Easy Instant Pot Beef Tongue with Italian Salsa Verde
Learn how to easily pressure cook a whole beef tongue in the Instant Pot with this simple recipe. Served with homemade Italian salsa verde, this beef tongue is tender, flavorful, and melts in your mouth!
Equipment
- Instant Pot or other pressure cooker
- Mortar, small food processor, or immersion blender for making the salsa verde
- Cutting board and knife for slicing tongue
Ingredients
For the boiled beef tongue
- 1 whole beeef tongue 3-4 lbs
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 bay leave optional
- 1 teaspoon peppercorns optional
For the Italian salsa verde
- 1 cup fresh parsley
- 2-3 basil leaves optional
- 1 tbsp chives garlic tops, or green onions
- 1 tbsp capers
- 2-4 anchovy fillets or 1-2 tablespoons anchovy paste
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
Pressure cook the beef tongue
- Thoroughly rinse the beef tongue under cool water.
- Place the tongue in the Instant Pot, cover with cold water completely and add salt. You can also add a bay leaf and some peppercorns or other herbs for added flavor (optional).
- Close the lid and valve. Set to pressure cook for 1 hour. (It will take about 15 minutes to come to pressure).
- Once the cycle is complete, let the pressure release naturally (about 15 minutes), then open the lid.
- Remove the tongue from the water and place it on a cutting board. Let it cool off for a few minutes.
- When it’s cool enough to handle, peel off the outer skin with your hands—it should come off easily. Use a sharp knife to scrape off any remaining bumpy parts at the tip.
- Slice the tongue and serve!
Make the salsa verde
- Start the salsa verde near the end of the Instant Pot cooking time. Peel the garlic and remove the center (germ). Coarsely chop the parsley, removing thick stems.
- Add parsley, other herbs, capers, garlic, anchovies, lemon juice and about 1/2 of the olive oil into a small food processor, mortar, or cup (if using an immersion blender).
- Blend until fairly smooth, then slowly add the rest of the olive oil while blending to reach your desired texture.
- Adjust seasoning. If it needs salt, add a pinch of sea salt or more anchovies/paste. Serve with sliced tongue and enjoy!
Notes
You can save the discarded tongue skin to add to your next batch of bone broth. You can also save the tongue's cooking water to add to soups or other recipes, or to substitute water in homemade bone broth for an extra nutritious and collagen-rich result!
The Italian salsa verde is optional, but it truly complements the boiled tongue beautifully. You can also serve the tongue with mayo, lemon wedges, or your favorite veggies.
Store both the cooked tongue and leftover salsa verde in airtight containers in the fridge for up to 3 days.