This Instant Pot pot roast recipe is fall-apart-tender and totally delicious. Whole baby potatoes, carrots, and fresh herbs come together to make the perfect pressure cooker chuck roast!
This is actually the recipe that made me fall in love with my Instant Pot. Now that I know I can make an Instant Pot chuck roast that’s so delicious in such a short time, there’s really no going back. In fact, my beloved slow cooker may be collecting a little dust lately as I tend to reach for my Instant Pot more often these days!
With easy family meals like my Instant Pot taco soup or this easy Instant Pot white bean soup, it just makes sense.
Instant Pot Pot Roast
Pot roast is a meal that my whole family loves, so I whip-up this easy pressure cooker beef roast about once a week. It’s a great dinner for my family of four, and I usually have plenty leftover to send with my husband to work the next day.
Isn’t it funny how some meals almost taste even better the next day? I know that my husband always appreciates his day-two pot roast leftovers.
Instant Pot Chuck Roast
Ever find yourself at the meat counter wondering what cut of beef to buy to make a pot roast?
For me, it’s all about the chuck roast. An Instant Pot chuck roast turns out so incredibly tender and scrumptious that this is the beef roast I choose again and again.
I like to make my Instant Pot chuck roast with potatoes, carrots, and celery. However, you can certainly get creative and try other vegetables. Green beans would be delicious, and I’ve also used turnips successfully. Do you have any favorite veggies to throw in the Instant Pot with a roast that I haven’t mentioned? I’d love to hear how you make yours at home!
How To Cook A Frozen Roast In An Instant Pot
Wondering if you can cook a frozen chuck roast in your Instant Pot?
Well, the short answer is yes! The long answer is a bit more complicated. Please note that your results will be much better if you used a thawed piece of meat, but, I know that sometimes you really want to make a pot roast and the only meat you have on hand is frozen. Been there, done that!
If you do decide to cook a frozen chuck roast, you’ll want to add about 5 extra minutes per pound of cook time and skip the searing step. Since you’re adding so much cooking time, I would suggest doing a quick release after the first 70 minutes, then adding the vegetables, and cooking on high pressure for an additional 15-20 minutes.
I make frozen chicken breast in an Instant Pot all the time, but with a beef roast, you will find that the outside cooks much faster. This can mean result in the outer layers being overdone by the end of the cooking time.
If you do decide to cook a frozen chuck roast in the Instant Pot, let me know how it turned out in the comment section below. I’m sure that your experience will be really useful for our other home cooks.
Instant Pot Pot Roast Tips For Success
- Choose the chuck roast, trust me!
- Don’t skip searing. It’s where you’re going to create loads of flavor for your Instant Pot pot roast recipe
- Leave your potatoes whole! They turn out just right using this method.
- Larger chunks of carrots will yield better results. You can use baby carrots, but they may be a bit too soft at the end of cooking.
- BONUS GRAVY: You can remove the meat and vegetables to a serving dish and create an optional gravy with the liquid in the pot. Just whisk together 1/3 cup of cold water with 3 tablespoons cornstarch. Set the pot to sauté, high and let the mixture bubble, then whisk this mixture into the liquid in your pot. Start off with a small amount mixed in then add more if necessary based on the amount of thickening you desire.
I hope you LOVE my simple Instant Pot pot roast recipe. Be sure to leave a comment letting me know how it turned out for you, and if you made any tweaks to the recipe. We’re all learning together!
More Instant Pot Recipes for Beginners
- Instant Pot Potato Soup
- Instant Pot Goulash
- Instant Pot Taco Soup
- Instant Pot White Bean Soup
- Instant Pot Spaghetti
- Instant Pot Beef Stew (AMAZING!)
Instant Pot Pot Roast
Ingredients
- 2.5 to 3 lbs. chuck roast
- Salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cups beef broth
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 1 large onion quartered
- 1 lb. whole baby red potatoes about 10-12
- 6 to 8 large carrots cut in 2 inch pieces
Instructions
- Generously salt and pepper both side of the roast, set aside.
- Turn on the instant pot sauté function to more, and add the tablespoon of olive oil. When hot, put in the roast and brown on each side for 3-5 minutes.
- Pour in the 2 cups of beef broth. Add fresh thyme, fresh rosemary and the onion.
- Evenly distribute the potatoes and the carrots in the pot.
- Cancel sauté function. Put the lid on the pot and close the valve.
- Pressure cook on high pressure for 70 minutes. At the end of cooking allow to natural release for 10 minutes before carefully quick releasing the remaining pressure. The fresh herbs will have mostly fallen off the stems, but, you can shake them gently to help them along before discarding them at the end of cooking time.
- OPTIONAL GRAVY: You can remove the meat and vegetables to a serving dish and create an optional gravy. Just whisk together 1/2 cup of cold water with 3 tablespoons of flour until smooth. Set the pot to sauté, high, and let the mixture bubble. Then whisk this mixture into the liquid in your pot.
Video
Notes
- I used a 6-quart Instant Pot.
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I’m making this today—-as soon as I go to Walmart and invest in some beef broth. If it’s as good as this one looks, I’ll be a happy, albeit lazy, cook!
My mom used to make pot roast with both beef and pork. Of course it was the old fashioned way, sear it cook it in a pot then throw it in the oven in a roasting pan with juices, water and gravy master. She’d throw in her whole potatoes, and large pieces of carrot and a whole onion or two.
I had aunts from Connecticut who’d come up and hope that’s what she’d have for dinner after their long drive up to New Hampshire.
Wow! I made this tonight and didn’t even use the fresh thyme and rosemary because we didn’t have any on hand and I didn’t feel like running out…it was AMAZING!!! We will absolutely be making this again and I may even try some other veggies in there. Great recipe and super easy!
This was delicious! I didn’t use Thyme or Rosemary, I did sprinkle onion & garlic powder into the broth. Made it with sweet potatoes and carrots. My second IP meal, huge hit, great recipe.
Crissy,
I’ll be making this for my wife. We have a 3-lb eye round roast. Only because that’s what we have on hand. LOL….
Your recipe looks fabulous and sounds delicious. Will be making the gravy to go along with it.
Gods Abundant Blessings to you and yours.
Charles & Laura
Hi! Do you do the meat/stew button or the manual button?
Ty!
Elissa, I would do manual / high pressure, though, I’m sure the meat/stew is probably the same setting as manual high pressure. :)
Will the potatoes be over cooked with such a long cook time for the meat?
My roast was too wide to fit in the IP so I browned it (frozen) in a separate pan and deglazed it with a little red wine. It all went in the IP with the meat, onions, thyme, rosemary. I used chicken broth because it was all I had on hand. Threw in a few cloves of garlic also. cooked for 60 min. on high, added the potatoes and carrots and cooked for another 30 min. Perfectly delicious!
This turned out to be perfect. I did make some changes – My kids and husband do NOT like the taste of carrots cooked with the meat, so I put a bag of baby petite carrots (drained) on a square piece of foil (big enough to fold over on itself) added some coarse salt, shallots and tossed a lil bit – folded foil down to a lil square and the once I followed your instructions for the meat – I just added the foil to the top of it, with the folded side up so juices did not run out. When done – removed – served in a separate bowl. They were so good and they were ALL mine. So easy and clean up was super easy! Thanks for sharing! (I appreciate your stating what size Instant pot you use) Many blessings
Angie in Bama!
Hi Crissy, is it possible to make this in the Crock Pot Express and if so, what adjustments do you think would need to be made?
Would recipe change if no potatoes?
This was my first IP recipe and my husband and kids said they have never enjoyed a pot roast so much. I cannot believe how tender the roast was (I used a beef chuck roast as well, 2.5lbs). I tweaked the times a bit and added onions and used a bunch of different seasonings. I have an 8qt IP so I also added a half cup more beef stock. 60 minutes high pressure (roast only), natural release for 10 minutes, added whole potatoes, halved onions and whole baby carrots and cooked an additional 15 minutes high pressure with another 10 minute natural release. Everything was PERFECT! I cannot wait to explore more recipes with my new favorite machine!