The BEST Pressure Cooker Pot Roast Recipe - Coop Can Cook (2024)
Posted on Author B. Coop
Chuck Roast is my favorite meat to prepare. It’s relatively inexpensive. Especially if you catch it on sale like I always do. And it is absolutely divine when slow cooked into fork tender slithers of beef. Smother with some savory gravy and man! It’s a meal! I typically cook it stovetop or in the oven for hours. But, thanks to the beautiful ingenuity of my pressure cooker, I can now serve a delectable roast in one hour.
Of course we’ll need a roast. This one was a little over 3 pounds. It’ll fill at least four hearty servings. I start my seasoning off by patting on the W sauce. And my special blend of spices works every time. Pack it on every inch of the roast. Don’t forget the sides!
The most important step in preparation is the searing. I’m grateful for the browning preset on pressure cookers. It saves us time! If we were using a slow cooker, we’d have to sear the roast on the stove. The pressure cooker is a one stop shop! Sear the roast in hot oil on ALL sides! Again, don’t forget those edges!
It’s a cardinal sin to wipe of the “brown stuff” or “fond” found at the bottom of the pot after searing. That’s where the foundation of flavor begins! Instead, we leave it and sauté our veggies in it. See, we’re building flavors.
I roughly chop the veggies because we’re pressure cooking for a whole hour. If we finely chopped them, they would disintegrate completely during the duration of pressure cooking.
Look at this tender beef! I don’t ever want to use a knife to cut my roast. I like it fork tender all of the way! If you enjoy the carving, remove the roast before simmering the gravy. Speaking of the gravy, browned flour is a MUST! All it is a flour baked until golden brown. That’s it! I prefer the texture browned flour gives the gravy over cornstarch. I believe cornstarch is more suited for sauces, not gravies. Browned flour is an alternative to roux. It can even be used in making gumbo! Definitely beginner friendly, but still a go to for pros!
Fork tender deliciousness every single time! That’s the result of this recipe. Try it for yourself! I serve it over garlic mashed potatoes! What do you prefer?
If your roast is tough in the Instant Pot, it likely needs to be cooked longer. Chuck roast will become more tender the longer it cooks, so extra time may be needed. However, you can overcook beef in the Instant Pot, so keep an eye on it if you add extra time.
Pressure cooking, like slow cooking, will tenderize tough cuts of meat like beef brisket, beef chuck, pork shoulder and lots of other cheaper, tougher cuts. Pressure cooking (or slow cooking) is not the best approach for cooking expensive, tender steaks or rib roasts.
While you may cover meat almost completely for a conventional braise, use just enough liquid for the cooker to reach pressure – during pressure cooking the meat will release it's own juice and braise in that flavorful liquid, instead.
If you find that it's still tough after cooking, you'll need to cook it for another 10 to 20 minutes at high pressure – it just needs a bit longer to continue to brine and break down the connective tissue.
Stewing and braising are excellent methods for cooking chuck. These wet methods cook at 212F (or 240F in a pressure cooker) which are both low temperatures compared to oven roasting. At an internal temperature of 200F to 205F, the collagen proteins in the connective tissues melt and the meat becomes nicely tender.
Unfortunately, once you overcook a piece of meat in the pressure cooker, there's no going back. You'll be left with a pile of dry, crunchy, tasteless fibers and no amount of additional pressure cooking is going to put that moisture back into the meat.
There's another aspect of pressure cookers to consider too. Steam penetrates food easily under pressure. So connective tissues in cubes of beef for soups or stews soften in 15 minutes or less, and a pot roast will be medium-rare in 30 minutes.
Brown the meat: Brown the meat in a pan before cooking it in the pressure cooker to add flavor and help to tenderize the meat. Use a liquid: Cook the meat in a liquid, such as broth or wine, to help keep it moist and tender.
Overfilling: Adding too much water to a pressure cooker can cause it to become overfilled, exceeding its maximum capacity. This can prevent the cooker from building up enough pressure to cook food properly and may result in leaks or spills.
This completely depends on the type of meat you are planning on cooking. Because slow cookers take longer to cook, they are better suited to breaking down fat in meat while adding moisture. So if you are planning on cooking a whole rump beef, then a slow cooker is a better choice.
When comparing appliances, you'll find that the pressure cooker beats even the most energy-efficient slow cooker in terms of using less power and adding less heat into your home. Pressure cookers consume much less power than a standard electric oven, which uses around 2,000 watts of electricity on medium heat.
Traditionally cheaper cuts of meat always slow cook better. Slow cooking breaks down the connective collagen in meat, which turns into unctuous gelatine. This creates that soft and tender mouth feel we all crave.
Slow cookers utilize long cooking times to develop these richer flavors, while pressure cookers use high heat and pressure to impart as much flavor as possible in a shorter time.
Introduction: My name is Rueben Jacobs, I am a cooperative, beautiful, kind, comfortable, glamorous, open, magnificent person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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