Jammin’ jerk pineapple beef – Yes, I said jammin’ jerk. Could be some kind of weird porno, but no, better! It’s a super quick, super delicious jerk pineapple beef recipe and you’re gonna love it!
So, I went to the Hearth and Patio Expo in New Orleans a couple of months ago and stumbled on some neat stuff. You know, like you do at expos. But one thing I found was John Henry’s line of rubs. Now, you have no idea the amount of rubs I have! Management is always on me about the “rub situation”. I’ll admit, it is somewhat ridiculous.
But John Henry’s rubs – they were really tasty and so was the BBQ sauce. The kind lady at the expo send me home with two samples of the rubs and I bought some BBQ sauce. Management was thrilled, as you can imagine.
When I got home, I put the sample rubs on a rotisserie chicken. I cannot explain to you what happened. Actually, I’ll put the video at the bottom of this post if you want to see what happened. Let’s just say, it was the best chicken I’ve ever had and the rubs melted, MELTED into the chicken. Most rubs, they don’t do that. They just sit on top. John Henry’s rubs are magic. I don’t know how they do it. Magical I tell ya!
I loved it so much I had to tell John Henry’s. Yes, I had to. I did and I also asked them if they wanted to team up with me and they did. So they sent me some rubs to use but as a surprise, they sent me a bottle “Jacqui’s Gourmet Jerk” sauce.
Honestly, I’m not a jerk fan. I often find it has “too much”. It’s just in your face with some spice, possibly all spice, that I’m not a great fan of. When I cracked this bottle open though, I was crazy surprised because it was really delicious. Not in your face jerk like others I’ve tasted.
Not really sure what I was going to do with this and not wanting to just do the old jerk chicken, I went on the hunt. On Jacqui’s website she has a pineapple beef recipe that I adapted to the Instant Pot and it was perfection!
Just a head’s up for this recipe, you will need a vessel to cook this in your Instant Pot because I did this jammin’ jerk pineapple beef in my stainless steel pots, with the beef on the bottom and rice on top for a one-stop shop situation. You don’t need those pots though, even a stainless steel dog bowl can work if you get a size that fits in, but not too tightly.
You do not have to use Jacqui’s jerk sauce – use your favorite jerk sauce and seasoning. Bonus points if you make your own! I did make my own jerk seasoning blend, which is below, but you do you. Just buy some premade if that’s how you roll.
Let’s get to this!
Jammin’ Jerk Pineapple Beef
Ingredients
PINEAPPLE BEEF
- 1 pound sirloin, 1" cubes or sliced fajita-style
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons jerk seasoning, recipe below
- 2 red bell peppers, chopped 3/4” inch
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 (8 oz.) can pineapple chunks, juice reserved
- ¼ cup pineapple juice
- oil for browning
- 1 cup Jammin' Jerk sauce
- 1 cup water
RICE
- 1 cup jasmine rice
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 teaspoon salt
JERK SEASONING
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1-3 teaspoons cayenne, depending on how hot you like it
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
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In a zip lock bag, add the cornstarch, jerk seasoning and soy sauce. Mash together. Add the sirloin strips/cubes to the bag and massage so the seasoning coats the meat. It won't look like enough, but just keep on massaging.
Set your pot to saute and when hot, add a bit of oil. Brown the pieces of beef without crowding. You will have to do this in batches. Remove to your stainless steel pot or whatever you're going to cook it in.
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Add the bell peppers and saute for 3-5 minutes. Add in the garlic and saute for another 2 minutes. Remove to the pot with the beef.
Add to that beef and bell pepper mixture, the pineapple chunks, pineapple juice and jerk sauce. Stir well.
In another stainless steel pot, add the rice, water and salt. Stir. Add the pat of butter on top.
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Turn off the pot and add 1 cup of water to the bottom of the Instant Pot and deglaze, making sure to get all the brown bits off the bottom. Place the trivet on the bottom.
If your stainless steel pots come with a sling, go ahead and stack them in the sling. Beef and pineapple on the bottom, steamer lid on top of that, then the rice. I don't put a lid on the rice.
If you don't have a sling, just stack them on top of each other.
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Pressure on high for 12 minutes. Let the pressure COME DOWN NATURALLY for 12 minutes. Quick release any remaining pressure.
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Carefully open the lid and remove your pots. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Just want to add a few notes here guys.
- I do not rinse my rice. Never have, never will. However, if that’s your gig, go for it. No worries.
- The beef in this recipe is not “fall apart”. That is not the texture I was going for because when I stirred it at the end I didn’t want it to break up into shreds. It’s tender, not chewy, but it’s not mush. If you want a more “fall apart” texture, increase the cooking time to 15 minutes.
- This is super delicious as is, like right when you take it out, but it’s even more delicious the next day, so it makes a great meal prep recipe.
- For the jerk seasoning: I like spicy and I went with 3 teaspoons of cayenne. It had heat. Just use 1 or even 1/2 teaspoon if you’re not into heat.
- This jerk seasoning blend makes way more than you need. It’s really delicious to coat chicken thighs and pork chops!
The flavor is fabulous, but way too hot for me, and I am not a fan of bell peppers. But I made the recipe without any adjustments. Next time I will not use the bell peppers, and I will remake the seasoning so there are no red pepper flakes, only 1 teaspoon of cayenne, ½ teaspoon of paprika, and ½ cup of the jerk sauce. I will also add more pineapple. But as I said the flavor was wonderful and the rice came out perfectly.
There is heat Susie! Definitely reduce the heat and maybe even do 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne. Thanks for the feedback!