I’m actually writing this on Saturday morning to post on Monday, and I’m wishing I’d done it last week because this easy balsamic beef pot roast recipe would be the perfect thing to be making today while winter storm Jonas is raging outside. 💨 ❄️ ⛄️
That being said, since it’s only January I’m sure you’ll have lots of other opportunities to make this recipe during snowstorms or otherwise. I have a feeling that once you’ve tried it you’ll be making this low carb pot roast recipe all the time like I do!
It’s a favorite with the Hungry Dudes (though I serve theirs with regular potatoes and mine with cheesy cauliflower puree) because it’s so tasty – it’s a favorite with me because it’s so easy and reheats well all week.
Everybody wins, and I love it when that happens. 👊
Speaking of winning, guess who’s going to Belize for three weeks??
WE ARE! Woot! ✈️ ☀️ 🌴 🐠 🏊🏼 😎
(Note to would be robbers – don’t waste your time. First of all we’re broke, because: Belize for three weeks. Also we’ll have a housesitter and my cats have violence issues. You’ve been warned.)
We leave on Saturday and are super excited for the trip! We’ll be on the island of Ambergris Caye in the town of San Pedro for most of the trip, with some side trips along the way. I’m bringing my laptop so I can post a weekly update with photos on Friday’s for anyone who is interested – assuming I can drag myself off the beach and reef long enough to spend even 10 minutes on the computer.
I’m not making any promises…
No worries though, I’m scheduling out some recipes to post while I’m gone – but even if I didn’t this easy beef pot roast is so easy and fantastic that you could just make this over and over all month and never miss me at all!
While I’m gone I’ll also be checking in once and awhile on social media – specifically Instagram where I’ll likely post lots of annoyingly sunny tropical photos of beautiful beaches and videos of us snorkeling.
Look away.
I’ll also try to stay on top of the daily Amazon freebie on the IBIH Facebook page, but internet is sketchy on the island from what I hear, so I may miss a few days here and there.
I should probably start packing soon, buuuut I’m the world’s best procrastinator so there’s that.
My to-do list is about 10 miles long, yet all I can think about is ☀️ 🐬 🌅 🍹 🏊🏼 🎣 🌴
I really do need to start chipping away at it though so I’m off to do that….
Soon….
Maybe one more coffee and you tube snorkeling video first….
Meanwhile you should totally make this easy balsamic beef pot roast! It’s my hand’s down favorite pot roast recipe EVAH.
As a side point, I first made this before I purchased my trusty Instant Pot, but now that I have it I make this pot roast in it all the time and it’s so easy and fast! I’ve included instructions on how to make pot roast in the Instant Pot below the regular instructions in the recipe section.
Easy Balsamic Beef Pot Roast
This super easy and delicious low carb beef pot roast recipe can be made on the stove, in the slow cooker, or even in your Instant Pot! Keto, Atkins and Paleo friendly!
- Yield: 10 4 oz servings
- Category: Low Carb Beef Recipe
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- One boneless chuck roast, approximately 3 lbs.
- 1 Tbsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp black ground pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
- 2 cups water
- 1/2 cup onion, chopped
- 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
- Fresh parsley, chopped to garnish
Instructions
- Season the Chuck roast with salt, pepper, and garlic powder on both sides.
- In a large heavy bottomed pan sear both sides of the roast until browned. Deglaze the pan with the balsamic vinegar and cook for one minute.
- Add the water and onion to the pan. Bring to a boil.
- Cover and simmer on low for 3 to 4 hours.
- Carefully remove the meat from the pan to a large bowl. Break carefully into chunks and remove any large pieces of fat or other refuse.
- Whisk the xanthan gum into the broth and add the meat back to the pan.
- Serve over “Better Than Potatoes” Cheesy Cauliflower Purée, garnished with lots of fresh chopped parsley.
To make in the Instant Pot:
- Cut your chuck roast in half so you have two pieces. Season the roast with the salt, pepper, and garlic powder on all sides. Using the saute feature on the instant pot, brown the roast pieces on both sides.
- Add 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar, 1 cup water, and 1/2 cup onion to the meat. Cover and seal, then using the manual button set the timer for 35 minutes. When the timer runs out, release the pressure by moving the lever to the “venting” setting. Once all the pressure is released, uncover the pot.
- Carefully remove the meat from the pan to a large bowl. Break carefully into chunks and remove any large pieces of fat or other refuse.
- Use the saute function to bring the remaining liquid to a boil in the pot, and simmer for 10 minutes to reduce.
- Whisk in the xanthan gum, then add the meat back to the pan and stir gently.
- Turn off the heat and serve hot over cauliflower puree, garnished with lots of fresh chopped parsley.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3/4 cup meat with sauce
- Calories: 393
- Fat: 28g
- Carbohydrates: 3g net
- Protein: 30g
Had a little too much fun and need to drop some pounds? Get started today with my free low carb and keto menu plans to kick start your weight loss in 2016!
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Can I substitute something else for the xanthan gum?
This is a WONDERFUL recipe! the BEST pot roast ever!!! Honestly, my husband and I could have gobbled up the lot in one sitting! Luckily, we showed some restraint and had the rest for lunch the next day!
CAUTION: You are going to want to pick at the leftovers all evening! :)
★★★★★
Thank you so very much for this recipe, Mellissa!!! We’re just coming into the cooler weather in my part of Australia, so this was an absolutely perfect, easy, and DELICIOUS dinner for the family.
I only had a 750g (1.6lbs?) cut of beef, but used the same cooking time (4 hours on high in the slow cooker) and it was melt-in-your-mouth tender ❤️ Served on a bed of cauliflower mash and green beans. Keto never tasted so good haha.
So glad it was a hit Tara!!!
Mellissa!
I LOVE all of your recipes and I’m very excited to give this one a shot since chuck roast is on sale this week at my local grocery store! I’ll be doing it in the crockpot instead of on the stove/instant pot, but I’m sure it will be FANTASTIC! Oh, and I’ll be making DF mashed cauliflower to go with! I’m drooling on my lunch break as I’m thinking about the meal plan for Wednesday! Thanks for being awesome :)
Hi-for the manual pressure in the IP, should I use high or low temp? Thanks!
This was my 3rd InstantPot recipe (meatballs-yum, crack chicken-yum) this pot roast-yuck! Followed directions perfectly. When it was done and I was cutting up the meat I found it smelled like “meat” and VERY tough. I added another 10min thinking this would help. No…. very tough. The edges were good and I cut it in half as recommended but… yuck.
Would NOT recommend. Wasted $18 on a chuck roast and poor animal died for this mess.
:(
I doubt you followed the directions perfectly or like everyone else who tries this recipe you would have gotten excellent results.
I actually triple checked and followed the directions exactly, and mine was quite tough, but I read the comments all the way down and some had said they encountered the same thing, so I’ve just returned to to the pot for another 15 and we’ll see how that works. I did taste before putting it back in and it was a wonderful taste.
I thank you for sharing with us your recipes that you have obviously taken great care to create! AND you’re awesome to list all the various methods of cooking! That’s beyond generous of your time 😃
I have never been able to do a roast in the instant pot. Never turns out
This was very easy and simple stew. After my first success with a recipe from this blog, I bravely jumped onto next one and it just did not come out right. The stew lacked depth and while it was pretty simple – brown meat, deglaze with balsamic and boil for 3 hours, sadly it came out one dimensional
I served it with the cheesy cauliflower puree – that was yummy.
Is it possible to double this in the instapot? 6lbs of meat?
Thanks,
Ryan
1st IP recipe. 1st low carb recipe that turned out well and tasted good. I still haven’t made the plunge however and couldn’t resist putting this over rice. I’ll start my diet tomorrow I always say :)
★★★★★
I think once I play with the cook time, it will be a five star recipe. The flavor is great! It’s a simple recipe and we all loved the taste. Now for cook time, 35 min with QR makes for a much less tender roast. Next time I’ll go 45 min with 15 minute NR… I’m sure that will work well. It’s more inline with every other twist revote I’ve done under pressure.
Thank you!!
★★★★
Gah! I hate autocorrect! “Roast recipe”
I’m going to try your times next time – thanks! I made this recipe for dinner tonight, and the flavor was fabulous but it just wasn’t as tender as I wanted. Thanks again for the suggestion!
★★★★★
Have to agree it wasn’t tender enough with 35min and QR. And I didn’t even quite have a 3lb roast. I will try 45min and 15NR next time. Thanks for the suggestion! That said the recipe itself was good and flavors were delicious. :)
HI Mellissa,
I am new to the LCHF eating, so am just learning. This recipe looks awesome! I have a weird question, that you may not know the answer to, but I thought I’d ask anyway. My husband is not doing LCHF, so if I make this, I need to throw some cut up potatoes into the pot. Do you think just cooking potatoes with the beef and other ingredients will increase the carb count for me? I won’t eat any of the potatoes of course. Thanks for any answer you may have. :)
★★★★★
The potato starch and carbs will definitely leach into the broth giving you a lot of carbs without the satisfaction of actually eating the potatoes – I’d cook them separate and serve the roast over them for your hubby.
Ok, thanks for answering! :)
★★★★★
Roast has been in crock pot 2 hours now. I have just gone to enter the recipe into MFP. Thought I had made a mistake with entering recipe as I find out your macro’s are way off the wall the net carbs are 35g. 35g per 4oz serving is certainly not KETO friendly. This recipe has been a big waste of my time not to say the money I paid for this roast of beef. Off to find another protein and KETO friendly recipe. Will never be back to Ibreathimhungry.com for misleading recipes…..Very disappointed.
Oh for PETE’S SAKE use your head! MFP is notoriously inaccurate and it’s obvious based on the ingredients list that there is NO WAY a 4 ounce portion of this recipe is going to be 35g net carbs! My numbers are correct – I know this because I spend a LOT of extra time calculating the ingredients individually and adding them up manually to get the right number for all of my recipes, rather than plugging it into a database like MFP that is loaded with errors and averages and spits out random numbers that are wrong more than they are right. I’m “very disappointed” and downright angry that you come here and drop this comment claiming my recipes aren’t keto and that I’m misleading people and causing them to waste money! All based on some faulty and so obviously wrong number that you got from MFP and didn’t bother to question before coming here and making accusations!
When I imported your recipe this is what came of it. I have found the error it is with the garlic powder which created all the carbs….My apologizes for a MFP malfunction.
Whoa….even if you were upset by the post there are surely better ways you could have responded. More diplomacy less vitriol. I actually was not going to try the recipe based on this response. As a business woman, you should know that everything you put out there is a reflection of you, and even if you are upset you should do your best to deal with negativity in a constructive manner.
I’m trying this recipe and the cauliflower too, but wow.
You’re absolutely right. I let this person get to me and it showed. I hope that you enjoy the recipes regardless.
Sheesh. I can’t even get to sleep. All I keep thinking about is Basalmic pot roast.
First IP recipe! Yay! That was sooo good….. I braised mine in organic butter and squished a few cloves of fresh garlic to soak into the meat and holy Mary Mother of God Sweet Baby Jesus that was the best pot roast and gravy that I have ever had. This was supposed to kick off my new Paleo diet but I absolutely cannot stop eating it! Yes. It’s that good. Thank you, I think. I’ll have to go somewhere else for my next recipe so I can make something which isn’t so damn good that I eat it all before I can store the leftovers!
If I’m making a smaller roast (probably about 1 1/2 lb) do I half the other ingredients too? Thanks
1/2 the meat, 1/2 the other ingredients (except maybe the spices)
Melissa – you are my fave low carb blogger! I need more instant pot recipes from you please! I only trust yours :)
Hi there , do you think Guar gum would work in this ?? Thankyou 😊
This was delicious! Reminded me of Saurbraten which I love! I made mine with stew beef cubes in my instant pot and over potatoes. Would have been grate with some pickled cabbage but now I know for next time because it’s definitely going to be a repeat! Thank you!!
This was delicious! I used 2 cups beef broth and put my dutch oven in a 300 degree oven for about 4 hours. The roast was FALLING apart. Can’t wait for leftovers :-) Thanks again for what you do.
★★★★★
Has anyone replaced the water called for in this recipe with beef broth?
Yes. I replaced the water with 2 cups beef broth. Turned out great!
I used homemade chicken bone broth and it was fabulous!
YES! Easy Balsamic Pot Roast is the one I’ll try first! My mouth is watering… while I eat Easy Cheesy Cauliflower Gratin Recipe for BREAKFAST!
★★★★★
I made this last week when the planned Roast Beef turned into the Boyfriend getting a 3 lb of Chuck. Did it in the slow cooker replacing water with low sodium beef broth and added in about 1/4 Dry Sherry, and some thyme sprigs I had. Came out more flavorful than I thought. Once it was done, I pulled the beef apart and added in a lb of roasted button tomatoes and a pint of roasted grape tomatoes, simmered in a skillet, added the xanthan gum and it was a delicious lunch all week! Definitely would do again!
★★★★★
I can’t believe how good this is. Served it over basmati rice w/ fresh parsley. Still can’t believe how good this is.
★★★★★
I’m making this today. It’s been on the stove about an hour and half so far and smells amazing. I plan to use sour cream rather than a thickening agen. There’s just two of us, so the left overs will become a shepherd’s pie tomorrow.
This was easy and delicious – thank you!
Wait… So you brown the meat….take it out of the pan …..them make sauce…. Put the meat back in the pan after boiling it and then cook all together in the oven? Sorry…just want to be clear. Would like to do I’m the oven.
Well, I just made this and OH MY GOODNESS!!! Delish!! Super tasty and super easy! The balsamic vinegar really gives this it’s amazing flavor, and the “potatoes”? Thy are aptly named!! They WERE better than mashed potatoes. So much flavor. I had bought a 1- 1/2 lb roast (It’s just me) and it was already reduced and I wasn’t going to use it right away so I stuck it in the freezer. A few days later, I pulled that and another hunk of pork out to look for something and the next morning saw that I had not put them back! Yikes. I still was not planning to cook it yet so I stuck it back in the freezer knowing I was committing a big no no. Well, I’m sure under ideal circumstances the meat would have been super tender, but mine was wonderful none the less. Thank you for all of the recipes, I am working very hard to bring my A1C level down below a 6.0, and I have only had one cheat day (ok, ok, cheat weekend) since May 1st and get I get tested again August 1st. With all of these fantastic foods, it has been very easy. Since May, I have lost 17 lbs! I wouldn’t mind losing about 10 more, that would be ideal AND, more importantly, match my drivers licence weight. Here’s another bonus, some gals at my workplace started a weight loss challenge, and it just so happened to start May 1 and end August 1. There’s $220 at stake, think I’ll win??
★★★★★
Thanks to your Jamaican Jerk pork roast recipe, I now own an instant pot! I’d not thought too much about pressure cookers until I saw that recipe and I certainly didn’t know there were electric ones. Back in the 80’s I had one for the stove top. Scary! I had made a chicken recipe and could never get it open after that! Somewhere, in a landfill, sits a pressure cooker with some interesting contents inside! Thanks for this recipe, I’m making it for sure!
You’re going to love the Instant Pot Belinda!!!! I miss mine so much!!!
Hi,
How long does this take in a slow cooker?
Also, do you still sear the meat in a pan and then add to the slow cooker?
Looking forward to trying this :)
Thanks
Definitely sear it first for the best flavor Jodie, and depending on the size of your roast, 6 hours on low or 4 hours on high should do it!
Thanks Melissa, trying this today :)
Damn auto correct!
I did type ‘Mellissa’ :)
Does this freeze well?
How about the crockpot? Or do you think it would somehow not be as flavorful?
Can I use a regular (non electronic) pressure cooker? I don’t have an electronic. Same time?
By the way – Mellissa, love you! So many great recipes and entertaining introductions! My gut is happier with your advice!!!
Enjoy Belize!! Super vacation!!!☀️☀️☀️
Bacon & butter friendly culture, gotta love it!!!
Christine, This isn’t my blog but you can use the old style pressure cooker and depending on what the weight of the pressure element is, 10 or 15 pounds, the heavier it is, the less time it will take. My cooker has a low and high pressure function. I always use the high except to hard cook eggs when I use the low pressure. I would suggest you try the same time, 35 minutes, and if the meat seems to still be a little tough, either build up the pressure and add 15 minutes OR the next time you try the recipe, increase the time if it was a little tough with 35 minutes.
It is SO much nicer to have the electric pressure cookers like Instant Pot!! I grew up with the old ones and one time, when we entered the house and the door banged a bit hard, dinner ended up on the ceiling!! Very scary time for the dog who ran out of the house and didn’t stop until he hit the sidewalk! Those were the days. But we survived. I cook almost everything in my cooker of a different brand name.
★★★★★
Yeah! I’m so excited that you got an Instant Pot! I love love love mine and I love when other people make amazing recipes for it! Happy Vacation!
I 2nd that, Cristina! So happy to see the low-carb recipe with Instant Pot directions. I LOVE my Instant Pot so much that I bought a 2nd one! I use it for as many recipes as possible. Thank you, Melissa and have a great trip!
So sorry, Mellissa that I spelled your name wrong!
No problem Toria, I don’t know what my mother was thinking with the 2 ll’s – most have just one so it gets misspelled all the time and I’m used to it! :)
This looks yummy even though I’m not looking for low carb. I don’t have xanthan gum. How much cornstarch or flour would do the trick?
Thanks so much!
Also, I’ve started following you on Pinterest because all your recipes look so good! I watch my carbs, even though I can’t say I’m really DOING low carb!
1 Tbsp of cornstarch mixed into some of the liquid and then poured back in should do it Karen!
Thank you so much! I’ll be trying this soon. The first of many of your recipes I will be making.
Hopefully you’ll enjoy it and it won’t be the last! ;)
This looks excellent. I’m going to add this to next week’s menu !
★★★★★
Hope you enjoy the trip and thanks for sharing this recipe, the beef looks tender!
Love your site and getting your emails. Can I use a dutch oven and then bake? If yes, how long? Thanks!
Yes! Sear the meat, then add the liquids and bring to a boil, then cover and bake at 350 for about 4 hours or until the meat is tender!
I do my pot roasts in the oven (in a dutch oven tightly covered) at 350*F, for 2.5 to 3 hours, depending on how thick it is. That’s for a 3 lb. chuck roast. It always comes out perfecto!
★★★★★
Great recipe, but this heat recommendation for the oven is very excessive, in my experience. I made this today (using 2 3 lb roasts halved) and set the oven to 340º for the first half hour, then checked the liquid temperature and it was starting to boil. I turned the heat down to 250 for the remaining 45 minutes but this cooked the roast way too fast and it was overdone. I’m going to try setting the oven at 200º next time and then I think it might be a true low, slow cook for 2.5-3 hours.
★★★★
This roast is meant to be cooked until it falls apart and is very tender – if you want a roast that is sliceable then I suppose doing it your way would get those results.
Have a fantastic trip :) I love Belize.
Thanks Jeanette! It will be our first time there and we are really excited about it!
How long would you think to cook this in the crockpot ? Sounds so yummy , I can’t wait to try it!
4 hours on high should do it!
I don’t think robbers eat low carb or gluten free. You should be fine.
You know, I didn’t think of that but you’re probably right! I guess I don’t need to booby trap the front door now…
Can I ask a question about the xanthan gum? I’ve not used it to thicken sauces before, the first time I tried I just dropped a teaspoon in my soup and whisked, after a minute of vigorous whisking I found a teaspoon size white blob in my soup which was the xanthan gum still in its teaspoon shape, so I plucked it out and threw it away. The second time I tried to mix it with a bit of tepid water first, then whisked the goo into my soup. This worked a little better, but not great. Both times I was making Jalapeno Popper Soup, if that makes a difference.
Maybe arrowroot would work better for me, I’ve historically used sweet rice flour or cornstarch for thickening graves and sauces.
Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Gayle
Maybe because the popper soup was so thick and it had nothing to dissolve into – not sure Gayle, whisking usually does the trick for me! It might have been the brand you are using though I don’t know if it matters. Arrowroot is another good option if you have it.
Thanks Melissa, the brand I’m using is Bob’s Red Mill. I’ll have to try hardworking next time.
Try dissolving it first into a bit of olive oil! :-)
Vivian is correct. Xanthan gum will immediately bind to any moisture and start to expand. You end up with a glob of glue with no way for the inside powder to spread out and the water seeps in and turns the whole amount to a ball of gum. By dissolving the powder into an oil first, you can more easily distribute it among your liquid and it will slowly take up liquid and be more even. sprinkling it over the liquid as a fine mist while you whisk the liquid works as well but is more intensive and easier to accidentally drop a load in. When I use Xanthan gums for soups, I sprinkle it over the oil sauteed meats and veggies and stir it in BEFORE adding the broth. It always works.
The trick with xanthan is to use just a tiny bit (more like 1/8 or 1/4 of a teaspoon – a whole teaspoon would be make it uber thick), and it mixes best with a bit of fat. The liquid from the meat will have fat, so should whisk in nicely. You could also take like a quarter cup of the liquid out, mix that with the xanthan until incorporated, then mix it back in with the rest of the liquid and simmer a bit. But mostly – don’t plop a clump in. sprinkling works better than plopping. :)
Mary Ann, I tried your suggested sprinkling technique and it worked a treat, thank you for suggesting it!
yay! glad to hear. :)
You could always add some butter!! This sounds awesome!
Can you sub something for xantham gum? I’m allergic. Or skip it?
You can use arrowroot or another thickener – or skip it and it will be thinner, but just as good!
I also always set my electric pressure cooker on high whenever I’m doing a beef roast such as this. I am old fashioned of German heritage so I use contained-in-a-tea-mesh pickling spice for a sauerbraten taste. Just a preferen But I agree — low carb is not about adding a lot of other veggies. Muddies up the carb calculation waters. Great idea — hadn’t thought sauerbrautaten in a while.
★★★★★
Sauerbraten is a great idea Judith, might make one myself soon too!!!
Do you change your Instant Pot setting from Saute to Low or High Pressure for the 35 minutes? This looks so good. Can’t wait to try it. Thanks! Have fun on vacation!
Yes – sorry if that wasn’t clear! My instant pot I set to Manual and then plug in the 35 minutes. If you have the option to set the pressure I’d go with high!
I’m making this right now (my first IP dish ever). I followed the steps but after 35 minutes on high pressure it’s tough and still mostly pink in the middle. Based on your pictures I was expecting it to be really tender and cooked through. I can’t figure out what I did wrong. Any ideas? Since I’m in the midst of it I recovered and went for another 15 minutes on high pressure. This will be interesting. :)
haha.. re-covered.. it’s yet to be determined if I actually recovered. ;)
It’s still tough :( . I’m going for another 15 minutes. Anyone?
I did mine for 90 minutes, and it’s absolutely delicious! I did 90 minutes because every other pot roast I’ve ever cooked in the instant pot said 90 minutes! Give it another try! I was glad I cooked mine on the trivet because the meat would’ve completely fallen apart had I tried to remove it with tongs!
Same thing happened to me :(
★★★
I just made thus today and after 35 minutes mine was tough too. I put it back in for 15 minutes and it was perfect
★★★★★
I did the same… After 35 minutes it was still tough so I put it back in for another 25. I have a question the recipe calls for 2 cups of h2o but the directions only use 1 cup????
Are you sure you were on high pressure and not low pressure? I can’t imagine needing another 25 on top of the original 35 if it was set to high pressure?
I had the same issue with a tough roast tonight. I suspect it has to do with the recipe calling for a quick release at the end. I suspect a full natural release would result in it coming out more tender. I really enjoyed the flavor of the recipe though, so I’ll probably give it another try with natural release.
I lways put veggies in my pot roast pan and bake it in the oven. That way they get all the flavorings too. Garlic, celery, carrots, turnips, celery, whole shrooms, brussel sprouts; maybe rutabaga, acorn squash or sweet potato for the carb-eaters. I want that meat to flavor as much veggie as I can get out of it! Gravy over the top just isnt the same as vegs roasted/braised in with meat, then with pan juices or gravy over them Y.U.M.
I don’t disagree Helene but I do like the pure, rich flavor of this version and without the extra veggies in the mix it’s easier to count the carbs for the gravy as well! But yes to all of the veggies you mentioned as well!
this looks yummy!
And, don’t you have a big beastie family member who packs a gun and know karate stay at your house when you go out of town? *wink* *wink*
;)