Cole Cooks: Instant Pot Italian Roast Recipe
One of the many reasons the Instant Pot is an essential kitchen appliance is because it is great at making a sophisticated last-minute meal. One recent afternoon, Erin asked if there was a way I could make a dinner out of a 3-pound chuck roast. Normally I would need to start this early in the day. However, using the pressure cooker feature I was able to get this roast from the fridge to the table in 2 hours. This is my recipe for Instant Pot Italian Roast.
We have many ways we cook a pot roast. Our top recipe is probably the Beef Braised in Barolo recipe we got from a 2005 edition of Cook’s Illustrated. However, I rarely make that recipe because it calls for a full bottle of Barolo wine. Barolo is one of the most expensive wines, even if you buy the cheap $20 bottle from Trader Joe’s.
This recipe owes a debt to the Beef Braised in Barolo recipe, but only calls for a small amount of wine. Instead, it is heavy on tomatoes which makes it similar to the pot roast served in Tuscany known as Stracotto.
You can find all kinds of recipes for this type of Italian Pot Roast, including in the Cook’s Illustrated book The Best of Italian Classics where it is alongside the Beef Braised in Barolo recipe. Most recipes call for cooking the roast for 4 hours or more. In the Instant Pot, it takes an hour.
This recipe is incredibly simple to prepare. Season the roast, brown in the Instant Pot. Add the ingredients and let cook on high pressure for 60 minutes.
I always stress that with the Instant Pot you should generally add a half hour for pressure cooking. This accounts for the time it takes to build pressure and then release at the end.
To add some spice to the roast I add hot cherry peppers. This is not traditional, but our family loves a little spice.
This dish is best served with polenta. However, making polenta can be a complicated matter. So in a pinch mashed potatoes or noodles would be a good alternative.
Make sure and check out our Top 10 Instant Pot Recipes.
Which Instant Pot to Buy
There are quite a few variations on the Instant Pot. Our recommendation is to keep it simple and buy the basic 6-quart version. This is what we own and we do not use all the features. More expensive versions have additional functions, but we like to keep it basic. Our version was $100 but we can usually find it for about $70.
Instant Pot Italian Roast
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 3- pound chuck roast
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 teaspoons black pepper
- 1 yellow onion sliced
- 2 carrots chopped
- 3 stalks celery chopped
- 1 6 oz can tomato paste
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 1 cup beef stock
- ½ cup red wine
- 1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 4 ounces hot cherry peppers optional
Instructions
- Set Instant Pot on Sauté and let heat for 5 minutes. Add olive oil. Season roast with salt and pepper. Brown roast in Instant Pot on all sides (about 5-8 minutes).
- Add onion and sauté for an additional 5 minutes. Add celery and carrots.
- Combine remaining ingredients and add to Instant Pot.
- Set Instant Pot on high pressure and let cook for 60 minutes. Let pressure release naturally for 15 minutes.
- Remove meat from sauce and shred. Return to pot.
- Serve over polenta, mashed potatoes or noodles.
