tender. The basic steps of this recipe are:
- Sauté onion in a little oil using the sauté (“more”) setting.
- Season the cube steaks. If you’d like to add more color and flavor you can sear the steaks for a couple minutes on each side using the sauté setting.
- Pressure cook the steaks for 20 minutes with a 10 minute (or more) natural pressure release.
- Thicken the gravy with a cornstarch slurry.
- Season to taste. Serve the steaks with gravy over noodles or mashed potatoes.
Notes/Tips
- Serve with egg noodles or mashed potatoes. Serve alongside a side of vegetables like broccoli or asparagus.
- I used my 6 quart Instant Pot*. You can also make this in a 3 or 8 quart pot.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container* in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Other recipes you can make with onion soup mix are Instant Pot Magic Beef and Instant Pot 3-Ingredient Chicken and Gravy.
- If you’d like you can cook potatoes for mashed potatoes at the same time. Place a tall trivet in the pot around the cubed steaks. Place potatoes on top of the trivet. I used medium red potatoes. If you’re using large potatoes cut them into halves so they can cook through. After the cooking time is up move the potatoes to a bowl and mash. Stir in butter, milk and salt and pepper to taste.
5 More Instant Pot Beef Recipes To Try…
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Instant Pot Midwest Pepper Steak
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Instant Pot Hobo Hotdish
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Did you know you can filter the recipes on my website to search by meat type, IP or Crockpot, low carb, gluten free, etc.? Use the filter to find exactly what you are looking for.
Print
Cubed Steaks with Gravy (Instant Pot/Crockpot)
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes (plus 10 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
Description
A warm and cozy meal of cube steaks and gravy. Make it in your Instant Pot or your Crockpot.
Ingredients
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 onion, sliced
- 2 cups water
- 1–2 pounds of cube steaks
- 1 pouch of onion soup mix
- 2 Tbsp cornstarch
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- Optional–potatoes (to make mashed potatoes)
Instructions
Instant Pot Instructions:
- Turn Instant Pot to sauté setting. When display says HOT add in the oil and the onions. Sauté for about 3-4 minutes.
- Pour in the water and scrape bottom of pot so nothing is sticking. Turn off Instant Pot.
- Press the onion soup mix all over the cubed steaks. Place the steaks into the Instant Pot.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 20 minutes. When time is up let the pot sit for at least 10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Turn Instant Pot to sauté setting. Stir together 2 Tbsp of cornstarch with 2 Tbsp of water and until smooth. Stir the mixture into the pot and let the gravy thicken for a minute or so. Stir in the garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Season to taste.
- Turn off Instant Pot. Serve cubed steaks with gravy over mashed potatoes or egg noodles.
Slow Cooker Instructions:
- Add onions, water into slow cooker.
- Press the onion soup mix all over the cubed steaks. Place the steaks into the slow cooker.
- Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or until steaks are tender.
- Turn slow cooker to high. Stir together 2 Tbsp of cornstarch with 2 Tbsp of water and until smooth. Stir the mixture into the slow cooker. Stir in the garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Season to taste. Let the cornstarch thicken the gravy for about 10-20 minutes.
- Serve cubed steaks with gravy over mashed potatoes or egg noodles.
Notes
If you’d like you can cook potatoes for mashed potatoes at the same time. Place a tall trivet in the pot around the cubed steaks. Place potatoes on top of the trivet. I used medium red potatoes. If you’re using large potatoes cut them into halves so they can cook through. After the cooking time is up move the potatoes to a bowl and mash. Stir in butter, milk and salt and pepper to taste.
- Category: Beef
- Method: Instant Pot or Slow Cooker
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
This was so easy and delicious. I added small yellow round potatoes on a trivet like was suggested. Everything came out perfect. The most time consuming thing was slicing an onion. I only made 2 cubed steaks and I think the next time I will only use 1 cup of water because it made a ton of gravy!
★★★★★
Ok good plan!
Love your recipes and the fact you are sharing them only proves an old time comfort. Cooking and serving food heals more than a desire to eat! Cooking is an emotional exercise that heals our emotional wounds and gives us a much needed Big Hug.
★★★★★
I agree 100%!
Can you cook pork cubed steak the same way? I lightly bread it in flour, egg& bread crumbs after I have marinated in lemon juice for awhile. It’s the closest thing I have been able to make that resembles German Schnitzel. We lived in Germany from 1967-71 and after over 50 years I still miss my brots mit Brochen, Pom frits and Wiener schnitzel!! If you or your readers have any good German recipes, I would be a very happy soul indeed
I am not sure! I haven’t tried that. Those German foods sound so good!!
Can I use a frozen cube steak? And if so, how much time would I add?
Thanks for any advice!
Sure, I would just add 2 minutes
I can’t wait to try this!!!! So if I don’t have potatoes it would still be the same cooking time?
★★★★★
Yep that’s right 🙂
Thanks!!!!!! I can’t wait!
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Also, I wanted to thank you. I am not that great of a cook and right now I am going through a pretty horrible situation right now so I am trying to get through it by cooking. If I didn’t have my instant pot and air fryer, I don’t know how well I would do. The recipes you have are so easy and wonderful and I feel more confident now even though I am not using my oven or stove. Thanks so very much for helping me.
I can’t wait to try this. Everything I have tried has been very good.
To the person going through a difficult time. I will keep you in my prayers. I have used cooking and baking as therapy for many years. My best to you. Keep cooking.
I hope you get through the hard times! I’m sorry for whatever you’re facing! Keep your chin up and keep cooking 🙂