Pot Roast | Instant Pot with carrots and potatoes in a deliciously thick, rich brown gravy. This pot roast is super easy to make in a pressure cooker. If you’ve never used an Instant Pot before, this roast beef is a great recipe to start with. I’ve updated my Sunday Pot Roast recipe to show how to make this tender, juicy, flavorful roast in the Instant Pot. This Pot Roast | Instant Pot recipe takes about 15-minutes to put together, uses 1-pot, and takes about 1 1/2-hours to cook.
The Instant Pot is a smart pressure cooker, and I’m totally obsessed with it. You can make anything in it from chicken stock to yogurt, to this delicious roast beef. Extremely easy to operate and reduces the cooking time by hours. I love to make pot roast and can eat it every week. However, in Texas in the middle of summer, I never want to turn the oven on. The house is hot enough as it is. And this device is a lifesaver.
The best part about this pot roast recipe is that I haven’t made any changes to the recipe I’ve been making for years. The only thing different is that the Instant Pot cooks roast beef about 75% faster than the slow-cooked ‘Sunday Pot Roast’ I make in the oven.
I could eat this Instant Pot chuck roast recipe every week!
Instant Pot, Pot Roast Ingredients
To make a Pot Roast with Potatoes and Carrots in a thick delicious gravy, you will need:
- Chuck Roast: I like the chuck roast best for this pot roast recipe. In some countries, the chuck roast is known as ‘Braising Steak’. It is easy to prepare and has a rich beef flavor that is perfect for braising. Often used for ground beef due to its richness of flavor and a good balance of meat and fat. Easy to slice or shred.
- Guinness Stout or Beef Broth: The pot roast gravy is thick and rich, and its flavor is absorbed by the carrots and potatoes. I like Guinness Stout as the base for the gravy, however, if you don’t want alcohol in the gravy, beef broth is an excellent substitute. It is a good idea to have the liquid at room temperature before adding it to the Instant Pot. You don’t want to wait for a cold beer to heat up when you have hungry mouths to feed.
- Potatoes, Carrots, Tomatoes, and Onion: To make this pot roast as easy as possible, I use a bag of baby carrots and a bag of baby potatoes. Give then each a good wash and scrub and toss them in the pot. Roughly chopped tomatoes add depth and richness to the gravy. These veggies, braised in this beefy delicious gravy are about the most incredible things ever. Perfectly tender and bursting with flavor, I may like these more than the pot roast itself.
- Green Peas: I like to serve this pot roast with green peas. They’re pretty and delicious. Frozen peas are great and take no time at all. When the roast is finished braising, I take a ladle full of the gravy to mix in the peas, they are amazing!
- Seasonings: This pot roast has very simple seasonings, salt, pepper, and paprika. A little Worcestershire Sauce adds the finishing touch to this amazing roast beef and gravy. I have one rule of thumb for salt and beef, 1-teaspoon of salt to 1-pound of beef.
- All-Purpose Flour or Corn Starch: The pot roast gravy needs a thickening agent, this can be either flour, corn starch, or potato starch. I like to use a simple roux made in the instant pot while browning the beef. It’s very easy and takes less than a minute. If you prefer a gluten-free gravy, the corn or potato starch is just as easy, only it is added after the pot roast has finished cooking.
How to make a Pot Roast in an Instant Pot
- Season the Beef: It looks like a lot of salt, however, remember, this is flavoring all the potatoes, carrots, gravy, and the pot roast.
- Brown the Beef: Set the Instant pot on ‘SAUTE’. Add the oil and sear the beef, top, and bottom, for 5 minutes on each side. This is optional if you are short on time, however, browning the beef adds a lot of flavor to the roast and the gravy.
- Chop the Veggies: You have 10-minutes while the pot roast is browning in the Instant Pot to wash and chop the potatoes, carrots, onions, and tomatoes.
- Make a Roux: Remove the beef and add the diced onions and tomatoes to the pot. Sprinkle the flour over the onions and mix well to remove any clumps, let the flour brown slightly, about 1-minutes. Pour the Guinness or beef stock into the pot and stir well to combine. Add all the remaining ingredients and set the Instant Pot on high.
- Pressure Cook the Pot Roast: Set the timer based on the weight of the roast. Once the timer goes off, let in naturally release.
Can the Pot Roast Ingredients be Modified?
-Make the pot roast and gravy by itself, without carrot or potatoes. Serve the pot roast with mashed potatoes!
-Add sautéed mushrooms to the gravy!
-Add or substitute other root veggies, such as turnips and parsnips.
-Change the seasonings, I like to add Herbs de Provence, fresh thyme, or rosemary.
-Caraway seeds and paprika give this roast a nice Hungarian Goulash flavor that is pretty awesome. Hmm, I haven’t put my Hungarian Goulash recipe on the blog yet…
This is how to prepare my Pot Roast | Instant Pot
Pot Roast | Instant Pot
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 Pounds Chuck Roast 20-minutes per pound in the Instant Pot
- 3 Teaspoons Salt
- 2 Teaspoons Paprika
- 1 1/2 Teaspoons Black Pepper
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1 1/2 Pounds Yukon Gold Potatoes 1-inch dice
- 1 Pound Carrots Peeled, large dice. Baby carrots work great
- 1/3 Cup All-Purpose Flour or Corn Starch (add corn starch slurry after cooking is complete)
- 1 Cup Onion Large dice
- 1 Cup Tomatoes Large dice
- 1 Pint Guinness Stout Room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon Worchestershire Sauce
Side
- Green Peas
Instructions
- Turn on the Instant Pot to the 'Sauté' mode.
- Season the beef on all sides with the salt, paprika, and black pepper. Add the oil to the pot and sear the beef, top and bottom for 5-minutes on each side.
- Remove the beef. Add the onions and tomatoes to the pot, then stir in the all-purpose flour and mix well. Cook the flour for approximately 1-minutes. Then add the Guinness Stout and stir well to combine.
- Add the potatoes and carrots, then place the pot roast on top. Seal the lid and set the Instant Pot to the 'MEAT | STEW' setting. Set the timer for 20-minutes per pound of beef, plus 10-minutes for the veggies. For a 2 1/2 pound roast, I set the timer for 1-hour.
- Let the Instant pot naturally release the steam for 15 minutes, then release the vent on top.
- Remove the beef, shred, or chop. Remove the veggies and set aside to keep warm. Check the consistency of the gravy. If not thick enough, you can always create a slurry of corn starch to thicken the gravy more.
- Add a large ladle of gravy to the green peas.
Nutrition
Instant Pot chuck roast has everything you want, meat, potatoes, carrots, and gravy!
