How to Cook a Pot Roast in an Instant Pot

Q: Why is my Instant Pot pot roast tough?

Almost always because it needs more time, not less. A pot roast turns tender only once the connective tissue breaks down, so if it is not shreddable, seal it back up and pressure cook another 10 to 15 minutes. Using a natural release rather than a quick one also keeps it moist. See natural vs quick release.

A pot roast that takes most of a Sunday in the oven is done in about an hour of pressure cooking, and comes out just as tender. The trick is searing for flavor first, giving it enough time under pressure, and letting the pressure drop on its own so the meat stays moist. Here is the whole method.

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Why the Instant Pot is a great pot-roast machine

A tough, collagen-rich cut like chuck needs long, moist, low heat to turn tender — which is normally hours in the oven. Pressure cooking does the same job much faster, because the higher boiling point under pressure breaks down that connective tissue in a fraction of the time. This is the single best argument for owning a pressure cooker, and it is covered from the top in how to use a pressure cooker. A pot roast is also forgiving, which makes it a great early recipe to build confidence on a Duo or Pro.

Step 1 — sear the beef

Pat a 3–4 lb chuck roast dry, season it well with salt and pepper, and cut it into two or three large chunks so it cooks evenly and fits the pot. Set the Instant Pot to Sauté, add a little oil, and brown the meat hard on all sides. Do not skip this — the browned crust is most of the deep, roasted flavor, and searing in the same pot you will braise in means none of it is lost. Take the beef out once it has a good color.

Step 2 — deglaze and build the braise

With the pot still on Sauté, soften an onion and some garlic, then pour in about a cup of beef broth and scrape every browned bit off the bottom with a wooden spoon. This deglazing step is not optional: stuck-on food left on the base is the most common cause of the Burn message, because the pot reads it as scorching. Add your liquid (broth, a splash of Worcestershire, tomato paste), return the beef, and tuck in chunky carrots and potatoes if you want a one-pot meal.

Step 3 — pressure cook, then let it release naturally

Lock the lid, set the valve to Sealing, and pressure cook on high for about 20 minutes per pound— roughly 60–80 minutes for a 3–4 lb roast. When the time is up, let the pressure come down on its own(a full natural release, 15–20 minutes) rather than flipping the valve. This matters for a roast: a natural release lets the meat reabsorb its juices and settle, while a quick release can seize the muscle fibers and make it stringy. Unlike a quick weeknight cut, a pot roast wants the slow finish.

The doneness note

A pot roast is not cooked to a target internal temperature the way a steak is — it is cooked well past the 145°Fthe USDA lists as safe for whole cuts of beef, all the way to the fork-tender stage (around 200°F internally) where the collagen has fully broken down. If it is not shreddable when the time is up, it simply needs longer: seal it back up and add another 10–15 minutes. Tough means undercooked here, not overcooked. Add fresh vegetables only for the final few minutes if you want them firm rather than meltingly soft.

The hardware

The cookers this page is about

The cookers referred to above, with prices pulled live from Amazon and dated on every card. Full rankings live in the roundups linked from this page.

1,000 W
Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker, 6 Quart
The multicooker that made the category, and still the right default. Instant Brands publishes the wattage, the working pressure range and a stainless (not nonstick) inner pot, which is more than most of the field manages — and it costs less than almost all of them.
$104.67on Amazon
1,200 W
Instant Pot Pro 10-in-1 Pressure Cooker, 6 Quart
The Duo's mechanicals with the interface fixed: a genuine sous vide program, an auto-sealing lid, grab-and-go pot handles and five programmable buttons. It draws 1,200 W rather than the Duo's 1,000, and Instant Brands does not publish a working-pressure figure for it — the one gap in an otherwise well-documented cooker.
$164.99on Amazon

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Questions

Frequently asked

How long does a pot roast take in an Instant Pot?

Plan on about 20 minutes of pressure cooking per pound, so roughly 60 to 80 minutes for a 3 to 4 pound chuck roast, plus time to come to pressure and a 15 to 20 minute natural release. It is far faster than the oven but still not instant, since a tough cut needs real time to turn tender.

Why is my Instant Pot pot roast tough?

Almost always because it needs more time, not less. A pot roast turns tender only once the connective tissue breaks down, so if it is not shreddable, seal it back up and pressure cook another 10 to 15 minutes. Using a natural release rather than a quick one also keeps it moist. See natural vs quick release.

Do you have to sear the roast first?

You do not have to, but you should. Searing on the Saute setting builds the browned crust that gives a pot roast most of its deep flavor, and doing it in the same pot means that flavor goes straight into the braise. Deglaze afterward with broth to lift the browned bits, which also prevents the Burn message.

Keep reading

Receipts

Sources

USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service — safe minimum internal cooking temperatures

We have not tested these machines in a lab and we do not pretend to have. Specifications come from the manufacturer's own published documents; electricity rates come from the US Energy Information Administration; prices come from the live Amazon API. Where a figure is not published, the page says “not published” rather than guessing. Read the full method.