Onion Dip Pot Roast in the Instant Pot

Thoughts about the Instant Pot

The Instant Pot is an absolutely great pressure cooker and a pretty good slow cooker. It's OK for a quick sauté, like onions or mushrooms, but it's terrible for searing meat because the uncoated stainless steel inner pot is difficult to clean, the bottom isn't flat, and hot oil spatters everywhere.

The only reasonable way to thicken gravy in an Instant Pot is with cornstarch, and cornstarch-thickened sauces congeal in the fridge, so leftovers are problematic.

NB: "Barkeepers Friend," which you find in the powdered cleansers area of the grocery, is the right tool for the job of keeping that inner pot shiny.

"Onion Dip" Pot Roast

You can find all sorts of complicated rubs and seasonings for pot roast, or you can use a packet of dry onion soup mix... the same thing you'd use for onion dip at a party. There's about 15 minutes of prep time before cooking, 65 minutes of cooking time, and 10 more minutes after.

Assemble:

• Boneless chuck roast, size suitable for the number of people you want to feed.
• A packet of dry onion soup mix
• 1 cup beef broth or stock
• 1/2 cup water
• Butter and flour

Cut the roast into two or three chunks and sear on all sides with a little vegetable oil in a cast iron skillet with a spatter shield. When done, pour off any excess oil and at least mostly clean and dry the skillet. Put 3 TB butter into the warm skillet. Set the skillet aside.

While that's going on, spray the bottom of the Instant Pot inner pot with cooking spray. Dissolve the soup mix in a mixture of one cup beef broth and a half cup of water. Break up and stir in the lumps.

Put the liquid in the Instant Pot, add the seared beef, and cook on Manual, High Pressure, for 55 minutes. (It'll take an additional ten minutes or so to come up to pressure.)

Quick-release the steam. While the steam is releasing, melt the butter over medium heat, add 3 TB flour and cook, stirring with a whisk, until you have a roux blonde. Put the meat in a bowl or on a cutting board and add the liquid from the Instant Pot to the roux, a little at a time, stirring constantly to make a smooth, velvety gravy.

Serve with a salad, crusty French bread, and Harvard beets.

Last updated: 2021-04-11 19:55
Orignially posted: 2021-03-26