A beloved American classic meets a timeless Greek dish in this pot roast recipe you’re sure to love. The chuck roast is cooked in a tomato based sauce, then served over orzo and topped with feta.
📋 What's New In This Post (4/3/25) - Updated the post to show how to make it in the Instant Pot instead of a slow cooker. Added new recommendation for cooking the orzo.
Changing Up the Pot Roast Routine
When you think of pot roast, you likely picture beef, carrots, and potatoes. But does it have to be that way? I decided to create a series of international-inspired pot roasts, drawing from different cuisines around the world. I swap out ingredients and add different ones to take my basic pot roast and tweak it to be something different.
One such dish is Youvetsi (pronounced yoo-VEH-tsee), a traditional Greek stew that typically features beef or lamb. The meat is simmered in a rich tomato sauce with orzo. For my Greek pot roast, I swapped out the usual potatoes for orzo and added a touch of feta for that authentic Greek flavor. Let me show you how to make this delicious twist on a classic pot roast.
This isn't my only foray into messing with my pot roast recipe. I also have an Asian Inspired Pot Roast with Soba Noodles and a Moroccan Inspired Pot Roast with Chickpeas & Couscous.
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Ingredients
Here is a breakdown of what ingredients you need to make this pot roast recipe. The ingredient list length isn't much different than a traditional pot roast.
- Chuck Roast - By far the best cut of beef for pot roast as it has a ton of beefy flavor. You can use a bone-in chuck roast but I find those very difficult to find these days, so you are most likely going to have to choose a boneless roast.
🛒 Grocery Shopping Tips - Sometimes Kroger stores will have Chuck Roasts - buy one get one free, so that is when you buy one for now and freeze one for later. In recent years Costco has had the best price for chuck roast. You usually get two in a package.
- Beef Stock or Broth - Look out for a beef stock or broth that doesn't contain added sugar. You might be surprised how many do.
- Garlic - You can use either fresh garlic cloves or garlic powder for this recipe. Quality fresh garlic that isn't sprouted inside can be hard to find in the grocery store at times. It's best if you can get it from a farmer's market in season. Buy a whole braid if you use it a lot and hang it in your kitchen.
- Carrots - You will still use carrots in this recipe like your standard pot roast. In my recipe you won't be adding the carrots until the end of cooking so they don't just become mush.
- Tomato Paste - A can of tomato paste is super cheap and will add all the tomato flavor that you need. Adding the beef broth will thin out the tomato paste.
- Fresh Oregano - If you don't have fresh oregano, you can used dried. This is something I would do to taste.
- Orzo Pasta - The beauty of using a pasta like orzo is that you can toast in a pan before adding the water to cook it. This will enhance the flavor of the pasta and is a step you won't want to miss. Trust me!
- Feta cheese - Whatever feta cheese you like here. You are going to have it available for people to top their pot roast with.
See recipe card for exact quantities.
How to Make Pot Roast in the Instant Pot
⏲️ Time - You are going to set your Instant Pot to 90 minutes at high pressure.
Originally this recipe was a slow cooker recipe but I decided to turn it into Instant Pot recipe as I use it more often than a slow cooker. In fact I don't even have a slow cooker right now. But if you want to make this in a slow cooker, I give some tips on how to do that in the end..
The process goes like this:
- Brown the beef on all side.
- Remove beef and cook the chopped garlic for a minute.
- Deglaze the bottom of the pan with some of the liquid.
- Add in all the liquid, stir to combine. Taste.
- Add in the beef.
- Bring to pressure and cook.
- Release pressure. Add carrots & sautee until done.
Getting a nice sear on the beef before cooking isn't a requirement but it adds a ton of flavor, so you really don't want to skip it. You can do it in the Instant Pot on the sauté setting but if you don't mind dirtying another pan, doing it in a cast iron skillet or Dutch oven - you will get a better sear.
You don't need the liquid to completely cover the meat. A pot roast is a braise not a boil. 2 cups of liquid plus the tomato paste is plenty.
I recommend that you taste the liquid before adding the meat. It should be very flavorful. Add more seasoning if it's not.
Slow Cooker Option - To use a slow cooker instead, you will want to cook the pot roast for at least 4 hours, adding the carrots during the final hour of cooking. You can brown the roast in a cast iron pan before adding it to the slow cooker.
How to Prepare Orzo
If you have never made orzo before there are some things you need to know about cooking this kind of pasta. Often we cook pasta in a big pot of boiling water, but with orzo you don't need to do that. Instead you want to cook it in just enough water, so that the water is completely absorbed.
💡 Tip - Think more of how you cook rice, than how you cook spaghetti.
But first you are going to brown the orzo a little bit to add some more flavor. You do that by adding a couple teaspoons of oil or butter to the bottom of pan. Then add in your orzo. Cook for a few minutes, stir every so often until the orzo has browned.
Then you will add in your water, bring to a boil, cover the pot and turn the heat off. It should take about 10 to 15 minutes for your orzo to be cooked.
Greek Inspired Pot Roast with Orzo & Feta
Ingredients
- 3-4 lb chuck roast
- 2 cups beef stock or broth
- kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 3 cloves garlic chopped
- cooking oil
- 3 medium carrots cut on the bias
- 6 oz tomato paste
- 2 tsp fresh oregano chopped
- 10 oz orzo pasta
- feta cheese for serving
Instructions
Browning the roast
- Heat a cast iron pan over medium-high heat with some cooking oil in the bottom. Or, if you prefer to use the Instant Pot, add the oil there and press the sauté button.
- You can cut the roast into four pieces if you want to increase the surface area of the beef for better browning.
- Liberally salt both sides of the chuck roast. Once the pan is hot, place the beef in it. Cook until you achieve a nice brown sear on one side, then flip and repeat. Remove the beef to a plate and set it aside temporarily
Cooking the pot roast
- Add the chopped garlic to the pan or pot. Cook until it just softens. Don't burn it! The garlic only needs about a minute.
- Now pour in about ½ cup of the beef stock and scrape all the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. I like using a metal spatula for this.
- Now it's time to add everything to the Instant Pot. If you used a pan to brown the roast, transfer everything from the pan into the Instant Pot.
- Add the remaining beef stock, tomato paste, and chopped oregano. It's important to taste the cooking liquid—it needs to be really flavorful. Test it first, then add any salt and/or pepper as needed. If you think it needs more oregano, add that as well.
- Set the Instant Pot to high pressure and cook for 1 hour and 30 minutes. You can either use the manual release or allow for a natural release at the end.
Prepare the orzo
- Add the orzo to a pot along with 2 tablespoons of oil (or butter, if you prefer). Heat the pan over medium heat
- Stir the orzo occasionally until it develops some brown color
- Add 2 cups of water and bring it to a boil
- Place a lid on the pot and remove the orzo from the heat.
- Allow the orzo to sit undisturbed for 10 to 15 minutes, or until it's cooked through.
Final Prep
- While the orzo is cooking, add the carrots to the Instant Pot. Press the sauté button and cook until the carrots are softened. Then, you can set the Instant Pot to 'Keep Warm' or turn it off.
- Use a fork to break up the pot roast and serve it over the orzo with the carrots. Offer feta and additional oregano as optional toppings, if desired.
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