Instant Pot Pot Roast saves some time on oven cooked and slow cooker methods. You can also cook the veggies right in the pot, making it an easy one-pot meal.
Pot roasts usually take a long time to cook – all day in the slow cooker or at least 3 hours in the oven. But if you turn it into a pressure cooker, you can have a tender, flavorful roast (complete with all the veggies and gravy!) in about two hours.
Even better, the recipe is super flexible– You can prepare the pot roast at any time of the day, leave it on the “Warm” function after cooking and do the final steps about 20 minutes before eating.
Pot roast for cool winter days
When the weather turns chilly, I crave hearty, braised dishes like pot roast. In this recipe, tangy balsamic vinegar, rosemary, and sweet onions combine to flavor the cooking liquid, which helps keep the pot roast moist during cooking.
Serve the extra cooking liquid on the side, too! It is delicious when applied to meat, carrots and potatoes.
PRO TIP! Save any leftover cooking liquid to use in your next soup or stew, or anywhere you would use beef broth. It adds a lot of deep, savory flavor. My grandma used to do it all the time and now I do it too.
The best piece of meat for pot roasts
If frozen, thaw before cooking
One of the most common pressure cooking questions I get (and I get a lot of questions on my Instant Pot Recipes Facebook page) is a version of “How long does it take / can I have a frozen pot roast / a whole chicken / another large one?” Cook? , frozen solid piece of meat?”
While you can pressure cook thinner cuts of frozen meat (see Pressure Cooking Frozen Chicken), I recommend thawing larger cuts like the lining for this pot roast. Whole frozen pieces can become stringy on the outside and undercooked on the inside. Defrosted or fresh meat cooks much more evenly, and you ensure the center is cooked through and tender within the recommended cooking time.
- New to Instant Pot? Check out our post How To Use an Instant Pot: A First-Timer’s Guide.
How to cook pot roast in the Instant Pot
This recipe is prepared in three steps:
- First, you will sear the meat and cook it under pressure. Once the cooking program begins, you can step away from the pot if you wish – it defaults to the ‘Keep Warm’ setting and stays hot and ready to carve for up to 10 hours.
- Secondplace the cooked pot roast on a carving board, strain out the fat from the cooking liquid, then add the potatoes and carrots to the pot with the liquid and pressure cook them by themselves.
- Finally, at the end of the cooking program, you quickly unload the pot, carve the roast, spoon the vegetables out of the pot and pour some of the cooking liquid over everything to serve.
What additional tools do I need?
You don’t need any special tools to make this recipe other than nice, sturdy kitchen tongs and a grease separator. When you’re done, all you have to do is wash up one pot!
How long do leftovers keep?
This recipe makes enough for four to six people, depending on your household appetite, and leftovers will keep in the fridge for up to four days.
You can also freeze the leftover meat if you like. Store cut, in freezer bags, or wrapped in layers of cling film and aluminum foil for up to three months.
Great idea for using up leftovers!
If you’re lucky enough to have leftovers, my favorite thing to do is make a breakfast hash – dice the carrots, potatoes and pot roast and brown them in a pan with some oil, add extra diced onions and/or peppers at will.
Crack some eggs on the hash, cover with a lid for a few minutes and you have a seriously hearty breakfast!
Looking for more pressure cooker recipes?
- Pressure cooker shredded chicken taco meat
- Pressure cooker chicken and rice casserole
- Pressure cooker brisket
- Pressure cooker shepherd’s pie
- Pressure cooker Mexican pulled pork
Adapt this recipe for a stovetop pressure cooker
Follow recipe as directed, but reduce pot roast cook time to 50 minutes on high pressure. Reduce the cooking time for the potatoes and carrots to 4 minutes on high pressure.
Adapt this recipe for the stovetop/oven
Preheat oven to 300°F. Season the roast with salt and pepper, then sear in a Dutch oven on the stovetop over medium-high heat. Place in a bowl, then sauté the onions, garlic and rosemary, then add the broth and vinegar as in the recipe below.
Return the pot roast to the Dutch oven, then add enough water to bring the roast up about a third high. Cover the Dutch Oven with its lid and place in the oven.
Roast the pot roast for 3 hours or until tender, adding the carrots and potatoes during the last 1 1/2 hours of cooking. Check the pot roast about every 45 minutes—if too much liquid has evaporated, add an extra splash of water.
From the editors of Simply Recipes
Instant Pot Pot Roast with Balsamic Vinegar and Rosemary
ingredients
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1 (2 1/2 to 3 pounds) Boneless beef stew
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2 teaspoon Salt
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1 teaspoon ground black pepper
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1 tablespoon vegetable oil
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1 jumbo (12 ounces) Onioncut
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4 cloves garlicchopped
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2 (4 inch) branches fresh rosemary
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3/4 Cup beef broth or vegetable broth
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1/4 Cup aged balsamic vinegar
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1 1/2 lb new potatoes (halved if over 1 1/2″ diameter, quartered if larger diameter)
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1 lb baby carrots (or regular carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch rounds)
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1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsleyfor serving (optional)
method
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Drying and seasoning the roast:
Place the roast in a bowl and pat dry with a paper towel. Season everything with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and pepper.
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Sear the pot roast on top and bottom:
Select the sauté setting on your electric pressure cooker and heat the oil for 3 minutes until the oil is shimmering. Using tongs, lower pot roast into saucepan and sear on top and bottom for 4 minutes (8 minutes total) until browned. Transfer the pot roast back to the bowl.
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Cooking onions and spices:
Add onions and 1/2 teaspoon salt to saucepan and sauté until slightly tender, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and rosemary and sauté for 1 minute more, until the garlic is no longer raw. Add the beef broth and balsamic vinegar, then use a wooden spoon to scrape any browned bits off the bottom of the saucepan.
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Cooking a roast under pressure:
Use the tongs to lower the pot roast back into the pot and spoon some of the cooking liquid over the roast.
Secure the lid of your pressure cooker in its locked position. Cancel the sauté program and then select the manual or quick cook program for 55 minutes at high pressure. (It takes about 5 minutes for the pot to build up pressure before the cooking program starts.)
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release pressure:
At the end of the cooking program, allow the pressure to release naturally for at least 15 minutes, then turn the pressure relief valve from to vent to release any remaining steam.
You can also leave the pot roast on the keep warm setting for up to 10 hours. You don’t have to let off steam.
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Let the pot roast rest:
Open the pot and use the tongs to place the roast on a cutting board. Cover the roast with aluminum foil to keep it warm.
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Strain the cooking liquid:
Place a strainer over a grease trap in the sink. Using heat resistant gloves, lift the inner pot out of the pressure cooker body and pour the cooking liquid through the strainer into the grease trap. (If you don’t have a grease trap, you can pour the liquid into a ziplock bag, tilt it, let the grease rise to the top. Then cut a hole in the bottom corner of the bag to drain the liquid, stop before you get to the grease. )
Discard the rosemary stalks, then return the strained onions, garlic, and rosemary leaves to the pot. Pour the liquid from the fat separator back into the pot as well. Discard the fat.
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Quick Cooking the Vegetables:
Add the potatoes and carrots to the pot and place it back in its housing. Secure the lid in its sealing position.
Cancel the cooking program and then select the manual or rapid cooking program for 5 minutes at high pressure. (It takes about 15 minutes for the pot to build up pressure before the cooking program starts.)
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release pressure:
At the end of the cooking program, perform a quick depressurization by setting the pressure relief valve to vent to release the steam.
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Surcharge:
Open the pot, then use a slotted spoon to transfer the vegetables to a serving platter. Taste the cooking liquid for seasoning and add salt and/or pepper if needed.
Remove any strings from the pot roast, then cut into 1/2 inch thick slices. Arrange the pot roast with the vegetables on the serving plate. Ladle some of the cooking liquid over the meat and vegetables, garnish with parsley (if using) and serve.
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 626 | calories |
| 18g | Fat |
| 39g | carbohydrates |
| 78g | protein |
