Instant Pot Pot Roast: An easy dump-and-cook recipe in the pressure cooker, using chuck roast or arm roast. It’s a hearty dish that’s perfect for a Sunday dinner, much like our beef stew recipe, which also uses chuck roast!
For years I’ve cooked roasts in the slow cooker but knew that once I had an Instant Pot, the way that I cook a roast may change forever. And with the juiciness, quickness, and deliciousness that came out of this cooking process… I think it did just change forever.
Did you just buy an Instant Pot? See the video from when I unboxed mine and learned how to use it to get a helpful walk-through.
Today I’m sharing this crazy good pot roast recipe with you that I came up with the other day for an easy dinner recipe.
Pot Roast Ingredients
You can definitely make this recipe using a roast that isn’t frozen, and I’ve given those cooking times for it below as well.
Now, for this recipe, you can use just about any beef roast, and honestly… using this recipe for other types of meat should be pretty tasty too! Types of meat like:
- Chicken
- Deer
- Pork
Other Ingredients:
In this recipe, the Italian dressing, ranch seasoning, butter, salt, and stock, create a delicious blend of juices that can be turned in to a gravy to serve on top of the roast and/or other side dishes.
Tip: To help pull the roast out of the instant pot when it’s finished cooking, you may want to use the trivet, and put that in the bottom before you add all of the ingredients. This way the roast can be pulled out much easier than trying to pull it out and having it all fall apart because it’s SOOO tender!
How to Make Roast in the Instant Pot
What I REALLY love about this recipe, (and almost all Instant Pot recipes) is that the ingredients can all be put in at once, and the Instant Pot is going to do the rest for you. No babysitting, no stirring, no nothing.
Unless you want gravy, and then there’s another little step, but with very little work.
Pot Roast Cook Time
For a frozen, 3lb roast, pressure the roast and ingredients on “high” pressure for 90 minutes.
If it isn’t frozen, the roast should be fully cooked at around 45-50 minutes. (Making sure your roast reaches and the internal temperature of 145 degrees.)
Allow the Instant Pot to naturally release its pressure.
Now after you’ve grabbed a bite of that roast and have soaked in the juicy flavor, it’s time to make the gravy. But only if you want to!
Feel free to serve up this roast just as it is, or to serve with additional condiments like:
- ketchup (a kid favorite)
- horseradish (a mom and dad favorite)
- A-1
- garlic butter
- blue cheese or ranch dressing
Pot Roast Gravy
If you’re not a fan of using the juices from the cooking process, using a gravy packet or making your own homemade gravy is great too!
But if you ARE a fan of using the juices to create a gravy, you’ll need:
- cold water
- flour
This will thicken it to give it the gravy consistency!
In a small bowl, mix equal amounts of cold water and flour and combine. (I used 3 tablespoons of each.)
Note: You may need more/less depending on the amount of juices you have, or how thick/thin you prefer your gravy.
Add Flour-Water Mixture to Drippings:
On the Instant Pot, turn on “saute” and once the juices are heated through, and almost to a boil. (This shouldn’t take long since the roast just finished cooking.)
Slowly add water/flour mixture while stirring.
Stir until thickened to gravy and shut off Instant Pot so the gravy does not burn/scorch.
Salads to Serve with Pot Roast:
If you need a side dish to serve with your Instant Pot Pot Roast, here are my favorite salads to serve alongside!
Other Recipes You’ll Love:
The recipes you’ll find here on the blog are always easy to make and use everyday ingredients. Cooking doesn’t have to be difficult to be delicious. If you’re a fan of pot roast recipes, I think you’re also going to love this Dutch oven pot roast!
Or, if you want to keep the Instant Pot recipes theme going, this Instant Pot Polenta is ranking right up there these days. Plus, this Instant Pot Pork Butt is easy to make and perfect to eat on like this roast for a few days.
Here are a few other recipes you’ll love if you love this one…
Recipe
Instant Pot Pot Roast
Video
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 3 lb. frozen beef roast if thawed, reduce cook time
- 1 cup broth beef, chicken, or veggie will work!
- 1 packet ranch dressing or dips seasoning mix
- 16 oz bottle of Italian dressing
- 1 stick butter stick
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
Optional Gravy
- 3 tablespoon cold water
- 3 tablespoon flour
- juices from roast drippings
Instructions
- Place the trivet inside of the inner pot, and pour broth in to pressure cooker pot, add roast and top with dressing, seasonings and stick of butter.
- Place lid on and cook on high pressure for 90 minutes. Reduce the cook time if roast is thawed, for around 45-50 minutes.
- Naturally release the pressure.
- Remove meat, and place on to platter or serving dish.
If making gravy:
- In a small bowl, mix together cold water and flour. Stir until there are no lumps.
- Leave juices in the pot and turn the “saute” setting on.
- Once meat juices are heated through and almost boiling (don't forget to stir so it doesn't burn) slowly add in and stir in the flour and water mixture.
- Stir and cook until juices thicken to a gravy. If it does not thicken to a gravy after a couple of minutes, try adding more of a flour mixture. You could have more juices than I did.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Sheila Ellingson says
Made it without the Italian dressing. I didn’t have any. It was delicious!
Jessica says
Oh that is SO great to know! Perfect for someone else that may not have any on hand too. Thank you for sharing!
Christy says
Made this with a wagyu roast and it was fantastic! I did have to cook it longer for the meat to tenderize but the flavor was amazing. Thank you for the recipe!
Jessica says
Yay! That’s so exciting Christy! I’m thrilled that you liked this pot roast recipe too. Thank you for sharing!
CJ Jenkins says
This is ALWAYS my go to!!!! Sometimes I’ll switch up the seasonings depending on my mood but it’s always a hit. Seriously LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!!!! I use cornstarch as my thickening agent and it works just fine.
Jessica says
This is so great to hear about the pot roast CJ! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review. 🙂