Easy Beef Stew with Fennel, in a Pressure Cooker

Pressure-cooked stews are some of the easiest meals to put together. Usually, they are loved by all the family members. I have extensive experience cooking for a family whose members eat different diets. Stews always work for all of them.

This beef stew with fennel is easy to make, hearty, and satisfying even for people who usually need more meat and protein. It’s also easy to combine with millet, steamed broccoli, or a big green salad for more nutrition.

Can you add fennel to beef stew?

Fennel has a sweet, anise, or licorice-like flavor, and it pairs well with beef. I love to add it to my aromatics base when I cook.

Since I started my low histamine diet almost two years ago, I’ve been using a lot of fennel in my recipes because fennel has anti-histamine properties, and is highly nutritious with powerful antioxidant benefits.

This recipe is quick, easy to make, and a great way to prepare a low-histamine beef stew. The cooking time is so much shorter when you cook with a pressure cooker. (long cooking times increase the level of histamine-producing bacteria in animal protein).

An easy weeknight dinner recipe

This beef stew tastes a lot like Boeuf Bourguignon. But it is a much easier meal to put together on a weekday.

If beef Bourguignon is something you would prepare for a festive dinner, for a weekend, or when you have guests, this beef and fennel stew is something you will quickly put together for a weeknight dinner (the first one looks spectacular, the second looks just like a normal family loved meal).

Beef is one of those foods high on the plant paradox food pyramid. That means it’s ok to eat once or twice a week, and it has to be grass-fed and grass-finished. But, if eating beef is alternated with fast mimicking days and intermittent fasting and combined with healthy vegetables, it can be a very nutritious addition to our diets.

Ingredients for the beef stew with fennel recipe

For this beef and fennel stew, you need onions (I used both red and yellow), celery, parsnip, garlic, one big fennel bulb (and the fennel fronds if it has some), and parsley.

You can use water or beef stock. For thickening, in the end, I used a little bit of tapioca flour.

I used 2.5 lbs of beef stew meat, cut into big chunks.

For spices, I used salt, freshly ground black pepper, and a Herbs de Provence spice blend, which usually includes: rosemary, basil, thyme, and oregano.

If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you should get one. It makes life so much easier. I’m at my parents now, and they have a manual one that works perfectly, but an Instant Pot is certainly easier to work with.

Some of you say they are scared of it, which, believe me, I totally understand. I didn’t use my Instant Pot for a month or so after I bought it because I was too scared of it. And the first two times I used it, I didn’t get anywhere close to it. But once you figure out how it works, it will become second nature.

How to make this beef stew with fennel

• Prepare the meat, rinse and pat dry.
• Turn your Instant Pot on the sautéing option and generously cover the bottom with extra virgin olive oil. If you use a normal pressure cooker, heat on medium heat.
• Add the onions, leeks, fennel, celery, and parsnip and sauté for about 10-15 minutes, until the vegetables soften up and become fragrant. Stir well a few times.
• After 15 minutes, add the beef to the pot, and the spices, and sauté for about 10 more minutes, stirring so everything combines well.
• Add the two cups of warm/hot water, cover, and set the pressure cooking timer to 40 minutes.
• In the meantime, if you are serving this stew with millet, start preparing the millet. Wash the millet, add to a pot and cover with x3 times more water and a little bit of salt. You need one cup of raw millet for about four servings. Cook on low heat and occasionally stir until all the water is absorbed. It will take about 20 minutes.
• Back to the pressure cooker; once the time is out, let the pressure release naturally, uncover, and check if the meat is tender. Add the mixture of tapioca and water. Simmer for five minutes until the sauce thickens.
• Finish with chopped parsley.
• Serve the stew with a side of millet and a green salad or steamed broccoli.

Serve with a small side of millet, and add a big green salad or some steamed broccoli for a healthy and nutritious dinner.

More stew recipes

If you enjoy this beef stew with fennel, be sure also to try some of my other stew recipes:

• Creamy Lentil Stew with Winter Vegetables (Lectin-Light, Vegan)
• Lectin-Free Boeuf Bourguignon
• Beef Stew with Parsnips, Turnips and Sunchokes

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Print Recipe

Easy Beef Stew with Fennel, in a Pressure Cooker

(10 votes, average: 4.20 out of 5)

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By Claudia Curici – Serves: 4-5

Prep Time: 20 minutes – Cooking Time: 60 minutes

This beef stew with fennel is easy to make, warming and comforting, and probably a hit with all your family members. A perfect lectin-free weeknight dinner.

Ingredients

• 2.5 lbs stew meat, cut into big chunks
• extra virgin olive oil
• 3 onions, chopped
• 1 leek, chopped
• 1 fennel bulb, chopped
• 1 celery rib, chopped
• 1 parsnip, chopped
• 5-6 garlic cloves, smashed and minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon herbs de Provence
• pepper
• 2 cups warm water (or beef stock)
• 1 tablespoon tapioca + cold water
• fresh parsley
• To make a side of millet: 1 cup raw millet + 3 cups water

Instructions

1

Prepare the meat, rinse and pat dry.

2

Turn your Instant Pot on the sautéing option and generously cover the bottom with extra virgin olive oil. If you use a normal pressure cooker, heat on medium heat.

3

Add the onions, leeks, fennel, celery, and parsnip and sauté for about 10-15 minutes, until the vegetables soften up and become fragrant. Stir well a few times.

4

After 15 minutes, add the meat to the pot, and the spices, and sauté for about 10 more minutes, stirring so everything combines well.

5

Add the two cups of warm/hot water, cover, and set the pressure cooking timer to 40 minutes.

6

In the meantime, start preparing the millet. Wash the millet, add to a pot and cover with x3 times more water and a little bit of salt. You need one cup of raw millet for about four servings. Cook on low heat and occasionally stir until all the water is absorbed. It will take about 20 minutes.

7

Back to the pressure cooker; once the time is out, let the pressure release naturally, uncover and add the mixture of tapioca and water. Simmer for five minutes until the sauce thickens.

8

Finish with chopped parsley.

9

Serve the stew with a side of millet and a green salad or steamed broccoli.

Notes

Eat this meal with some steamed broccoli or a big, green salad.