This Instant Pot Pot Roast recipe cooks to melt-in-your-mouth tender perfection in a jiffy in your instant pot! And best of all? In addition to the pot roast, you also cook carrots, mashed potatoes, AND gravy – all right in your pressure cooker!
Let me get right to the details about this promotion. Then, I’ll talk about this awesome pot roast.
From now until the end of November, I’m partnering with ButcherBox to offer Bowl of Delicious readers an awesome deal!
What is ButcherBox, you ask? Oh, right. I got ahead of myself there :-)
ButcherBox is a subscription service that delivers high-quality meats right to your door. They provide100% grass-fed and grass-finished beef, free range organic chicken, and heritage breed pork, raised free from antibiotics and hormones. And their bacon doesn’t have any added sugar or nitrates/nitrites. They have tons of cuts to choose from- everything from whole chickens to filet mignons to pork chops to chuck roasts.
If you’ve tasted both conventional meat and grass-fed/antibiotic-free meats, you know how different the taste is. But did you know that there’s a difference in nutritional value as well?
Grass-fed beef is lower in the bad kinds of fat (saturated) and higher in good kinds (Omega-3s). It also has more vitamins and minerals, due to the cattle being able to exercise more and eat grass, which is what nature intended.
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And they’re never given antibiotics, either.
ButcherBox makes it easy to purchase and eat high quality meats without even thinking about it. I don’t know about you, but I often feel overwhelmed with all the choices at the grocery store. And, if I’m being honest, if I see a conventional steak next to a grass-fed one and it’s a lot cheaper, I’m usually tempted to go the cheap route.
A ButcherBox subscription takes the thinking out of it.
I made this Instant Pot Pot Roast with a bottom round roast from my very first ButcherBox. You can watch this super dorky video of me (and baby Ella) opening up the box right after it got delivered to see what’s inside and how it was packed.
The pot roast was SO flavorful, and so easy to cook up in the pressure cooker! And best of all, I cooked up the potatoes in the Instant Pot at the same time, and made gravy from the drippings in the pot after everything was done. So this was a really easy one-pot meal.
One of the best features of the Instant Pot is that you can sear the meat right in the pot before cooking it, rather than getting another pot dirty doing it on the stovetop.
After seasoning the beef roast VERY generously with salt and pepper, I seared it on all sides in some olive oil right in the pressure cooker. After, I sautéed some onions and then deglazed with red wine, loosening up all the browned bits that accumulated from the beef and onions, which added SO much flavor to the base.
A pot roast cooked in the oven could take about 4 hours, but this Instant Pot version requires only 60 minutes of cooking time! With the prep time and the time it takes for your Instant Pot to come up to pressure and release, the whole thing took about two hours to make, which cut the time in half.
I did something a little different with the mashed potatoes. Instead of using milk and butter (like in these classic homemade mashed potatoes), I just thinned them out with some of the drippings from the bottom of the pan after everything cooked, and used olive oil instead of butter.
Then, I added a cornstarch slurry to the drippings to thicken them up and make a gravy. Yum!
If you like this Instant Pot Pot Roast with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, you’ll love this Instant Pot Pulled Pork, this Instant Pot Spaghetti Squash with Garlic and Herbs, this Instant Pot Corned Beef with Cabbage and Buttered Potatoes, and this Irish Lamb and Potato Stew.
And by the way, you can make this pot roast using a chuck roast or a brisket, as well.
Don’t forget to check out ButcherBox to see if a home delivery of super high quality (yet affordable) meats is a good fit for you!
Here’s the printable recipe for Instant Pot Pot Roast :-)
Instant Pot Pot Roast with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2-3 lbs. bottom round roast see notes for other cuts
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil divided (8 tablespoons)
- kosher salt
- black pepper
- 2 onions halved and thickly sliced
- 1 cup red wine
- 4 carrots cut into 3″ pieces
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 4 cups beef broth or chicken stock
- 1.5 lbs. baby red or gold potatoes
- 3 tablespoons corn starch
Instructions
- Turn your Instant Pot to the “sauté” setting and wait for it to heat up.
- Pat the beef roast as dry as you can with a paper towel. Season generously with kosher salt (about 1 tablespoon) and black pepper (about 1/2 tablespoon).
- Add 2 tablespoons olive oil and brown the beef roast on all sides, about 3 minutes per side. Remove to a plate or shallow bowl (make sure it has enough depth to catch any runaway juices).
- Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the instant pot and add the onions. Sauté until softened and starting to brown (about 5 minutes).
- Add the red wine to deglaze, using a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. Continue cooking on the “sauté” function until almost all liquid has evaporated from the wine (about 5 minutes).
- Turn the sauté function off. Add the carrots, rosemary sprigs, and thyme sprigs to the instant pot and stir. Place the beef roast on top, along with any juices from the plate. Pour the beef broth on top.
- Place the wire rack insert that came with your instant pot on top of the beef, and place the potatoes on top of it.
- Cover the instant pot and make sure the sealing valve is set to “sealed.” Set the instant pot to manual on high for 60 minutes.
- Allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes, then use a wooden spoon to turn the sealing valve to “venting” to release the rest of the pressure.
- Remove the potatoes to a large bowl and the beef to a platter or rimmed baking sheet (something that will catch the juices). Remove the vegetables with a slotted spoon and place with the beef, and discard the rosemary and thyme sprigs. Shred the beef into large chunks with two forks.
- Mash the potatoes with a potato masher and add the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil to them. Add 1 cup of the drippings from the bottom of the instant pot and continue mashing until desired consistency is reached. Season to taste with salt and pepper, if necessary.
- Mix the corn starch with 1/4 cup of water to create a smooth slurry. Turn the Instant Pot to the “sauté” setting again. Once the drippings are boiling, stir in the corn starch slurry until thickened (about 2 minutes). Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Serve the mashed potatoes topped with the pot roast and carrots/onions, topped with the gravy.
Notes
- You can read more about Bottom Round Roast, and other cuts of beef, on the ButcherBox website.
- More commonly, chuck roast is used for pot roast. You can feel free to use this cut, or brisket as well. Here’s a great primer on the best cuts of beef for pot roast.
- This recipe is 100% paleo/whole30 compliant except for the cornstarch. Omit it and serve with drippings rather than making a gravy (or use arrowroot powder) to make it compliant.
- I made this recipe in my 6 qt. Instant pot. It should work the same in an 8 qt., but you may need to cut the ingredients in half for a 3 qt. mini.
- The provided nutrition information does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. Feel free to calculate it yourself using this calculator or by adding the recipe to Yummly.
Nutrition
Nutrition Information Disclaimer
The provided nutrition information is my best estimate and does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. I use an automatic API to calculate this information. Feel free to calculate it yourself using one of these tools:
Amanda
Just made this, and it was a HIT! I’ll definitely make this again. Thank you so much! :)
Elizabeth Lindemann
Yay! So glad you liked it!
Eva-Maria Horner
I am new to your website but liked what I read. So for my first meal I tried your Pot Roast. I used an Eye of the round beef roast, 2pds. Added mushrooms, Ruby Port Wine and marjoram for my herb. It came out perfect. I did use Lawry’s seasoned salt to rub on my roast, no other salt. I have learned to go very easy on salt since Hubby and I have to watch our sodium. You can always add salt later, better later than over salted soup or gravy. Port you ask? I only used 1/2 cup and it adds a nice mellow flavor to the gravy. I did not add potatoes since we like them roasted. The leftover roast will be sliced and served over bread with gravy. Hot roast beef sandwich.
The next recipe to try will be your fish stew. I have a bag of Trader Joe’s mixed seafood, but no white wine but some homemade seafood stock which I will use instead. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Thank you. Stay well and God bless
Eva
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked the pot roast! The fish stew is one of my favorites, and I hope you have success with that one too :-)
Christine Manzella
what can i use in place of red wine? i dont have any on hand
Elizabeth Lindemann
I would just use a little extra beef broth to deglaze! Should be fine 😊
Claudia
Excellent recipe! Just got my Butcher Box this weekend and wanted to make the roast right away. Such a great way to have protein and sides in one cooking. Also, just another Whole 30 complaint idea for the potatoes, I cut them in big chunks added boiled eggs, green onion, salt and pepper. But we love the mashed potatoes too.
Thank you for sharing!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it, and thanks so much for sharing that delicious idea for the potatoes!
Jami Walker
I used a 3.5 pd tip beef roast. I followed the recipe exactly except my potatoes had to sit on the roast. After it was done, took everything out & 5 cups of broth. I tried to make the gravy & stirred it for 4 minutes. Once I was ready to serve, I removed 1 cup of gravy but it was still runny, even after it sat. Still an awesome recipe…. Thanks so much ❤️
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it! It’s possible there was extra liquid just because of the potatoes being on top, since they wouldn’t have absorbed it… not sure though. Happy you still enjoyed it!
Karen Monahan
I appreciate you posting this because all the recipes I found call for chuck roast and I already had a 3.6 lb bottom round roast. This was also the first time I used my 6 qt pressure cooker, which is a Bella, not InstantPot. So I went into this pretty clueless. I followed your recipe except had to use dried herbs and only had low sodium broth on hand. I also chose to leave the potatoes as is, I didn’t mash them.
Here is what I learned…even though I liberally salted the roast and seared well, the dish was a bit lacking in flavor which I’m thinking was due to the low sodium broth. Not a fault of the pot or the recipe.
I needed more cornstarch to make a thickish gravy. Which I’m sure is because I didn’t take a cup of liquid out to make mashed potatoes.
When making this again I would use more salt or regular broth (not low sodium), and reduce broth to 3 cups since we like the whole baby potatoes and don’t need the extra cup.
I would also try to get a smaller roast, since the center of my roast wasn’t as tender because it probably needed longer cooking time. But I didn’t want to cook it longer since I’m new at this and was worried.
All in all, after salting the food on our plates, the flavors popped and I think it was a successful first pressure cooker attempt.
Thank you!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So happy you liked it, and thanks so much for sharing what you did!
Deb
If your roast was thicker/taller cut (rather than a nice even flat 2″ roast like she showed in her “unboxing” video, then you might want to cut your roast in half from the top, into two smaller pieces, so that it would cook more evenly.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Great tip, thanks!
Karen M Monahan
Yeah, mine was definitely not flat! Thanks!
Jim Dusek
I followed the directions exactly and the meal was amazing. I almost put butter in the potatoes but decided to use olive oil as directed. Never done that before and the potatoes were perfect. As a matter of fact, we don’t beef that much but this recipe may change things! Good job and very creative.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Thanks so much, and I’m so happy you liked it! Butter also would have been delicious, but I love switching it up sometimes and using olive oil.
Karen
The cooking times are a misleading. I started cooking in the IP at 6:15pm and my IP won’t be completely done until 8:25. This does not include making the rue. Please add at least an addition 30-45 minutes.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Thanks for this feedback- I struggle with estimating accurate cooking times, since I’m very fast when prepping ingredients, and especially with pressure cookers because times vary so much in how hot it gets to sauté, how much time it takes to come to pressure, etc.! Cooking times are so dependent on skill level, how watery vegetables are, how hot and big the pan is, etc. I am going to add a little more time to the total so other people hopefully aren’t frustrated by this. Hope you liked it, despite the frustration of it taking longer than you expected!
Cathy Kelly
Delicious!
I didn’t put the olive oil in the mashed potatoes and 1 cup of the drippings was a little too much, but that was my fault since I didn’t gradually add it. The fresh rosemary and thyme gave this recipe its deliciousness!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!!
Bill K
I didn’t follow the recipe letter for letter but I wanted to let you know it was very helpful for cooking a bottom round in the Instant Pot. I went off the rails and winged it but your instructions were a solid foundation for a successful dinner.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Hooray! So happy it was helpful for you! :-)
Jon K
I made a 2.5 lb bottom round roast in my 6t qt Instant Pot. My recommendations would be to 1) reduce the red wine to about 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup, as 1 cup seemed to be a lot and took a long time to reduce (but definitely don’t omit as it adds a nice flavor to the meat), 2) reduce the amount of beef broth to 3 cups, 3) increase the cook time to at least 75 minutes, maybe 90. It was still quite tough after 60 minutes, 4) don’t rely on the carrots as your main side veg. They were mushy and waterlogged. Great for flavoring the broth, but I wasn’t a fan of it as a side.
This is definitely an easy-to-prep and convenient recipe — Probably good for putting in the pot in the morning and setting a timer to start before you get home from work.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Thanks for your suggestions!
ilse
this is the first recipe i’m trying in my new pot. How would I adjust the cooking time for a 4-lb roast?
Elizabeth Lindemann
Great question. In general, for this kind of roast, you’d cook it for 15-20 minutes per pound of meat. So it may actually be fine at 60 minutes, but I don’t think it would hurt to add another 10-20 minutes on top of the 60! Hope that helps :-)
Ilse
I added another 15 mins but it definitely needed more. as it was still chewy. Everyone still thought it was tasty. it was my first cook, so going to try another cut for next time.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Glad everyone liked it, even though it was a little chewy!
Rebecca
Hi, just making this now and excited to eat it lol. Could I use russet potatoes instead of the gold? Would I need to peel and cut them up before I place them on rack?
Elizabeth Lindemann
Glad I caught this just now, hopefully it reaches you in time! Yes, go ahead and use russets. I do recommend peeling them because their skins are a bit thicker and tough for mashed potatoes. And I would cut them up- depending on how big they are, you can halve or quarter them, and they should be fine, as long as you can put the cover on the pressure cooker OK! Hope that helps and hope you like it!
Rebecca
Great! Thanks for your fast response. I waited before starting lol!
Sally Russell
Absolutely delicious! The roast was so tender and tasty and I loved how all the ingredients are in one pot for ease of cooking and clean up! Thank you again.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Thank you! I’m so happy you liked it!
Linnie
I’m looking forward to making this. What can I use in place of the red wine? Thanks
Elizabeth Lindemann
You can just use more broth in place of the wine. Hope you like it!
Karen
This was way better than I could have hoped for. I was looking up recipes because I got a bottom round roast in my Butcher Box and I wanted to cook it quickly so I googled that plus Instant Pot. What a surprise to happen upon this! I had a 2 lb piece and it fit in my 3qt. Pot along with the full amount of wine and about 3 cups of broth. I used 1 onion, 4 large carrots and omitted the potatoes. Cooked beautifully! Thank you.
Elizabeth Lindemann
SO happy you liked it! :-)
Holly
Delicious. We altered it slightly and didn’t use the wine or go through the extra effort to mash the potatoes, but it was still divine and kid-approved.
Elizabeth Lindemann
SO glad you liked it! Thanks for the comment!
Debbi
Do you think it would be ok to make this using a top round roast? Are there any changes you would make?
Elizabeth Lindemann
Definitey! You shouldn’t have to change anything.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Definitely! I don’t think you should have to change anything.
Sativa
Was this made in a 6-quart instant pot?
Elizabeth
Yes! I should clarify that in my recipe notes- I’ll add that in now. Thanks for asking!
Leanne Myrdal
Delicious! We had this tonight!
Elizabeth
Yay! So glad you liked it!