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Hearty, family-friendly dinner, but make it fast – Pot Roast in the Instant Pot is a staple recipe every busy mom needs to have in her back pocket.
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At Sweet C’s, I add lots of tips in all of my recipes – so you can make this dish, understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe – so even the most beginner home cook can become an expert and feel empowered in the kitchen. I want each reader to walk away with a solid knowledge of each recipe, with all of the tips I’ve gathered from extensive testing of each recipe. I also answer questions my friends and family have asked about my recipes, to help home cooks of any skill level better understand the processes we use and why!
Table of contents
Pressure Cooker Pot Roast
If you love pot roast – but don’t want to wait around all day while it slowly braises in a dutch oven or slow cooker – this recipe will be one of your next favorite dishes. We’re using our Instant Pot pressure cooker to cut the cook time for a classic pot roast, carrot, and potato dinner to under just an hour of cooking – making this family friendly dinner one you can whip up without a ton of notice, and can even be made from-frozen.
This tender, delicious pot roast, like my Perfect Tender Sunday Pot Roast, is easy to chew, fork-tender, and full of meaty flavor the whole family will love.
We’re also cooking potatoes and carrots in the braising liquid – they come out tender, delicious, and bursting with flavor.
Serve this roast up with some of our buttery soft dinner rolls or keto dinner rolls, some french onion soup, or these crazy easy but super indulgent broiled lobster tails!
Also, check out my web story about this pot roast!
How To Cook Pot Roast in an Instant Pot
Cooking frozen pot roast. Generally, you don’t need to worry about changing your cooktime much in the instant pot if using a frozen roast – as it will thaw rapidly as the pot comes to pressure. This means you don’t need to change the time you set your Instant Pot to when you cook – but it will cook longer – so you’ll need to plan for extra time if you’re hungry waiting on dinner.
Unfortunately, it is hard to give an exact time for the pot to come to pressure, since things like altitude, humidity, and your roast’s shape can all change how quickly the Instant Pot comes to pressure – but plan on around an extra 30-40 minutes for large roasts. For very large, thick chuck roasts, I increase the programmed Instant Pot cook time to 55 minutes instead of 45 minutes, as I find the texture is more tender with a little extra cooking time at pressure.
To make this recipe, you will need:
- 2 tbsp butter – butter brings a rich, delicious flavor to our roast as we brown it before cooking – this can easily be swapped for oil, but we love the flavor that butter brings to browning roast in butter before cooking roast.
- 3-5 pound boneless chuck roast – chuck roast is a cheap cut that takes a long time to break down to be soft and tender, and cooking in an instant pot brings out a perfect easy to chew, tender texture the whole family will love.
- 1 large onion, cut into fourths – onion brings an earthy, slightly sweet aromatic kick to roasts and helps round out the flavor of a rich meaty dinner.
- 4 large carrots, peeled and chopped into large 1-2″ chunks – carrots are a classic accompaniment to roast, the tender, sweet flavor helps cut through rich and meaty flavors of a roast.
- 1 lb small boiler potatoes/yukon gold potatoes, halved – yukon gold potatoes will hold up to cooking and have a rich classic potato flavor that is great alongside beef.
- 4 stalks celery, rough chopped – celery is a great addition to roasts, as it adds a natural salty flavor as well as a fresh earthy kick.
- 6 cloves garlic, peeled (chop or toss in whole- up to you!) – I measure garlic by the cup, not the tablespoon, and am known to throw in tons of garlic – you can never get enough!
- 1 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
- 1 tsp celtic sea salt
- 1 tbsp Italian herbs seasoning
- 1-2 sprigs rosemary
- 1 cup good quality red wine – use a wine whose flavor you like, but isn’t overly expensive.
- 1 1/2 cup beef stock – use a lower sodium beef stock so you can control the amount of salt in your dish, for the best results.
We will be following this method:
- In your instant pot set to sauté, or a in a large skillet on the stove, melt butter. (If cooking roast from frozen, skip to step 4 and just brown vegetables – frozen roast will just stick to pan. Season roast with salt and pepper when you add to IP.)
- Pat roast dry with paper towels and generously season with salt and pepper.
- Add roast to pan and brown on all sides. Remove and set aside after browning.
- Add onion, celery, garlic, and carrots to Instant Pot. Brown and soften vegetables for 5-8 minutes.
- Remove vegetables from pot, set aside with roast, and deglaze Instant Pot with broth and wine, taking care to scrape away any browned bits on the bottom of the Instant Pot dish, as it won’t seal if it has food stuck to the bottom.
- Add roast back to Instant pot, and add vegetables, potatoes, herbs, and seasonings.
- Close instant pot lid and set to seal.
- Set to high pressure for 45 minutes.
- When Instant pot is done cooking, let naturally release, about 15 minutes.
- Remove from Instant pot, slice, ad serve!
Tips To Perfect Instant Pot Pot Roast & FAQs
Know when roast is done. Roast is different than a steak in that you won’t be looking at your digital thermometer to gauge how done your steak is – especially since this roast is cooking in a pressure cooker, so you won’t be able to just open it to check your progress. Your roast should be done after 45 minutes at high pressure, with a natural release.
After the pressure releases on it’s own (about 15 minutes), remove the pressure cooker lid, and test the roast with a fork, lightly pulling on the meat with the fork tines. If the roast is soft, and starts to shred with light pressure, you’re done!
If your roast isn’t done. If your roast is a bit large, or you didn’t get a great seal, you might need to add a bit more cooktime. In the rare case it’s not tender after 45 minute pressure cook time, try an additional 5 minutes at high pressure and you should be all the way there.
Recipe FAQ’s
Boneless chuck roast is our choice for a tender pot roast.
Pot roast should be fork tender, but doesn’t necessarily fall apart when served. This recipe is for a fork-tender sliced, not fall-apart shredded roast.
Since this recipe cooks at pressure we don’t rely on temperature with a thermometer to tell when meat is cooked, since we will go over the 145 degree internal temperature guideline for food safety.
You pot roast will get to about 190 degrees internal temperature, which is when connective tissue and fat breaks down.
Your roast will be done after 45 minutes at pressure in an Instant Pot, when meat pulls back slightly with light pressure from a fork. It will be soft, and not yet soft enough to shred.
If it is still tough after release, cook an additional 5-8 minutes at pressure.
Plan on about 1/2 lb or 8 oz per person when meat is your main dish.
For the best flavor, and to keep meat from looking grey, we reccomend browning meat in a pan before adding to dutch oven with other ingredients.
What to Serve With Pot Roast
This meal is truly a one-pot dinner – as we cook the potatoes and carrot side dish right in the Instant Pot with the pot roast, but we’re rounding up our favorite sides to go alongside this drool-worthy dinner!
We love serving this pot roast with our to die for buttery soft dinner rolls, brown butter bacon brussels sprouts, easy broccolini, and to finish it off a delicious blueberry peach cobbler, lemon jello poke cake, berries with creme anglese, or our apple sopapilla cheesecake bars!
You can click here to see our complete side dish recipe archives.
Click here for our full dessert recipe index!
The Best Instant Pot Pot Roast Recipe
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The Best Instant Pot Pot Roast Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp butter
- 3-5 pound boneless chuck roast
- 1 large onion, cut into fourths
- 4 large carrots, peeled and chopped into large 1-2″ chunks
- 1 lb small boiler potatoes/yukon gold potatoes, halved
- 4 stalks celery, rough chopped
- 6 cloves garlic, peeled (chop or toss in whole- up to you!)
- 1 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
- 1 tsp celtic sea salt
- 1 tbsp Italian herbs seasoning
- 1-2 sprigs rosemary
- 1 cup good quality red wine
- 1 ½ cup beef stock
Instructions
- In your instant pot set to sauté, or a in a large skillet on the stove, melt butter. (If cooking roast from frozen, skip to step 4 and just brown vegetables – frozen roast will just stick to pan. Season roast with salt and pepper when you add to IP.)
- Pat roast dry with paper towels and generously season with salt and pepper.
- Add roast to pan and brown on all sides. Remove and set aside after browning.
- Add onion, celery, garlic, and carrots to Instant Pot. Brown and soften vegetables for 5-8 minutes.
- Remove vegetables from pot, set aside with roast, and deglaze Instant Pot with broth and wine, taking care to scrape away any browned bits on the bottom of the Instant Pot dish, as it won't seal if it has food stuck to the bottom.
- Add roast back to Instant pot, and add vegetables, potatoes, herbs, and seasonings.
- Close instant pot lid and set to seal.
- Set to high pressure for 45 minutes.
- When Instant pot is done cooking, let naturally release, about 15 minutes.
- Remove from Instant pot, slice, ad serve!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I am wondering if putting the vegetables in the pot at the same time as the meat and cooking for 45 minutes make the vegetables be too mushy?
Its best to sear the meat first so you can lock in the moisture and develop better flavor. Adding everything at the same time would add more moisture so yes it would be more mushy but still very delicious.
My husband and I really enjoyed this recipe. Really tasty!
Thank you for the comment! Glad you loved it!