Instant Pot Korean Sesame Garlic Beef
These Korean-style beef strips are melt-in-your-mouth tender and super tasty. The delicious marinade with garlic, ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil totally permeates the beef and gives it so much flavor. Plus, it’s cooked in the instant pot so it’s a breeze to make.
I have certainly missed my instant pot! You know why? I didn’t get to use it much at all last year.
Instead, I was heavy into large skillets and woks! I have probably used my reliable wok in 2018 more than a hundred times and that’s no joke. Well, I was writing my cookbook Rice. Noodles. Yum. (Everyone’s Favorite Southeast Asian Dishes) (available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc) pretty much the entire year and most of the recipes there, especially the noodle dishes, called for the use of a wok or a good-size skillet so I had to temporarily shelve my pressure cooker.
I totally enjoyed making each and every dish in that cookbook but now that I’m done, I have decided I need to make more dishes with my instant pot.
So here’s another delicious recipe that can be made so easily in the instant pot.
What I love about this easy Asian dish is that it has all the classic tastes of homestyle Korean cooking all in one dish – with flavors from sesame oil, soy sauce, ginger, garlic – you simply can’t go wrong. It’s an explosion of flavors in your mouth!
Having grown up eating food with the flavors of garlic, ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil – I knew that any marinade made with this combo would be superb in flavor and would make any dish shine.
So, it was a no-brainer to make a beef dish using this combo of flavor.
Inspired by my Korean ground beef recipe (where I used a lot of fresh ginger!) and by a Taste of Home slow cooker Sesame Garlic Beef dish, I decided to adapt both recipes for the instant pot as it’s so convenient and that way I didn’t need to wait for an entire day to make the dish.
And it worked so well! The addition of fresh ginger truly made a lot of difference. My entire family totally gobbled this up and, naturally, this would now be on our rotation and would be served to many friends and guests in the future.
I’m happy to report that friends I have shared this recipe with have totally enjoyed this!
How can you not when it’s not only really tasty – it’s so easy to make! Give it a try and let us know what you think!
CHECK OUT THESE OTHER DELICIOUS RECIPES FOR YOUR INSTANT POT!
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The classic Filipino dish – Chicken Adobo – marinated in vinegar, soy sauce, peppercorns and garlic then cooked in the pressure cooker (instant pot).
INSTANT POT BEEF BURGUNDY
Beef chunks cooked in red wine (burgundy) and flavored with fresh herbs for a deliciously addictive beef stew that comes out melt-in-your-mouth-tender in no time because it’s all done in the instant pot!
BEST INSTANT POT PORK CARNITAS
INSTANT POT PULLED PORK
Flavored with spices and wine, this easy instant pot pulled pork comes out so tender and tasty! It cooks in no time because it’s all done in the pressure cooker – feeds a crowd!
Instant Pot Korean Sesame Garlic Beef
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
- 3 lb beef sirloin tip roast
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup sesame oil
- 2 tbsp freshly grated ginger
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 4-6 stalks green onions, sliced thinly
Instructions
- If your sesame seeds are not pre-toasted, dry fry them in a skillet or frying pan until nicely browned but not burned. Divide in half and set aside.
- Slice the beef sirloin into thin strips. Set aside.
- In a bowl, combine the brown sugar, soy sauce, water, sesame oil, half of the roasted sesame seeds, ginger, garlic and flour. Add the beef strips and mix well to ensure the beef is well coated with the marinade. Let sit in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. If short on time, marinate for at least 1 hour.
- Pour in the beef and its marinade into the instant pot. Cover the instant pot and secure the lid (make sure it’s on sealing position). Select Manual and cook on high for 20 minutes. Once done, allow a natural release. Carefully remove the lid. Use the Sauté function to allow the sauce to thicken, if desired. Transfer the meat to a dish and sprinkle with the remaining sesame seeds and slice green onions. Serve immediately with hot rice.
Notes
Last updated on August 12th, 2023 at 09:47 pm
How do I convert this to a slow cooker meal? I don’t have an instant pot and have no plans on buying on
Exactly the same way I made it but cook on low for 5-7 hours on the slow cooker or until tender to your liking.
Thank you!!!! :). I will try this over the weekend!!!
Would you suggest low or high (?how long on high level??)
Hello Ann, Please refer to the recipe (at the end of post) as that contains the full instructions on how long the recipe needs to cook in the pressure cooker. Enjoy.
good!
So glad you like it. It has become my big favorite, too!
It sounds really good. Thanks for the recipe.
Thanks Carolyn! It’s truly yummy so hope you try it. Thanks!
I am excited, I have everything to make this dish, and I have vowed to use my IP more. Glad you posted this recipe.
That beef looks so juicy and tender and not to mention super flavorful! I can’t wait to make this next weekend!
Such an easy and delicious recipe to make, perfect for me and for my family. Thank you for sharing!
This recipe looks so so yummy! I see myself serving this korean garlic beef with quinoa or boiled potatoes. YUM!
What a great dinner idea! This is such a great dinner. My family loved it and will make this korean instant pot sesame beef again.
What an amazing Instant Pot Korean Sesame Garlic Beef recipe. This has the best flavors and is super easy to make!
Yummm, this looks delicious and I can already smell it from here! I need to make this for me and my family. Thank you for sharing.
This such a yummy, easy recipe! The instant pot is an epic kitchen tool, right? Can’t wait to use my IP again to make your Korean sesame beef recipe!
This Korean Sesame Garlic Beef was so easy and quick to make, everyone in my family loved it. Thank you!
your sesame beef looks so delicious. I’m going to surprise my wife with this for dinner tonight!
Is that list of ingredients correct at 1/4 cup (4-oz.) of Sesame Seed Oil????
That’s a HUGE amount of sesame seed oil! I can understand ¼-teaspoon up to 1-teaspoon, but 1/4 cup? Most things I use it for, including dipping sauces, measure it out in drops. Just checked my bottle of Sesame Seed Oil and the whole bottle is only 5-oz., which costs $7. Are you really using that much? So I should plan on using almost an entire bottle of sesame seed oil for this recipe? How can you taste anything else? I’m dying to try this but that much sesame seed oil has me worried.
Yes!!! That is entirely correct. I did not make a mistake. I have made this many times already. It won’t be overpowering once the dish is cooked that’s why you need to add that much – so you still taste it after cooking. You only use a small portion of sesame oil when you use it in its original state (uncooked) and of course, you don’t want a lot because it would overwhelm the entire dish but it’s different when you cook it – it loses much of its potency and combined with the other ingredients it needs to shine (after all it’s sesame beef) hence the amount. I hope this information helps. And I don’t know where you buy your sesame oil because it’s more than 4 oz per bottle. I know because I always have sesame oil at hand and use it often when I cook Korean/Chinese food.
Followed the recipe exactly and had a very tasty and tender dish that the family enjoyed. Will definitely make it again. Thank you.
Got really thin sirloin strips (breakfast steak). How should I adjust cook time?
I haven’t tried this with that type of cut, I don’t know how thin that is (I am assuming it’s not like the paper-thin beef because that won’t work with this). So if it’s not paper-thin – this may still work since it only takes 20 minutes on high pressure to cook the sirloin tip roast (which I cut in thin strips too but not paper-thin!). Please refer to photos so you can compare the thickness more or less. If what you have is the paper-thin beef – you can still use the marinade for this recipe but simply cook that by briefly stir-frying in a wok.
My Instant POt does not have a “Manual” selection. Do I just use the “Pressure Cook” and select 20 minutes?
Yes. Use pressure cook and if you have the option, choose “high pressure.” Hope you enjoy. Thanks!
So the only liquid in the instant pot is the marinade? I usually cook pot in pot in instant pot except for when I have like 6+ cups of liquid. Is it going to burn off some liquid?
Please refer to the images. You will see that a lot of liquid is produced during the cooking – because the meat itself releases its own juices when pressure cooked. There is no danger of burning the meat. If you add more liquid you will dilute the taste of the dish and it would be tasteless.
My sister-in-law is visiting from Germany so I made this. She loved it…ate 2 helpings. She asked for the recipe but she doesn’t have slow cooker or instant pot. Can she do this on the stove top? Wondering about timing.
Cook it low and slow either on the stovetop or in the oven. The beef chunks shouldn’t be so big so they can cook for a couple of hours or just a slightly more.