Best Ever Instant Pot Pot Roast is a classic comfort meal. The savory gravy drizzled over the fall apart meat and perfectly cooked veggies (no mushy veggies here!) will be a new family favorite meal!
Best Ever Chuck Roast Instant Pot Recipe
The Instant Pot (or electric pressure cooker) is totally my jam because I don’t have to be thinking about dinner when I am eating breakfast. 😉 I tossed this pot roast in at about 1:30 and by 4:00 I was photographing, drooling and feeding my 1 year old pieces of the meat faster than imaginable.
The best part? The veggies aren’t mush. There is a little extra step which may take a few more minutes, but 100% worth it in my book.
The secret to making Instant Pot Chuck Roast with veggies
The secret to cooking those veggies without getting them mushy? Cook them separately. I know, I know. With the Instant Pot we want to throw everything in and press a button. The cook times vary SO greatly between the roast and the veggies, though, that cooking them all together just isn’t a good idea.
So, cook the roast first. Pull the roast out and cover with foil and let it rest (this makes it even more tender). Then pop the prepped veggies in your steamer basket into the Instant Pot with the hot broth and liquid and pressure cook for an additional 4 minutes.
Because the liquid is already hot and boiling in there, the pot will come to pressure in no time! You can quick release with the veggies and because they are in our handy steamer basket, they can be pulled out easily!
Then, thicken that gravy. Boom, done!
Instant Pot Chuck Roast Recipe Ingredients
- Chuck Roast– I personally like the cut of a chuck roast- the final result is a very tender roast. You can use a brisket or a round roast if needed.
- Butter– Salted butter is what I always use- we will just need a little bit to help brown the roast before it gets pressure cooked.
- Beef Broth– I usually just use canned beef broth but you could use a bullion cube with water if that is all you have.
- Crushed Tomatoes– the tomatoes break down and add flavor to the gravy.
- Onion Soup Mix– you can use store brand or name brand Lipton onion soup mix- this really ads a lot of flavor to the gravy.
- Au Jus Seasoning/Gravy Mix– Again, this is for flavoring the gravy.
- Worcestershire sauce
- Parsley (dried) – you can use fresh, if you prefer and have it on hand.
- Red Potatoes– I prefer red potatoes because they are so easy to quickly cut, but you can use whatever potato you have on hand.
- Baby Carrots – baby carrots are great because there is no cutting required!
cornstarch for a thickening slurry- This will help thicken up that delicious gravy!
How to cook Chuck Roast in Instant Pot
Here are a list of tips to help you be successful with cooking a roast in your Instant Pot!
- Brown the roast before pressure cooking. You can brown the roast right in the Instant Pot on the Sauté MORE setting. Wait until the display reads HOT before adding some butter and then the roast. Brown on all sides, the roast is ready to flip when it is no longer sticking to the pot.
- Deglaze the pot with broth before pressure cooking. This means to pour liquid into the pot and scrape the bottom so there aren’t any stuck on bits of food.
- Pressure Cook on HIGH (either using the Manual or Pressure Cook button). For 3 lb roasts, pressure cook for 100 minutes. This is fall apart, melt in your mouth tender. If you need to use a bigger roast than that, I would suggest cutting the roast in half and then following the same cook time.
- For frozen roasts, add 20 minus to the cook time.
- Always, always allow for at least a 15 minute NPR. The longer the better though.
- Pull the roast out, cover with foil or place in another pot with a lid and let it rest.
- Cook the veggies in the broth- red potatoes halved and then each half quartered along with baby carrots. Cook on high pressure for 5 minutes with a quick release
- Turn the Instant Pot onto Saute and thicken gravy with a corn starch slurry.
Beef Chuck Roast Instant Pot FAQ
The longer you cook it the more tender it will be. I usually cook a 3 lb chuck roast for 100 min high pressure with a 30 minute NPR.
Yes! You’ll want to add 10-20 minutes to the cook time.
I don’t think one way is particularly better than the other, it is just whichever you prefer. Crockpot yields a very tender chuck roast but will take about 8 hours to get that fork tender meat. And Instant Pot will also give you tender roast but in about 2-3 hours total.
To a point, yes, but then it will start to get hard, dry and over cooked. That is one good thing about pressure cooking, it keeps all of the moisture in so it is nearly impossible to overcook your chuck roast.
How To Serve Instant Pot Chuck Roast
I love serving this Pot Roast alongside my Honey Lime Fruit Salad, and homemade French Bread.
- Broccoli Salad
- Fresh Fruit and Cheesecake Fruit Dip
- Homemade Dinner Rolls
I hope you love this meal as much as me and my neighbors did!! Yes, this made so much I called my friend, Katie, and told her we were coming over for dinner.. and I was bringing the food! 😉
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Instant Pot Chuck Roast Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 lb chuck roast
- 2 tbs butter
- 32 oz beef broth
- 1 cup crushed tomatoes
- 1 packet onion soup mix
- 1 packet au jus seasoning/gravy mix
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp parsley dried
- 2 lb red potatoes
- 2 cups baby carrots
- cornstarch for a thickening slurry
Instructions
- Turn the Instant Pot onto Saute MORE (or HIGH depending on your Instant Pot). Wait until the display reads HOT.
- While waiting for the Instant Pot to preheat, season all sides of the roast with salt and pepper, if desired.
- When the display reads HOT, add the butter. Proceed to brown each side of the roast. You’ll know it is time to flip when the roast no longer sticks to the bottom of the pot.
- Remove the browned roast and set aside.
- Pour the broth into the pot and scrape the bottom until it is clean.
- Add the crushed tomatoes, onion mix, au jus mix, Worcestershire sauce and parsley to the pot. Add the roast back into the pot.
- Cook on Manual HIGH for 100 minutes with a 15 minute NPR before manually releasing the pressure.
- While the Instant Pot is naturally releasing it’s pressure, wash and prep the veggies. I like to cut the potatoes in half, and then cut each half into four pieces. Place in your steamer basket.
- After the roast is finished, carefully remove the roast and place on a plate, cover with foil and rest.
- Place the steamer basket into the Instant Pot and cook on Manual HIGH for 4 minutes, quick release the pressure.
- Remove the veggies. Turn the Instant Pot onto Saute.
- Thicken the gravy with a corn starch slurry until it has reached your desired thickness.
- Roughly break up the meat, serve alongside the veggies with gravy drizzled on top.
Becky says
Sooooooo good! I made this with a venison roast. Normally I don’t like to make venison roasts because they turn out tough and I can’t stand to eat them. But this turned out so tender and juicy I wanted it all! Love the flavor combinations. And the veggies… to die for!! Thanks Karli!
Karli Bitner says
I am so happy to hear this!! I am glad you loved it! 🙂
Vicki Jones says
If I am only doing a 2# roast, do I need to alter the ingredients and cook time? And are the crushed tomatoes fresh or canned?
Karli Bitner says
I use canned crushed tomatoes, and no need to alter the cook time or other ingredients. Hope you enjoy!
Susan Gebauer says
Can you make the roast with out the tomatoes my family does not care for tomatoes.
Karli Bitner says
Sure, you can omit the tomatoes if you’d like.
McCall Oviatt says
The best pot roast ever! I’m finally trying out my Instant Pot and I’m excited to try more of your recipes. This was a huge Sunday dinner hit!
Karli Bitner says
Yay! I am so happy to hear this, McCall!! Welcome to the world of Instant Pots, you are going to love it. 🙂
Deborah Berry says
Hi Karli!
Love this recipe! Just wondering if can you do this with a frozen roast?
Karli Bitner says
I’m glad you like the recipe Deborah. I would thaw out the pot roast. The cook time might not work out for a frozen roast. Keep on cooking!
Diane says
Love it! Tried others this is the one I will now always go to. I did not use onion soup mix, I added a large onion, no tomatoes. Fantastic, and lots of leftovers and a delicious gravy. Thx for sharing
Karli Bitner says
I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe so much, Diane! Thanks for the comment and stars. 🙂
katie Thornley says
I was feeling very fancy and tried my hand at making instant pot roast( not this recipe). I even invited my chef friend over for dinner. Sadly, I got the dreaded burn notice and did the scrape of shame and tried to guesstimate how long to re-instapot . When it was done I beautifully plated the food and snapped a picture (did you even cook if you don’t snap a picture) I sent the picture to my Dad. “Look at me go” was the caption that came along with the picture. My Dad replied, that looks like its already been chewed. Why would He say that? I pushed my crushed feelings aside and was excited to feed my chef friend and family of 6. After the first bite,,, I knew why my Dad said that…. it was MUSHY. My chef friend gave me smiles and yummms as she ate it. Bless her heart! I now have SUCCESSFULLY cooked pot roast by following this yummy recipe that came out after my flop of a dinner. Want to have a chuckle,,, the chef friend that I had over for dinner… Is thee Cooking with Karli ,,the girl who is wildly successful and created this 5 star recipe!! haha Belive it or not, but she still loves me
Karli Bitner says
❤️❤️ YOU ARE MY FAVORITE! That roast wasn’t that bad!! haha I love ALL food. Plus, the company was superior sooo, it didn’t even matter. 😉 Let’s do it again sometime!