How to Easily Cook Frozen Ground Beef, Instant Pot Quick Recipe

It’s easy to forget to thaw your ground beef for dinner when you don’t have fresh meat. I know I’ve forgotten so many times. You may wonder, “Can you cook frozen ground beef?” Yes, you can! Here’s the easiest way to cook frozen ground beef in the Instant Pot. 

I love to cook frozen chicken breasts in my instant pot. It’s a time saver and can make it so easy to get dinner done. Well, you can do the same with ground beef.

How to Cook Frozen Ground Beef, Instant Pot Tutorial

It’s great to have fresh ground beef to make for dinner, but I love to stock the freezer with ground beef when it’s on sale. 

But I can be really forgetful with getting frozen meat out of the freezer for dinner. 

Then dinnertime rolls around and I have a chunk of ground beef that needs to be thawed before I can brown it. 

Sure you can throw it into the microwave to thaw it. But inevitably the edges will cook and get rubbery and dry. Which will work in a pinch.

If you remember early enough in the day, you could cook the ground beef in the slow cooker. But you need to remember early in the day.  

What if there was a better way? 

A way to not only thaw but cook the ground beef all at once. All without using the saute function too. Well, there is. 

If you’ve ever wondered “Can you cook frozen ground beef in instant pot?” The answer is yes and this tutorial will give you all the steps in a video tutorial. 

It’s a convenient way to make cooked ground beef or ground chicken using frozen meat on those busy days.

Let’s get started!

What You’ll Need to Cook Frozen Ground Beef

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• The frozen ground beef or ground turkey, up to 2 pounds. 
• Your Instant Pot
• Water
• Instant Pot Trivet or Rack, I never know what to call this thing.
• Knife or Chop Stir to break up the cooked meat. 

How to Cook Frozen Ground Beef in the Instant Pot (video tutorial)

I made a quick video to show you all the steps in cooking frozen ground beef in your instant pot. But if you’d rather read the steps, keep on scrolling and be sure to grab the printable recipe in the recipe card below.

Step-by-Step How to Cook Frozen Ground Beef in the Instant Pot

I love easy instant pot recipes like this one and it’s really quite easy to thaw and cook your ground beef in the instant pot in one step. This method also has another plus: the fat drains off into the water, so you won’t have to drain the fat either. I call that a win. 

Step 1 Add the Water 

Add 1 cup of water to bottom of the pot. Be sure to check to see what the minimum amount of water that needs to be added to your electric pressure cooker. It may be more or less than mine. 

Step 2 Add the Rack

Once the water is in, add the rack or trivet (I never know what to call this thing) to the bottom of the instant pot to keep the ground beef out of the water while it cook. 

This has a bonus: the fat will drain off as it cooks and fall into the water, no draining off the fat once the hamburger meat is cooked. Yay!

Step 3 Add the Frozen Ground Beef

Place your frozen beef on top of the trivet in the inner pot. You can cook up to 2 pounds at a time from frozen. If you add more than that, it won’t cook all the way through. 

Recipe Tip: when you are freezing your ground beef, place the 1 pound portions into a quart size freezer bag. Then flatten it out. Seal and freeze.

By flattening it out, you’ll reduce the thawing time (when you remember to take it out of the freezer). And once frozen, you can stand them on end to take less freezer space too. 

Step 4 Seal and Pressure Cook

Now you have everything ready, place the lid on your pressure cooker. Turn to make sure it’s locked. 

Set the cooker to sealing if needed. Then select high pressure.

How long do you cook frozen hamburger meat in the Instant Pot?

Set the timer for the cooking time of 20 minutes for 1 pound of ground beef or a cook time of 25 minutes for 2 pounds. 

If your Instant Pot model has a release mode, select natural release and start. 

It will take a few minutes to get up to pressure, then you’ll see the timer counting down. Once it beeps to show it’s done. Let the pressure cooker naturally release for 5 minutes. 

Then carefully do a quick pressure release. 

Step 5 Remove the Cooked Ground Beef

Take the lid off away from your face so the steam doesn’t burn you. 

Use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature of the meat.

Using pot holders, carefully remove the rack from the liner with the beef on it. 

Set the rack and the beef on the cutting board. Slide the beef off onto the cutting board and remove the rack.

Step 6 Break Up the Ground Beef

Now your ground beef is cooked, but it’s a huge brick. You’ll need to break it up. I like to use a knife to chop it like I showed in the video above. But you can use a fork, a wooden spoon, potato masher, or a spatula designed to break up ground beef. 

I find the knife is easiest to use and quick too. It’s easier to control how small or large the ground beef pieces need to be. So they will be the perfect size for your ground beef recipe.

If you’ve cooked extra ground beef, you can cool it at room temperature for about 10 minutes, then place it in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator. The cooked ground beef keeps for 3-4 days in the refrigerator. 

Now your frozen block of ground beef has been transformed into cooked meat for dinner time. You can use it in delicious meals like sloppy joes, just add seasoning. For tacos, just add your taco seasoning. Or use the cooked beef in casseroles. 

Get the printable instant pot recipe below…

Other instant pot ground beef recipes…

Hamburger Soup in the Instant Pot

Instant Pot Taco Pasta 

Instant Pot Chili