This easy pressure cooker beef arm roast recipe is amazing! With balsamic vinegar and onions it’s packed with flavor and super tender in a Ninja Foodi or cooked as a quick Instant Pot recipe to fork tender.
Ok so I was determined to come up with the best beef arm roast recipe this week and scored! This cheap cut is often overlooked but with the right sauce and seasonings it can be an excellent and. (affiliate links present)
Pressure Cooker Arm Roast
I’ve told you before that we buy half a cow at the beginning of each year from local farmers. If you’re new to The Typical Mom blog welcome, and you can buy bulk meat online too. It’s been a game changer for us.
Similar to a chuck roast, an arm roast has a wonderfully beefy flavor and can get nice and tender if cooked just right. You can make this as an easy Ninja Foodi recipe too if that is the pot you have.
If you are new to pressure cooking we have a lot of easy one pot meal recipes for you here. To begin with let’s start with a few basic tips:
- Make sure to Bookmark our InstaPot recipes page. We add new ones each week!
- Then PRINT this —–> Instant Pot cooking times cheat sheet that will help you understand how long meat, vegetables and beans take to cook in your pressure cooker.
- I HIGHLY recommend you buy this non stick pot.
- You should know how to deglaze a pressure cooker after sautéing but it won’t have as many issues with this better liner.
For reference, this is the model I have (a 6 quart) and use for all recipe creations.
Easy Instant Pot Arm Roast Recipe
Have you seen one of these at your local grocery store with a little price tag on it but you thought “whaaaaat am I supposed to do with that?” I kinda’ did too when I got 2 packages in our cow delivery.
It wasn’t anything I had ever bought, cooked, or even eaten as far as I can remember. BUT I am always up for a challenge so I started experimenting.
I looked back at my Instant Pot carnitas recipe as far as the cook time was concerned. Like that one I decided to remove the bone, trim a bit, and cut into large chunks.
- You could saute and brown on all sides at first with a bit of olive oil, but I literally just threw it in.
- Sometimes I am just in the mood for an EASY throw together one pot meal.
How to Cook Arm Roast in Ninja Foodi
You can see here about how large the chunks were. I wanted it to shred easily and this is key. Smaller pieces means fork tender and delicious if you ask me. Don’t ask me about specifics, just “chunk it” alrighty. ๐ Cooked under high pressure is key, and the best way to cook beef arm roast. In the Foodi you’ll need the lid that isn’t attached.
What is the difference between an arm roast and a chuck roast?
The arm is less expensive and leaner than chuck, go figure right? Some people braise it but we used it as an easy Ninja Foodi recipe in pressure cooker mode this time. Any pressure cooker will do and my preferred method of cooking this.
What is arm roast good for?
I think it’s great to make shredded beef served over Ninja foodi rice or to make sliders. If cut into smaller pieces and cooked under pressure it falls apart nicely and has a rich beefy flavor.
Is arm roast tough?
It is less tough than a shoulder roast actually. It can become quite tender if cooked low and slow in a Crockpot or using high pressure in an Instant Pot. I compare it to our Instant Pot tri tip kinda’. Let me show you what we added to our meat to make it ultra delicious.
Balsamic vinegar, I mean really this stuff is pretty darn amazing. There are tons of different flavors, brands and price points out there you can get. This one I bought at a local fair in Idaho and is amazing.
Not sponsored at all, just like to support local when I find something amazing, and this is one of those things. ๐ Used as is as a dipping sauce for steaks, or a sort of marinade as we did here it takes meat from good to out of this world.
How to Cook Frozen Arm Roast
You can, a few different ways. If you use an electric pressure cooker the timing really isn’t any different actually. the biggest issue is getting it to fit. If it does then you’d use this same sauce but the timing for our Instant Pot frozen roast timing. Believe me, it comes out just as tender, you will be amazed.
Ingredients
- Our arm roast was about 3.5 lbs. before trimming and removing the bone
- Balsamic vinegar, use the good stuff that is nice and thick
- Beef broth or stock is better than water
- Onion sliced is great for flavor and texture
- Salt is a basic seasoning
- Garlic minced or diced
- Worcestershire sauce
- Soy sauce or gluten free aminos
- A bit of honey for a touch of sweet
- Red pepper flakes – just a bit but not to make it spicy
- If you feel like you must put bay leaves in with any large piece of meat, go ahead. Just remember to remove it once cook time is up.
Thinned out with a bit of beef broth it made a great “sauce” or beef marinade of sorts for sure. I used a bit of cornstarch at the end to thicken the “gravy” at the end. Now keep in mind that it will take 20 minutes to 30 minutes for the pot to even reach pressure and start the cook time count down. Beef roasts take longer than other foods.
What is the best way to cook an arm roast?
This is a tough piece of meat with a lot of connective tissue so you really want either a long time cooked low and slow or under high pressure like we did here. That way it loosens them to make it less chewy and more melt in your mouth texture.
A roux isn’t necessarily I guess but boy is it nice to pour that thick sauce on the top when you serve it. Just takes a few minutes on saute after the initial cook time to get to this perfect pressure cooker gravy consistency. Here’s what we did:
How to Cook Arm Roast in a Pressure Cooker
Time needed: 1 hour
Beef Arm Roast Recipe
- Prepare
Remove bone and fat from roast. Cut it into large chunks, discard bone and fat. Put meat into pressure cooker and sprinkle salt on top of meat. Slice or dice your onion and put that on top and around meat. Pour in all other cooking liquid ingredients inside EXCEPT cornstarch, close lid.
- Cook
Close steam valve and set to pressure cook on high for 45 minutes. Then allow steam to naturally release for 15 minutes. Release rest of steam quickly, there won’t be much. Lift lid and remove meat and onions into a bowl.
- Saute
Set pot to saute. In a small bowl add 1/2 cup of your hot broth from the pot. Add cornstarch with it and whisk together until you create a smooth roux. When liquid is bubbling pour your cornstarch mixture in. Stir continuously for about 3 minutes allowing gravy to thicken to a tender flavorful sauce.
Shred meat with forks in bowl. Pour this on top so it is coated well and serve over white or brown rice! Thicken sauce over medium high heat on the stovetop alternatively…..but why would you dirty another pot?
How do you cook beef arm roast in the oven?
Whether you needed a fresh, defrosted or Frozen roast in the oven instructions <—– you would follow these directions here. In a dish with wonderful drippings you can make in to a gravy at the end it is a wonderful way to break down the connective tissues for perfectly tender shredded beef.
Why is my arm roast tough?
I doubt you would have this issue cooking under high pressure but if you made it on the stove and it isn’t as tender as you would like, cook it longer in that wonderful sauce. The longer it cooks the more the connective tissues will break down in order for you to shred it with 2 forks.
If cooked like we share here in a pressure cooker with our balsamic vinegar sauce you will get the most flavorful moist beef ever that can be served a number of different ways. Inside tortillas it’s great for beef arm roast tacos. Served over rice or alongside vegetables is wonderful too.
You can see how fall apart tender this turns out, just like our Instant Pot Barbacoa . Use some red wine instead of beef stock if you preferred. I add a sprinkle of salt and pepper once this is done but it doesn’t need much.
Yes you could use this same recipe with other cuts of meat if you wanted too. Of course a chuck roast would work the same way. It would be a good pot roast recipe too if cut into smaller chunks at the beginning.
What sides go good with roast?
Air fryer vegetables are soft with a bit of crispness on the edges and perfect with this as a side dish. You could make slow cooker mashed potatoes and corn on the cob with it too which are low in saturated fat. More easy pressure cooker recipes you should try too are: We share several beef stew meat recipes here.
Beef Arm Roast Recipe
Equipment
- 1 pressure cooker
Ingredients
- 3-4 lb arm roast, trimmed, bone removed, cut into large chunks
- 1 onion, sliced
- 1 tsp salt, plus salt and pepper to taste when done
- 1/2 c beef broth
- 1/3 c balsamic vinegar
- 3 tbsp minced garlic
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 3 tbsp cornstarch, optional, to thicken broth at end
Instructions
- Remove bone and fat from arm roast. Then cut it into large chunks. Put into pressure cooker and sprinkle salt on top of meat.
- Slice onion and put that on top and around meat.
- Pour in all other ingredients in EXCEPT cornstarch, close lid. Seal steam valve and set to high pressure for 45 minutes.
- Allow steam to naturally release for 15 minutes, then release rest.
- Lift lid and remove meat and onions into a bowl. Set pot to saute. In a small bowl add 1/2 c of your hot broth from pot. Add cornstarch and whisk together until you create a smooth roux.
- When liquid is bubbling pour your cornstarch mixture in. Stir continuously for about 3 minutes allowing this sauce to thicken.
- Shred meat with forks in bowl. Pour this on top of meat so it is coated well and serve over rice!
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I made this last night. I had to tweak it only because I didnโt have all the ingredients. I used coconut aminos instead of soy sauce. I didnโt have enough balsamic vinegar and found online a substitute of apple cider vinegar and sugar. I seared the meat first and used my pressure cooker. It came out fantastic!!! Thank you for this recipe! Oh yea and I used chicken stock too.
Amazingly good and easy.
I used potato starch (don’t do corn), chicken broth instead of beef broth. I served in chunks and didn’t shred it.
What was nice was putting it all together in the morning so it was ready to put in the insta pot an hour before dinner.
Awesome
I made this. Cut out all white flesh, added mushrooms and left out balsamic vinegar. Served over rustic mashed potatoes. It was superb!
Yeah!!
This recipe is a keeper AND I forgot the balsamic YIKES [I love balsamic], winged it and added some to the sauce. So flavorful, tender and easy.
Made this. Very good. Is a keeper
So glad
Well, that’s a real hit. Nice contrast of full beef flavour from the meat with a sweet and hot sauce.
I found it adds a little something to dig the marrow out of the bone and put that in, too.
Nice job.
Oh great idea and add
I typically don’t comment on recipes, but this turned out amazing! I used an arm roast from a quarter of Scottish Highlander beef I got earlier this year and it is the best thing I have ever made in my instapot! Thank you for the recipe
Yay, glad it was a hit
Made some slight changes to this recipe pressure cooked it for 30 minutes on my stove top pressure cooker then 50 minutes without tripled the amount of garlic 3 tablespoons of cornstarch is a little much but used it for all the juices did not shred the meat then mixed it into the meats before serving on top of rice turned out very well
@Andrew, edit 15 minutes without pressure my apologies for the mist type
Sounds delicious!! Hoping to make this recipe this week. My husband is not a huge vinegar fan, but isn’t completely opposed; how strong is the vinegar flavor after cooking?
It depends on what type of balsamic you use. Some variations are stronger than others so I would suggest using one like I did that incorporates another flavor.
Awesome flavor! Melt in your mouth delicious. My family loved it definitely will make again
Awesome!!