Excellent pot roast in an hour and a half? Burn the witch!
I never really liked pot roast. Even though people said it took a tough cut of meat and made it tender, it was always stringy and tough to me. I liked the vegetables and gravy, but the meat left something to be desired. Until I tried it this way. The big secret is to not cook the meat to death. We like it to the point where it is tender, but sliceable.
Use this recipe is a guideline. I played with it until I found a balance we like, but make it your own. Add more or less vegetables. Try a different cut of meat if you like. Try different times. A splash of soy sauce, portabella mushrooms, whatever. We found that a full pouch of onion soup mix made it too…onion-y. Half a pack seasoned it perfect for our taste.
3 lbs chuck roast
4 Tblsp olive oil (divided use)
2 cups beef broth
1/2 packet of dry onion soup mix
1 onion, coarse chopped
1 lbs potatoes (in about bite sized chunks)
1 cup baby carrots, or 2 whole carrots cut into bite sized chunks
Salt and pepper
1 T cornstarch, potato starch, arrowroot or some kind of thickener.
1 T water
Equipment
Gallon size ziplock bag
Instapot
Cutting board
Chef’s knife
Tongs
Cut chuck roast into two pieces along the fat seam in the middle. Season well with kosher salt and pepper. Set aside to let the seasonings sink in a bit.
Turn on the Sauté function of the Instapot. (You can heat a skillet if that is your thing.)
Add 2 T of the olive oil and let it get hot.
One at a time, sear all sides of the chuck roast sections until deep brown. Around 10 minutes total. While meat is searing. Put the vegetables, onion soup mix, and remaining 2 T of oil into the zip lock bag. Seal and toss around a bit until the vegetables are well coated.
Once the meat is seared, add both pieces of beef to the pot, probably stacked on each other. Add the vegetables and the 2 cups of beef broth. Let it come up to a boil and then seal the Instapot.
Turn off the Sear function and hit Manual, set timer for 60 minutes. We have found this usually cooks the meat to the tenderness we like, but go more or less for your taste.
After the time is up, use natural release for venting then remove the lid. Take out the vegetables and place in large shallow serving dish. Move the meat to a cutting board.
Set Instapot to Sauté function.
Skim off the fat from the top of the gravy. Mix the thickener and water together to make a slurry. Stir into the boiling liquid and stir until thickened to your taste.
Carve meat and serve with vegetables and gravy.
I think this would be excellent with Yorkshire Pudding
