Instant Pot Svíčková
Instant Pot Svíčková is a Czech recipe that was passed down to me by my mother in law. She grew up making it in Prague. It’s roasted beef tenderloin with a carrot gravy sauce. This has been converted from her oven/stove top recipe into one that can be used in the instant pot.
The onions can be added to the beef roast when searing. Additionally the onions can be added when the rest of the vegetables are added. This is really up to you when you would like to add the onions.
After searing the roast the lid can be placed on top of the pot and the roast cooked on high pressure. Once it’s done counting the pressure is released then the vegetables are added. Cook for another 15 minutes on high pressure in the instant pot. This was made in my Instant Pot Duo Plus 6 quart.
Once the vegetables are done the pressure is released. Remove the roast to a cutting board allow the juices to set meanwhile making the gravy. Either use an immersion blender to make the gravy or pour it into a blender and blend till pureed.
The Gravy:
Once the gravy is blended add it back to the instant pot. Set to saute mode as you will now make the gravy to top over the beef roast. Soon I will create a video and post on how to make the dumplings. This recipe is just for the roast and sauce. If you need the dumpling recipe let me know in the comments and I can send it along.
We serve this up for Sunday suppers. Great meal when it’s freezing outside. Which it will be coming soon. Right now it’s a nice 70 degrees here. Hope you try something different with a beef roast next time. I love how all the flavors merry in this recipe.
Of course like all Czech food this goes great with a pilsner or amber ale beer. Czech’s are famous for pairing their food with beer. Everything compliments it. Also, a good date night at home meal. Instant pot Svíčková is comfort food at it’s finest.
Instant Pot Svíčková
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 lbs beef tenderloin or beef round roast
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 4 carrots; chopped
- 4 celery; chopped
- 1 onion; chopped
- 5 whole allspice
- 6 peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tablespoons Wondra flour
- 1/2 cup half and half
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 2 teaspoons salt
Instructions
- Set instant pot to saute mode. Add roast with onions and sear all sides of roast.
- Turn off saute mode. Add 1/2 cup broth. Place lid on instant pot and lock. Place pressure valve to close. Set to high pressure for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
- Once instant pot stops counting quick release the pressure.
- Open lid. Add in carrots, celery, allspice, peppercorns, and bay leaves. Replace lid on top. Lock lid. Turn pressure valve to close. Set to high pressure for 15 minutes.
- Once instant pot stops counting quick release pressure.
- Remove roast to cutting board.
- With an immersion blender or using a blender blend all of the vegetables and herbs.
- Add in lemon juice, half and half, 1/2 cup chicken broth, and wondra flour to vegetable gravy. Set to saute mode. Cook stirring often until sauce is thickened.
- Serve topped over sliced roast with dumplings. May also be served with noodles or rice.
Video
Pin Instant Pot Svíčková
I don’t have an instant pot, how can I make it other wise?
my parents came from Czech & Mom would make it also many
years ago. I’m 91 & don’t care to invest in those pots but would love to make it. delicious.
thank you
I will make it traditionally in the oven next week and do what I can to get a post up. Please keep checking back for it.
This is the stove top recipe. I will be adding it to the site soon.
3 lbs Beef Tenderloin or Beef Round Roast
2 tablespoons Lemon juice
4 Carrots, Chopped
4 Ribs of Celery, Chopped
1 Onion, Chopped
5 pieces of Allspice
6 Peppercorns
2 Bay Leaves
2 tablespoons Wondra flour
1/2 cup half and half
1 container chicken broth
In frying pan saute onions then add carrots and celery. Sear roast on all sides. In a baking dish put in your roast, carrots, celery, onion, allspice, peppercorns, bay leaves, salt, and chicken broth to cover vegetables. Cook for three hours at 350 degrees.
Remove roast from oven when it is tender and place on cutting board. Pour juices into a large bowl. Blend all of your juice and vegetables together in a blender and add to large pot on the stove on low heat. Once all your vegetables and juice is blended then you can add in two tablespoons of flour and your half and half very slowly stirring constantly.
In the mean time, cut your roast into round pieces and put into a dish and leave in oven on low heat to keep warm. Your gravy sauce in your large pot should be thickening. Once it is thickened you will add the lemon juice and stir. Serve gravy over meat and dumplings.
Hi, I just came across your recipe for Czech sweet and sour svickova. It is wonderful you keep some czech tradition going. Just a little recomendations. Celery stalks do not belong there, they have way too different flavor comparing to the celery root (white roundish, looking little like horseradish), try that plus it is missing a parsley root in the same amount or little less than carrot. If it is hard to find, I use parsnip (which looks basically the same). For the spices, I use little herb sack, to be able to easily discart it after the meat is tender and before I start blending the vegetables. Before you put the broth in, I sear the meat with vegetables first including a slice of peeled and seeded lemon. For the right flavor a caramelized sugar is also used. You can also use sour cream instead of half and half (liquid whipping cream makes it more creamy comparing to just half and half). To dress it up on a plate, try little bit of whipping cream with canned cranberries on top. I am Czech and have been cooking svickova for a long time. I feel it tastes little different every time I cook it, depending on the ratio of vegetables, but my kids love it and it is a very first dish they request when visiting the Czech Republic.
My recipe is based off my mother in laws recipe. She grew up in Prague. They do not sell celery root itself in the states and we do not like parsnip. Everyone cooks different especially when recipes are passed down in the family. Hers is the way her family made it passed down in their family from Czech and what is readily available here in the states.
Hi,
Recipe looks yummy. Would it be possible to get your MIL dumpling recipe?
Thank You
Thank you, here is the recipe for the dumplings https://www.mooshujenne.com/bread-dumplings-houskovy-knedliky/
could you please also post the oven/stove top version?
Hello Maureen,
I will be working on putting that one up in a few weeks. Please keep checking back.
Thanks!
I also would love to see the conventional version of this recipe.
My parents were from Czechoslovakia and my brother recently asked if I had Mom’s carrot recipe. I remember her straining her cooked carrots through a sieve.
She also made her yeast dumplings the hard way — all hand mixing!
Please do post your conventional recipe.
Thx so much!
It’s really hot here in Texas. When it starts to cool down I will definitely make a oven/stove top version of this. I have a recipe with video of how to make dumplings here on the site too. My husband’s mother used to make them by hand mixing and so did he. However, we’ve found it to be so much easier with a kitchenaid mixer.
I READ YOUR BACKGROUND, AND ENJOYED IT VERY MUCH. WOW YOU HAVE AN ITALIAN BACKGROUND GREAT I LOVE ITALIAN FOOD AS WELL AS EUROPEAN SUCH AS POLISH. I AM AMERICAN POLISH, AND MY CHILDREN ARE , AMERICAN, POLISH, GERMAN AND FRENCH. LIKE YOUR BLOG LETS KEEP IN TOUCH. LAST BUT NOT LEAST I LOVE THIS RECIPE, LITTLE PRICEY AS FOR THE MEAT BUT IT IS WELL WORTH EVERY PENNY SPENT ON IT.. “KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK AND THE RECIPES FLOWING”.
Sounds Fantastic! ! ? You blend the Bay leaves also ? And I would like the dumpling recipe
Thank you
Steve, no big deal, just get a box of Bisquick and make the recipe and you don’t have to work so hard to make it homemade. I sometimes is lazy and that is what I do with my Chicken and Dumplings. I like this recipe, being American Polish that comes from my part of the Ancestry…Love it and so doe my SERVICE DOGGIE SHELTIE.
Oh wow! I can’t wait to cook this in my Instant pot. It looks like a very tasty recipe!