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This Instant Pot Chuck Roast with potatoes and carrots is the perfect Sunday dinner. This Instant Pot method of cooking a Pot Roast is as tender as a traditional recipe, but cooks in less than half the time!
Featured with this recipe
- Ingredients for Instant Pot Chuck Roast
- What Cut of Beef is Best for Pot Roast?
- How Long Do I Cook a Pot Roast in an Instant Pot?
- Allow Some Time for a Natural Release
- Can This Be Made in Any Pressure Cooker?
- Why I love Using the Instant Pot
- Make it in the Crock Pot
- Pressure Cooker Pot Roast with Potatoes
- For Crisp-Tender Veggies
- Instant Pot Roast Gravy
- Additional Optional Ingredients:
- Tips For Making Pot Roast
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Pot Roast Side Dishes
- How to Make Instant Pot Pot Roast
- Instant Pot Chuck Roast Recipe
Pot Roast has always been a favorite Sunday dinner in our family. It is the ultimate comfort food. Sometimes, we make it with mashed potatoes, sometimes, with ingredients like carrots and potatoes cooked with the roast. Either way, it is always delicious. Because I often forget to put the roast in the oven or slow cooker in time, I find myself scrambling to get dinner ready. I’ve walked in the door from church and thought, “NOO! I forgot to put the roast in!” If you are like me, this Instant Pot recipe is a lifesaver, especially on those days.
Update: Since we first created this recipe, we’ve had many comments regarding the success of this recipe. We’ve updated the original post to include some of the most frequently asked questions and comments.
Ingredients for Instant Pot Chuck Roast
- Beef chuck roast (or see more options below)
- Salt (Kosher salt or sea salt are both good choices)
- Olive oil
- Beef broth
- Dry onion soup mix
- Onion
- Baby potatoes
- Baby carrots
What Cut of Beef is Best for Pot Roast?
For this recipe, we use a boneless chuck roast, but there are several different cuts of meat you can use. Choose a well-marbled cut of beef for optimal tenderness and flavor. These cuts are ideal for slow cooking and will result in a melt-in-your-mouth pot roast. Here is a list of the best cuts of meat to use for pot roast:
- Chuck roast
- Ribeye or Eye of round roast
- Brisket
- Top sirloin petite roast
- Bottom round rump roast
- Top round roast
How Long Do I Cook a Pot Roast in an Instant Pot?
Instant Pot Pot Roast cook time varies depending on the size of the roast. Follow the recommended cooking time on your Instant Pot for the size and thickness of your roast. A general guideline is to pressure cook for 20-25 minutes per pound of meat. For a 3-pound roast, we found that 70 minutes is just about right. Adjust the cooking time accordingly for larger or smaller roasts. A two-pound roast should take about 45-50 minutes on high pressure, a larger 5-pound roast can take 90 minutes to 2 hours. Check in the comments below to see the times others have used with success.
Allow Some Time for a Natural Release
After the cooking cycle completes, allow the Instant Pot to naturally release the pressure for about 10-15 minutes before using the quick-release function. This gradual release of pressure helps to keep the meat tender and juicy.
Can This Be Made in Any Pressure Cooker?
This recipe is not exclusive to the Instant Pot brand. This easy Instant Pot pot roast recipe can be made in any kind of pressure cooker! Follow the recipe below using the settings of your pressure cooker and enjoy a delicious roast.
Why I love Using the Instant Pot
If you haven’t jumped on the Instant Pot train yet, YOU NEED TO! It is one of the most convenient kitchen appliances I have ever owned. This Instant Pot pot roast recipe is just one of the MANY Instant Pot recipes that I have incorporated into my regular meal rotations. Here are our top three reasons why we love our Instant Pots:
- It’s EASY. With the instant pot, you can sear the roast and sauté the onions AND cook it ALL in the same pot. You don’t have to dirty three different pans to do it. Even a slow cooker can’t do that for you. Did I mention cleanup is a snap? It is SO easy.
- It’s FAST. Beginning to end, we are talking around two hours. TOTAL. That is literally a quarter of the time it normally takes to make.
- It’s DELICIOUS. Honestly, I think this pot roast turns out just as good, if not better, than most slow cooker pot roast recipes I have tried. It is full of flavor, perfectly tender, and easy to shred.
Make it in the Crock Pot
All the above reasons have me hooked on making a pot roast quickly in an Instant Pot. However, sometimes I like to take it slow and just let it cook all day. If this is the way you want to go, we have a great Crock Pot Roast recipe too, see our Slow Cooker Roast Beef and Vegetables Recipe. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you will definitely want to give the slow cooker version a try!
Pressure Cooker Pot Roast with Potatoes
A quick note about adding potatoes, using baby potatoes are totally the way to go. They are the perfect size and they don’t get mushy. Potatoes that are peeled and cut tend to get mushy in the Instant Pot when they cook for a longer amount of time. By keeping the skin on and not cutting them, the potatoes cook thoroughly while remaining firm. If you would rather use diced potatoes, go with a waxy potato like Yukon gold potatoes, or even red potatoes. Russets will get too soggy and are better for mashing.
For Crisp-Tender Veggies
When we were growing up, we liked to have the potatoes on the softer side because we would mash them with a fork and then pour gravy over them. This is how this recipe is written, for extra-tender veggies. If you prefer your vegetables more crisp-tender, just add the vegetables later. Twenty minutes before your cooking time is up, release the pressure by carefully flipping the valve, remove the lid, and add the carrots and potatoes. There is no need to stir. Press “cancel,” and then re-set to high pressure for 10 minutes. If you have bigger potatoes or potato dices, chunks (or halves), pressure cook for 10-15 minutes. Release pressure quickly (quick release) or natural release depending on how tender you want your vegetables.
Instant Pot Roast Gravy
Making gravy in the Instant Pot is a breeze. The easiest method is to remove the pot roast and vegetables when they are done cooking, then switch the cook setting to “sauté”. If there aren’t enough beef drippings to make a gravy, add some beef broth. Combine a little cold water and a couple tablespoons cornstarch in a liquid measuring cup or small bowl to form a cornstarch slurry. When the drippings and broth start to simmer, whisk in the cornstarch mixture a little at a time until it becomes a gravy consistency. Simmer about three minutes, adding more beef broth to thin if needed. Add salt, black pepper, and a little garlic powder to taste.
Additional Optional Ingredients:
Want to change up the flavor? Here are some more ingredients you can add before making this chuck roast recipe. Add any of these to taste for a little flavor boost:
- Thyme
- Onion pearls
- Red Wine
- Tomato paste (can be added after, to the gravy, for a richer flavor)
- Worcestershire sauce
- Onion powder
- Garlic cloves
- Celery stalks
- Fresh rosemary
- Balsamic vinegar
Tips For Making Pot Roast
- No Instant Pot? No Problem. Pot roasts can be made using many different cooking methods. If you don’t have an Instant Pot, you can try our recipes for making pot roast in the slow cooker or in the oven.
- Sear the Meat: Before pressure cooking, sear the meat on all sides in the Instant Pot using the saute function. This step adds a rich caramelized flavor to the roast and helps to lock in the juices.
- Low Sodium Options: For a low-sodium option, use low-sodium beef broth and seasonings.
- Easy Freezing: If you have leftovers, roast can easily be shredded and frozen to eat at a later date. Just remove any vegetables (potatoes and carrots don’t freeze well) and place leftover pot roast in a Ziplock bag or a freezer-safe, airtight container to freeze. When ready to reheat, thaw in the refrigerator overnight and reheat or add to your favorite shredded beef recipes.
Frequently Asked Questions
A general guideline for Instant Pot Pot Roast is to pressure cook for 20-25 minutes per pound of meat. For a 3-pound roast, we found that 70 minutes is just about right.
First, set the Instant Pot to sauté and add olive oil. When the oil begins to shimmer, add the pot roast to the Instant pot and sear for 4-5 minutes on each side.
It probably wasn’t cooked long enough. It is always ok to put the meat back in the Instant Pot and continue cooking. You can cook for 20 minutes at a time until it reaches your desired tenderness.
Read Next: 27 BEST Instant Pot Recipes
Pot Roast Side Dishes
Because this pot roast includes potatoes and carrots, you have a full meal in just one pot! You can even serve it all on one big serving platter. You can never go wrong with a simple green salad, but if you are looking to add more side dishes, here are some great ideas:
How to Make Instant Pot Pot Roast
Instant Pot Chuck Roast
Video
Equipment
- Instant Pot Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 3-5 pounds beef chuck roast
- 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- 4 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 2 cups beef broth *can use gluten-free beef broth
- 1 packet dry onion soup mix *can use gluten-free onion soup mix
- 1 onion white or yellow, quartered
- 1 pound baby potatoes (see notes above)
- 1 cup baby carrots
Instructions
- Sprinkle pot roast with salt and set aside. Add 2 Tablespoons of Olive oil to Instant Pot and set to "Sauté". When oil becomes hot and shimmery, add pot roast and sear for 4-5 minutes on each side.
- Add beef broth to Instant Pot. *Add vegetables, 2 Tablespoons of olive oil, and onion soup mix to a gallon-sized Ziploc bag and shake until vegetables become evenly coated with mix. Put veggies in Instant pot and distribute evenly around roast. *NOTE: You can add the veggies at the beginning of cooking or if you want them to be more crisp-tender you can do a quick release 20 minutes before the cook time is over, then add vegetables, then pressure cook at the same temp for 10-15 minutes (depending on the size of your potatoes) and continue with the recipe.
- Place lid on Instant pot with steam valve closed. Switch Instant Pot setting to "manual" and set for 60-80 minutes on "high" pressure (70 minutes seems to work okay, judge the time depending on the size of your roast). Do a natural release for at least 10 minutes, then quick release by turning the tab to vent.
- Remove roast from Instant Pot, slice, and serve with vegetables. Use extra drippings from the Instant Pot to make gravy or au jus (see notes above to see how to make gravy).
Haven’t made it yet but how do you make the gravy sauce that goes on top of the roast and potatoes in the video?
Thank you!
The easiest method is to remove the pot roast and vegetables when they are done cooking then switch the cook setting to “saute”. If there aren’t enough beef drippings to make a gravy, add some beef broth. Combine a little water and some corn starch in a liquid measuring cup to form a slurry. When the drippings and broth start to simmer, whisk in the cornstarch mixture a little at a time until it becomes a gravy consistency. Simmer about 3 minutes adding more beef broth to thin if needed. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Great recipe! I substitute 1/2 or 1 cup of beef broth with red wine. About to make it for the 3rd time. I was so surprised the baby potatoes were perfect. I cook it for 40 minutes (meat setting).
Delicious! And super easy!!! Thank you for making me look like an amazing cook!
Can I just say what a gracious soul you are? You have handled some of these posts with such grace.
Thank you for taking the time to share a family recipe. I am planning to try it tonight just the way you have posted it. I look forward to trying it this evening.
Thank you so much! You are so kind! I hope you enjoyed the recipe!
I LOVED IT! Thank you so much! The meat turned out so tender, just like your picture! And thanks for the tip about adding the veggies 10 min before the meat finishes cooking!!! I was looking for the perfect roast recipe and I found it. I noticed you had tons of comments on your Pinterest post, that’s how I find the best recipes (: Praise Jesus for you.
We have made this once a week for three weeks now…absolutely love it…so easy, so good, so tender and makes the entire house smell like Sunday at Grandma’s house.
This was very good good. I don’t see the need for any changes to it. Thank you for all the time and effort you put into your web site. I will be making many more of your recipes.
Thank you 🙂
Has anyone tried this with Venison?? My husband is a hunter and we have tons of venison roast. If so, was the cook time about the same?
I have cooked venison like a roast plenty of times in a pressure cooker. It turns out super tender and fantastic just like a chuck roast only with a different flavor.
We only use venison for red meat. I’ve cooked many roasts and they are tender as can be. Flavors are yours to control with spices if you’re choosing. This recite would be perfect.
U can take some of the roasts and grind them up for hamburger meat if you are overloaded with roasts. We always have tons of venison and ground a bunch of it.
Made this pretty much exactly at the recipe says. Only changes I made were, slightly larger roast(about 3 1/2 lbs) so I cooked it for 80min. I added celery for flavor and cut up bigger potatoes and whole carrots. It was delicious. The ONLY negative for us was that the carrots were a bit too mushy. Will make again for sure. Thank you
Will it be possible to use beef cut into cubes for this recipe? Ill just sear each and every cube on all sides?
We haven’t tried it that way, so I’m not sure how it will affect the outcome of the recipe. You definitely need to cook it for less time since the pieces are smaller. Let us know how it turns out if you do try it!
Can’t find answer on internet for my question. Can I cook roast in ip for about hour than natural release and switch to slow cook for awhile? That is when I will add the carrots.
I haven’t tried it that way before, so I can’t say. If you try it though, let us know!
My family loved this. I wish I had stopped at 60 minutes for my 3 pound roast but it was still good at 70 minutes. When it was done I dropped some butter on top of the potatoes and carrots. I added two cups of carrots for my family of 5 and they ate them all.
Has anyone done a complete natural release?
Yes I released mine naturally all the time love it 😀
Oh my! Sooo good!!! The whole family loves it! Will make this again for sure! Recipe was perfect!
Very easy an good
Oh, and meant to give my original post 5 stars!
Love this recipe thos was my firstinstantpot meal and still my favorite, the only thing I do differently now is saute the onions, add celery and 2 tablespoon of flour to my my liquid thicker.
My very first Instant Pot meal… After reading through the comments I made a few adjustments that I felt would resolve the difference in size of my roast, salt preference, and veggie doneness.
I lightly seasoned the roast with Himalayan pink salt before searing, added 7 large cloves of garlic to the pot along with the roast and I added 2 TBL of dry red wine in with the beef broth. Cooked the roast for 60 minutes, then did the natural release and added the veggies and soup mix, then cooked for an additional 18 minutes. It came out perfectly done, and the flavor was great!
My husband used Weber Roasted Herbs and Garlic to heavily season the carrots and potatoes. He cooked a 2.5lb chuck roast for 45 minutes with 15 minute natural release before venting. 10 minutes prep, an hour in the pot, and 2 minutes to make gravy from the drippings as directed above. It was by far the best roast we have ever had, hands down.
I recently purchased an Instant Pot and wanted to try it out for the first time this weekend. I tried this recipe for Instant Pot Sunday Pot Roast, and it was wonderful! I made the recipe as printed, and we loved it. I had a 2.5# chuck roast and cooked it and the vegetables for 60 minutes after sauteing the roast, and everything came out perfect for our tastes. I know some reviewers were complaining that the carrots were too mushy. Mine were very soft, but we like them that way. And making the gravy was super easy. The onion soup mix really appeals to my taste. Thanks for a great recipe! I will be making this meal often.
Hi Darcy- thank you so much for this nice comment! So glad you enjoyed this recipe enough to want to make it often. Thanks for the 5 stars!
YUMMY 😋!!!!
Since I have made this many times and enjoyed it.. I figured I should leave a thank you..
Thanks for the simple recipe… 2 1/2 pound Chuck Roast in the IP Mini at 65 minutes, 15 min to let the steam settle….. makes it perfect everytime… Although the IP mini is not that big I still fit plenty of potatoes and carrots for the Two of us.. then I add more potatoes and carrots to the juice still in the pot afterwards for 20 min Pressure cook.. works perfectly for the second go around.. 🙂
You are welcome! I’m so glad you like the recipe and thanks for sharing your tips for the Mini!
Made a very simple pot raost tonight in my instant pot, my first time using it. I actually did things a bit different than most folks do. just plunked in a 3lb. chuck roast, added 1 tbsp lawry’s seasoning salt, 1 tbsp onion powder, 2 tsp garlic powder. Also added 5 large skinned potatoes, 2 large skinned carrots, and 3/4 cup of water(so it has liquid to pressurize with). Set it to stew/meat for 35 mins, then quick release and remove veggies. Roast was done, but not tender, so it went back in for another 20 mins. Turned out tender enough that when you went at it with a fork you could pull the meat off in strings, delicious.
This was wonderful. I used the meat button and set it for an hour and 10 minutes. Left it alone until it released the pressure on it’s own. SUPER tender and moist. I was going to use it for pulled beef sandwiches but may use it just as a roast. I was a bit nervous after reading some of the reviews but it was awesome. I used Better than Bullion and a spoonful of horseradish as the cooking juice. I have never done a beef roast in the IP before.
Hi Virginia- So glad you liked this recipe! I love the idea of adding some horseradish. YUM! Thanks for sharing!