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.
Rose says
I added a Tablespoon of Tapioca to my mix and it thickens it with out using flour.
Jessica says
Oh that’s interesting! Thank you for sharing!
Cheryl H. says
This was a delicious pot roast! So easy, too. The whole family loved it, even my 3 year old granddaughter.
Jessica says
Thank you so much Cheryl, that is so sweet of you and I’m so glad that you liked it!
Stefanie S. Poole says
This roast was ahhhmazing!! I have never cooked roast before and needed something quick, easy, and something different from the dry roast and potatoes we grew up on. I had a thawed roast and cooked for 47 mins with a natural release. So tender. Made so much gravy but it’s all good.
Jessica says
Such an awesome thing to hear Stefanie, thank you so much for sharing. I’m so glad that you liked this roast!
Shari says
Soooo tender and tasty! Just melts in your mouth.
Jessica says
Right?! I think so too. I’m so glad you liked it, thank you!
Shannon Poling says
I just finished this recipe and it didn’t turn out good at all! No idea why! Meat was tough, gravy was greasy. I can’t figure out how to cook a good Chuck roast to save my life.
Jessica says
Hi Shannon. I’m sorry this didn’t turn out good for you. Do you happen to be buying the same brand/type of chuck roast each time? I’m wondering if that could be it since chuck roasts haven’t worked for you before?
Christine Moreno says
I love this recipe!!! When I first made it though, I didn’t have the ranch dressing mix but I did have French onion mix and used that instead, it still came out amazing and tender. I’ve made it more times than I can count and received many compliments on it!
Jessica says
Oh that’s wonderful to hear! Thank you so much for sharing!
Claire Leonard says
This this is the most flavorful, moist chuck roast, any roast I’ve ever cooked. The Instant Pot makes it so easy. I used just 6 ounces of Italian Drsg ( Olive Garden ) and for a 3lb roast I pressure cooked it for 50 minutes. The sauce I thickened as per the recipe for perfect gravy.
Jessica says
Oh Claire, I’m so glad to hear that you liked this roast recipe too! I bet the Olive Garden dressing is SO good in this. 🙂 Thank you for sharing.
Cathy says
I used beef stew chunķs from alďis. I tried using the trivet but it wasn’t tender so I took it out and pressured cooked it longer. I also used the packet of Italian season from aldis instead of a bottle. I lessend the butter to half a stick. Did 2 cups of chicken broth. Followed the gravy recipe exactly.. Made with some real mashed potatoes and it was delicious!
Jessica says
Hi Cathy. Thank you for letting us know what you changed and used. So glad you thought it was delicious.
Katie says
Im about to make this but curious, can I add veggies into the Indra pot when I cook it or no?
Jessica says
Hi Katie! You know what, I haven’t done that to know if it will/will not work but I don’t see why it wouldn’t! If your roast isn’t frozen, you may be able to, more than cooking a frozen roast. (It may be too long of a cook time for veggies?) I added veggies in with our Instant Pot trip tip roast, though, and it’s similar, and it was fantastic!
Rachel says
Do I need to sear the meat before hand or just go for it?
Jessica says
Hi Rachel! I don’t sear it and love it this way! But you’re more than welcome to do that. It wouldn’t hurt at all!
Jaci says
Cooking now for shredding for Sammie’s for dinner tonight. Thank you for recipe. Love all the flavours and great instructions. New subscriber!
Jessica says
Hi Jaci!! I’m so glad that you like this recipe and what a great idea to shred it for sammies!! Thank you for sharing!
Adrian says
Love love love this! I didn’t use the ranch however it turned out amazing!! I paired it with some smothered green beans and mash potatoes. The butter was awesome with it!
Debra L Smith says
I had a just over 2 lb frozen boneless chuck roast and decided to make this recipe. I had a bottle of homemade Greek salad dressing that I used in place of the Italian. Otherwise, I followed the recipe. High pressure for 90 minutes, and natural release. I put the roast in the fridge, and tomorrow I will make gravy out of the juices. It tastes great!!
Jessica says
Oh Debra, I’m so glad you let us know! I’m thrilled that you liked this Instant Pot roast and using the Greek salad dressing sounds delicious!
Agnes Heithecker says
Yum
Easy
Julianne C says
Flavor and tenderness was wonderful! I read the comments about lots and lots of oil and fat and put half the salad dressing and butter but double the beef broth. Very very delicious, trying to keep myself away from sampling while the potatoes and broccoli cook in the oven!
Jessica says
Aww, haha! I’m so glad that you liked it. Thank you so much for sharing what you did!
Shelly says
Gonna try this recipe but really would like to know what exactly the butter does to the flavor. A roast has alot of greasy fat. Feel like it would be to greasy? Any input would be great. Side note will be using my new instapot
Jessica says
You can definitely try it without it but we like the flavor that butter provides. 🙂
Allison Harris says
Roast was OK. Heavy flavor on the Italian. Also I cooked a thawed roast for 45 mins and it wasn’t super juicy & tender.
Jessica says
Hi Allison! I’m sorry you didn’t love this recipe! Do you care to tell us which type of roast you used for this recipe? Sometimes the type of roast can really make a difference so I’d love to know which one to watch for! Thank you!
Lisa says
Jessica: What type of roast is the best to use for this?
Jessica says
I’ve heard chuck roast works well for most who make this!
Kelley says
We made this tonight! We used a pot roast & it was delicious! Ours was thawed & we cooked it for 40 minutes with a quick release!
Jessica says
Oh good!! Thank you so much for letting us know Kelley!! I’m so glad you like it. 🙂
Tonya says
You stated to cook for 90 minutes and in recipe it listed cooking time as 2 hrs 30 minutes. Just uncertain of what the cooking time actually is.
Jessica says
Hi Tonya! You are absolutely right. I’m so sorry about that. It should have said 90 minutes (1 hour and 30 minutes!) I’ve fixed the recipe card to say it correctly. Thank you for letting me know!
Kathy says
Pot roasts are already so fatty-do you really need a stick of butter?
Jessica says
Oh I’m sure you can leave it out but we sure like the butter. 🙂
Gloria says
I’m making this right now. I had a bottle of garlic dressing so I substituted that for the Italian since it’s the same consistency. Also had a bottle of ranch so I used half a bottle instead of the packet. I used beef bouillon cubes (2) instead of broth and mixed it with a cup of water. I’ll cook it until it’s tender because I don’t have a pressure cooker. I used a slow cooker. Also I used sirloin round steaks (5) instead of a roast. I bet it turns out fantastic. I like these ingredients and learned how to adjust or adapt in past experiences!
Jessica says
Hi Gloria!! Wow! Your recipe sounds delicious. I’m so glad you found this one helpful as a guide and I’d love to hear how it turned out, especially since you cooked it in a crockpot!