Quick Pot Roast Recipe | Super Simple Slow Cooker or Instant Pot Dinner - the KS Daily Byte (2024)

There’s something for everyone in this pot roast recipe! Pick one of four flavor variations to try this week and then come back for another round later.

My mother-in-law says that the best pears are the slightly brown, bruised, so-ripe-they’re-almost-overripe, and her litmus test of perfection is whether the pear juice runs all the way down to your elbows when you eat it, such that you must stand over the kitchen sink to reach the core.

I feel the same way about a roast in the Instant Pot or slow cooker.

RELATED: 10 techniques to get the most out of your Instant Pot

That beef roast better be falling apart, not even requiring a knife, so juicy you’re reminded of pear juice to the elbows.

With a fall-apart roast, you can make sliders, enchiladas, burrito bowls, or classic roast and potatoes.

On the other hand, many folks love the kind of roast you slice into roast beef, which looks a lot fancier on the table and is perfect cold in sandwiches. I’m always nervous that I’ll overcook that sort of roast, so I’m more hesitant (and rely 100% on a good recipe and my trusty meat thermometer).

That kind of roast is more like an artisan loaf of bread, thickly sliced to perfection, crusty on the outside but steaming and soft on the inside.

With a beef shoulder roast, you get the best of both worlds.

Your juicy pears or your crusty bread, depending on how long you cook it.

If you want a flexible recipe that allows you to choose not only the texture but the flavor of the roast, this framework “dump roast” is your new best friend.

Take a beef shoulder roast, dump in some other ingredients to create one of four different flavor profiles, and cook it either in the Instant Pot or slow cooker. You could have a month of weekly roasts and never need to look up a new recipe!

What is a Beef Shoulder Roast?

The shoulder of the cow is fairly hearty since the animal uses the joint a lot and builds muscle there. Both shoulder roasts (sometimes called arm roasts) and chuck roasts come from the shoulder.

Beef shoulder roasts are less fatty and more tender than a chuck roast and can even go on the grill like a steak, but can also be shredded if cooked long enough.

Chuck roasts are tougher and 100% require a long, slow cook or an extended blasting from the pressure cooker. They’re often seen in stew or pot roast recipes.

Any meat from the shoulder or chuck area of the cow needs a moist, longer cook time to avoid being tough. They’re great for the budget compared to other roasts and steaks!

How to Cook a Beef Shoulder Roast

Traditionally, a shoulder roast would have been braised in liquid in the oven (or in a pot) for quite a few hours, but I prefer modern appliances to make everything even more foolproof.

Pot Roast Recipe in the Instant Pot

In an Instant Pot, you’ll need at least a cup of liquid and cook on HIGH pressure for 25 minutes per pound.

To get sliced roast beef, open up the Instant Pot and check the temp with a meat thermometer. If it’s at 145F, you can remove the roast and set it on a platter, tent it with foil or an inverted pot, and let it rest for about 5 minutes.

If the temp isn’t high enough, return to pressure for 5-10 more minutes.

To make a shredded beef roast for sliders or wraps, go with 30 minutes at pressure per pound and a natural pressure release. With a shoulder roast, you miiiiight not get it to fall apart with only forks, but you should be able to remove, slice with a sharp knife, and return to the juices for 10 minutes to finish getting all shred-y and juicy like you want it.

Pot Roast Recipe in the Slow Cooker

Cook that shoulder roast all day long, 8-10 hours on low temp, until it really is falling apart tender. In a slow cooker, I don’t recommend trying for sliced roast beef. Go shredded all the way, and the longer you can cook it, the better. This also should work at about 5 hours on high.

Recipes for Beef Shoulder Roasts Four Ways

In what I call a “framework” recipe, you’ll see how you can combine different fats, liquids, herbs and spices, vegetables, and acid to take a basic format and create many flavor combinations.

We’ll take that shoulder roast and make it into four meals:

1. A basic pot roast style meal that I’ll call “Dutch” in honor of the many Dutch here in West Michigan who like simple, inexpensive food without much seasoning beyond salt and pepper (and not too much of that, thankyouverymuch)
2. An Italian-inspired dish perfect with a glass of red wine and an optional side of pasta and crusty bread to soak up the tomatoey sauce. You can see the Italian recipe variation written out here.
3. A totally different Mexican seasoned roast that can become a burrito bowl with rice, beans, and fixings, soft tacos, or a cold taco salad the next day
4. And finally, one that I hope Julia Child would approve of, a French-inspired flavor combo with plenty of butter, mushrooms, and red wine

Using your trusty Instant Pot OR slow cooker, you can choose your flavor, choose your texture, learn one method, and have meals planned for Sunday dinners for a month.

You can use the same flavor match-ups for other roasts, such as a chuck roast, bottom round roast, or eye of round roast, as long as you look up a tested recipe for the amount of time it needs to cook.

Now you too can have a juicy, melt-in-your-mouth run-down-to-your-elbows-like-a-pear beef should roast, no matter what flavor suits your family!

I wrote this recipe in conjunction with a guest post for US Wellness Meats.Try out the other recipes I’ve done for them:

• Johns’s famous Instant Pot Pork Tenderloin
• Butter Ranch Drumsticks
• Easy Freezer Veggie-Filled Meatballs

Which flavor variation of this pot roast recipe will you try first?

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