Instant Pot Brisket with Smashed Potatoes
, Updated Oct 11, 2025
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Instant Pot Brisket with Smashed Potatoes – meltingly tender beef that’s packed with flavor! Serve with smashed potatoes and carrots which are cooked together with the beef – a low effort recipe that the whole family will love.
You will also love Instant Pot Vietnamese Beef Stew and my creamy Instant Pot Beef Stroganoff
This amazingly tender beef brisket is cooked in your Instant Pot which means no standing over the stove or near a hot oven. Your pressure cooker does all of the hard work and in half the time it would take to cook such a meal the traditional way.
Brisket can be a bit hit and miss, at least in my experience. Sometimes it is very stringy and fatty or lacking in flavor. Well the magical Instant Pot takes care of the beef ensuring maximum tenderness and the balsamic vinegar brings on the flavor in spades.
Tips for Perfect Brisket Every Time
Brisket is a tough, collagen-rich cut which needs a bit of TLC. Long, gentle, slow cooking is a must in order to break down those fibers and turn them melt-in-your-mouth tender. You can’t get it wrong if you follow these steps:
- Sear before cooking – browning adds rich, caramelized flavor to the sauce.
- Cook it low and slow (or high pressure) – your crockpot or the pressure cooker are best bets for flavorful tender brisket.
- Keep it moist – always cook with liquid (stock, wine, balsamic, beer, etc.).
- Slice against the grain – cuts through the muscle fibers for tender, easy-to-chew slices.
What I also love is that the potatoes and carrots also cook in the pressure cooker on a silicone steamer – no messing about with pots to make the sides. It is worth getting some Instant Pot Accessories they are so useful!!
The balsamic vinegar, stock, tomatoes, onions and garlic cook down to create a maddeningly rich gravy which you might want to eat with a spoon. Or maybe that’s just me 😉
How to Cook Brisket In The Instant Pot
- Unroll the brisket (if it’s rolled up) and trim any large bits of fat – a little fat is totally fine. Season with salt and pepper and set aside. Meanwhile prepare your vegetables.
- Add a tablespoon of oil to your pressure cooker and use the Sauté function to sear the brisket on both sides until nicely coloured, about 3 minutes per side on high heat. Remove from the pot with tongs and set aside.
- Adjust the Sauté temperature to medium and add a splash more oil if needed. Sauté your onion and garlic for five minutes, stirring frequently, until softened. Add the salt, bay leaves and sugar (or Sukrin sweetener).
- Add the balsamic vinegar, beef stock and tomato paste and stir to combine. Nestle the brisket among the sauce.
- Add the metal trivet on top of the meat and position the potatoes and carrots on it. Sent vent to sealing and cook for 45 minutes at high pressure.
- Let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes and manually release the rest. Use tongs to remove the carrots and potatoes from the pot and set aside. Use a fork to lightly smash the potatoes. Remove the brisket and set aside for a few minutes to rest before slicing.
- Add the cornstarch slurry into the sauce, stir it in and use the sauté function to cook it over high heat for 5-10 minutes until thickened. Arrange the brisket on a platter. Spoon some of the sauce over it and serve with the smashed potatoes and carrots.
More Instant Pot Recipes
- Guinness beef stew
- Pressure cooker Vietnamese beef stew
- Lamb Dhansak curry
- Instant Pot Korean pork ribs
- Pressure cooker meatball minestrone
HAVE YOU MADE MY INSTANT POT BRISKET RECIPE? Please leave a rating, post a photo on my Facebook page, share it on Instagram, or save it to Pinterest with the tag #supergoldenbakes and make my day!
Instant Pot Brisket
Video
Ingredients
- 900 g (2 pounds) beef brisket
- Salt and pepper to season
- 1-2 tbsp olive oil or more as needed
- 1 large yellow onion finely diced
- 2 tsp garlic paste or 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) balsamic vinegar
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) beef stock
- 1 tbsp Sukrin Gold or light brown sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tbsp fresh thyme leaves
- 6 medium potatoes or as many as you can fit
- 4 large carrots or 10 smaller carrots
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tbsp chopped parsley to garnish
- 1 tbsp cornstarch diluted in 2 tbsp cold water or ½ tsp xanthan gum
- Lemon zest to garnish
Instructions
- Unroll the brisket (if it’s rolled up) and trim any large bits of fat – a little fat is totally fine. If the piece is really large, cut in half or three parts. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.900 g (2 pounds) beef brisket, Salt and pepper to season
- Add a tablespoon of oil to your pressure cooker and use the Sauté function to sear the brisket on both sides until nicely coloured, about 3 minutes per side on high heat. Remove from the pot with tongs and set aside.1-2 tbsp olive oil
- Adjust the Sauté temperature to medium and deglaze the pot with a splash of the stock. Add a splash more oil if and sauté the onion for five minutes, stirring frequently, until softened. Stir in the salt, garlic, herbs, sweetener and bay leaves.1 large yellow onion, 2 tsp garlic paste, 120 ml (1/2 cup) beef stock, 1 tbsp Sukrin Gold, ½ tbsp fresh thyme leaves, 1 tsp salt
- Add the balsamic vinegar, beef stock and tomato paste, stirring to combine. Nestle the brisket among the sauce.120 ml (1/2 cup) balsamic vinegar, 1 tbsp tomato paste
- Add the metal trivet on top of the beef and position the potatoes and carrots on it (in a steamer basket). Sent vent to sealing and cook for 45 minutes at high pressure.4 large carrots, 6 medium potatoes, 2 bay leaves
- Let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes and manually release the rest.
- Use tongs to remove the carrots and potatoes from the pot and set aside. Use a fork to lightly smash the potatoes.
- Remove the steamer bask and brisket. Cover the beef with foil and let it rest for 5 minutes .
- Meanwhile add the cornflour slurry into the sauce and use the sauté function to cook it over high heat for 5-10 minutes until thickened.1 tbsp cornstarch diluted in 2 tbsp cold water
- Slice the meat against the grain and arrange on a platter with the potatoes and carrots. Spoon some of the sauce over it and sprinkle with the chopped parsley and lemon zest.Lemon zest to garnish, 2 tbsp chopped parsley to garnish
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is always approximate, and will depend on quality of ingredients and serving sizes.
Soooo good !👍
can I use a dry rub at the stage where you
say to apply salt and pepper in the begining?
Hi Vernon, yes you can xx
A great one pot dish. Soft potatoes with melt in the mouth beef. Also get a great gravy (& some carrots )
DELICIOUS, I MODIFIED IT SLIGHTLY BY REDUCING THE BALSAMIC TO 1/3 CUP AND DOING 2/3 CUP BEEF STOCK.. OMG THE BEST .. THANK YOU
Excellent recipe! I started with meat from a bull in which all the meat was tough. I was hoping to find a recipe that would result in tenderness, but not dried out. This delivered both, and the vegies were great along with the balsamic sauce that is extra savory and tasty.
Thank you,
Blair Blizzard
Hi, is the 45 minute cook time from cold or from once pressure is reached? Many thanks!
The 45 minute cook time is the time set on pressure cooker. It will take some time for the cooker to come to pressure and start counting down the cooking time. Hope this helps
Thanks for sharing, this looks lovely perfect for an alterative to Christmas dinner 🙂
Made this tonight in a stove top pressure cooker, the sauce reduced down with the meat and potatoes in it while still cooking, (left it an hour because I left the pieces of brisket large so wanted it cooked properly), very rich sauce but great flavour, will figure out how to add more liquid but Matt is awesome and potatoes too.
You can always add some beef stock for extra liquid. Glad you liked the flavour!
Thank you Lucy for this recipe! I did it with veal and it was just perfect! My family enjoyed it and asked me for more! Thanks again for your good work.
So glad! Thanks for your comment 😘
Flavor was very nice. Reminded me of the flavors one of my grandmothers could produce, and I’m certain she had never heard of balsamic vinegar. However, the meat was quite tough after 45 minutes. Anyone have thoughts about why that would happen ro suggestions on how to get that melting texture?
Hi Gerry glad you enjoyed the taste but sorry about the meat being a bit tough! Some cuts of meat are tougher than others and if that’s the case I would suggest slicing the meat then adding back into the sauce and cooking for another 10 minutes and allowing for natural release. That usually does the trick
I’ll give it a try. Thanks very much!