Instant Pot Beef Roast Recipe

Try our easy Instant Pot beef roast recipe for dinner tonight! Tender meat in a pressure cooker or Ninja Foodi stacked on rolls to make sliders = a great appetizer or dinner for your family. You can even make a frozen roast in Instant Pot now, game changer.

Ninja Foodi Beef Roast Recipes

Some cuts of meat you just don’t know what to do, like a beef arm roast. But using a pressure cooker you can make it taste great every time. I swear, everything comes out amazingly tender with tons of flavor sucked right in.

You can use any brand you have at home to make these. I have them all including a Crockpot Express and use them to make several easy Ninja foodi recipes throughout the month too.

How do you cook beef roast in a pressure cooker?

You literally can just add bottled sauce with your piece of meat and set to the correct cook time for that cut. Beyond that you can add dry rub and some pineapple if you like to make it a bit sweet. I have done that with a homemade barbecue sauce and that gives your shredded beef TONS of flavor.

I also add onions to just about every pressure cooker recipe I make, because they’re cheap and add lots of flavor. They provide a bit of texture too which is great when the rest of your ingredients are rather soft. Our pressure cooker shredded beef recipe has a dry rub coating the outside to add lots of flavor but that add on is up to you.

Same basic idea is used to make our easy Instant Pot shredded chicken dishes, that was one of our first recipes, and simple too.

Yes you can make this in a Crockpot Express or Ninja Foodi machine too. They all work pretty much the same. This recipe is somewhat similar to our Instant Pot pulled pork recipe but I used a larger cut of meat for that. Either way there is nothing this multi cooker can’t make so tender it melts in your mouth.

What cut of beef is good for shredding?

Chuck roast! It probably isn’t something you buy every day but it is one of the cheapest cuts actually and works great for this. Rump or bottom round will shred too but guaranteed you’ll find chuck roast in every grocery store for next to nothing.

We love inexpensive meals! You can even cook beef from frozen if you forgot to defrost it like we did with Frozen Chuck Roast Instant Pot directions. Just as easy as this one and almost the same timing. You will be surprised at the fact that under high pressure you can break down connective tissues in about 1 hour!

How do you cook roast in an Instant Pot Duo?

Of course it’s better to have it thawed for Instant Pot roast beef but it happens. If you have this “old” pot (I do too) the only difference is one button. Instead of just hitting pressure you have to touch manual first, then pressure and adjust the timing. Follow the recipe card instructions below for the rest.

Ingredients for Beef Roast in Instant Pot

1. Pressure cooker
   1. If you have an Instant Pot I HIGHLY suggest you get a non stick pot
2. 3-4 lb. roast – we used chuck roast
3. Onion
4. Apple cider vinegar
5. Ketchup
6. Beef broth
7. Tomato paste
8. Brown sugar
9. LOTS of seasonings

Slider buns – you can use our easy roll recipe if you like Just use our Instant Pot cooking times printable for accurate timing for all cuts of meat.

How long does it take to cook chuck roast in Instant Pot?

Pressure cooker cook time for beef in large chunks like this is 60 minutes for 3 pounds or about 80 minutes for 5 pounds. Now this will vary just a bit depending on whether yours is bone-in or boneless but give or take even 10 minutes won’t ruin it like it will with poultry which doesn’t take as long.

What is another name for chuck roast?

This cut is from the front portion of the animal. It can also be called shoulder steak, boneless chuck roast, chuck shoulder pot roast, chuck seven bone pot roast, or beef chuck arm. It’s good for shredding since it has some marbling in it.

• Honestly I used it because it was something in my freezer that needed to be used up and I was curious to see how it would soften up cooking it this way. 

It’s cheap but typically isn’t a popular cut of meat because it tends to be tougher unless it’s slow cooked.

It did surprisingly well too with this really flavorful sauce and high pressure cooking. I also made a version of air fryer chuck roast that was pretty killer too. If you have both appliances, or have the Instant Pot air fryer lid you could make both and compare.

What does pulled beef mean?

Well you could say shredded beef essentially because it is the same idea. Pulled beef is a term that means a cut of meat that is slow cooked to the point of being able to be pulled apart easily. It’s cooked for several hours of normal cooking, or an hour of pressure cooking. It simply means a form of over cooking to make the meat tender.

How can you serve Instant Pot pulled beef? Whether you use a bone in or boneless chuck or beef roast shoulder which is larger you will want some carbs to go with it. At least that is the case in our house.

1. Over Instant Pot white rice
2. Inside small flour tortillas topped with cheese like tacos
3. Put shredded meat in between two halves of small buns to make sliders like we did here

Hawaiian sweet bread buns are great to use for a sweet and tangy flavor. This can be a pretty cheap Instant Pot recipes when meal planning depending on the cut you choose. You do want marbling which tends to be cheaper.

Tips to remember: After your initial pressure cooking time of 70 minutes allow the pot to naturally release the steam for 10 minutes. Quick release isn’t the best when cooking large cuts of meat. You can maintain more of the juiciness and tenderness if you allow it some time to pressure release the steam slowly.

Same idea goes when making Instant Pot Mississippi roast that becomes seriously incredibly tender on top of mashed potatoes. Our roast was 3.5 lbs. If you were cooking a much smaller piece, about 2 lbs. then 60 minutes may be enough to get it to the tenderness you want it.

How do you shred beef easily?

I shred the beef and remove all the large pieces of fat and bone(s) at this time. Leaving it in the liquid will keep it tender and it will continue to soak up more of the flavor the longer it sits in it too.

1. Hold the roast steady with one hand, then place the beef on your cutting surface. Hold it securely with your non-dominant hand.
2. Shred off the beef with one fork going with the grain. After it’s been slow cooked or pressure cooked it should be SUPER easy to do.
3. Serve inside as Instant Pot tacos

Repeat as needed and discard inedible pieces. That’s how we made our Instant Pot barbecue beef recipe. This is how we serve it! SO good right??!!

What should you serve with pulled beef?

I mean it isn’t much different than anything else we would make with any of our other 3 ingredient Instant Pot recipes. We like to top ours with some cold macaroni salad!! Seriously, don’t knock it until you try it.

• Put some Hawaii cole slaw on top or as a side dish
• Serve it with a salad
• If you want a low carb keto dish then just enjoy it alone or with brussel sprouts

If you’re having a party this is a great way to make a slider bar with all the fixings! Just keep this on warm after it is done with all the sides available with small hamburger buns and tortillas available as well. 

How do you freeze cooked beef?

Store Pressure cooker roast beef in a freezer bag or airtight container. It should last 3 or 4 days in the refrigerator. You can also freeze it in the same containers or wrap tightly with heavy duty aluminum foil.

We have several other Instant Pot beef roast recipes we love, especially during the Winter time I love Instant Pot beef noodle soup with rolls.