Instant Pot Pot Roast

Instant Pot Pot Roast is a one pot family-friendly comfort food dinner with fall apart beef, tender carrots and potatoes, and a delicious gravy.

We also love this Instant Pot Mississippi pot roast and Instant Pot sirloin tip roast.

Why You’ll Love This Pot Roast

Gone are the days when a delicious pot roast is just reserved for Sunday dinners or trips to grandma’s house. Making Instant Pot pot roast is easy thanks to electric pressure cooker!

• One pot meal: A complete dinner in one pot for convenience.
• Serves a crowd: Pot roast cooked in Instant Pot is a great meal for any type of gathering and makes delicious leftovers.
• Flavorful: Thanks to the pressure cooking process, all of the flavors permeate and penetrate each other.
• Budget friendly and easy: In the case of Instant Pot, the pressure and steam do an amazing job at tenderizing meat without the need for low heat for an extended period such as you would with a slow cooker roast. This makes it much easier to work with any cut of meat.

Ingredients for Instant Pot Pot Roast

The ingredients list might seem long but truly they are fridge and pantry staples.

• Beef chuck roast: I used a 3 pounds chuck roast in all my Instant Pot pot roast recipe tests. Any beef with a lot of connective tissue and not much marbling works i.e. brisket, bottom roast or round roast.
• Onions and mushrooms: Yellow onion or white onion. Brown mushrooms or portobello mushrooms yield more flavor than white mushrooms.
• Red wine: Any medium-priced red wine like Pinot Noir, Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon. Do not use the cheapest one though, the flavor won’t be as robust. You can also omit and up the amount of beef broth or use tomato paste and soy sauce along with beef broth instead of red wine.
• Seasonings: Dried rosemary, dried thyme, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika (can be smoked for extra flavor), salt and ground black pepper. Or use this pot roast seasoning at a rate of 1 tablespoon of seasoning per 1 pound of meat.
• Broth: The best one is a low sodium beef broth, just because beef goes well with beef. Previously made Instant Pot chicken broth, vegetable broth, or even water would also work. If your broth is not low in sodium, reduce any added salt by 1/2 teaspoon.
• Vinegar: You can use red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, or apple cider vinegar on its own or in any combination. You can also replace some or all of the vinegar with Worcestershire sauce, if preferred.
• Potatoes and carrots: Baby carrots and baby potatoes are the perfect bite-size. You can also use regular-sized veggies and cut them up into 1-inch chunks.

How to Make Pot Roast in Instant Pot

• Prep the roast: Remove twine from the beef roast, if any, because it will prevent roast from becoming tender.
• Make dry rub: Combine seasonings on a large plate and stir together.
• Season roast: Dip roast in a large shallow plate with homemade dry rub making sure all edges are covered well.
• Sear it: On the Instant Pot, press Sauté and wait until display says Hot. Add oil and sear for 3-4 minutes per side.

• Cook onions and deglaze the pot: Add onion and sauté for 5 minutes or until fragrant. Then add beef broth, red wine, and vinegar to deglaze the pot. Use a wooden spoon to scrape up the brown bits on the bottom. You want to avoid the burn notice but you also want that extra flavor.
• Add back roast and mushrooms: Once you’re done deglazing, press Cancel. Add the roast in Instant Pot and lay the mushrooms on top of it.
• Add veggies: If using an 8 quart or 10 quart Instant Pot, you can add veggies now – wrap them in parchment paper instead of throwing them into the pot. For 6 quart Instant Pot, you add in the potatoes and carrots in step below.
• Cook Instant Pot pot roast: Close the lid, set pressure vent to Sealing, and cook on High Pressure for 20 minutes per pound. In my case, I used a 3 pounds beef roast, so the pressure cooking time is 60 minutes. 4 pounds = 80 minutes etc.

• Allow pressure to release naturally a bit: Wait 15 minutes and then release remaining pressure by turning pressure valve to Venting. With this Instant Pot pot roast recipe and meat in general, I do not recommend using Quick Pressure Release. Do Natural Pressure Release, if you have time.
• Cut meat: Remove and slice the beef roast against the grain. Set aside.
• Add potatoes to a 6 quart Instant Pot now: Drop them into the pot while the meat is resting on a cutting board and pressure cook on high for 5 minutes. Quick release and remove potatoes and serve alongside the meat.
• To thicken the gravy: Press Sauté function and make a cornstarch slurry made from 1/4 cup cold water and 3 tablespoons cornstarch. Whisk mixture into the gravy and cook for a few minutes until thickened. You can add back the sliced meat to the pot, or leave it on a serving platter and drizzle with gravy over top.

Serving Ideas

I know some people like to shred the pot roast but we like to slice it. We find it juicier and meatier, almost like steak.

Instant Pot pot roast is a hearty meal on its own, so it doesn’t need many side dishes. I like to serve it with a simple leafy green salad like a spinach salad or lemon kale salad.

Crusty bread like Greek yogurt bread, cornbread muffins or cornbread to soak up all that delicious gravy is also a favorite!

How to Store and Reheat

Store: Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days. If you have enough space in the fridge, you can store pot roast in an inner pot of Instant Pot covered with a silicone lid.

Reheat: Then reheat right on the stove (yes, in inner pot) or in Instant Pot by pressing Saute. Otherwise, reheat in a microwave or in small pot on the stove.

Freeze: I recommend to freeze leftover pressure cooker pot roast meat but not the potatoes in an airtight container for up to 3 months. I find potatoes have an unpleasant texture upon thawing but I know some people do not mind it.

More Roast Recipes to Try

• Slow cooker rump roast
• Slow cooker eye of round roast
• Sirloin tip roast
• Slow cooker sirloin tip roast

More Instant Pot Recipes

• Instant Pot beef stew
• Instant Pot chicken and potatoes
• Instant Pot turkey breast
• Instant Pot pulled pork

4.96 from 64 votes

Instant Pot Pot Roast

By: Olena Osipov

Instant Pot Pot Roast is a one pot family-friendly comfort food dinner with fall apart beef, tender carrots and potatoes, and a delicious gravy.

Prep: 10 minutes mins

Cook: 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Pressure Up & Down Time: 1 hour hr

Total: 2 hours hrs 25 minutes mins

Servings: 8 servings

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Equipment

• Instant Pot
• Parchment paper sheets

Video

Ingredients 

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• ▢ 3 pounds chuck or rump roast
• ▢ 2 teaspoons salt
• ▢ 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
• ▢ 1 teaspoon thyme, dried
• ▢ 1 teaspoon rosemary, dried
• ▢ 1 teaspoon onion powder, dried
• ▢ 1 teaspoon garlic powder, dried
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• ▢ 3 tablespoons olive oil
• ▢ 2 large white or yellow onions, sliced
• ▢ 4-6 ounces brown or Portobello mushrooms, sliced
• ▢ 1 cup good red wine like Pinot Noir
• ▢ 1 cup beef broth, low sodium
• ▢ 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar or Worcestershire sauce
• ▢ 1/2 pound baby carrots
• ▢ 2 pounds baby potatoes
• ▢ 1/4 cup cold water
• ▢ 3 tablespoons cornstarch

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Instructions 

• On Instant Pot, press Saute and let it preheat until display says Hot. Takes about 3-5 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a large plate combine salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary, onion powder, garlic powder and paprika. Stir with a fork. Remove twine from the roast (if any) and lay it on a plate with spices. Coat on all sides by turning and making sure all edges are coated.
• Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and then add roast. Brown on both sides, for about 3-5 minutes. Remove with tongs onto a plate.
• Add remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil and onions. Saute for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Now add beef broth, red wine and vinegar and cook and stir until the bottom of the pot is deglazed, about 2-3 minutes.
• Press Cancel and lay roast on top followed by mushrooms.
• If you want to cook not mushy baby carrots and potatoes together with roast, you can do so if you are using 8 quart Instant Pot only. Wrap each separately in unbleached parchment paper and place on both sides of roast. Close the lid, set pressure vent to Sealing and cook for 60 minutes on High Pressure. It is 20 minutes per pound.
• After cook time is over, use Natural Release for 15 minutes and then turn pressure release valve to Venting. Remove vegetables (if added) in a bowl and roast on a cutting board. If you have 6 quart Instant Pot and haven't cooked vegetables with meat, add them now and cook on High pressure for 5 minutes with Quick Release.
• To thicken the gravy, switch electric pressure cooker to Saute. In a small bowl, whisk cold water with cornstarch, add to the pot and stir. Cook for a few minutes until bubbly and thickened.
• Cut beef against the grain into slices of desired thickness and return to the pot along with cooked carrots and vegetables.
• Let it rest for 30-60 minutes. Serve warm garnished with parsley.

🎉 Last step! If you made this recipe, please leave a review and let us know what you think!

Notes

• Store: Leftovers keep well for 3 days. If you have enough space in the fridge, you can store roast (and potatoes) in an inner pot with a silicone lid. Then reheat right on the stove (yes, in inner pot) or in Instant Pot by pressing Saute.
• Freeze: I would freeze the roast itself but not the potatoes in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
• 3 quart Instant Pot: You could probably fit about 3 lbs roast.
• Veggies fit only into 8 or 10 quart Instant Pot: 6 quart Instant Pot is not big enough to accommodate vegetables and leave enough room for pressure to build up. I tried! You can pressure cook them after in the sauce for 10 minutes on High and Quick Release. Or just roast in the oven at 425 degrees F and pour gravy on top after.

Nutrition

Calories: 506kcal, Carbohydrates: 30g, Protein: 36g, Fat: 25g, Saturated Fat: 9g, Cholesterol: 117mg, Sodium: 753mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 4g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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