Yankee Pot Roast (Instant Pot Recipe)
Short on time? You’ll love this Instant Pot pot roast recipe. With an electric pressure cooker, the whole thing takes little more than an hour.
By Amy Traverso|Jan 06 2022|
Coffee By Design | Portland, Maine
Photo Credit : Katherine KeenanA homemade pot roast dinner usually requires a slow braise over several hours, which adds up to a four-hour commitment. But with the new breed of electric pressure cookers — the best-known being the Instant Pot — you can make pot roast in less than half that time without sacrificing quality. The meat stays moist, the vegetables turn velvety, and flavors intensify. This kind of pressure cooking turns complex weekend-only dishes into everyday fare. Meanwhile, it’s extremely energy-efficient and frees you to relax and step away from the kitchen while still enjoying delicious food from scratch.
For this Instant Pot pot roast recipe, I adapted our recipe for classic Yankee pot roast, making it even quicker to prepare by using baby carrots and frozen pearl onions to cut down on prep time. Coating the roast with seasoned flour before browning adds flavor and helps thicken the sauce — an important step in a sealed system where water can’t evaporate.
Our Yankee Pot Roast recipe calls for carrots, celery, and pearl onions, but you can add potatoes or other root vegetables if you’d like. If you don’t want to use red wine in the sauce, simply add more beef stock. Use any leftovers to make Pot Roast Grilled Cheese or Giant Pot Roast Ravioli.
Yield:
8Ingredients
1 3- or 4-pound beef chuck roast
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large yellow onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary
1 cup beef stock
3/4 cup medium-bodied red wine (such as merlot)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 bay leaf, whole
2 cups baby carrots
3 celery ribs, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 cups frozen pearl onions
Garnish: fresh rosemary sprigs
Instructions
Pat the beef dry with a paper towel. In a small bowl, stir together the flour, salt, and pepper. Sprinkle this mixture all over the beef, pressing lightly to ensure that it sticks. Add the oil to the pot in your pressure cooker and select the sauté setting, high heat. Add the beef to the pot and let it cook, undisturbed, until browned on that side, about 3 minutes. Repeat to brown the remaining sides. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Add the onion, garlic, and chopped rosemary to the pot, and cook, stirring often, until the onions are translucent, about 6 minutes.
Add the beef stock, wine, and tomato paste, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Return the browned roast to the pot along with the bay leaf.
Lock the lid into place. Select the meat/stew option and set the time for 40 minutes. When done, quick-release the pressure. Unlock and remove the lid. Transfer the roast to a plate and tent with foil for 15 minutes.
Add the vegetables to the pot, then lock the lid in place. Select the manual option, high heat, and set the time for 4 minutes. When done, quick-release the pressure once more, then unlock and remove the lid.
Transfer the meat, vegetables, and sauce to a serving platter. Discard the bay leaf. Slice the meat against the grain, or use two forks to pull the beef into chunks. Arrange the beef and vegetables on a platter. Spoon the sauce over the beef and vegetables alongside mashed potatoes, buttered egg noodles, or rice.
I do not have a pressure cooker,Could give me cooking times for on stove or in crock pot.Thanks
Hi Shaune. This Instant Pot Pot Roast recipe was adapted to suit one of our favorite traditional Yankee Pot Roast recipes – you can find it here: https://newengland.com/today/food/main-dishes/meat/yankee-pot-roast-4/
Crock pot preferred, thanks
Excellent selection of recipes for the season
Made it tonight. This roast was full of great flavor…around the outside edges. The center was on the rare side, even after the rest. I’d try again but for a longer time. The leftovers will be great reheated with a sauce of the puréed remaining liquid with the onion bits.
I only have a normal pressure cooker. Any tips for making this dish for me, please? Thanks, Ian.
Ian,
I, too, only have a “normal” pressure cooker and this recipe works very well in it.
love your magazine
The recipe says 1 cup beef stock divided. Why divided? I can’t find anything that indicates to add the beef stock divided?
Hi Robin! Thanks for pointing this out. The recipe has been updated.
As a long-time New Englander who has family going back 8 generations in New England, it is painfully obvious this is not a traditional recipe. First, real Yankee pot roast is supposed to be a standalone dish served without sides. This is why it’s made with potatoes, which this recipe omits.
I cooked the roast at 40 min like the recipe says and the roast was NOT done. It was still bloody. Dont know what went wrong.