Instant Pot Honey Garlic Beef—an easy dump and go recipe for tender bites of beef with a sweet and savory sauce.
Note: You can make this in the SLOW COOKER. The instructions are listed in the recipe card below.

Instant Pot Honey Garlic Beef
This is an easy and delicious recipe for Instant Pot Honey Garlic Beef that’s made with just 8 ingredients in one pot. This dish is perfect for busy weeknights, and cleanup is a breeze because everything goes into the Instant Pot! You’ll love the sticky honey garlic sauce! You can even make rice at the same time in the same pot, if you’d like.
Ingredients/Substitution Ideas
I used a 6 quart Instant Pot*. You can also make this in a 3 quart Instant Pot with no changes.
For the beef and sauce:
- Beef stew meat–or you can cut a beef roast (like chuck or rump roast) into bite size pieces
- Low sodium soy sauce–I like using low sodium so it doesn’t have too much salt. You can also use tamari sauce. If you want to make this recipe gluten-free use a gluten-free soy sauce or tamari sauce.
- Water–to help bring the pot to pressure
- Minced garlic–jarred or fresh. When using fresh garlic cloves I like to use a garlic press*.
- Gingerroot–I like to use a microplane* or small grater to grate frozen ginger. I store leftover gingerroot wrapped in foil in my freezer. You don’t even need to peel it!
- Chili flakes–for a little bit of heat. If you don’t like spice then use less or use black pepper instead.
- Honey–I used 4 tablespoons but you can use up to 6 tablespoons, depending how sweet you like your sauce.
- Cornstarch–to thicken the sauce.
- Green onions and sesame seeds–for garnish
For optional pot-in-pot rice
- Water
- Converted or long grain white rice
- Pot-in-pot dish*
- Trivet*
Instructions
- Add ingredients: add beef, soy sauce, water, garlic, ginger and chili flakes into Instant Pot.
- Pot-in-pot rice: add water and rice into a pot-in-pot dish* and cover. Place a long legged trivet* into the Instant Pot and then place the rice dish on top of the trivet.
- Pressure cook: 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 pressure release naturally for 15 minutes (this will help the meat be ultra tender). Remove the lid and carefully remove the rice pan and trivet and set aside.
- Thicken: Stir in the honey. Turn Instant Pot to sauté setting. Thicken the sauce by making a cornstarch slurry. Stir together 2-3 Tbsp of cornstarch with 4 Tbsp of water. Stir the mixture into the Instant Pot. When sauce has thickened turn off the Instant Pot.
- Serve beef and sauce over rice and garnish with green onions and sesame seeds.
- For extra flavor: If you’d like you can brown the beef before pressure cooking. Pat the beef dry with paper towels. Add in a teaspoon or 2 of vegetable oil into the Instant Pot on the sauté setting or on the stove in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add in the beef and let brown for a couple minutes on each side and flip with tongs. Deglaze the pot with the water and soy sauce before proceeding on with the recipe.
- Prep the night before for convenience and for a marinade effect on the meat. Perform step 1 and stick the Instant Pot liner (cover with foil or a lid) in the refrigerator. Then when you’re ready to cook the following day go on with the recipe.
- To make in the slow cooker: Add beef, soy sauce, water, garlic, ginger, chili and honey to slow cooker. Stir well. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours. Make a cornstarch slurry with cornstarch and water and stir into the slow cooker. Cook on high without the lid until sauce has thickened.

Video
Subscribe to my Instant Pot YouTube channel! Watch how to make Instant Pot honey garlic beef recipe with pot-in-pot rice:
What is pot-in-pot cooking?
The Instant Pot pot-in-pot (PIP) cooking method is cooking food in a separate dish that’s placed on a trivet inside your Instant Pot liner. Steam is created from liquid below the trivet and builds pressure to cook the food.
In today’s recipe I cook the beef in the bottom of the Instant Pot and then cook rice above the beef in a pot-in-pot dish. I used converted rice but long grain or jasmine rice will also work. Brown rice takes about 22 minutes to pressure cook so it may get done but it might also be a little crunchy still. I haven’t tried it yet so I’m not 100% sure.
What to serve with honey garlic beef
This beef and sauce tastes great served with rice and a side of broccoli or another one of your favorite vegetables like asparagus.
How to store leftovers
Store leftover in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. You can use the pot-in-pot method to reheat leftovers*.
More Asian Inspired Instant Pot Recipes…
Instant Pot Better Than Takeout Chicken Lo Mein
Instant Pot Panda Express Beijing Beef
Instant Pot “Eggcellent” Drop Soup
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.

Want More Tried And True Instant Pot Recipes?
- Sign up to receive daily Instant Pot recipes (it’s FREE)
- Join the 365 Days of Instant Pot Recipes Facebook group
- Subscribe to my YouTube channel
- Buy the 365 Days of Pressure Cooking Cookbook

Instant Pot Honey Garlic Beef
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes (plus 15 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
An easy dump and go recipe for tender bites of beef with a sweet and savory sauce.
Ingredients
For the beef and sauce:
- 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of beef stew meat
- 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 6 Tbsp water
- 2 Tbsp minced garlic
- 2 tsp grated gingerroot
- 1/4 to 1/2 tsp chili flakes
- 4 to 6 Tbsp of honey
- 2 to 3 Tbsp of cornstarch
- Green onions and sesame seeds, for garnish
For optional pot-in-pot rice
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 cup converted or long grain white rice
Instructions
- Add beef, soy sauce, water, garlic, ginger and chili flakes into Instant Pot.
- If making pot-in-pot rice: add water and rice into a pot-in-pot dish and cover. Place a long legged trivet into the Instant Pot and then place the rice dish on top of the trivet.
- 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 pressure release naturally for 15 minutes. Remove the lid and carefully remove the rice pan and trivet and set aside.
- Stir in the honey. Turn Instant Pot to sauté setting. Thicken the sauce by making a cornstarch slurry. Stir together 2-3 Tbsp of cornstarch with 4 Tbsp of water. Stir the mixture into the Instant Pot. When sauce has thickened turn off the Instant Pot.
- Serve beef and sauce over rice and garnish with green onions and sesame seeds.
Notes
To make in the slow cooker: Add beef, soy sauce, water, garlic, ginger, chili and honey to slow cooker. Stir well. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Make a cornstarch slurry with cornstarch and water and stir into the slow cooker. Cook on high without the lid until sauce has thickened.
- 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.
If I’m cooking just the beef without the rice is the cook time the same ?
Thanks
yes
Thank you 😊!
★★★★★
If I wanted to add broccoli should i add it raw and when…..thank you
Broccoli will turn to mush if you pressure cook it with this so I would add it in already cooked or partially cooked after the pressure cooking time is up when you do the cornstarch slurry.
Thank you…I neglected to mention I was using the slow cooker option…but I think if I par-cook it and add at the end as you mentioned it should work out ok….smells delicious!!
★★★★★
I pressure cooked for 15 min and NR 15 min. Then I stirred in slurry and add in broccoli on sauté until thick sauce and broccoli the way we like it. It was perfect! Thank you!
★★★★★
Nice! Thanks for the 5 stars.
This recipe turned out great! Very tender beef and a delicikous sauce with the rice. We will make this one again.
★★★★★
Thanks for the 5 stars Kathleen!
I have the DUO60 7 in 1 functions
Well that went down well!
Thanks Lance!
Hi Karen,
Love all your recipes! I’m hoping you can help me with some things? When i cook my brown rice it seems to take longer than 22 min….not sure why and why do you sometimes cook rice with a lid and other times without? Does this affect the time it needs to cook?
Thank you for all that you do!
Maybe this advice will help? If you’re just cooking the rice by itself it will probably take 22 minutes. There is time that it takes to come to pressure about 10 minutes and then 22 minutes of cooking and then 10 more minutes for the natural pressure release.
Sometimes if the pot is already hot from browning meat or sautéing veg it will come to pressure quicker because it’s already hot. So the rice doesn’t get that 10 minute build up time. So you may want to increase pressure cooking time to 27 minutes in this case.
I’ve increased my time and i find its still a little crunchy. Should i maybe soak it for a few min before cooking?
Thanks
Yes that might help. How much water per rice are you adding?
I use 1 c. brown rice with 1 1/2 c. water. Cook for 45 min, then NR for 10 min. and a QR for remaining. This is the only way the rice gets done, not sure why. Every recipe I’ve seen says 22 min. for brown rice
Which version of Instant Pot do you have?