Easy Italian Beef Shoulder Roast Recipe

Featured Chef Katie Kimball is here to save the day with the perfect recipe for those busy nights where you need a dinner that is delicious and easy! Check out her Easy Italian Beef Shoulder Roast recipe below. It can easily be made in an Instant Pot or Slow Cooker. 

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A busy weeknight calls for something ready to eat whenever the family is ready! Prioritizing family dinners is a huge part of my mission at Kitchen Stewardship and Kids Cook Real Food, and sometimes an easy recipe is just what a family needs to make it happen.

This beef shoulder roast recipe is very versatile and takes almost no time at all. You can start it in the morning in the slow cooker or assign a child to put the roast in the Instant Pot after school. Either way, a shoulder roast is flexible and can wait for whenever the family is ready for it. It will only get more moist and fall-apart delicious if it sits in either appliance for an extra hour or 2 or 3. If you catch it just in time, you’ll have a roast beef you can slice (leftover make great sandwiches). Longer cooking yields a more shreddable beef worthy of making sliders, burrito bowl lookalikes, or to top rice or pasta.

My kids helped me choose some seasoning options for this one, and Italian is always their favorite!

 

Easy Italian Beef Shoulder Roast

Recipe By: Katie Kimball | Kids Cook Real Food

USWM Shopping List: Beef Shoulder Roast

Ingredients:

• 3 lb. Beef Shoulder Roast (or adjust for smaller or larger roasts)
• 1-3 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
• 1 sliced onion
• Diced or sliced zucchini
• ½-1 pound green beans or asparagus
• ¼ cup or 1 can tomato paste
• 1 c. water or red wine (or combination)
• 1 Tbs. Italian seasoning blend
• 1 ½ tsp. salt
• ½-1 tsp. pepper
• 2-10 cloves minced garlic or ½-2 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 Tbs. red wine vinegar

Method:

1. Heat the oil on high and, if using an Instant Pot and you have an extra 15 minutes, brown the beef roast on all sides for about 3 minutes each. This may improve the flavor a bit, but don’t worry about skipping that step.
2. Brown the onions in the hot oil. (I don’t bother removing the roast, just stir around it, but you may remove to a plate.)
3. Add the tomato paste and stir around for a minute to deglaze the pan.
4. Carefully pour in the liquid and return the roast if you removed it.
5. Nestle zucchini and any other veggies you choose to add around the roast.
   • If using green beans or asparagus, steam or sauté separately unless you like overcooked green beans.
6. Sprinkle the herbs, spices, garlic, salt and pepper all over the roast and veggies.
7. Cook according to the following directions:
   • Instant Pot sliced roast beef: 25 minutes per pound, quick release and test temp for 145F, add 5-10 minutes more pressure if necessary.
   • Instant Pot shredded shoulder roast: 30 minutes per pound, natural pressure release until falling apart. Add 10 minutes more at pressure if necessary.
   • Slow cooker shredded beef: 8-10 hours on low or 5+ hours on high.

Add the red wine vinegar (optional) right at the end to the juices.

Serve as is, over pasta, or over sauteed cabbage “noodles” (shredded cabbage sauteed in plenty of fat). Leftovers are great cold or warm, on sandwiches, in a tortilla, or with a salad.

 

Explore more recipes for your kitchen on the Discover Blog. 

 

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