Pot Roasts and Podcasts

On our Inspiration Rolls portion of the podcast, we like to talk about bread and other meals we’ve made because we consider it a fun time. So, in continuation of the buildup to the 2nd to last episode of Inspiration Rolls for the year, here’s another recipe we made this week:

Instant Pot Pot Roast w/ Mashed Root Vegetables

Java hanging out on the kitchen counter as she supervises the dishes

Since I don’t have a picture of the pot roast, here’s a picture of one of my cats to tide you over. We call her the Household Supervisor because she must know what we are doing at all times. Especially when we are making food in the kitchen.

• Serves: 6 servings minimum

• Ingredients
  • 2lb Roast (we used Round, but Chuck is good too)
  • Olive Oil
  • 2 Carrots, peeled and chopped
  • Half a bag of Little Potato Company Baby Red Potatoes
  • 1 small Yellow Onion, diced
  • 1/2 to 1 TB Horseradish
  • 2tsp Onion Powder
  • 1tsp Dried Parsley Flakes
  • 1/2tsp Black Pepper
  • 1/4tsp Paprika
  • 2tsp Better than Bouillon Beef
  • 1 2/3C Water
  • 1/3C Red Wine (we used Pinetti, but choose whatever flavor of red wine you like for cooking)*
  • Salt & Pepper
  • Milk
  • Unsalted Butter
  • Water + Cornstarch Slurry

1. Peel and chop up the carrots. Large-ish chunks are best. You can cut the small potatoes in half if you like, but it’s not required. Set aside.
2. Dice up the onion and set aside.
3. Turn the instant pot on to sauté/sear. Drizzle in some olive oil and let it heat up.
4. Salt the roast on both sides, then place in the heated instant pot to brown on both sides.
5. Take out the roast. Add a little more oil and then sear up the onions.
6. Add in the water, the better than bouillon beef, and the wine. Scrape up the bottom to get the rest of the good bits the browned roast left behind.
7. Place the roast back in the pot. Cover the top of the roast with the horseradish, the onion powder, the parsley flakes, the black pepper, and the paprika.
8. Nestle the potatoes and carrots around the roast.
9. Turn off the sear/saute mode. Put the instant pot lid on. Turn on the pressure cook to high. Set timer for 60 minutes**.
10. Once the timer goes off, let it naturally release for about 20 minutes, then do a quick release and take the lid off. The roast should be fork tender and come apart easily. Turn the instant pot off.
11. Put the roast on a plate and shred into large chunks.
12. Put the potatoes and carrots in a mixing bowl. Then mash it with a potato masher to get the consistency you want. Add whatever amount of milk, unsalted butter, and salt you want to the mixture and stir until combined.
13. Strain the liquid into a bowl to get rid of the onions***, then put the liquid back into the instant pot and turn on the sear/sauté mode again.
14. Add a little of the warm liquid to some water and a little cornstarch to create a slurry in a small glass, then dump that into the leftover sauce to make a gravy. It should thicken up quickly! Turn the instant pot back off and serve!
15. Two Serving Options:
    1. Dump the pot roast back into the gravy and just scoop and serve that way with the mashed vegetables.
    2. Serve the pot roast and mashed vegetables without the gravy and let everyone drizzle as much gravy as they want over their food.

Note*: You are welcome to skip using wine and just use 2 cups total of water.

Note**: As with all appliances, timing varies. Ours hits the sweet spot for roasts (regardless of type) around the 60 minute mark followed by a natural release + a quick release. If you know what works for your instant pot, go with that time!

Note***: We really just wanted the onion flavor without keeping the onion pieces. But if you want to add them to the pot roast as an extra vegetable to eat, feel free!

Hope you enjoy! Feel free to comment below if you have questions and let me know how it turned out if you made it!

Our second-to-last Inspiration Rolls releases this week on Thursday! Check us out on Libsyn, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts. Or just click on the Fudging Rolls page of my blog.