Delicious Instant Pot bbq beef roast comes out rich in flavor and fork tender in the pressure cooker. Coated with a tangy barbecue sauce makes this shredded beef recipe perfect for sandwiches.
This delicious meal is a great recipe for busy nights and is very versatile. Serve as sandwiches topped with coleslaw with potato salad or French fries on the side. Turn this tender beef recipe into tacos and add your favorite topping or serve over rice or mashed potatoes.
You can't go wrong with tender meat that is shredded and coated with a tangy bbq sauce.
How To Make Barbecue Shredded Beef
This easy recipe is made in the pressure cooker at a fraction of the time it would take in the crockpot or oven. This Instant Pot recipe is the best way to make this shredded beef recipe for busy weeknights for a quick dinner idea.
To get tender shreddable beef I have found the best cut of meat is a chuck roast. Chuck roasts can be kind of fatty but this type of roast will also bring a lot of flavor to the bbq beef. Trimming the roast of the extra fat is also an option or changing the meat out to beef brisket.
Seasoning both sides of the chuck roast will bring in lots of flavors as well as searing both sides. To sear the roast simply press the sauté button on the Instant Pot. When the screen to the pressure cooker reads HOT add the roast in. Searing two minutes on each side to get a nice crust.
The inner pot should be deglazed after the meat has been seared and the onions have been cooked. This will help from getting that dreaded burn notice. Take a bit of the beef broth or water and add to the bottom of the pot while the sauté button is still on. As the liquid steams, it will help to loosen the bits stuck at the bottom.
With the roast, onions, and beef broth added to the Instant Pot place the lid on. Turn the steam release knob to the selling position and push the plus or minus buttons to adjust the cooking time to 60 minutes. Press the pressure cooking button making sure it's set to high pressure.
Once the cooking time is up let the electric pressure cooker do a natural pressure release until the floating valve pin drops. Turn the steam release valve to the venting position to release any remaining pressure. Doing a natural release will help keep the roast moist.
How To Serve
Once the beef roast has fully cooked in the Instant Pot I like to place it in a large bowl to shred it. Since I was using this shredded beef for sandwiches I like to mix in barbecue sauce. Barbecue sauce is one of the ways to change up the flavor. There are all sorts of bbq sauce brands as well as flavors. Or you could make a simple homemade bbq sauce
This Instant Pot bbq beef is also versatile when it comes to how to serve it. You can add it to sliders with swiss cheese or make sandwiches with coleslaw on top. Serve with French fries or macaroni salad as a delicious lunch idea. For an easy dinner, you could serve it over rice or mashed potatoes.
Questions And Tips
We like to answer questions and share any tips that we can think of to make our recipes easy to make. Here are some common questions for this recipe.
I like to keep the seasonings for this recipe simple. So I use seasoning salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and black pepper. Chili powder would be a way to change up the spice aspect of this recipe. But any dry spice rub would work to bring in lots of flavors.
I used olive oil to sear with since it has a lower smoke point than vegetable oil.
Place the leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
Yes, the shredded beef can be frozen. I wouldn't freeze it without the bbq sauce though.
You could use the leftover beef for shredded tacos or in chili.
Now here are some tips to help make this recipe even easier. To bring in more flavor to the chuck roast I have a few tips that will help. The first would be making sure to season and sear the meat. Searing the roast will help to lock in the flavor of the seasonings.
The beef broth will also add more flavor to the roast as it cooks. If you don't have beef broth use water with dissolved beef bouillon. I like to use the Better Than brand, they have so many flavors to choose from. Not to mention since it's a paste it dissolves so much easier. Adding a splash of Worcestershire sauce to whatever cooking liquid you are using will bring in more flavor.
I feel that deglazing is a must when doing any type of sautéing in the Instant Pot. Using a bit of broth or water will help to break up any bits stuck on the bottom of the inner pot.
The best cut of meat to use for these Instant Pot barbecue beef sandwiches would be a chuck roast. However, a beef brisket will also work.
Other Instant Pot recipes you may enjoy:
Instant Pot BBQ Beef
Instant Pot bbq beef is an easy recipe to make for busy weeknights. Barbecue shredded beef is a versatile recipe that can be served as sandwiches or over mashed potatoes.
Ingredients
- 3-4 Pound Chuck Roast
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1 Teaspoon Seasoning Salt
- 1 Teaspoon Onion Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Black Pepper
- 1 Medium Onion sliced thin
- 1 Cup Beef Broth
- 2 Cups BBQ Sauce
Instructions
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Season both sides of the chuck roast with seasonings.
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Press the sauté button on Instant Pot when the screen reads hot add the olive oil into inner pot. When oil is warm place the chuck roast in and cook for 2 minutes on each side. Remove meat from inner pot and place on a plate.
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Sauté the onions for a minute with remaining olive oil until translucent. Add a bit more olive oil if needed.
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Deglaze the inner pot with a bit of the beef broth and scrape with a spatula. Make sure to get all bits off of the bottom of the inner pot.
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Turn the sauté button off and place the meat back into the inner pot. Add in the rest of the beef broth.
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Place lid on Instant Pot and set for 60 minutes on high pressure. Smaller roasts may need less time.
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Once cooking time is done let Instant Pot do a natural release. This may take 15-20 minutes.
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Remove the roast from the inner pot and place it into a medium bowl then shred the meat. If the meat isn't shreddable place it back into Instant Pot and cook for 10 to 15 minutes more.
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Once the chuck roast is shredded add in your favorite bbq sauce and serve on a sandwhich bun.
Recipe Notes
The nutrition value is only for the shredded beef.
Nutritional information on this website is provided as a courtesy and for your convenience only. In addition to the USDA Food Composition Database, other online calculators are used to gather nutrition data.
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