Mississippi Pot Roast in the Instant Pot

Name: Mississippi Pot Roast in the Instant Pot
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 90 min
Total time: 100 min
Ingredients: 3 lb beef chuck roast; 1 tbsp olive oil; 1 cup beef broth; 3 tbsp pepperoncini juice; 1 onion, cut into chunks; 2 lbs carrots, each cut into 4 large pieces; 1 tbsp dried chives; 1 tsp garlic powder; 1 tsp onion powder; 1/2 tsp dried dill; 1 tsp salt; 8 pepperoncini peppers, whole; 4 tbsp butter

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Mississippi Pot Roast is one of the best comfort foods ever. It's also usually very unhealthy and full of preservatives and other un-natural ingredients in the aus jus packet and the ranch packet. You can feel good about feeding this to your whole family since this recipe uses whole foods and does not use any processed ingredients.

pot roast served into two bowls on baked potatoes — I love to serve these over baked potatoes.

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Equipment
Ingredients and Swaps
Top Tips and Alternative Cooking Methods
FAQ
Recipe
Reviews

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Equipment

All you need is a pressure cooker! If you're wondering what to hear this pot roast with I would recommend my Instant Pot Baked Potatoes. You get start the potatoes while you prep the carrots and onions then switch them over to the oven to crisp up!

Ingredients and Swaps

This recipe is a little different because it is a bunch of swaps in and of itself! So I'm going to tell you what is typically in a Mississippi Pot Roast and what changes I made to make it guilt free (and Whole30, and Paleo, and Keto).

Chuck Roast- This I didn't switch out! But what you could try is a pork shoulder or a whole chicken. Honestly, this combo of ingredients would be good on any meat you want to try. If you can't find chuck roast and want to stick with beef, The Kitchn did a great write up about the best meats for pot roast.
Aus Jus Packet- If you check the back of the packet you'll see a ton of ingredients you won't recognize. Really all we wanted was beef flavor! Get a really high quality beef bone broth. Kettle and Fire Bone Broth is full of nutrients and flavor with none of the identifiable ingredients.
Ranch Dressing Mix- I know we all love Hidden Valley Ranch, but it too is full of preservatives and weird ingredients. Ranch seasonings are probably already in your kitchen and they're so easy to throw together! You need garlic powder, onion powder, dill, and chives to really get the flavor right.
Pepperoncini Peppers- Don't skip out on these. I personally hate them in their jarred form, but they add a really amazing brightness and hit of acid to the dish. I recommend cutting off the stems so it's easy to eat them with the roast. If you're doing a Whole30 make sure that they don't have unapproved preservatives such as Sodium Bisulfite or Metabisulfite.
Butter- An entire stick of butter is in the original recipe, but I am really not sold on it's requirement. If you are wanting to cut calories or fat, leave this out.
Carrots and Onions- The first time I made Mississippi Pot Roast I wanted more to it than meat and potatoes. So I added classic pot roast vegetables. Feels free to skip them altogether or add peas too!

instant pot full of pot roast — pull apart tender

Top Tips and Alternative Cooking Methods

My number one tip for the best Mississippi pot roast recipe which will make it better than all of your friends is to pre-salt the meat. The night before you're going to make this, or even a few hours before, take it out and generously salt over all sides. The salt will get taken in and will season it from within. Game changer, I promise.

My second top tip is to sear the roast. Is this required? No. But a really amazing reaction between the sugars and protein with heat. It gives you golden brown crusts and is why roasted chicken tastes better than boiled. If you're interested, read up about it over at Serious Eats.

Check out these other Instant Pot recipes!

If you don't have a pressure cooker, or you just want to spice up your life then there are two other ways you can make this dish.

First, you can make this in your slow cooker. If you don't want your roast to be too watery, you don't want to add liquid to the Crock Pot. Instead place 1 cup of beef broth over high heat and simmer until reduced to a syrup. Meanwhile, sear the meat in the stove, then place it in the slow cooker. Top with the remaining ingredients (butter on top) and slow cook on low for 8 hours.

Or you can use you Dutch oven for Mississippi Pot Roast. This method is perfect for cold winter nights since your oven will be on most of the day. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. You may want to follow the above directions if you don't want too much liquid too reduce the beef broth. Sear the chuck roast and place in large Dutch oven then top with remaining ingredients. Roast for 8 hours or until meat falls apart.

two bowls of mississippi pot roast served with baked potatoes — top with sprigs of dill for freshness

FAQ

What is the best way to eat leftover pot roast?

If you like to make your leftovers different from the original meal, then it's time to turn these into a sandwich or sliders! Super easy to heat up and throw on a bun.

What if my roast turns out too tough?

To fix it this time, you can put the lid back on and do an additional 10 or so minutes under high pressure (depending on how tough it is). For next time if you are doing a very large roast, cut it up into large hunks of equal size to expedite the tenderization process.

Can I use frozen roast?

Yes! Just make sure that you adjust the cooking time. Start with 90 minutes and see how tender the meat is. You can always put the lid back on to pressure cook it a bit longer.

How do I make the liquid more of a gravy?

If you're looking for more of a gravy consistency, then after pressure cooking set the Instant Pot to simmer. Add a tablespoon or two of Arrowroot powder and mix it will into the liquid. Simmer until thickened.

Mississippi Pot Roast is one of the most shared recipes of the last 10 years for good reason! Give it a try and let me know what you think! I have a feeling you'll like it even better than regular pot roast. If you have any issues, please shoot me an email or comment below. I'm here to help you get these right! Happy eating!

Recipe

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