This Caldo De Res recipe gives you real Mexican beef soup flavor in less than an hour! It's a flavorful and quick way to create a traditional Mexican beef soup in your Instant Pot or pressure cooker.
What Makes This Caldo De Res So Good
- Fast. Compared to the amount of time it takes to make a traditional Caldo recipe, this Instant Pot Recipe is done in a flash.
- Easy. A simple pour and cook recipe.
- Delicious. All of the amazing flavors you expect of Caldo De Res without all of the work.
- Versatile. Replace the corn and potatoes with cauliflower or radishes for a delicious low carb version.
Sometimes the simplest ingredients combine to give you the most flavorful of dishes. Mexican beef soup recipes should be full of flavor, but I was worried it would be quite tasteless. Even with only the simple spices of salt and cumin, this Caldo De Res recipe is full of flavor!
And the best part? You get a lot of taste and comfort with so little effort. The onions and cilantro add flavor to the broth, and the vegetables add their own lovely flavors to the soup. This Instant Pot dish is truly a comforting, hearty Caldo de Res or Mexican Beef Stew with a light, flavorful broth.
This recipe takes two cooking cycles. First, you cook the meat with just onions, cilantro, salt, cumin and a few slices of jalapenos. Then you add the remaining vegetables and cook them all once again.
What Is Caldo De Res?
Traditional Caldo De Res is a deliciously popular Mexican Beef Stew filled with hearty vegetables that serves as a filling comfort meal without being terribly unhealthy.
What Makes My Recipe Different?
Traditionally Caldo de Res is made with bone-in beef shank but I couldn't find that easily. I figured if I couldn't, others too would have trouble. So I decided to try it with beef stew meat.
I think the Instant Pot does an amazing job of infusing the beef with tons of flavor. So much so that none of my taste testers noted the lack of bones in the soup. But if you can find it, feel free to use bone-in beef and adjust cooking time accordingly.
How Many Calories Are In A Bowl Of This Beef Soup?
While this can vary depending on how much of each ingredient you grab for your bowl, there are approximately 145 calories in a cup of this Caldo recipe.
What You'll Need To Make This Delicious Caldo
For the first cooking cycle
8 cups of mixed vegetables to add for the second cooking cycle
- Cabbage
- Red potatoes
- Corn
- Carrot
- Chayote Squash (optional)
Watch The Step By Step Video
How To Make Caldo de Res
1. Put the beef stew meat, water, onion, garlic, cilantro, ground cumin, and salt into the Instant Pot. Set on high pressure for 20 minutes, and when done, release pressure quickly.
2. Add in the mixed vegetables (red potatoes, corn, carrots, and chayote squash) for a second cooking cycle. Cook at high pressure for 5 minutes. Release pressure quickly.
3. Taste and add additional salt or water as needed.
Tips and Tricks For Making Perfect Caldo De Res
- You could also make Caldo de Pollo with chicken legs in much the same fashion, you'd just have to adjust cook times down to about 10 minutes for bone-in legs.
- Bone-in beef shank can be used too to keep this Caldo de res recipe more traditional -it just may be difficult to find!
- The hardest part of this recipe for me was cutting the corn cobs into 1-2 inch pieces. I got it done, but I might use the larger, frozen corn ears next time and save myself some trouble.
- Never heard of a chayote squash? You can see what they look like below. However, zucchini can be subbed, just don't cook it under pressure. Watch the video to see how you add it at the end, without pressure cooking it.
How Long Does It Last?
After you make this delicious beef soup in your Instant Pot, it will stay just as delicious as the day you made it for 3-5 days. The longer the veggies sit in the broth, the softer they will become. If you prefer your vegetables to be more on the crisp side, you may consider storing them separately from the broth when you are putting your leftovers into a storage container.
More Flavorful Soup Recipes
- Indian Tomato Soup. Tomato soup but better with Indian spices.
- Instant Pot Moong Dal. It's a delicious traditional Indian soup.
- Butternut Squash Soup with Apple and Bacon - a twist on a classic!
- 35 Instant Pot Mexican recipes you might want to pin for later.
- Italian Sausage Soup - Low carb and packed with flavor.
- Keto Zuppa Toscana - Flavors like your favorite restaurant.
- Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup - A delicious Instant Pot soup.
- Low Carb Cream of Mushroom Soup - Skip the canned version.
Trust me, once you've made this Caldo De Res recipe you're going to want to make Mexican beef stew on a regular basis! Make sure to share this recipe with your friends on Pinterest and Facebook so they can enjoy it as well!
Ingredients
For the first cooking cycle
- 1 pound (453.59 g) Beef Stew Meat
- 5 cups (1.25 kg) Water
- 1 cup (160 g) Onion, chopped
- 2 Tbs (2 Tbs) Garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup (8 g) Cilantro, chopped
- 2 teaspoons (2 teaspoons) Ground Cumin
- 2 teaspoons (2 teaspoons) Kosher Salt
8 cups of mixed vegetables to add for the second cooking cycle
- 1/4 head (0.25) cabbage, cut in wedges
- 8 whole (8) red potatoes,, halved
- 1 (1) ear of corn , cut in 1-2 inch pieces
- 1 (1) carrot, sliced
- 1 (1) Chayote Squash, cut into 2-3 inch pieces* (see note)
Instructions
- Put the beef stew meat, water, onion, garlic, cilantro, ground cumin, and salt into the Instant Pot. Set on high pressure for 20 minutes, and when done, release pressure quickly.
- Add in the mixed vegetables (red potatoes, corn, carrots, and chayote squash) for a second cooking cycle. Cook at high pressure for 5 minutes. Release pressure quickly.
- Taste and add additional salt or water as needed.
Watch The Video
- You could also make Caldo de Pollo with chicken legs in much the same fashion, you'd just have to adjust cook times down to about 10 minutes for bone-in legs.
- Bone-in beef shank can be used too to keep this caldo de res recipe more traditional - it just may be difficult to find!
- The hardest part of this recipe for me was cutting the corn cobs into 1-2 inch pieces. I got it done, but I might use the larger, frozen corn ears next time and save myself some trouble.
- Never heard of a chayote squash? You cansub zucchini if you have a hard time finding some, just don't cook it under pressure. Let it steam at the end.
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Nutrition
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Originally Published May 18, 2017
Jeanie Martin
This recipe has become my go-to. It is easy and delicious and can be adapted to veggies you have on hand. BUT NEVER CHANGE THE SEASONING because it’s perfect.
Judy Reed
I've made this soup twice and I love it. Tonight I did not have corn cobs so I put a package of roasted corn in it. Next time I think I'll use regular corn.
I doubled the recipe and will freeze most of this lovely soup for an easy meal.
Thanks again for a terrific recipe
Lauren
Meh. Very mediocre recipe. I think it would be way more flavorful to brown the meat first on sauté mode, plus add oregano and lots more seasonings (cumin, cayenne, etc). Add green cabbage. Meat could easily be doubled. Top it with lots of fresh lime juice.
Susan
Could you add the change in cooking time if beef shank cross-cut pieces with bone in are used? I usually get those for caldo. They have them at our big supermarket, next to the oxtails and short ribs...but they are much less expensive at the Mexican supermarket. Thanks for this recipe!