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Instant Pot Italian Shredded Beef – delicious tangy spicy Italian Beef right from your instant pot in a fraction of the time!
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At Sweet C’s, I add lots of tips in all of my recipes – because I am a home cook without any formal training, and I find I am more confident making dishes when I understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe. My goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.
Table of contents
Spicy Italian Shredded Beef Sandwiches
This Chicago favorite Italian Beef is delicious and so easy – toss in the instant pot and let it sow cook until tender, juicy, and delicious!
Chuck roast will slowly break down as it cooks, which often takes a long time. If you don’t have hours and hours to cook a chuck roast, using an Instant Pot is a great timesaver!
Serve with keto rolls, Yeast Rolls, or hoagie bread for a knockout sandwich – or add to wraps, salads, tacos, and more! This easy shredded beef is sure to be a knockout for your next party. I hope you love this Italian Beef recipe as much as we do.
How to Make Instant Pot Italian Shredded Beef
First assemble the following ingredients:
- Olive oil – olive oil helps the roast not stick to the pan or bottom of the instant pot when browning before cooking, as well as giving the jus a bit of fat.
- Chuck roast – cut comes from the cow’s upper shoulder and lower neck areas. Both steaks and roasts come from this area of the cow. Chuck roast tends to be fattier, making it a perfect roast for cooking in the Instant pot, which breaks down fat and tissue quickly.
- Sea Salt – sea salt is essential for seasoning the chuck roast well.
- Vinegar – vinegar balances out fat, tenderizes meat, and works to tie together the acidic, tart flavors of Italian peppers with the beef.
- Water – it is important to have enough water in a pressure cooker to get it to seal – as the water provides the pressure. Water will also act as the base for our jus. If you want to add more flavor, you can swap beef stock for water, but you must keep the amount the same, as we need the liquid volume to seal the pressure cooker.
- Pepperoncini peppers – pepperoncini pepper’s acidic, spicy, and tangy flavor cuts through fatty beef flavor to balance out a roast, and brings an addictive flavor you can’t get enough of!
- Chopped banana peppers – banana peppers are bright, with a tangy, slightly spicy flavor that is a perfect pairing for rich, fatty beef dishes.
- White onion – onion brings a pungeant, earthy, and vegetal flavor that is not only great to balance out rich, heavy meat dishes – the enzymes in onions also help to tenderize beef and break down their tissue, making them softer, and easier to chew.
- Minced garlic – garlic brings an earthy, umami-friendly flavor that balances out rich fat, and enhances chuck roast’s addictive savory flavor.
- Giardiniera – for even more of a spicy kick, topping Italian beef sandwiches with Giardiniera and juices is a MUST! Giardiniera is an Italian relish of pickled vegetables in vinegar or oil, which helps cut through the rich meat and fat flavor and brings a tart and spicy kick to your meal.
Once you’ve gathered your ingredients, we will use the following method:
- Brown beef. If using chuck roast that is not fully frozen, give it a quick sear in a pan to brown both sides. This will add color and flavor before pressure cooking.
- Cook in instant pot. Place ingredients in an instant pot and seal. Cook 20 minutes per pound of meat if from refrigerator, 30 minutes per pound of meat if frozen. Let naturally release.
- Make jus. While letting roast rest, and shredding, use instant pot to boil cooking liquid to make jus to serve with beef. This delicious beef broth sauce is great to dip your sandwich in!
- Shred and serve. Shred roast when hot, but not too hot to handle. Use forks, tongs, or you can also put the roast in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment (make sure there are no bones) and it will shred your roast perfectly for you!
Tips and Tricks to Perfect Shredded Italian Beef
Brown before adding to Instant Pot. I personally like to brown my chuck roast before cooking- whether in a pan and added into the instant pot, or in the base of the instant pot using the saute function.
How long to cook chuck roast in the Instant Pot. Our general rule of thumb is to cook 20 minutes per pound of meat at high pressure for a chuck roast.
Cook from frozen. For a completely frozen roast, cook 30 minutes per pound of meat.
Make sandwiches. You can make Instant Pot Italian beef sandwiches is a great way to use leftovers, you can top them with provolone cheese and dip in au jus. To kick up the heat try topping with some red pepper flakes.
FAQ’s
This Italian beef can be stored in an airtight container for up to four days in the refrigerator.
Leftovers can be frozen for up to four months.
If your roast isn’t fork tender after cooking, add another 5-10 minutes at pressure in the Instant Pot.
After making sure there are no bones, shred with forks, or place the entire roast in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high – it will shred the roast perfectly for you!
If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can make this recipe in a slow cooker. Cooke on low for 8-10 hours, or high for 5-6 hours, until fork-tender and beef can easily shred.
Feel free to add other Italian seasonings to the Instant Pot including oregano, basil, garlic powder, onion powder, or pepperoncini juice from the jar.
What To Serve with Shredded Italian Beef
This shredded Italian beef is amazing on its own, on a bun, in keto rolls, in a wrap, or served in hoagies – but we’re rounding up some of our favorite side dishes to serve with Italian Shredded Beef below:
- The Best Easy Air Fryer French Fries Recipe
- Bacon Wrapped Cheddar and Garlic Jalapeno Poppers
- Blistered Shishito Peppers
- Loaded Nacho Fries
- Hot Totchos (Hot Dog Tater Tot Nachos)
- Spicy Skillet Linguica Queso Dip
My family loved to serve this Italian beef with mashed potatoes, carrots, steamed cauliflower, and celery.
Try these delicious recipes:
Instant Pot Shredded Italian Beef Recipe
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Instant Pot Shredded Italian Beef Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 lb chuck roast
- ½ cup vinegar
- 1 ½ cup water
- 2 tbsp cracked pepper
- 2 tbsp sea salt
- ½ cup pepperoncini peppers
- ½ cup chopped banana peppers
- ½ large white onion, diced
- ¼ cup minced garlic, about 6 cloves
- Giardiniera – to garnish
Instructions
- Drizzle oil over the bottom of Instant Pot.
- Add chuck roast.
- Pour vinegar and oil over roast.
- Add peppers, butter, salt, pepper on top of roast.
- Place lid on Instant Pot and set to seal.
- Cook on high pressure for 55 minutes.
- Let naturally release.
- Remove chuck roast and set in large bowl or baking sheet.
- Turn Instant pot to sauté and reduce any juices to make a spicy jus.
- While jus is reducing, shred roast.
- Serve in buns for a sandwich, or on plate for keto Italian shredded beef.
- Top with jus, if desired.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
