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This Instant Pot pork roast is deliciously tender, moist, and savory, with perfectly cooked veggies like potatoes and carrots, all smothered in a rich gravy. Thanks to the Instant Pot, you can cook a pot roast dinner faster than ever, right in one pot, and there’s just so much flavor!
Before You Get Started
- If your pork shoulder roast came wrapped in a netting, be sure to remove that before starting this recipe.
- Use a pork shoulder roast rather than a pork loin roast. The shoulder gives you a juicier, more tender meat. Since the loin roast is leaner, you run the risk of overcooking it in the Instant Pot, making it tough and unpleasant.
- Cooking more (or less) than 2 pounds of pork roast? Adjust your cook time accordingly! In general, you want to cook the pork roast on Manual High Pressure for 15 minutes per 1 pound.
How to Make This Recipe
See recipe card below for full list of measurements, ingredients, and instructions.
Sear the pork Roast
After seasoning the pork roast, use the Sauté function on your Instant Pot to melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Once the butter’s melted (but not so hot that it’s bubbling!) place the seasoned pork roast in the Instant Pot and sear the roast for 3-5 minutes, just until it’s nicely golden-brown. When you reach that point, flip the pork roast over and sear the other side, again just until it’s nicely golden. Remove the seared pork roast from the Instant Pot and set it aside on a cutting board or plate.
Sauté the aromatics
You should have plenty of liquid left in the bottom of the Instant Pot to sear the onions and garlic, but if you don’t, toss in another tablespoon or 2 of butter. Once it’s melted, add the onions and garlic, give them a good stir, then sauté them for 5 minutes or so, until the onions are soft and translucent.
Deglaze the pot
Pour dry white wine into the Instant Pot and deglaze the insert, scraping the bottom of the insert really well with a silicone spatula or a large wooden spoon. You want to loosen up any bits of browned food (pork, onions, or garlic) that may have stuck to the bottom of the pot. Don’t skip this step! Once you’ve deglazed the pot, boil the white wine for 2 minutes.
Cheryl’s Tip: If you don’t deglaze the pot, any bits of food that stuck to the bottom of the insert will cause a burn notice! When that happens, the Instant Pot stops cooking until the notice is resolved.
Pressure cook
Toss the rest of the ingredients into the insert and stir them all together, then add the seared pork roast. Secure the lid on the pressure cooker, making sure the valve is set to the Sealing position, then set the Instant Pot to Manual High Pressure mode and set the cook time to 30 minutes. It’ll take 10 minutes or so for the Instant Pot to pressurize before the cook time begins!
Release the Pressure
When your 30-minute timer goes off, Natural Release the pressure in the Instant Pot for 10 minutes, then immediately Quick Release whatever pressure is left. Transfer the pork roast and the vegetables to a large bowl (or a serving platter) and set them aside to rest.
Cheryl’s Tip: The Natural Release lets the pork rest (and continue cooking slightly) so you’re sure to end up with a juicy, tender Instant Pot pork roast. If you release the pressure too quickly, the texture won’t be exactly right.
Make the Gravy
Whisk together cornstarch and cold water to make a smooth cornstarch slurry, then stir the slurry into the gravy left in the Instant Pot insert. Switch the Instant Pot back to Sauté mode and simmer the gravy until it’s thick.
Serve and enjoy
Return the potatoes, carrots, and pork roast to the Instant Pot and smother them with gravy before serving, or arrange them on a platter and serve the gravy on the side. Whichever you prefer!
What I Love About This Recipe
- Instant Pot pork roast is a super easy, super delicious dinner that doesn’t take long to cook and is mostly hands-off. Perfect for busy evenings!
- You won’t have to debate which sides go best with this recipe. This one pot meal covers all the bases – protein, veggies, even a sauce! If you want to pair something green with your dinner, I highly recommend these Sautéed Green Beans or Air Fryer Asparagus.
- Everything in this pressure cooker pot roast recipe comes out perfectly cooked. The pork is juicy and tender. The carrots and potatoes are soft but still firm. And the gravy? It’s thick, rich, and full of flavor. This is one meal everyone will love!
Recipe Variations
- Brown Sugar Alternatives: Coconut sugar and Brown Swerve would each be fine substitutions for the brown sugar in the pork rub.
- Chicken Broth Alternatives: Vegetable broth and beef broth are both solid options, and you can even use water if you’re in a pinch. For a richer broth with lots of extra nutrients, use bone broth instead!
- Make it Alcohol Free: Easy peasy – just swap out the dry white wine with additional broth!
- Make it Paleo: Replace the butter with ghee. Use coconut sugar instead of brown sugar, and use arrowroot powder or tapioca starch instead of cornstarch.
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions or variations listed are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
Instant Pot Pork Roast with Carrots, Potatoes, and Gravy
Equipment
- 2 small bowls
- Spoon
- Cutting board
- 6-quart Instant Pot or similar pressure cooker
- Tongs
- Large wooden spoon
- Large bowl
- Slotted spoon
- whisk
Ingredients
For the Pork Roast
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons onion powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt more or less to taste
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper more or less to taste
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar see Notes
- 1 2-pound boneless pork shoulder roast
For the Gravy and Vegetables
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter plus more if needed
- 4 tablespoons minced fresh garlic approximately 4 large cloves
- ½ cup chopped white onion approximately 1 small onion
- ½ cup dry white wine or chicken broth
- 1 cup chicken broth see Notes
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary
- 2 large carrots chopped into 1.5-inch-thick chunks
- 1 pound whole petite potatoes
- 1 ½ teaspoons Dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons cold water
Instructions
- Add 2 teaspoons garlic powder, 1 ½ teaspoons onion powder, 1 ½ teaspoons salt, ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, and 1 tablespoon brown sugar to small mixing bowl. Mix ingredients together until well blended.
- Place 1 2-pound boneless pork shoulder roast on cutting board. Sprinkle half of spice mixture evenly over top of pork shoulder, then rub spices into meat. Flip pork roast over and repeat on other side, covering pork roast evenly and thoroughly with spice blend. Set pork roast aside.
- Set Instant Pot to Sauté mode. Add 2 tablespoons unsalted butter to Instant Pot insert and let butter melt completely.
- Once butter has melted, place pork roast in Instant Pot. Sear pork roast 3 minutes or until golden brown on bottom, then flip pork roast over and repeat. When pork roast is seared on both sides, transfer roast to cleaned cutting board and set aside.
- If little or no liquid remains in bottom of insert, add 1 to 2 tablespoons butter to Instant Pot and let butter melt completely. Once melted, add 4 tablespoons minced fresh garlic and ½ cup chopped white onion to Instant Pot. Stir to incorporate, then sauté aromatics, stirring occasionally, approximately 5 minutes or until onions have softened.
- Once onions have softened, add ½ cup dry white wine (or ½ cup chicken broth) to Instant Pot. Stir to incorporate wine, scraping bottom of pot to dislodge any browned bits of pork, garlic, or onions that may have stuck to insert.
- Bring wine to boil, then boil wine 2 minutes.
- After 2 minutes, add 1 cup chicken broth, 1 sprig fresh rosemary, 2 large carrots, 1 pound whole petite potatoes, 1 ½ teaspoons Dijon mustard, and ½ teaspoon dried thyme to Instant Pot. Stir until ingredients are fully incorporated.
- Return seared pork roast to Instant Pot and nestle pork roast in broth mixture. Pork roast does not need to be fully submerged.
- Secure lid on Instant Pot with and lock lid with valve in Sealing position. Set Instant Pot to Manual High Pressure mode, then set cook time to 30 minutes. Instant Pot will pressurize and then 30-minute cook time will begin.
- When 30-minute cook time ends, Natural Release pressure for 10 minutes.
- When 10-minute Natural Release ends, immediately and carefully Quick Release any remaining pressure, then remove lid and set aside.
- Use tongs to carefully transfer pork shoulder to large bowl, then use slotted spoon to transfer potatoes and carrots to same bowl. Set aside.
- Add 2 tablespoons cornstarch and 2 tablespoons cold water to small mixing bowl. Whisk ingredients together vigorously until fully combined, forming smooth cornstarch slurry.
- Set Instant Pot to Sauté mode and add prepared cornstarch slurry to insert. Stir slurry into gravy until incorporated, then simmer gravy 3 to 5 minutes or until thickened.
- Optional: Let pork roast rest 5 minutes, then chop, shred, or slice pork roast before returning roast to Instant Pot.
- Once gravy has thickened, turn Instant Pot off. Return vegetables and pork roast to Instant Pot. Spoon gravy over pork roast, then serve warm. Alternately, arrange roast and vegetables on serving platter. Spoon gravy over top of roast or transfer gravy to serving container. Serve warm.
- Dry White Wine: Sauvignon blanc and pinot grigio are both good options, just make sure to choose one that doesn’t taste overly fruity.
- Cook Time: Cook on Manual High Pressure for 15 minutes per pound of pork roast. If you use more or less than 2 pounds of pork, be sure to adjust the cook time accordingly.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
Did You Make This Recipe?
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Unbelievably delicious! This is going into my monthly rotation. Thank you for the recipe!
The only complaint I have is that the carrots turned out mushy. I will cut them a little larger next time so they take longer to cook.
So glad you enjoyed the meal! Cutting the carrots larger will definitely help. Thanks for sharing, Carolina 😊
Made a 3# Pork Roast for dinner tonight. Thankyou so much for the recipe.We loved the taste and it cook perfect in 45 minutes. The gravey was even excellent.
So glad you loved the pork roast! Thanks for sharing, Linda 😊
I used a packet of ranch dressing mix with the other herbs and brown sugar and the whole family loved this meal.
Yum, that sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing, Karen!
Delicious! Incredible and tasty
So happy to hear that, Hector! Thanks so much for the review!
Next time I’ll leave the rub off the meat and just use salt when I brown it because the rub burned long before the meat was browned. I recommend using a fat separator on the juices because my gravy was a bit greasy. Still, it tasted very good. I added an extra carrot because I had room in the pot and I thought it needed more vegetable, two carrots seemed pretty skimpy – next time I’ll up it to four. I used a 2-3/4 pound roast but I didn’t increase the time because I didn’t want to risk drying it out; it was perfectly cooked in 30+10 and just the right amount for five servings. It satisfied my pot roast craving when I couldn’t afford beef (pork butt is half the price of beef chuck roast).
Sorry to hear you had some trouble with the rub, Mari! Glad you were able to make some adjustments and still enjoyed it though! Thanks for the review!
Delicious!! I even forgot to add the Dijon mustard and it was still wonderful!! I did add some time to the cooking..about 8 minutes and my 2.1 lb roast was cooked it to perfection! My hubby and father in law raved about it. One thing I would recommend is to not add the powdered garlic when browning the roast. Mine started to burn. So I stopped the sauté process. Next time, I wait and sprinkle on the roast after sautéing it. It’s a keeper as my hubby said.
We love when a recipe is a keeper! Thanks for your review, Debbie! Glad you were able to adjust the recipe to make it work for you!
used a 6 lb roast and tripled ingredients. Big hit! No room for the vegs so after the roast was done, dumped in the carrots and potatoes for 5 minutes in the gravy. No leftovers (darn it)
Haha, so sorry about the leftovers, but I’m glad you all enjoyed the roast! Thank you for sharing!!
My family loved the pork roast, will definitely make it again! Thanks
So happy to hear your family enjoyed the roast!! It is one of my favorites. Thanks so much for sharing, Amy!
Excellent flavor, definitely pinned this one. Will be making it again.!
So happy you enjoyed it, Jerry! Thanks for the review and the pin!
Absolutely delicious and well written recipe! Clear cut instructions I left out the sugar as a personal preference but the results were amazing! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe it was delicious!
So glad you enjoyed it!