Instant Pot Roast Beef Sandwiches

Instant Pot Roast Beef Sandwiches make an easy, budget-friendly, delicious weeknight meal. Similar to Mississippi Pot Roast Sandwiches, but far healthier!

It already feels like Fall in the mornings and evenings. Parents are gearing up for school to start—whatever that looks like this year. 

With that in mind, I wanted to post an incredibly easy Instant Pot meal that is always a hit with the kids.

Want a perfect side dish to this? Check out my Smoked Baked Beans recipe. They come out amazing and no fancy smoker required.

Inspiration for Instant Pot Roast Beef Sandwiches: Mississippi Pot Roast

Mississippi Pot Roast falls under the classification of "dump meal." Doesn't that sound delicious?

You take a few ingredients and "dump" them into a slow-cooker or Instant Pot.

The only problem with that approach is that two of the "ingredients" are a package of ranch dressing mix and a package of au jus gravy mix.

This is the approach that I try to avoid at Flipped-Out Food. 

Sure, the end result is tasty and zippy, but you've likely consumed far more sodium than you should, not to mention highly processed ingredients.

Instead, I add a few more ingredients and fresh herbs to amp up the flavor.

Ingredients in Instant Pot Pot Roast Sandwiches

Seasonings

I use chopped, fresh rosemary and a dried Italian seasoning mix. Plus the regular salt and pepper.

Meat

I always get good results with chuck roast.

I use a 3–3.5 lb roast, which gives me enough for 4-6 sandwiches. This depends on how much meat we load up.

The "juice"

I use a mix of beef stock or broth, seasoned rice vinegar, and Maggi seasoning sauce. 

Other flavor-building strategies

Browning the meat well on both sides introduces a ton of flavor right at the beginning.

I also add a smear of tomato paste and a whole onion.

After the meat has slow-cooked for 8 hours, I add the pepperoncino peppers.

Adding them at the beginning results in mushy peppers—not my cup of tea.

The buns

Since this is a juicier sandwich (I even like to dip it in the "jus"), I recommend not using a really soft bread.

Crusty buns like kaiser rolls are great for these sandwiches. You could also use chewy hoagie rolls.

Cheese

I love a good provolone on these sandwiches. You can see how nicely it melts under the hot roast beef at the top left of the sandwich below:

How to make Instant Pot Roast Beef Sandwiches

First, dry the chuck roast well and season with salt and pepper.

Set the Instant Pot to high saute and add vegetable oil. Brown the meat well on both sides.

Next, add the broth, Maggi seasoning sauce, and seasoned rice vinegar.

Smear tomato paste over the top of the roast. Sprinkle with rosemary (add the stem too!) and top with onion slices.

Lid the Instant Pot and set to slow-cook for 8 hours (lowest setting).

After 8 hours, remove the solids with a skimmer. Discard the rosemary stem.

Remove the fat from the roast and discard. Pull and chop the roast. Reserve the onions for serving, if you'd like.

Meanwhile, cancel the slow-cook function and press "Saute": set to high until the liquid comes to a simmer. (You can degrease the liquid if you like).

Add the drained pepperoncini peppers (you can stem and seed them), along with your favorite Italian seasoning mix.

When the liquid reaches a simmer, reduce the saute to medium (use the +/- buttons to adjust the temperature).

Add the meat back to the pot and simmer 10 minutes.

Finally, assemble sandwiches and serve.

These "Mississippi Pot Roast" sandwiches are also great for parties.

Simply double the recipe to feed a few more people (note that if you have multiple roasts, you'll likely have to brown them separately).

Can I use a slow-cooker to make roast beef sandwiches?

Absolutely! The only extra advantage of using an Instant Pot is that you can saute the meat in the same vessel that you use for the slow-cook. 

To adapt this recipe for a standard slow-cooker, simply do the meat-browning step on the stovetop in a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven.

Transfer the meat to the insert of your slow-cooker, then deglaze the pot with your beef broth.

Scrape up any brown bits with a wooden spoon, and pour over the roast.

Then, proceed with the standard recipe.

That's it! I hope this easy weeknight meal is a hit with your family. If you're looking for more easy weeknight inspiration, why not check out my posts on Mastering Easy One-Pot Meal Recipes and Easy Pantry Meals – Living Out of Your Pantry (and refrigerator and freezer)?

Stay safe. Stay well.

—xoxo Michelle

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