This Instant Pot pot roast recipe is impossibly good! Our recipe guarantees tender, melt-in-your-mouth chuck roast and a rich, savory gravy.
I’ve fallen hard for this pot roast, and I think you will, too. I use my 6-quart Instant Pot, but any electric pressure cooker works here.
The beef in this pot roast ends up unbelievably tender! I love shredding it and serving it over mashed potatoes, which I make with potatoes cooked in the Instant Pot with the beef.
Key Ingredients
- Chuck Roast: You want to use a tougher cut of meat like chuck roast, rump roast, or brisket. I use beef chuck roast for this recipe. It’s a cut taken from the shoulder area of the cow with lots if connective tissue that breaks down as it cooks in the pressure cooker. It turns out fall-apart tender!
- Beef Broth and Bouillon: I use good-quality beef broth and add more flavor with beef bouillon cubes or mix, which makes the gravy extra rich and beefy.
- Vinegar: I always add a little apple cider vinegar to the pot before pressure cooking (and do the same when making bone broth in a pressure cooker, too). It adds some acidity, balancing the rich flavor of the beef. It also helps break down the connective tissues, hopefully making the beef even more luxuriously tender. Balsamic vinegar is a good substitute.
- Herbs and Spices: We pack in lots of flavor with onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, fresh garlic, fresh rosemary, fresh thyme, and a bay leaf.
- Veggies: We keep things classic with onions, carrots, celery, and potatoes. The onions melt into the gravy, which I love. I use baby potatoes, which you can serve whole or mash before serving. Since the potatoes cook with the beef juices, they taste amazing.
- Cornstarch Slurry and Cream: These are optional, but I love using them to thicken and finish the gravy to serve over our tender beef.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Our Favorite Instant Pot Pot Roast
Tip 1: Start by using the sauté function. For extra flavor and some color on the outside of the beef, sear your seasoned beef roast on all sides until golden brown, then transfer it to a plate. There will be some rendered beef fat left from searing, which you’ll use to cook the vegetables (hello flavor!).
Tip 2: Scrape all the browned, stuck bits at the bottom of the cooker. After browning the beef and sautéing the veggies, there will be lots of little browned bits stuck to the bottom. They will add LOTS of flavor to the braising liquid, so it’s important to add your beef broth, bouillon, and apple cider vinegar, then use a wooden spoon to scrape everything off the bottom of the pot.
Tip 3: Cook the beef based on its weight. The cooking time depends on the size of your roast. Cook it for 20 minutes for every pound of beef on high pressure. So, for a 3-pound chuck roast, that means you’ll cook it for 60 minutes (1 hour). After cooking, use the quick-release to vent the pressure.
Tip 4: Make the optional gravy. You’ll remove the beef, veggies, and herbs from the pot and use the sauté function to simmer the liquid until it reduces a bit. Then, you’ll whisk in a simple mixture of cornstarch and water, along with a splash of cream.
The carrots, onion, and celery turn out pretty soft, so I don’t usually serve them (they already gave lots of flavor to the pot roast). That said, you can blend some of them back into the gravy at the end. Tips for this are below!
More Instant Pot Recipes
- Easiest Bone Broth
- Instant Pot Salsa Verde Chicken
- Ultimate Pulled Pork – slow cooker recipe, but Instant Pot instructions provided
- Instant Pot Eggs
- Homemade Applesauce
The Best Instant Pot Pot Roast
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
This easy Instant Pot pot roast creates incredibly tender, flavorful beef. It’s perfect for the whole family. I use my Instant Pot, but this recipe works with any pressure cooker.
For this recipe, use tougher cuts of beef, such as chuck, brisket, or round. In the pressure cooker, these become melt-in-your-mouth tender. I love adding baby potatoes. They become very soft, so I mash them to serve with the pot roast. We also add carrots, celery, and garlic for extra flavor. Since they get soft during cooking, we consider them flavor additions rather than side dishes. If you’d like to serve this with carrots, I highly recommend these roasted carrots.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
3 pounds beef chuck, brisket, or round
Salt
1 ½ teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 large onion
5 medium carrots (12 ounces)
4 celery stalks
5 to 6 garlic cloves
1 ½ tablespoons high-heat cooking oil
3 cups beef broth, try homemade beef broth
1 to 2 bouillon cubes or use bouillon mix, optional
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
4 rosemary sprigs
4 thyme sprigs
1 bay leaf
12 ounces baby potatoes, optional
2 tablespoons cornstarch, optional for gravy
2 tablespoons cream, optional for gravy
Directions
- Cook Your Pot Roast
1Season the beef: Pat the beef dry with a paper towel. Generously sprinkle it all over with salt (I use 2 to 3 teaspoons). Let it rest at room temperature for 1 hour.
2Make the spice blend: In a small bowl, stir the onion powder, garlic powder, and black pepper together.
3Prepare the veggies: Peel and cut the onion into large chunks. Peel and slice the carrots and celery into thick, long sticks. Smash the garlic cloves with the flat side of a knife and peel away the skins.
4Brown the beef: Rub the spice mixture all over the beef. Add the oil to your Instant Pot and set it to Sauté on high heat. Once the oil is hot, carefully brown the beef on all sides, about 4 minutes per side, until a deep golden crust forms. Transfer the browned beef to a plate, leaving the rendered fat in the pot.
5Sauté the veggies: Add the onion, carrots, celery, and garlic cloves to the pot. Cook until they soften and get lightly browned in spots, about 6 minutes. Remove them to the same plate as the beef.
6Make the cooking liquid: Add the beef broth, bouillon, and vinegar. Use a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. This adds a ton of flavor and helps prevent the Instant Pot’s “Burn” notice.
7Pressure cook: Turn the Sauté function off. Return the browned beef and vegetables to the pot. Add the rosemary, thyme, bay leaf, and potatoes (if using). It’s okay if the liquid doesn’t fully cover all of the ingredients. Secure the lid and set the Instant Pot to cook at Manual High Pressure for 60 minutes. Note: Adjust the time based on your roast’s weight, cooking for 20 minutes for every pound.
8Release the pressure: When the cooking time is up, allow the pressure to naturally release for 10 minutes before you use the quick-release method to vent the remaining pressure. Be careful to keep your hands and face away from the venting steam.
9To finish: Remove the beef and shred it to your desired size on a cutting board. Serve with the cooked potatoes (whole or mashed). The carrots and celery will be very soft, but you can serve them or blend them into the gravy.
- Optional Quick Gravy
1Reduce the liquid: Remove the vegetables and herbs from the cooking liquid. Turn the Instant Pot to Sauté (high heat) and boil the liquid until it reduces by about a quarter.
2Thicken the gravy: Whisk the cornstarch and ¼ cup of water in a small bowl. Slowly whisk this mixture into the simmering liquid, stirring constantly until it thickens. Turn off the heat.
3Finish and serve: Season the gravy to taste with salt and pepper. If you want a richer texture, add a splash of cream. Optionally, blend in some of the veggies. For an even richer, thicker gravy, add the gravy and about ½ cup of the soft cooked veggies (carrots, onions, and celery) to a blender. Blend until smooth. Be sure to vent the steam from the blender by leaving the small inset out and covering the top with a kitchen towel.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Keep leftover pot roast in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days or store in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating on the stove or in the microwave.
- Our pressure cooker: We have the 6-quart Instant Pot.
- Cooking time: When cooking a pot roast in an Instant Pot, allow 20 minutes for every pound of meat. For example, cook a 2-pound pot roast at high pressure for 40 minutes and a 3-pound pot roast for 60 minutes.
- Frozen beef: I highly recommend thawing your beef for this recipe, since you cannot sear the frozen beef. If you must use frozen beef, assume 30 minutes per pound.
- What to do if your pot roast is tough: Your pot roast should be incredibly tender and fall apart easily with a fork. If it’s still tough, you will need to cook it longer. The pressure cooking process breaks down tough meat, making it tender. Put the lid back on, seal the pressure cooker, and cook at high pressure for another 10 to 20 minutes.
- The provided nutrition facts are estimates. Sodium content will vary based on the ingredients you use.
I made this recipe today, 28th December 2025. I was thinking of my grandma and the delicious pot roasts she used to make in the 1980s on cold Scottish winter days.
Yours was the first recipe I came across and I made a shopping list and went to get my supplies. I have never made pot roast before and neither am I an amazing chef, so I really appreciated the easy to follow format and details for getting this right!
I had a 2lb piece of beef and cooked at pressure for 40 mins. When I took the beef out I was absolutely blown away by how GOOD it was. Falling apart, tender and juicy, very flavoursome and I know I could eat this every day for the rest of my life 😀
Thank you for publishing this recipe and sharing a secret to outstanding pot roast – my daughter asked me if it was as good as my grandma’s – I had to be honest and say that “mine” is now even better than the one my grandma used to make (hers was made in a big pot, no electric pressure cookers in her day)
Thank you again, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Caroline, who has never left a recipe review comment EVER – couldn’t leave without telling you how good it was 😉
Thank you so much for your kind words, Caz! We are so happy you found us and that you enjoyed the recipe so much.
SO SO good! My husband loves this type of comfort food, and he was delighted with the outcome. We followed the recipe exactly, using bison chuck roast (we often sub bison for beef due to taste and texture preference). I had stopped trying with my Instant Pot, having had no success over the years, but this recipe may have changed my mind, thank you!
10/10 this was so delicious!! I will definitely be making again.
Yay! So glad you loved it 🙂
We made this roast for Dinner tonight and it was fork tender and delicious. The aromatics while cooking and when taking the lid off the Instant Pot piqued our appetites.
This was disappointing. The cooking time for 3 lb of meat was right for the meat but the potatoes and carrots became mush. Unedible. Also way too much liquid. I cut back to 2 cups of stock and it still looked like soup. Probably should recommend foil-packing the veggies and placing them on top of the meat instead of adding them to the pot. Also, the rosemary overwhelmed the other flavors.
Hi Larry, We address the veggies becoming soft above. We add them primarily for flavor and recommend that if you do not want soft carrots for serving to roast some in the oven. Also, for the potatoes, I like mashing them (as pictured above), which gets around them being soft.
Carrots and potatoes only need 7 minutes on high pressure. Of course they were mush after I take the roast out to rest 20 minutes i cook the veggies
Delicious! Thank you for the recipe!!