How to cook beef shin in the instant pot. The ultimate guide to cooking with beef shin and how to transform shin into an amazing meal in the instant pot pressure cooker.
Our instant pot beef shin was originally shared on Recipe This in early 2017. This is the updated version with more photos and even better recipe information.
Beef Shin
It was my wonderful chef husband Dominic that first introduced me to beef shin.
We hadn’t been living in Portugal long, it was our first winter here and he came back with these big portions of beef when doing the weekly grocery shop.
I just assumed it was regular braising beef, but he told me it was beef shin and that I must make beef shin in the slow cooker.
I did and fell in love with beef shin.
It then became my go to winter meat that I would buy whenever it was on sale.
Normally, we will get a big batch of beef shin at Christmas when it is on sale, load into the freezer and save for later.
Quite often, that will be a trolley full of beef shin, as we love it that much.
I notice that there is not enough people talking about how amazing beef shin is and wanted to share with you just how much I love beef shin and why you should be cooking it in your instant pot or slow cooker.
What Is Beef Shin?
Beef shin is cut from the shank of the cow or more specifically taken from the lower leg of the steer.
Because the shin is active, it needs a slow cook, or a pressure cook otherwise it will be an overly tough piece of meat.
Beef shin is also boneless and sold in a similar shape and size to the beef fillet.
- What does beef shin taste like? Beef shin tastes like a more flavoursome version of braised beef. When slow cooked or pressure cooked it will have the texture of braised but with the taste of silverside.
- What is beef shin good for? Beef shin is ideal for stews, soups, and casseroles. It also shreds well too so you could use it for pulled beef recipes such as tacos and wraps.
- Is beef shin expensive? It can be, depending when you buy it. I see it for sale here in Portugal in the summer at double what the cost is in the winter.
- How to cook beef shin quickly? The pressure cooker is the best option. It will cook shin 4 times as fast as the slow cooker, yet it will come out just as tender as your beloved crockpot.
- What is beef shin called in America? The Americans don’t tend to have beef shin and instead just focus on beef shank. If I wanted to cook beef shin and lived in America, I would look for boneless beef shanks.
- Beef Shin Vs Chuck? Beef shin is a nicer tender cut compared to chuck. If you wanted the next step up from beef chuck for delicious tender meat, then go with shin. Plus, shin has a much better flavour.
- Beef Shin Vs Oxtail? Oxtail used to be the cheaper alternative to beef shin. A similar cut and a similar price point, they both became popular for stews, soups, and casseroles. But over the years with oxtail becoming more and more popular, shin has become the cheaper cut. Both are great cuts of meat and I have both in my freezer as I type this.
- Beef Shin Vs Shank? As the beef shin comes from the same area as the shank, they are very similar. Beef shin is more popular if you want an off the bone meat that you can transform into stews, casseroles and soups, whilst shank is best served on the bone over mashed potatoes.
Beef Shin Recipe Ideas?
If you are looking for some different ways to cook beef shin, then here are a few ways we do beef shin in the Milner house:
- Beef Shin Diced – Dice your beef shin like you would for a beef stew. It will taste better than your regular beef shin and is an easy prep option. You can freeze beef shin in big chunks and then dice it later or vice versa.
- Beef Shin For Stew – To make a stew you can cook the beef shin whole or dice before cooking. If you cook it whole it will be amazing and as you put your fork through it, it will fall apart. Think of it as the British alternative to beef pot roast.
- Beef Shin For Soup – Chop beef shin into chunks and load into the instant pot. Add in favourite vegetables and potatoes and a beef bone broth and you have a yummy beef shin soup.
Or one of my favourite beef shin recipes is our instant pot Tuscan beef stew.
Beef Shin Recipe Ingredients
The beef shin recipe ingredients depend on what you plan to cook with your beef shin. If you want to make a beef shin soup or a beef shin stew, then I recommend the following:
- Beef Shin – You can get it from your local butchers. Many will order extra in if you ask, them can you load it into the freezer for when you need it.
- Potatoes – I love either baby potatoes or larger potatoes that are peeled and diced. When your beef shin recipe is done you can blend a couple of the potatoes as a natural thickener instead of gravy granules.
- Vegetables – Root vegetables work best because they require a longer cook time and don’t got to mush when cooked with your shin. I love parsnips, carrots, celery, and swede the most, in my beef shin stew.
- Bone Broth – I prefer to use beef bone broth as it has a much better flavour and is so good for you. The company I recommend for this is Kettle & Fire and they deliver to your door.
How To Cook Shin Of Beef?
Here are the main steps for cooking beef shin:
- Prep ingredients.
- Season beef shin with salt and pepper.
- Sauté an onion.
- Brown beef shin + deglaze with red wine.
- Load in ingredients + pressure cook.
- Stir + eat.
How Long To Cook Beef Shin?
The beef shin cooking time is JUST an hour. Though this is based on instant pot beef shin and not slow cooker beef shin.
To cook slow cooker beef shin, the recommended cook time would be 4 hours on high or 7 hours on low.
How To Cook Beef Shin In The Instant Pot
Ingredients
Kitchen Gadgets:
Instant Pot Beef Shin Ingredients:
- 750 g Beef Shin
- 4 Medium Potatoes
- 4 Medium Carrots
- 3 Celery Sticks
- 750 ml Beef Bone Broth
- 150 ml Red Wine
- 1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 Tsp Garlic Puree
- 1 Tbsp Bouquet Garni
- 1 Tbsp Parsley
- Salt & Pepper
Instructions
- Peel and slice your onion, slice and clean your celery and sauté in the instant pot with extra virgin olive oil. Load into the instant pot your beef shin and season in salt and pepper before browning on all sides. Deglaze with red wine. Cancel the instant pot sauté.
- Peel and dice your potatoes and vegetables and load into the instant pot. Add in beef bone broth and seasoning. Stir well.
- Place the lid on the instant pot, set the valve to sealing and cook for 60 minutes on meat and stew. Allow for 5 minutes natural pressure release before releasing pressure. Load into stew bowls and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
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I was wondering if potatoes and carrots won’t overcook if you cook them on high pressure for 1 hour?
Hi Veronika
The potatoes and carrots will become soft but we chopped them into large chunks so they do not turn to mush.
Hope this helps.
Kind Regards
Dom
I have been cooking beef shin now for a couple of years from a personal discovery of type of meats another is a hand of pork inexpensive and again a slow cooked meat. Slow cooked meats have more flavour than the well know cuts, beef brisket is one one the more well know cuts. I’m lucky whereby I found a local butcher who has these little known cuts of meat so it’s been such a great discovery and re-using a pressure cooker which is something I stop using years ago but realising I have more time such use as steam pudding to name a few.
I just like to say a big thank you for your post on using this cut of beef in a pressure cooker!