Instant Pot Pot Roast | Classic Taste in 40 minutes

This Instant Pot Pot Roast recipe makes a deliciously classic pot roast in less than an hour. This recipe is so quick and easy that it makes a great weeknight dinner--without using packaged mixes.

What Makes This Instant Pot Pot Roast So Incredible

There are few things as comforting and delicious as a good pot roast. However, I can certainly do without the long cook time. I mean, what if I decide at 5 or 6 PM on a weeknight that I want to have pot roast for dinner?

I certainly don't want to wait until 8 PM or later to start eating dinner, and my husband certainly wouldn't wait that long either. So what is a girl to do?

Make a delicious Pot Roast in the Instant Pot, that's what. This is the best part about Instant Pot Recipes--super fast, and tender meat, but only if you know what you're doing TBH.

What Makes This Pot Roast Recipe Different From Others?

• Quick. This Instant Pot Classic Pot Roast recipe gives you all the yumminess of a classic, juicy beef pot roast without having to cook it low and slow for hours on end. Thanks to the convenience of pressure cooking , you can get the same end product of cooking a roast in the oven or slow cooker / crock pot for 3-6 hours in under an hour.
• Delicious. And let me tell you, this Pressure Cooker Beef Pot Roast with fresh vegetables tastes so very good! It's juicy, savory, and fall-apart tender.
• Flavor. The veggies are perfectly cooked, and they are infused with so much flavor. Pressure cooking does such an incredible job of infusing the roast and veggies with an abundance of flavor, so much so that I couldn't possibly imagine making a classic pot roast any other way.
• Efficient. For starters I don’t have you cooking the Instant Pot Pot Roast recipe as one big hunk of meat. Most of the other recipes ask you to cook it for over an hour, only to have you shred the meat at the end.
  • To me cooking the beef roast as one big hunk seems like a highly inefficient way how to cook a roast, not to mention the likelihood that the outside of the meat gets way overdone compared to the inside of the meat.
  • So I think it’s a lot easier to just go ahead and cut the pot roast meat kind of small to start with. You can have pot roast without having to cook the meat forever if you are OK with cutting it up and shredding the meat before you serve it.
• No need to Sauté. Speaking of efficiency, you notice I did not sauté the beef. No need to use olive oil, sear the meat, clean out the pan, and whatnot. Read my post on the science of pressure cooking to understand why I do not brown meat for most of my Instant Pot Recipes.
• Fresh Ingredients. You will notice I did not use onion soup mix, or garlic powder, onion powder, etc. in this pressure cooker pot roast. I started with fresh ingredients. Even the cornstarch slurry is optional since the gravy is quite flavorful on its own.
  • If you want to thicken with cornstarch however, the proportions for a good cornstarch mixture are usually 1-2 tablespoons of cornstarch and about 1/3 cup of water, stirred together until smooth.

Now let's get to cooking!

How To Make A Pot Roast in Your Pressure Cooker

• Cut. Cut the beef chuck roast into several pieces, each the size of your palm. Place the beef into the Instant Pot.

• Add. Mix together the beef broth, tomato paste, Worcestershire Sauce, dried Rosemary, dried thyme, salt and pepper. Then add the onions to the mixture.

• Cook. Pour sauce on chuck roast. Close the lid and pressure cook on HIGH pressure for 15 minutes. Immediately release all pressure. 

• Veggies. Add potatoes, cut up carrots or baby carrots, onions, celery, and mushrooms.

• Finish. Close the lid and cook on high pressure 4 minutes. Allow the pot to rest undisturbed for 10 minutes. Then, release all remaining pressure. Remove beef chuck and shred.

• Serve. Place on a serving dish. Arrange all the vegetables around the meat. Serve the pot liquid as a sauce or au jus gravy on the side.
• Optional: You can make a cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce, but you may not need to.

Tips And Tricks For Making Pressure Cooker Pot Roast

• Beef Chuck Roast. I find this to be an excellent and inexpensive cut of meat for pot roast, and other recipes like my copycat Chipotle barbacoa recipe where you want tender, fall-apart meat. You can also use a rump roast for making a great pot roast.
• Shred. Be sure to shred the meat in large chunks since you’re not making tacos here. You want to serve large chunks of meat, not fine shreds.
• Presentation. If you are keen on a presentation where the meat is left whole, I would still recommend that you cut it at the thickest part horizontally. Then you may have to cook the meat for 35 to 40 minutes. For a 3 pound chunk that has not been cut up, I would give it a good 60 to 70 minutes.
• Well-Cooked veggies. Do not be tempted to cook the vegetables along with the roast. You will have mushy veggies that no one will like. #trustUrvashi on this one. I have met very few children who will eat a mushy carrot!
• Mashed Potatoes. If you like, you can use twice the potatoes that I call for in this recipe, and remove half and mash. Check out my Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes recipe for directions.
• Gravy. Be absolutely sure to save every last bit of the juice for gravy. If you are refrigerating or freezing leftover pot roast, cover the meat in gravy to keep it moist and tender when reheated.
• Frozen Roast. I know many of you will want to know if you can use a frozen roast to make this recipe. Here's my advice. Only use it if the meat was frozen in chunks.
  • It is virtually impossible to cook a large hunk of frozen meat, without leaving either the inside undercooked or the outside overcooked and dry.
  • Do not trust any roast recipe for pot roast or roast beef that tells you this is possible. It is against several laws of physics to have this be possible 🙂

Why Do You QPR (Quick Pressure Release) When Cooking The Roast? Won't That Make It Tough?

• Multiple Cook Times. Since we are cooking the beef pot roast a second time when we add the veggies to the Instant Pot, it will still come out super tender.
• Overcooking. I use QPR for the first cooking cycle because NPR (Natural Pressure Release) allows the ingredients to cook for longer in the residual heat. If I were to use NPR for both cooking cycles, the meat would get overcooked from all the residual heat.
• Hybrid Release. I like to use both QPR and NPR for recipes that are cooked in multiple cycles so that meats don't get overcooked. You simply use QPR after the first cycle where you cook the meat and then NPR after cooking the meat with the veggies. I use this same technique with my Pressure Cooker Beef Stew.

Can I Make This Pot Roast Low Carb?

But of course! In order to make this Instant Pot Pot Roast low carb, simply sub out the potatoes for cut-up turnips, parsnips, or whole radishes. You may want to increase the proportion of low carb vegetables in this case.

Looking For More Classic Dishes To Make In Your Instant Pot?

• Pressure Cooker Beef Stew makes a great weeknight dinner.
• The best Instant Pot Red Beans and Rice recipe you've ever had
• Authentic and easiest Keto Instant Pot Chili ever made.

Now that you have a quick and easy way to make a delicious pot roast, you're sure to want to make this Instant Pot Pot Roast all the time! Make sure to share this recipe with your friends on Pinterest and Facebook so they can enjoy it as well!

Don't forget to check out my other Best-selling Instant Pot Cookbooks!

Indian Instant Pot, Keto Instant Pot, Instant Pot Fast and Easy, Healthy Instant Pot & Vegetarian Instant Pot.