French onion pressure cooker roast is tender with tons of flavor. Best way of how to cook a blade roast in Instant Pot or Ninja foodi for shredded beef tacos for dinner, even your kids will rave about. Use a fresh or frozen roast in Instant Pot to make this.
Yes we’re back with more meals to add to our long list of easy Instant Pot recipes! Today we’re here with what we’re calling french onion pressure cooker blade roast. We shredded it this time and made some crazy good tacos topped with avocado that didn’t last long between the 5 of us. Let us know what you think! (affiliate links present)
Table of Contents
- Pressure Cooker French Onion Roast with Onion Soup Mix
- Ninja Foodi French Onion Roast
- Instant Pot Blade Roast Recipe
- Ingredients
- How to serve shredded beef
- How to Cook Instant Pot Blade Roast
- How to Thicken Gravy From Beef Drippings
- Other easy pressure cooker beef recipes you’ll love
- French Onion Pressure Cooker Roast Recipe
Pressure Cooker French Onion Roast with Onion Soup Mix
So we live in Idaho now where there are lots of farms. In this new world of ours people tend to stock up for the winter and buy half a cow, a pig, etc… Then we can store it in a deep freezer in the garage so we’re set and have to go to the store less often. Buying meat in bulk is a game changer.
Ninja Foodi French Onion Roast
You can make this as an easy Ninja Foodi recipe too if that is the brand you have on hand. With that machine you are going to use the lid that is not attached with the pressure cook button. High pressure is what will be used to break down the connective tissues in the meat and make it as tender as possible.
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.
This was a bit odd when we first got here but low and behold we did it and now we have LOTS of beef to use! I decided to add to our Instant Pot beef recipes and make a sort of shredded beef using one of the roasts we got. It turned out great!
Instant Pot Blade Roast Recipe
I don’t know about you but I have been using these little packets for years and years, and never to make the dip they are for. It is a nice already mixed together with bold flavors blend that gives meatloaf, chicken and now beef a lot of flavor easily.
Can you make French onion pot roast with frozen roast?
Yes!! Believe it or not it doesn’t take much longer either. You can’t cut it into fourths like we did here so that is the biggest difference but not by much. 2 lbs = 80 minutes, 3 lbs. = 90 min. or 4 lbs = 100 minutes to get to fall-apart tender status.
Ingredients
- Roast – we used a 2.75 lb. blade roast, chuck roast works well too
- Onion
- French onion soup mix packets
- Beef broth, red wine or stock (french onion soup can be used as your liquid as well for a bolder onion flavor overall)
- Can of diced chiles – we used mild but spicier would be good too
As always this pressure cooker roast came out super tender in no time at all as I just throw everything that sounds good together, toss, and wait until the beeper goes off to let me know it’s done. Then I shred/slice the meat, put it back into the incredible juices to soak up more flavor, and get the toppings ready.
Can you cook beef and vegetables together in pressure cooker?
You can but realize that in 1 hour pressure cooking time they will get quite soft. Choose those that are firmer like chunks of potatoes and carrots, and onions work well too.
How to serve shredded beef
- We made Instant Pot tacos out of them
- Sliced roast thin
- Added into small flour tortillas
- Served with sliced avocado on top
- Served over rice
- Made into a low carb meal like;
- Served inside lettuce, as lettuce wraps
- Eaten as is with a slice of avocado on top
- Served inside a bell pepper sliced in half
How else would you serve this style of pressure cooker shredded beef? I mean the list is endless really so let us know if you try another that becomes your go to with your family.
I personally like to have some sort of idea or meal schedule so I am prepared for dinner. We like to eat around 5 p.m. so I like to start early and using a pressure cooker gives me the ability to cook a large cut of meat like this one without having to spend a lot of time in the kitchen which I love.
Is blade roast better in pressure cooker or slow cooker?
To get a roast as tender as this one was I typically had to cook it in my slow cooker all day and I didn’t always think about dinner at 9 in the morning to get it going in time. My Instant Pot, Crockpot Express and new Ninja Foodi pressure cookers make it possible to achieve the same fall-apart tenderness in about 1 hour!
I cook a lot more homemade meals now with this fancy thing…. You can get the same tender juiciness in just a fraction of the time vs. using your oven. Especially when it comes to large thick pieces of meat it is the way to go. You really need a lot of pressure to break down the connective tissues so it can shred easily when done.
There are many ways of how to cook a roast, this is our favorite by far. There are many different cuts out there too on a cow that work well. A bit of fat on it is good, even if you are going to trim that off when it is done. Reason being is that fat=flavor. I want easy so I do not sear the beef roast at the beginning. You can but use a wooden spoon to deglaze if you do.
How to Cook Instant Pot Blade Roast
- Cut your roast into 4 equal pieces for fall-apart shredded beef
- Put meat into your Instant Pot followed by your sliced onion, can of chiles, sprinkled in packets of french dry onion soup mix packets
- Pour your broth/stock on top of everything.
- Close your lid and steam valve and set to high pressure for 60 minutes. (timing good for a 2.5-3.5 lb. roast, may need to adjust if using a smaller or larger piece of meat)
- Allow to natural pressure release for 10 minutes, then release rest of steam. Quick release isn’t recommended for meat as it will dry it out.
- Remove meat and cut into small slices or shred if you’re making tacos/serving over mashed potatoes, or slice and serve as is followed by a pour of the juices on top of your meat.
How to Thicken Gravy From Beef Drippings
If you want to make the sauce thicker for pressure cooker gravy you would just want to ideally remove the meat, turn pot to saute and wait until it bubbles. In a small dish add a bit of that liquid with 2 tbsp cornstarch, whisk until smooth and pour that in. Allow to bubble and thicken. Toppings for soft shredded beef tacos as well if you’re serving it like that, fresh avocado slices are our favorite.
About 1 hour as a blade roast in Instant Pot under high pressure. If you are cooking it in the oven it takes much longer, closer to 2.5 hours depending on it’s weight and thickness. You need time to get it fork tender to shred. Best to made with a gravy or sauce to keep it moist and add flavor.
You can cut it into smaller pieces and add it into stews or casseroles. If you want to cook it whole, slice or make shredded beef you will want to slow cook it or use a pressure cooker.
Can you use pressure cooker recipes for Crockpot Express recipes?
Yes! If you’re making Crock Pot Express roast directions below will remain the same but pushing the pressure adjust button, high pressure, for the designated time (or longer if your piece of meat is substantially larger). Follow rest of instructions below.
Other easy pressure cooker beef recipes you’ll love
Pressure cooker beef pot pie soup is great for another beef win. Again this one has small bite size pieces used so it doesn’t take long to cook at all and gets really tender to melt in your mouth. Making a Ninja Foodi roast? You will follow these directions
French Onion Pressure Cooker Roast
Equipment
- 1 pressure cooker
Ingredients
- 2.5-3 lb roast, beef, ours was a blade roast
- 1 large onion, sliced in thick pieces
- 2 packets french onion soup mix
- 1 can chiles, diced, optional
- 1.5 c beef stock, broth or canned french onion soup
Instructions
- Cut your roast into 4 equal pcs. if you’re making shredded beef, or in 2 equal pieces if you want to slice it when it’s done. (I recommend making shredded roast as it will want to fall apart)
- Put meat into your Instant Pot followed by your sliced onion, can of chiles, sprinkled in packets of french onion soup mix, and then pour your broth/stock on top of everything.
- Close your lid and steam valve and set to high pressure for 60 minutes. (timing good for a 2.5-3.5 lb. roast, may need to adjust if using a smaller or larger piece of meat)
- Allow to naturally release for 10 minutes, then release rest of steam.
- Remove meat and cut into small slices or shred if you’re making tacos/serving over rice, or slice and serve as is followed by a pour of the juices on top of your meat.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
