Yeah, I know I’m behind on trying this one. Truth is I’ve never been a fan of a pressure cooker. I remember my mom and grandma canning green beans in one. The noise and the heat was such a turn off that I think I just tried to ignore this new contraption. Sure, some of them are pretty, some are so advanced they can contact the space station and show you a movie at the same time (just kidding, or at least I haven’t seen that model ) and some are just trying to take the place of a couple of different counter top appliances. In any case, my sweet friend gave me one so I thought I’d try it out. I decided to make something that I make all the time in my crock pot – basic pot roast. This way I can compare taste and process on an even playing field.
This recipe is a mash up of my mom’s recipe and a version that my great grandam made using canned cream of mushroom soup and canned gravy with a powdered soup mix and round steak. I like to use chuck roast for my pot roast and I like just some basic seasonings. For this test I threw in some mushrooms since I had them on hand and my husband likes them. Here’s all that I put in this one:
- 1-1 1/2 lbs. chuck roast
- 1/2 cup sliced onion (yellow, white, whatever you have on hand)
- 1 lb. mushrooms – sliced
- Salt/Pepper/granulated garlic
- Onion mushroom soup seasoning package
- Olive oil
- beef stock (about 2 cups)
To start I washed the pot then ran the InstaPot through the 5 minute pressure test as directed by the manufacturer. Looks like it worked as expected. Do whatever your manufacturer recommends,
Next, I got my roast ready to go – coated bot sides with salt, pepper and some granulated garlic. I started the pot on the “saute” setting and added some olive oil, about 2 tbs. Once the oil was hot, I added the roast. I seared on both sides for about 5 minutes per side, and removed the meat from the pot.
Season 
Not seared to the edge
Pro here: I don’t have to clean up an extra cast iron skillet that I usually use to sear of my roast.
Con: the bottom of the pot seems to be higher in the middle so my roast was not completely flat so it didn’t get much sear towards the edges of the meat.
Moving on. I added the onion and mushrooms to the pot, seasoned with more salt/pepper/granulated garlic and the onion soup packet. (Note: I don’t usually use these prepared seasoning/soups but this is how my granny rolled so I go with it. You can leave it out if you are watching sodium.) Stirred that around a bit and let it cook for about 3-4 minutes. Added the beef stock and put the meat back in with the accumulated juices.
Onions and mushrooms 
Veggies and seasonings 
Add the stock 
Beef back in and ready to go
So far, so good. Another Con here: I have become a huge fan of the crock pot liners and that’s not an option here. Maybe someone will come up with those – hint! hint!
Now I needed to decide how long to cook this thing. I decided to start with the “normal” setting which is supposed to translate to the medium setting on a crock pot. I set the time for 7 1/2 hours, closed the lid and made sure it was set for “venting” on the pressure valve.
After 3 hours I checked the progress. The meat was not tender at all, and I wasn’t happy with the progress on the veggies. Decided to turn up the heat to “high” for another 4 hours.
After 4 more hours, we were making progress, but I still felt like this took much longer than my traditional crock pot. I thickened up my gravy and rolled with it. I did cut up my roast to help push it along and after a total of about 8 1/2 hours I was where I usually am with my regular method for slow cooker dishes. I’ll give the pressure cooker function a try next, maybe with some country pork ribs. 🙂 Enjoy!
Amy’s Kitchen 