Instant Pot Korean Beef Cheeks with Mushrooms

Korean Beef Cheeks are ultra-tasty, nutrient dense comfort food, made easy in the Instant Pot/multicooker or pressure cooker, with suggestions for the slow cooker/crockpot and the oven. This recipe is gluten free, grain free, Paleo-friendly, AIP-friendly, nightshade free and comes with slow cooker (crockpot) and oven suggestions.

Winter started only a few short weeks ago here in Sydney, where I live, and beef cheeks haven't been easy to come by. One day I must have gone to 10 different stores to look for them, including butchers and supermarkets. I felt like a crazy person asking the butchers for them - some of them seemed to have no idea what beef cheeks are! One shop assistant even said they are very fatty, but I didn't correct her.

I was lucky enough to finally find the beef cheeks in Aldi as a "special buy" for a great price, so I stocked up. But, of course, I checked again more recently and they don't have any. It really makes you wonder what's being done with the beef cheeks - I guess they're either being exported or ground in to mince, which makes me sad to think what a waste of such a nice cut. I'm jealous of my friends in the northern hemisphere who can access beef cheeks almost year-round it would seem - here in Australia, they are considered a "winter" food only, so we have to wait all year for them, and even then they are hard to find.

❓What are beef cheeks?

Beef cheeks have become my favourite cut of meat even though I've only had them a handful of times. There's unfortunately a misconception that the cheeks are a fatty cut, but this is not so. The "fatty" texture that's in the cheeks after the fat has been trimmed is actually gelatin - the cheeks are extremely high in this beneficial substance that contains high levels of amino acids such as glycine, glutamine and proline.

Amino acids are the building blocks of protein and they have a very important role in the body, such as helping to form tissues, neurotransmitters and the collagen in our joints, skin and nails. These specific three amino acids tend to be lacking in modern diets since most people are not eating "nose to tail" as our ancestors did. It's surely a contributor to increasing rates of osteoarthritis and other chronic conditions involving degradation of connective tissue. So, the lesson here is - eat the whole animal so none of it goes to waste and keep your body in tip top shape at the same time. If we eat muscle meats like steak without a second thought, why not eat the cheeks? They are both just different forms of flesh after all.

Beef cheeks take quite a bit of time to cook, so you need to keep that in mind. The Instant Pot or pressure cooker are the perfect way to cook beef cheeks as you can cook them so much more quickly than in the slow cooker/crockpot or the oven. At the end of this post, I have given some suggestions for cooking using those methods in case you don't own an Instant Pot/multicooker or stovetop pressure cooker.

I have two other incredibly delicious recipes using beef cheeks you will also love: Beef Cheek Rendang and Beef Cheek Ragu. You could say I'm the Beef Cheek queen!

⭐What you will love about Korean Beef Cheeks

So, with that little nutrition and sustainability lesson done, let's get to the recipe for Instant Pot Korean Beef Cheeks with Mushrooms. The recipe title is a mouthful, and the dish itself is also a delicious mouthful that you'll find hard to resist. It's full of flavour, with the zing of ginger, sweetness from the apple sauce and pear and of course, the all important savoury umami courtesy of tamari and a little fish sauce. Happily, it's easy to pull together with inexpensive ingredients.

Here's a picture of Barney the cat lusting after the beef cheeks as I was photographing this recipe. He knows what's good. Right below that is the recipe!

👩🏽‍🍳 How to cook beef cheeks

Beef cheeks are considered a tough cut of meat, and usually they take many hours to cook in an oven or a slow cooker. They're quite hard to cut in their raw state, so can be left whole. The quickest option to cook beef cheeks is using a pressure cooker/multicooker/Instant Pot. I know a lot of people might feel daunted cooking a new cut of meat, but cooking beef cheeks is really easy...you just need time! Below, I've explained the main cooking options for beef cheeks. Remember to carefully read the particular recipe you are making because there will always be slight differences.

To cook beef cheeks using an oven or slow cooker, the exact steps depend on the specific recipe you're making. You may need to first use a frypan or a skillet on the stove to brown the meat or fry off some of the ingredients. It really depends on the specific recipe and also whether you want to brown the meat or not. It can certainly add flavour but isn't always necessary - plus, it's quicker just to skip that step. For this Korean Beef Cheeks recipe, there's no need for these steps - the beef cheeks and the sauce ingredients are just added all together to the slow cooker or oven-safe dish.

Using these methods, the cooking can take anywhere from 3-8 hours, so ensure to take that time in to account. The oven is quicker than the slow cooker. Many recipes will require the sauce to be reduced afterwards, so keep that in mind too.

The best oven temperature is 160C/320F and the beef cheeks will take around 4 hours, depending on the size of the cheeks.

If using a slow cooker, I recommend using the high setting, as the low setting just takes way too long - they should take between 6 and 8 hours depending on the size of the beef cheeks.

To cook beef cheeks in a pressure cooker/multicooker/Instant Pot, simply fry off the ingredients and/or brown the meat if that's what the recipe calls for. For some recipes, such as this Korean Beef Cheeks recipe, those steps aren't required. After that, simply add all the ingredients to the bowl and cook according to the instructions in the recipe. The beauty of this method is how quick it is compared to using the oven or slow cooker - 90 minutes plus allowing time for the machine to come to pressure is sufficient (90 minutes includes 70 minutes cook time and 20 minutes "natural release" after cooking time).

Beef cheeks can also be smoked, which sounds amazing to me! My blogging friend Gavin Sutherland of Another Food Blogger has a fantastic recipe for Smoked Beef Cheek Pitas which are giving me serious cooking gadget envy!

Before we get to the recipe

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💡Suggestion for cooking this recipe in a slow cooker (crockpot) or oven

Please note: I haven't made this recipe in a slow cooker, but I am confident this recipe can be made that way if that's the equipment you have. For the slow cooker/crockpot, I suggest adding 1 extra cup of water, cook on high for 6-8 hours depending on the size* (leave the cheeks whole after trimming the fat) and then reduce the sauce on the stovetop for 20 minutes (after removing the meat). *size usually varies from 250g - 350g (8 - 12 oz)

You may also want to try cooking it in the oven, but I have not tested it using the oven. The beef cheek recipes I've seen online suggest cooking with the lid on for 4 hours on a low-medium temperature, such as 160C/320F. Reduce the sauce at the end on the stovetop for 20 minutes (after removing the meat). 

📋 Recipe

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