Soon after I married, I discovered my husband’s very favorite meal was pot roast. I had never in my adult life cooked one, but I set out to make the best pot roast ever. Thanks to the Pioneer Woman, I have been a successful pot roast maker for many years now.
When I first bought my Instant Pot, I didn’t even take it out of the box for 9 months. I was so afraid of blowing it up or something. When I did finally use it for the first time, I made hard-boiled eggs. And for about another year, hard-boiled eggs were all I made in it.
One day, I was looking around on Pinterest for some recipes I could try and happened upon a pot roast for instant pot recipe. I nervously prepared the roast, sealed up the pot, and prayed it wouldn’t come out either tough or burnt. Surprisingly, it came out moist and tender. Now, it’s how I always make pot roast. I love that in just a little over an hour, I can have what it used to take several hours to make. Now I don’t really even have to plan very far ahead, where I used to have to be very intentional.
This is a modification of the first recipe I tried (I made some tweaks so it would be Whole30 compliant and Paleo). I hope you enjoy it.
Pot Roast for Instant Pot Recipe
Ingredients:
2-3 lb chuck roast (well marbled — this is my favorite type of roast for the Instant Pot)
Add the olive oil to the bottom of the instant pot and turn on the saute function. Salt & pepper and brown both sides of the roast.
Once the roast has browned, removed from the Instant Pot.
Place the carrots, potatoes, and onion in the bottom of the Instant Pot.
Lay the beef roast on top of the vegetables.
Pour the 2 cups of beef broth over the beef roast and vegetables.
Add extra onion on top of the beef roast (this is optional).
Place the lid on the Instant Pot and seal shut.
Press manual and set the Instant Pot timer for 1 hour. Make sure the vent is closed.
Let the roast cook and vent naturally.
Serves 4.
Note: If you prefer, you can cook the pot roast without the potatoes and carrots. After cooking, remove the pot roast to a cutting board and loosely cover with tinfoil to rest. Add the potatoes and carrots to the Instant Pot. Close the lid and vent and bring to pressure again, cooking for 4 minutes. Do a manual pressure release.
To serve:
Slice the pot roast against the grain and serve with vegetables and the aujus left in the Instant Pot.
2-3 lb chuck roast (well marbled -- this is my favorite type of roast for the Instant Pot)
4 large carrots, scrubbed and cut into chunks
4 medium potatoes, scrubbed and cut into chunks
1 large onion, diced
2 cups beef broth
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
Add the olive oil to the bottom of the instant pot and turn on the saute function. Salt & pepper and brown both sides of the roast.
Once the roast has browned, removed from the Instant Pot.
Place the carrots, potatoes, and onion in the bottom of the Instant Pot.
Lay the beef roast on top of the vegetables.
Pour the 2 cups of beef broth over the beef roast and vegetables.
Add extra onion on top of the beef roast (this is optional).
Place the lid on the Instant Pot and seal shut.
Press manual and set the Instant Pot timer for 1 hour. Make sure the vent is closed.
Let the roast cook and vent naturally.
Slice the pot roast against the grain and serve with vegetables and the au jus left in the Instant Pot.
Notes
Note: If you prefer, you can cook the pot roast without the potatoes and carrots. After cooking, remove the pot roast to a cutting board and loosely cover with tinfoil to rest. Add the potatoes and carrots to the Instant Pot. Close the lid and vent and bring to pressure again, cooking for 4 minutes. Do a manual pressure release.
If it's still tough, you will need to cook it longer. The pressure cooking process breaks down tough meat, making it tender. Put the lid back on, seal the pressure cooker, and cook at high pressure for another 10 to 20 minutes.
Typically you need at least 1 cup of liquid in the Instant Pot; the remaining 1/2 cup comes from the juices released by the chuck roast and the tomato sauce.
The key to cooking pot roast is cooking it low and slow. The meat should just fall apart, hence the name, and if it doesn't, you probably have not cooked it long enough. Also, I like to cook the potatoes separately, as they tend to be a little to mushy for my liking when you cook them with the roast.
Use the quick-release method to lower the pressure. Stir in potatoes and carrots and seal the lid; bring the cooker up to full pressure and cook for an additional 15 minutes. Use the quick-release method again and transfer roast and vegetables to a serving dish.
Overcooking the meat would result in a very dry tasting pot roast. Undercooking it would result in a tough piece of meat. Unfortunately, this isn't much you can do if you overcook it, other than making sure to serve it with a lot of gravy.
Simmering in a little bit of liquid or broth is a great way to tenderize. Acidity can also be your friend here. A little bit of vinegar and lemon juice in the liquid can help you tenderize the meat. It adds moisture, but it also cooks the meat.
Some people prefer a roast that has more substance, so if you do, the Instant Pot is the winner. I have tried cooking a roast for up to 120 minutes in the Instant Pot and the texture still didn't match a slow cooker, but every 10 minutes of added pressure cooking will definitely make the meat more tender.
It's all about cooking low and slow. With a cut of meat like this, a longer cook time will give you better, more tender results. Ideally, all roasted meats would be seared on all sides in a hot skillet to develop a golden, delicious crust.
Thicken the sauce – If you want a thick gravy sauce, here's what to do: after you strain the solids out of the sauce, add a few tbls of the strained sauce to a small bowl. Whisk in a tablespoon of flour or two teaspoons of corn starch until very smooth. Pour it back to the pot.
Whether you cook your pot roast using a stovetop, oven, slow cooker, or pressure cooker method, you'll always get the most tender and flavorful results if you use low temperatures over a long period of time. That's what it takes to melt down the tough connective tissue in the meat until you can cut it with a fork.
If it's only a little overcooked, it falls apart. That's not terrible. You can just shred it and mix it with the cooking liquid. But meat that is overcooked, even in a braise, can be unpleasantly dry and stringy.
Unfortunately, once you overcook a piece of meat in the pressure cooker, there's no going back. You'll be left with a pile of dry, crunchy, tasteless fibers and no amount of additional pressure cooking is going to put that moisture back into the meat. Earlier, I explained how ingredient size affects the cooking time.
There are several reasons why this could have happened even after so much cooking. First, your choice of a rump roast could be a factor since cuts from the hind quarter are very muscular and, since muscles are the most resistant to breaking, this cut is quite stubborn when it comes to becoming tender.
Yes, pot roast absolutely becomes more tender the longer it cooks. Roasts are generally made from tougher cuts of meat, such as chuck or brisket, which contain a lot of collagen, connective tissue, and fat. These tougher tissues require a long cooking time to break down and for the collagen to converts into gelatin.
There are several reasons why this could have happened even after so much cooking. First, your choice of a rump roast could be a factor since cuts from the hind quarter are very muscular and, since muscles are the most resistant to breaking, this cut is quite stubborn when it comes to becoming tender.
Instant Pot: If you have an Instant Pot, you can use it to soften beef very quickly and easily. Simply add some beef broth or water to the pot with the beef, and put the cooker on high pressure for 30 minutes.
Add enough water to the pot to cover roast; add celery, garlic, onion, basil, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low and simmer for 2 hours and 15 minutes, adding additional water if needed to keep the roast covered.
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