Italian Beef - Crockpot or Instant Pot {VIDEO} --The Recipe Rebel (2024)

FAQs

Is a crockpot or an Instant Pot better for a pot roast? ›

They're more reliable with a range of slow-cooker recipes than an Instant Pot. We found Instant Pot multicookers specifically could not successfully slow-cook dense, high-volume recipes such as beef stew or pot roast.

Why is my pot roast still tough? It's because you haven't let the collagen break down. Extend the cook time, make sure there's enough liquid and keep an eye on the dish.

If you find that it's still tough after cooking, you'll need to cook it for another 10 to 20 minutes at high pressure – it just needs a bit longer to continue to brine and break down the connective tissue.

Italian Beef is chuck roast (the cut of meat used for pot roast) that is slowly cooked with savory Italian spices until it is soft and tender and easily shredded with a fork. To create the iconic sandwich, soft hoagie rolls are filled with this shredded meat, and then topped with sliced provolone and pickled peppers.

Slow cookers cook food at a lower heat for a longer period of time, whereas Instant Pots have multiple cooking functions, including ones for rice and grains, sauté, and pressure cooking, which is used to cook food at a higher heat for a shorter period of time.

Traditionally cheaper cuts of meat always slow cook better. Slow cooking breaks down the connective collagen in meat, which turns into unctuous gelatine. This creates that soft and tender mouth feel we all crave.

“If you're cooking meat, you'll know it's done when it is fork-tender, meaning you can cut into it easily with just a fork,” she says. When meat is overcooked, it will be “tough and dry,” while overcooked vegetables will be mushy.

Collagen makes meat tough when cooked quickly, but when slow-cooked, it breaks down into gelatin, giving you that juicy, tender mouthfeel. Fattier — and cheaper — cuts of beef can also be good for slow cooking, because the fat helps to ensure the beef won't dry out while adding extra flavour.

While slow cooker recipes are designed to cook for extended periods of time, they can still become overcooked if left on the wrong setting for too long. In general, it's best to stick to the indicated cook time on the recipe you're following.

Unfortunately, once you overcook a piece of meat in the pressure cooker, there's no going back. You'll be left with a pile of dry, crunchy, tasteless fibers and no amount of additional pressure cooking is going to put that moisture back into the meat.

How long does it take to cook 2 pounds of beef in the Instant Pot? ›

For example, cook a 2-pound pot roast at high pressure for 40 minutes and a 3-pound pot roast for 60 minutes. Frozen beef: I highly recommend thawing your beef for this recipe, since you cannot sear the frozen beef. If you must use frozen beef, assume 30 minutes per pound.

All Cuts of Meat Can Become More Tender in a Pressure Cooker

As you'll know, starting with great ingredients is a must, but how you treat them in the cooking process is also of paramount importance.

That might sound like a pretty standard roast beef to you, but there's one key differentiator that plays an indispensable role in making the Italian beef what it is: juice. Specifically, the juice (or gravy) that accumulates when the fatty content of that sirloin tip or top round melts away during the roasting process.

Dry - The beef is pulled from the juice with tongs, most of the juice is allowed to drip off, and it is put into a roll. No juice is added, and the sandwich is about as dry as it can get. Wet - The beef is pulled from the juice and immediately put into a roll, leaving the beef “wet”.

What Is the Best Meat for Pot Roast? The best meat for pot roast is a beef cut with abundant connective tissue, like chuck roast, beef brisket or bottom round roast. This connective tissue called collagen is what makes pot roast melt-in-your-mouth tender.

This completely depends on the type of meat you are planning on cooking. Because slow cookers take longer to cook, they are better suited to breaking down fat in meat while adding moisture. So if you are planning on cooking a whole rump beef, then a slow cooker is a better choice.

Yes, pot roast absolutely becomes more tender the longer it cooks.

The Instant Pot is a fantastic tool because it cooks even frozen meats to tender perfection. Pressure cooking beef stew is much faster than cooking beef stew in the slow cooker. Also, to get the beef, potatoes and carrots really tender, you have to cook it longer in the slow cooker.