Goodbye To Basic Pot Roast — Beef And Dumplings Will Be Your New Favorite Comfort Meal
There are few meals as comforting as a pot roast or chicken and dumplings. For those who are torn over which to cook, there's a simple dish that combines the two: beef and dumplings. This homely meal is a great way to give your standard pot roast a boost. The pillowy dumplings serve as a welcome complement to braised beef. Plus, the great news is, it's simple to make at home.
This dish combines beef with pantry staples like garlic, onion, herb seasonings, and dumpling dough. You'll also need beef stock (or canned beef consommé) and beef broth. While many beef and dumplings recipes skip vegetables like carrots and potatoes, you may choose to incorporate them for more variety with each bite. You could also even give your dumplings a sweet and cozy twist by adding sweet potato to the dough itself.
Beef and dumplings is the perfect comfort meal because it's flavorful and filling. But that's not the only reason you may want to try making this dish. It's also a great way to avoid heavy kitchen cleanup as many recipes only require one pot. You could also assemble and prepare this dish entirely in an Instant Pot, an electric pressure cooker, for even easier cooking. Not only is this dish simple to make, it's cost effective. That's because, like pot roast, it makes use of tougher cuts of meat that tend to sell for cheaper at the grocery store.
Make your own beef and dumplings at home
Regardless of what beef cut you choose, you'll typically start by pan-searing the meat to lock in its rich, savory flavor. Once it has a nice sear, you'll pour in your beef stock and broth, and add any seasonings. Note that for the best beef and dumplings, you'll want a somewhat thicker stew-like base. If you find your braising liquid is too thin, try this trick for extra thick broth: incorporate cream of mushroom or a scoop of instant mashed potatoes. Overall cook time depends on the cooking method. For a stovetop pot, you'll want to let the beef cook for a few hours (or until softened). Meanwhile, it may only take 45 minutes to an hour and 15 minutes in an Instant Pot. Pay attention to when your meat is nearly finished cooking, as this is when you'll want to make your dumpling dough.
To prepare your dough, you'll combine flour (self-rising and all purpose) with cold grated butter. No yeast is needed as the self-rising flour contains a leavening agent. After rolling it out, you can cut the dumplings into bite-sized squares. If you don't have time to make them from scratch, you can achieve delicious dumplings with a canned shortcut instead: biscuit dough.
The dumplings can go into the pot of liquid once the beef finishes cooking, as you'll remove it to shred and add it back before serving. For smaller dumplings, they'll only need about 10 to 20 minutes to cook, but you can shape your dumplings however you prefer. For those who like a much larger bite, you'll just factor in a longer cook time (up to 45 minutes).
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