Instant Pot Venison Roast

This Instant Pot venison roast is the perfect weekend meal!

One-pot meal you can easily make at home using your Instant Pot.

After 3 hours of slow cooking, it comes out tender, juicy, and mouth-watering. Which means we’re using the Instant Pot as a slow cooker for this recipe. You can also prepare your pot roast using the pressure cooker function – but more on that later.

And the best part? This Instant Pot Venison Roast recipe is a one-pot meal! It has saved me many precious Sunday hours.

Recipe Video

Ingredients

Beef broth, onion, potatoes and carrots make this deer roast balanced and absolutely delicious.

There are 2 ways to make venison Roast in the Instant Pot:

1. As a pressure cooker

Using the pressure cook function is faster and use the ability of the Instant Pot to get great results in a shorter time.

2. As as slow cooker

Using the slow cook function let as make the recipe in the traditional way. In this method we are using the Instant Pot as a slow cooker. We are not taking advantage of the special abilities of the Instant Pot, and just using it as if it was a crock-pot or any other slow cooker.

Please note the the normal setting we are applying here (Slow cook button + Normal) is similar to the "low" setting on a regular slow cooker.

For more info you can check out how to use Instant Pot as a slow cooker.

Which method is better?

It's up to you. For our not-so-sophisticated taste, the pressure cooking option is enough, since we can get great result in half the time.

If you want to get a perfect result, or have a special holiday dinner, you can definitely go with the slow cooker way and make this dish overnight.

Which beef cut to use?

To get a tender, juicy, and flavorful deer roast, you need to choose the correct cuts and stick to the recommended roasting time.

• The best cut for your venison pot roast is the lower ham. But if you’re anything like me – a fan of rich flavors – rump roast is the right option for you (it’s also more cost-effective).
• Backstrap and tenderloin are both good choices for cooked venison. With these cuts, you’ll want to add a dash more beef broth or chicken broth to your Instant Pot to keep the meat moist.
• Shoulder or Neck would be great as well.

Pressure cooking vs slow cooking

If you wanna use your Instant Pot as a pressure cooker, just follow the recipe box bellow.

For slow cooking, just throw all the ingredients and set the cooking time to 3 our 6 hours. Check out this table for more details:

Cooking method	Cooking time
Pressure cooking	80 minutes + 12 minutes
Slow cooking (set to “High”)	3 hours (180 minutes)
Slow cooking (set to “Normal”)	6 hours (360 minutes)

Do I have to use onion?

Onion gives an extra taste together with the potatoes and carrots, but you can use onion soup mix instead of raw onion.

How to serve?

This Instant Pot Venison Roast recipe is a one-pot meal! So it's great as is.

Feel free to serve it with jasmine rice, brown rice or even farro.

Need more ideas? Check out What To Serve With Venison for 15 delicious side dishes.

Do I have to use thyme?

I’ve used thyme in the ingredients below, but you can replace it with sage or rosemary.

How to add more spice to the recipe?

I looove experimenting with my Instant Pot recipes. To spice this one up a bit, try adding some gravy, red wine, and aromatic vegetables.

1. To make your venison au jus, take the pot juices left after the cooking and thicken them with 1 tablespoon of corn starch.
2. To make sure the gravy isn’t lumpy, mix the corn starch with a bit of the meat juice you set aside before adding it to your gravy saucepan.
3.  Cook the gravy for 5-10 minutes.

The addition of red wine will add deep flavor to your gravy, while 2 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce will give it a piquant punch.

If you want less saturated fat per serving, go without the gravy. The original recipe includes 2 tablespoon olive oil, so this is the only fat you really need.

More One-pot Meals

Smoked Sausage and Rice

Instant Pot Cornish Hen

Paella

Instant Pot Jewish Brisket