
Welcome to my latest Instant Pot recipe and today is another delicious frugal recipe that is so easy to make in the Instant Pot – otherwise known as my Instant Pot Beef Stew Scraps & Parsley Dumplings.
Full of amazing flavours, easy on the wallet and you will be fighting over who gets the last dumpling.
No matter what age range you are, everyone loves beef stew and dumplings. That lovely aroma of beef in your kitchen along with moist winter dumplings is the kind of thing those family dinners is all about.
But these days braising steak is getting more and more expensive and is no longer super cheap like it used to be when I was growing up.
Therefore my solution is a beef scraps beef stew. This may sound really strange so let me explain via two different stories how this came about.
The British Chippy
I have never made no secret of the fact that I am a Yorkshire girl and how many of my favourite food experiences have all been about growing up in the North of England.
This is why we have recipes for toad in the hole, Yorkshire pudding on Recipe This.
Growing up I would go to the fish and chip shop. Unlike the people around me that would always have fish and chips, I always wanted the same. It was chips, scraps and onion gravy.
It was delicious and scraps was basically the batter that had fallen from the fish that you could get for free. I loved it and would be heartbroken if they didn’t have any.
Outside of Yorkshire the chippy would never have any and I would be gutted!
My grandparents always found that amusing as they shouldn’t understand why I never wanted any fish and would always offer to buy me some.
This was my first use of leftovers and how something that fell off the fish could be so useful.
The Cheap Fishcakes
Another use of scraps for me would be the fish scraps. I would go to the local fishmongers and take the rubbish they didn’t want anymore.
It would cost me 20% of what cheap white fish would. I could then take it home with me to make delicious homemade fishcakes.
It would actually work out so frugal that I could do 20 fishcakes for less than £2 for the lot. This of course included all the seasonings and the potatoes that they were mixed with.
Both of these stories are part of how I learned to be frugal with food and how we should all embrace frugal cooking, whether we need to or not.
So back to this recipe for my beef scraps stew. The idea here is that whenever there is a really cheap cut of meat for sale at the supermarket that you buy it.
You then do this on a regular basis until you have a good selection in your freezer.
Then you use bits from each set to make a beef stew just made from the scraps that are leftover. You might have some braising steak, cheap steak cuts, beef livers or even some shin.
It is then incorporated together to become a cheap beef stew and because it is cooked in the Instant Pot it all becomes really tender without feeling like you have missed out.
Then serve it with dumplings that are made from scratch and cost very little to make and you have the dream frugal dinner!
Of course you could just buy some braising beef but I think this recipe is so much more fun. Plus over dinner you can all talk about how cheap your meal was and how proud you are of your money saving methods.
More Beef Recipes In The Instant Pot
- Instant Pot Irish Beef Stew
- Instant Pot Easy Meatloaf
- Instant Pot Philly Steak Sandwich
- Instant Pot Sloppy Joes
- Instant Pot Beef Green Bean Stir Fry
- How To Cook Beef Stew In The Instant Pot
- How To Cook Beef Brisket In The Instant Pot
Instant Pot Beef Stew Scraps & Parsley Dumplings
Ingredients
- Instant Pot Duo
- 300 g Mixed Beef
- 1 Large Onion peeled and diced
- 3 Large Carrots
- 3 Large Potatoes
- 100 ml Red Wine
- 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 175 g Self Raising Flour
- 25 g Butter
- 1 Tsp Mustard
- 1 Tbsp Parsley
- 1 Large Egg
- 30 ml Whole Milk
- 1 Tbsp Rosemary
- 1 Tbsp Thyme
- 1 Tbsp Mixed Herbs
- 1 Tbsp Parsley
- 2 Beef Stock Cubes
- Salt & Pepper
Instructions
- In your Instant Pot add your diced onion, olive oil and place on the sauté setting. Season with salt and pepper. Sauté your onion until it has gone nice and tender.
- Peel and your carrots and potatoes and dice. Put to one side.
- Dice your beef and remove any excess fat.
- Add the beef to your Instant Pot along with your OXO cubes, salt and pepper and mix well. Allow your beef to brown a little. Season your pot with the thyme, rosemary and mixed herbs, throw in all your vegetables and mix well.
- Add to the Instant Pot ½ litre of warm water.
- Add the red wine and mix well.
- Season one last time with salt and pepper.
- Place the lid on your Instant Pot and cook for 45 minutes on the meat and stew setting.
- While your beef stew is cooking make your dumplings. In a mixing bowl add the flour, butter, mustard and parsley. Mix well. Rub the fat into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add an egg and mix well with your hands. Add a little milk at a time until the mixture resembles a soft dough. Make into dumpling balls.
- When the Instant Pot beeps manually move the valve, allow the steam out and remove the lid.
- Stir your stew, add your dumplings to the top and cook for a further 15 minutes on the same setting.
- Move the valve and allow the steam to leave the Instant Pot again and take the lid off.
- Serve with warm crusty bread.
Notes
Nutrition
Where To Source Your Mixed Beef To Make Instant Pot Beef Stew Scraps & Parsley Dumplings:


Instant Pot Recipes – The Outtakes
Dom: What are we having with all these different meats?
Sam: Cheap beef stew!
Dom: Well it would have to be cheap with all these meats!
Sam: True. But I bet it will taste just as good as braising in the Instant Pot!!!
Just made this! My husband said it was the best beef stew or stew-like dish he has ever had! Definitely a keeper. I added 2 cons-mate tomato cubes to the pot. So delish!!
Made this for supper tonite. (Added some celery and mushrooms that were kicking around in the fridge). The family LOVED it – there were NO leftovers! Dumplings were excellent. Thanks for the great recipe.
Glad your family enjoyed it Gail 🙂
I want to make stews & dumplings. I,m not sure how to cook the dumplings – after the stew is done can I add more liiquid, thicken it for more gravey & add my dumplings when the gravy comes to a simmer & just cover the pot woth tin foil for the required time (my recipe). My dumplings didn,t come out well when I tried them in my old pressure cooker. Does the pot get hot enough to get the gravy simmering so I can drop the dumplings on top,cover with foil & cook for 12 min?
Hi Cleone,
Thank you for your comment.
We added our dumplings after the instant pot had cooked our stew for 45 minutes. Then we added the dumplings and put the instant pot on for a further 15 minutes and the dumplings turned out ok for us. I hope this helps.
Kind Regards
Sam
X
How do you get gravy ? There is no flour in the liquid. Thanks.
Hi, is this recipe using the pressure king pro? I’ve never cooked a stew in there and I’m thinking this would be the perfect recipe, however I’m conscious on timing.
Thanks
Hi Jess,
No its using the instant pot, but both electric pressure cookers are very similar so you shouldn’t have any problems.
Kind regards
Sam
X
I really enjoyed this recipe and am still amused I haven’t purchased an instant pot earlier. I made some changes but only due to personal preference on the taste/texture I was looking for. I added some 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp of sugar and increased the parsley to 2-3 T to the dumplings and then garlic, worchestershire, mushrooms, celery and a bit more water but then also did a corn starch slurry to thicken it. I also added the veggies about 20 min in only because I like them a little more firm. I also decreased the dumpling cooking time to 10 min as I like them alittle more fluffy than dense.