Thai Beef and Potato Curry

A warm and comforting Thai Beef and Potato Curry that’s made quickly and easily in the instant pot. Serve over noodles or rice.

HELLA comforting Thai beef and potato curry.

I could seriously go for a bowlful of this stuff rather than the ultra-glamorous PB&J sandwich I’m chomping on because of dental work I had done a few hours ago.

Like all the best things in the world, this Thai curry recipe is quick and easy to whip up. Remember that massaman curry paste recipe I shared with you yesterday? You know, the one with onions and garlic, coriander, cinnamon, lemongrass, and dry red chilies. Well, guess what? We’re using it together with a few additional ingredients to make a velvety smooth, warm and fragrant beef and potato curry TODAY!

So we’ll add in the coconut milk, the bay leaves, a little tamarind, a little sugar, and fish sauce and let that chunks of beef and hearty potatoes cook up in all of that. Undoubtedly the best thing to come out of your instant pot to date.

I know this is stepping outside of our normal food comfort zone a little bit. Usually, you and I like to cook things that take in the ballpark of 30 minutes to make and don’t require hard to find ingredients. So for the massaman curry paste I shared, I tried to keep the list as short, and with ingredients that are easily available to most from mainstream grocery stores.

But take it from me, if there’s one thing worth making its homemade massaman curry paste. First off, it adds nicely to your list of kitchen accomplishments. But also, once you make curry with homemade paste, the store-bought stuff you’ll see doesn’t even come close. It’s also easy to put together: like literally, pulse a bunch of ingredients in a food processor and store in a jar or freezer bags and enjoy beef and potato curry whenever your heart desires.

And yeah, just take a second to think about how impressive it’s gonna sound to the family, or company. DID YOU MAKE THE CURRY PASTE?

You get to be all chill about it.

Like yeah, NBD.

Thai Beef and Potato Curry starts with browning the meat – I know completely not something done in traditional curries, but remember how I already claim zero authenticity when it comes to Thai food? ??‍♀️

Browning leaves behind tons of flavor bits which come in handy because this is a quick pressure cooker recipe after all, and we need all that flavor to make it taste like it was slow-simmered for hours. The onions and potatoes will pick up all those browned bits when we add them into the hot pot for just a second. Then, it’s curry paste, beef stock, bay leaves, sugar, tamarind paste, fish sauce, and a handful of crushed peanuts that go into the curry along with coconut milk.

Now cover up your instant pot and just let it all hang out for 30 minutes. I warn you, even though this is cooking in an airtight vessel, the sweet smell of coconut and spicy curry paste escape and wafted through my kitchen, leaving my stomach growling.

Luckily, it comes pretty close to instant gratification with it being a pressure cooker recipe.

My hope with this recipe was to divide it into two parts: curry paste and curry. That way, you can whip up the curry paste and pop it in the fridge or freezer for when you’re ready to make this Thai beef and potato curry. I get that some people may not want to make the massaman curry paste, ever. And that’s okay too. You can easily purchase store-bought paste here (affiliate link) and you can still make this recipe. For those that want just another gentle nudge, homemade curry paste will surely take your curry game to the next level.

Guys, I’ve made huge batches of this stuff and Anees, and I polished it off all by ourselves because we just COULDN’T stop eating it. Jasmine rice is the ideal accompaniment to this beef and potato curry. It just soaks up some of that curry and every bite is creamy and cozy to the core. Also, in my world, curry and rice must be eaten with a spoon. Anyone else with me there? ??

May your fall//winter season be filled with bowls full of beef and potato curry.

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Yield: 8 servings

Thai Beef and Potato Curry

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

A warm and comforting Thai Beef and Potato Curry that's made quickly and easily in the instant pot. Serve over noodles or rice.

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Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 ½ lbs. beef chuck, trimmed and cut into 2-inch cubes
• 1 large onion, large diced
• ⅓ cup prepared massaman curry paste*
• 1 lb. russet potatoes, cut into 2-inch cubes
• 2 (15-ounce) cans full fat coconut milk
• ½ cup beef broth
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon tamarind paste
• ¼ cup crushed peanuts

Instructions

1. Beef: Season the beef with a good pinch of salt and pepper. Heat the coconut oil in the instant pot on the saute setting. Add ½ the meat and brown on all sides, about 2-3 minutes total. Remove meat to a plate and repeat with the second batch and remove when done.
2. Curry: Add the onions and push them around so that they pick up any browned bits left behind by the beef, about 1 minute. Add the potatoes, beef, and the curry paste. Stir everything so that the paste is evenly distributed among the beef and potatoes. Add the coconut milk, broth, bay leaves, sugar, fish sauce, tamarind paste, and crushed peanuts. Cover the instant pot, hit the manual button and set it for 30 minutes. Allow the pressure to release naturally before removing the lid.
3. Serve: taste curry for seasonings and adjust with salt as desired. If you want it to be tangier, you can dilute a little more of the tamarind with a tablespoon of water and stir it into the curry. Serve with jasmine rice or noodles.

Notes

• if you decide to use store-bought curry paste, you'll need to play around with the amount as I'm unsure how much you'll end up needing.
• I haven't tried making this curry on the stove so not sure how you'd go about doing that just yet. I'd think it would require at least 2 ½ -3 hours of low and slow simmering and would certainly need a lot more like 1 ½ cups of beef broth or something along that line.

Have you made this recipe?

If you enjoyed this recipe, please consider leaving a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating and a comment below. You can also share a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #LITTLESPICEJAR, I'd love to see what you made!

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