This delicious and ridiculously tender shredded beef barely needs a recipe. Totally customizable to different cuisines and literally less than 10 minutes of active work. I was shocked when I discovered just how simple this is to do, it’s become such a staple in our rotation of dishes we love!
My wife generally doesn’t eat leftovers but she insisted that she was taking the rest of this shredded beef for her lunch at work the next day. Talk about a quick, easy, and flavorful dinner on the table in less than an hour with mere minutes of active work. This method delivers the most tender meat that falls apart in your mouth and is packed with beefy flavor.
I’ve always struggled with chuck roasts. Smoking them is great, but takes forever and a lot of attention. Roasting is good but they tend to dry out on me. This pressure cooker method, done in ONE POT (The Instant Pot!) is failproof.
What you need:
- Knife – for slicing the chuck roast into 2in by 2in pieces prior to loading in the Instantpot
- Pressure cooker – instant pot’s are very popular now, and for good reason
- 3-4 pound chuck roast
- Lipton Beefy Onion Soup packet – This adds so much flavor to the meat, definitely don’t leave this out
- 2 cups of liquid – this is best with beef broth, but a 50/50 mixture of beef broth and a Guinness is great too. I prefer to use the Better Than Bouillon paste. Get 2 cups of hot water in a mason jar, add the paste and shake until mixed
- Salt and Pepper – obviously!
Start by adding 2 cups of hot water to a Mason jar, add in the beef paste and shake to combine.
Slice the chuck roast into strips.
Then slice those strips into 2 or 3 pieces each, you’re looking for about 2 inch by 2 inch square cubes. Anything smaller just kind of disintegrates and larger means they won’t cook at the same rate as this recipe calls for and might not shred up easily.
Season the chunks with a generous amount of salt and pepper and add them to the instant pot with the liquid.
When they’re done cooking, scoop the meat into a separate bowl and shred. Add liquid until it reaches your desired consistency, I usually do 2 ladles worth.
ENJOY! I love doing this shredded beef with some form of potatoes like these Smashed Potatoes and an acidic aspect like Pickled Red Onions or Greek Yogurt Lime Sauce.
Instant Pot Shredded Beef
Equipment
- 1 Pressure Cooker/Insta-pot
Ingredients
- 3 pound Chuck roast
- 1 tablespoon Salt and black pepper
- 2 cups Beef stock
- 1 packet Lipton "Beefy Onion" soup mix
- 6-8 cloves Garlic (optional) Peeled and smashed
Instructions
- Cut chuck roast into large pieces about 2-3 inches each
- Pour in the beef stock, soup mix pack and garlic cloves and mix gently
- Cut the chuck roast into strips about 1 inch thick, then cut in half or thirds to end up with chunks about 2 inches on each side
- Season the pieces generously with salt and black pepper and add to the pressure cooker
- Put the lid on the pressure cooker and seal. Set to high pressure for 50 minutes and make sure the top vent is on "pressure"
- When the 50 minutes is done, turn the pressure cooker off and give it about 10 minutes before releasing the pressure FIRST and then opening the lid.
- Remove the beef from the pressure cooker using tongs or a slotted spoon. Shred to your desired consistency. Spoon in several scoops of the cooking liquid to keep it super moist.
- Serve on top of mashed potatoes, over rice, on a sandwich or taco. It's a beautiful blank canvas for additional flavor profiles (Mexican, Italian, Asian) but just as delicious as it is "plain" if you will.