Instant Pot Simple Pot Roast

Instant Pot Simple Pot Roast is so simple, yet taste so good this dish will probably be a regular on your monthly menu.  It seems like Pot Roast and meat loaf are the first two recipes new Instant Pot users attempt when they first receive their Instant Pot.  This recipe will feed 4 maybe 5 people for under $18.00 and is a great hearty traditional meal, that shouts, Americana!

Ingredients:

• 2.5 – 3 lb Chuck Roast
• 2 Cups Beef Broth
• 1 Onion quartered
• Carrots
• Potatoes
• Mushrooms
• Garlic Salt
• 1 packet of Good Season’s dry Italian Salad Dressing mix.

Turn on your Instant Pot to Sauté = HIGH. Add one table spoon cooking oil. While the Sauté mode is heating up, pat dry the roast meat with a paper towel, this will help the meat get that brown caramelized sear we are looking for.

Once the Pot reads “Hot”,put the meat in, give it a good shot of garlic salt and sear it on all sides. During this process half way through you will have to drain the pot so the meat does not steam.

The Instant Pot is really not designed will to put a good sear on a pice of meat because the sides are so high that the meat can steam it’s self in the searing process.  If you are careful not to crowd the pot and make sure to pat the meat with a paper towel before, you can improve the results.

Remove the meat and deglaze the bottom of the pot with 2 cups broth and a wooden spoon.  Try to get 90% of the crunch brown bits that are cooked onto the bottom of the pan.  This will add more character to the gravy later on.

Put the Meat back in the pot (WITH NO TRIVET) in the broth and sprinkle the dry Italian Salad Dressing packet on the the meat.  It is important that you use 2 cups broth, the meat does not need to be covered in liquid, but you want the meat sitting in a good bath of the broth.

Add the onion.  After the 25 min cook time, onion will be very soft if not almost liquified, but it will create flavor.  Carrots and other vegetables go in later, not now.  You can add more onion at the end of the 1st cooking cycle  with the potatoes, carrots and mushrooms.

Hit the cancel button and select the smart cooking program “MEAT/STEW”  Pressure = HIGH, Keep Warn = ON, Set the time for 25 minutes, then when the cooking cycle is over, Quick Release (QR) any remaining pressure.

Open the lid,  add the carrots, mushrooms, potatoes, more onion if desired. Hit the cancel button and select the smart cooking program “MEAT/STEW”  Pressure = HIGH, Keep Warn = ON, Set the time for 5 minutes, then when the cooking cycle is over then a 10 – 20 min Natural Pressure Release is fine with a Quick Release (QR) of any remaining pressure.

The reason we add the vegetables at the end is that the Pressure Cooker will destroy them, even liquify them if you try to put them in for the whole 25 minute cooking time.  If you want the vegetables firmer then change the last 5 minutes cook time to 2 or 3 minutes.  I am a fan of thickening gravy with flour and I keep a can of Wondra in my cabinet.  I take the meat out and some of the vegetables and sprinkle approximately 1-2 tablespoons of Wondra in and stir until the sauce hits the desired thickness I am looking for.  You can leave the Keep Warm cycle on or switch to Sauté  MED to thicken the sauce.  Just remember to cancel the Sauté mode after the sauce thickens.