[Instant Pot] Double Decker Thai Coconut Beef Curry + Brown Jasmine Rice – Fueled By Instant Pot

Double Decker Dinner is a personal favorite Instant Pot recipe theme, all about finding the right combination of foods that pair together as a balanced meal and that can be stacked and cooked at the same time in the same pressure cooker. It’s one-pot wonderful! 

It’s been a minute, amigos! It turns out that mothering an infant is kind of time-consuming… Who knew? 😉

I’ve always appreciated efficiency in the kitchen – but now that I’m a mom, shortcuts are serious business! My signature Double Decker Dinners continue to prove their worth, and today’s stackable recipe is particularly peppered with some rather satisfying shortcuts.

This dead-simple coconut curry makes appearances in my Instant Pot when I feel like Thai food but don’t feel like take-out. I can’t claim authenticity, but I can affirm that it hits the spot and does it quickly! 

The recipe starts with a chopped onion and your favorite Thai curry paste. The one I use is a store-bought panang style paste. I don’t have easy access to well-stocked Asian markets, so when I get my hands on a tub, I stick it in my freezer after opening. It keeps very well in there – and when you’re ready to cook curry again, you can scoop it out just like it’s chili-garlic ice cream! (:

Brown rice pressure-cooks in about 20 minutes, which makes it a perfect pairing for budget-friendly stew beef. Or, for a freezer-to-dinner shortcut twist: if you have a more tender cut of beef, it can be used as a solid frozen block without defrosting! I have made this recipe with a block of frozen sirloin tips from my Butcherbox subscription, and it totally worked like a charm.

Which brings us to another freezer shortcut: frozen veggies! With our 20 minute cook time, it wouldn’t be a good idea to cook fresh vegetables in the curry – they would turn into mush. Instead, after the pressure cooking is complete, I toss in a bag of frozen mixed stir fry vegetables. No fuss, no mush! In a perfect world, my ideal veggie mix includes broccoli, snow peas, carrots, red peppers and water chestnuts.

When the veggies go in, this is also when I add my coconut milk. Adding coconut at the end helps keep the sweet, rich freshness instead of cooking it to death under pressure. Simply use Instant Pot’s saute function to continue cooking just long enough to heat everything through, and you’re ready to EAT!

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[Instant Pot] Double Decker Thai Coconut Beef Curry + Brown Jasmine Rice

In place of the stew beef, this recipe can also work with more tender cuts of beef (like sirloin) – just start with frozen meat to prevent overcooking.

• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1/2 medium onion chopped
• 2 tablespoons prepared Thai curry paste
• 1 pound beef stew meat trimmed of excess fat
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup canned coconut milk
• 3 cups frozen stir fry vegetable medley
• 2 tablespoons chopped Thai basil optional
• 1 1/2 cups brown jasmine rice
• 1 1/2 cups water

• Using the saute function, heat the oil in the pressure cooker. When the oil is hot, saute the onion until soft. Add the curry paste and cook for another 2 minutes until fragrant, then stir in the beef chunks and 1 cup water.

• Place a cooking rack over the beef topped with a 7-inch stainless steel insert pan. Fill the pan with the brown rice and 1 1/2 cups water.

• Close the lid, with the valve set to sealing position. Cook on high pressure for 20 minutes. When the cooking time is complete, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then carefully open the valve to manually release any remaining pressure.

• Open the lid and set aside the brown rice and cooking rack, then add the coconut milk and frozen vegetables into the cooked beef. Use the saute function and gently stir the curry until it is heated throughout.

• Serve bowls of brown rice and curry topped with thai basil.