Nutrition: 478 Calories | 25.1g Net Carbs | 46.1g Protein | 20.6g Total Fat

A tender, juicy one pot meal, this Instant Pot pork roast and potatoes recipe is filled with warm, comforting spices and served with rich gravy.

Roast on Sunday is a long standing family tradition in our house. It’s the perfect way to end a relaxing day. I often make up a beef roast with vegetables. I came up with this recipe because I was looking to switch up the Sunday roast routine. Pork shoulder is usually used to make pulled pork, but it’s also perfect for a juicy roast. For this recipe, the pork shoulder is covered in a warm and tangy spice rub. Then, at the end you turn all those incredible flavors into a gravy, that we couldn’t get enough of. Add in the hearty potatoes and carrots, and you have a meal the whole family will gather around.

Cut Up the Vegetables

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Before you start cooking the pork roast, you need to do a little prep work. First, dice up half an onion. Then, mince or crush a couple cloves of garlic. You will also need to cut up the potatoes and carrots. These don’t go into the Instant Pot at the same time as the roast, so you can do it now or later. If you cut up the potatoes now, put them in a bowl and cover them with water. That way they won’t turn brown before it’s time to cook them. Drain the water before adding the potatoes to the pot. You can use any potatoes you like. I prefer the thin-skinned varieties like baby reds and Yukon gold, that way I don’t have to peel them.

Prep the Pork Roast

For this recipe we’re using a pork butt, which is also called Boston butt or pork shoulder. Despite its name, the pork butt actually comes from the upper shoulder of a pig. This was actually a welcomed revelation for my kids. One time, when we were grocery shopping, my youngest was helping by reading off the grocery list. When she got to pork butt, she refused to say the word. And all of them were disgusted to learn that’s what it is called. I couldn’t stop laughing.

Often, pork shoulder will come with a fat cap on top. This is a hard, white layer of fat that can be up to one inch thick. So, prep the pork roast by cutting this off. Make sure to leave as much meat on the roast as you can. If your butcher has already cut this off, then, you can skip this step. I weighed the roast above before and after removing the fat cap. That was one pound of fat. Whoa!!!

Make a Homemade Rub for Your Roast

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Much of the flavor for this recipe comes from the spice rub. And it’s so easy to make at home. You probably already have all these spices in your pantry. So, in a bowl, combine salt, lemon pepper, paprika, ground ginger, dried thyme and garlic powder. For even more flavor, use smoked paprika. It adds a little something extra. Then, mix together all the ingredients. Finally, coat the roast on all sides with the spice mixture. Sprinkle it on the meat, and then rub it in.

Sear the Roast

The best part about making a roast in the Instant Pot is you can truly do everything in the Instant Pot. For extra flavor, you need to sear the roast, which browns the meat and toasts up all those spices. First, turn the Instant Pot on Sauté Mode. Let the pot get hot, and drizzle a little olive oil in the bottom. Next, add the roast to the pot. Let it sit undisturbed for a couple minutes until it forms a golden crust on the outside. Then, turn the roast to sear the next side. Continue to turn the roast until it’s seared on all sides.

Sauté Onion and Garlic

Now that the roast has been seared on all sides, remove it from the Instant Pot, and set it aside. Drizzle in a little more olive oil. Then, add the diced onion to the pot. Sauté the onions for a few minutes until they start to soften and become translucent. Finally, add the minced garlic. Sauté the garlic briefly, for about a minute, until it becomes fragrant.

Add Liquid and Pressure Cook the Roast

Once the garlic is fragrant, cancel the Sauté Mode. Now, pour in half of a cup of red wine vinegar. This will stop the garlic from burning and deglaze the pan. Use a spoon the scrape up all the bits from the bottom of the pot. Next, pour in chicken stock, and add the metal trivet to the Instant Pot. Finally, put the pork roast back in the pot on top of the trivet. Put the lid on the Instant Pot. Make sure the valve is set on Sealing. Then, pressure cook the roast on high for 90 minutes.

Pressure Cook the Vegetables

As, I’ve said before, I love the Keep Warm setting on my Instant Pot. You can get this roast going early in the day, and let it keep warm until about a half hour before you want to eat. Otherwise, let the pressure naturally release for ten minutes, and then open the valve to manually release the steam. Once you can open the lid, put the cut up potatoes and carrots on top of the roast. Put the lid back on the Instant Pot. Then, close the valve, and pressure cook on high for three minutes. It will take about fifteen minutes to come to pressure before cooking.

Make the Gravy

As soon as the vegetables are done cooking, manually release the pressure in the Instant Pot. Remove the meat and vegetables from the pot, and put them on a serving dish. Cancel the Stay Warm function, if necessary, and turn on the Sauté Mode. Sprinkle corn starch over the liquid one tablespoon at a time, and whisk it in. Let the gravy simmer and thicken for about five minutes. Serve the pork roast and vegetables with the gravy on top. Enjoy!!

Depending on how much liquid is in your pot you will need about three to four tablespoons of cornstarch. This will make a lot of gravy, probably more that you need. I used our leftover gravy to make low carb shepherd’s pie (recipe here). The gravy is packed with so much flavor, we didn’t want to waste it. However, if you don’t want that much, you can measure out the liquid before making the gravy. You will need one cup of cooking liquid for one tablespoon of cornstarch.

Other recipes to check out: Instant Pot Kalua Pork, Instant Pot Chicken Cacciatore, and Instant Pot Pork Spare Ribs.