Instant Pot Philly Cheesesteak–my version of the cheesesteak sandwich–bun, meat, cheese and onions–made in your Instant Pot!
Each week in 2020 I’m sharing a recipe inspired by one of the 50 states. So far I’ve covered…
- Alabama
- Louisiana
- Utah
- Minnesota
- Colorado
- Idaho
- Hawaii
- South Carolina
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Alaska
- New Mexico
- West Virginia
- Arkansas
- Kentucky
- South Dakota
(If you want to see all the “state recipes” listed in one place you can go here). Today I’m sharing a recipe inspired by the Keystone State–Pennsylvania.
According to PA.gov, “Pennsylvania’s essential role in the founding of the United States earned it the nickname, the “Keystone State”… during the early days of our nation, Pennsylvania held a key position geographically, economically, and politically.”
When I think of Pennsylvania I think of The Office and Scranton, Philadelphia 76ers, Punxsutawney Phil, Gettsyburg, Hershey, Penn State, Runners World headquarters, The Appalachian Trail, Fresh Prince (West Philadelphia born and raised) and lots more. There is so much great stuff about PA.
Instant Pot Philly Cheesesteak
For today’s recipe I’m featuring Pennsylvania but more specifically the city of Philadelphia and its Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich.
The Philly Cheesesteak has thinly sliced beef, fried onions, provolone cheese (or cheese whiz or American cheese) piled on a hoagie bun. Philadelphians Pat and Harry Olivieri are often credited with inventing the sandwich by serving chopped steak on an Italian roll in the early 1930s.
According to Carolyn Wyman who wrote a book on the cheesesteak, “it is not just bread, meat and cheese coming together. It’s a Philadelphia cultural icon – a subject of love and loyalty, politics and pride, history and hubris.”
“It is not just bread, meat and cheese coming together. It’s a Philadelphia cultural icon”
The Great Philly Cheesesteak Book
Well wow! That makes me feel a little inadequate to make my own version of philly cheesteak in my Instant Pot. I didn’t know I would be taking on an icon!
My version of cheesesteak is made in the Instant Pot and therefore is not authentic but it is so tasty nonetheless. I bit into my sandwich and immediately knew that is was a winner. The beef and onions with the melty cheese were just a party in my mouth. It’s a simple recipe without a lot of ingredients but it tastes absolutely amazing.
A few notes about ingredients:
No peppers? Some versions of the Philly cheesesteak I have seen have sauteed green bell peppers. My version does not.
No ribeye or sirloin? Most versions of Philly cheesesteak sandwiches are made with sirloin or ribeye steak. Both are quite expensive. I used an inexpensive beef top round roast. I only cooked it for 3 minutes! Yes 3 minutes under pressure (plus browning first) and then a full 30 minutes of natural pressure release. It’s different than most roast recipes you’ll see for the Instant Pot but believe me it works and is so tasty!
Cheese. The cheesesteak can be served with provolone, Cheese Whiz or American cheese. I went with provolone! When I was in college I worked at a sandwich shop and their philly sandwich was always served with melty provolone slices.
Onions. Cheesesteaks can be served with or without onions. Let me tell you a secret. The onions made my sandwich!!! After you brown the roast all the seasonings and browned bits remain on the bottom of the Instant Pot liner. The onions are then sauteed and pick up all that delicious flavor. I greedily picked each diced onion off of my son’s plate and put them in my mouth. They are that good!
Buns: I chose a soft hoagie bun that was light and airy on the inside.
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Instant Pot Philly Cheesesteak
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 minutes (plus 30 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 73 minutes
- Yield: 4 huge sandwiches or 6 smaller sandwiches 1x
Description
My version of the cheesesteak sandwich–bun, meat, cheese and onions–made in your Instant Pot!
Ingredients
- 2 pounds beef top round roast
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 2 tsp pepper
- 4 Tbsp canola oil
- 2 cups diced yellow onions
- 1 cup broth or water
- 4–6 hoagie buns
- 8–12 slices provolone cheese
Instructions
- Turn your Instant Pot to the saute setting. While it is heating up pat the roast dry with paper towels. Then press the salt and pepper all over the meat.
- When the display says HOT add in the oil. Place the roast in the Instant Pot and brown for 3 minutes. Turn the roast over and brown for 3 minutes. Brown 2 more sides for 2 minutes each. Remove the roast and place it on a plate.
- Add the onions into the pot and saute. Scrape the bottom of the pot and let the seasoning get all over the onions. When onions start to turn brown (about 5 minutes) remove them from the Instant Pot and place in a bowl. Set aside.
- Pour the broth or water into the pot and scrape the bottom of the pot to deglaze. Place a trivet into the pot. Place the roast on top of the trivet. Cover the pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing.
- Set the manual/pressure cook button to 3 minutes (YES only 3 minutes!). When the time is up let the pot sit for 30 minutes (YES 30 minutes natural pressure release!).
- Remove the lid and measure the temperature of the middle of the roast. It should be close to 120° F. If the temperature is significantly lower than that place the roast back into the pot and cover. Use the Keep Warm button to continue to slow roast the beef. It will rise 7° to 10° every 5 minutes.
- Place the roast on a cutting board and loosely tent it with foil. Let it rest for 8 minutes. Use a large serrated knife to slice the meat as thin as possible. It will be pink in the middle and that’s okay!
- Dump out the liquid in the Instant Pot and dry it out. Turn the Instant Pot to saute. When it says HOT add in the onions and the beef. Toss for a minute. Then place a few slices of cheese on top of the beef. Let it melt. Then pile the beef, onions and cheese on top of a hoagie roll. Repeat with the rest of the cheese and beef.
- Eat and enjoy!
Notes
I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*.
- Category: Beef
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
We got our sandwiches at Chink’s in Wissinoming, a neighborhood within Philly. SOOOO GOOD. Glad to converse with another Philly gal.
I love my INSTANTPOT and my Philly Cheesesteaks so I’m going to try this recipe. Thanks for sharing Karen. I love and have saved a great deal of your recipes. Your site 365daysofcrockpot.com is my go to first when I need a good INSTANTPOT recipe. Thank you again Karen and enjoy you day
★★★★★
Ahhh thanks so much Sharon!
How much time would you recommend adding (pressure cooking time and natural release time) if you wanted to make a larger piece of meat than 2 lbs? Is there a good formula to follow for each additional pound? I love this recipe but we’re a large family and it’s not quit enough for all of us.
You could just cut the large cut of meat in half and use the same cooking time (pressure cooking time is determined by how much time it takes to cook to the middle of an item). So if it’s half as thick it should work fine. Does that make sense?
Makes perfect sense! Thanks so much!
★★★★★
I have boneless Top Round Steak about 3/4 inch thick how long to cook and would that work?
“traditional” cheese steak is really what area your from in Philadelphia. Those that go to the tourist places swear by Wiz. Those that go to “local” joints seem to prefer provolone and/or American.
I grew up with American (northwest section of Philadelphia) so I’m partial to American.
I live close enough to go and get steaks from all the famous places but I find myself making my own.
The instapot adds uneeded steps to be honest. Also, you will never be able to cut a steak with a knife like a cheese steak requires.
Go to a butcher (not the frozen grocery stuff fake steakums) and asked for cheese steak meat (if they don’t know, ask them to put a ribeye into a deli meat slicer and slice it for you)
I generally do the following: 2 tablespoons of leftover bacon grease in a cast iron pan. Saute onions in it until translucent and slightly change color. Remove onions, place sliced steak into pan , almost immediately it cooks, flip it over with shred with spatula, place cheese and onions on it. Then place sliced roll (I like Italian but many like soft hoagie rolls as well) right on top, 3-4 tablespoons of water and cover to steam all together for 39 seconds.
It will be better than any cheese steak you’ve ever had.
Btw ibdo love most of your other recipes in instapot and haven’t tried this one but can’t see cooking an entire top round only to cook it a second time after slicing.
Good points Mike! I would love to try your version. Since this is an IP site so that’s why the IP version. But I totally get what you are saying.
Since I was born and raised in Philly I must try this so I can compare. The original cheese steak is with cheese whiz. To order you say wit or wit out. Philly talk with or without cheese. The original cheese steak is served on an Italian hard roll. You can always doctor it up with sautéed onions and peppers. We call this a cheese steak hoagie. If you ever visit Philly, you will have two places to go. Geno’s or Pat’s steak. They are right across the street from each other in downtown Philly. Both are great.
★★★★★
I really want to go to Philly and eat one! Thanks for sharing your experiences with us Gail!
That is not true about Cheese whiz, The History goes in the 1930s ” when it was invented” The first ones didn’t have any cheese but one-man request provolone cheese and it caught on. Cheese Whiz wasn’t invented until 1952 almost 20 years after the first one was made. Cheese Whiz caught on in the 70s. My grandpa Grew up In Philly, he was born in 1924 and moved to Florida in the late 70s. He loved to argue with people over what cheese to put on them lol He always hated to see people open stores claiming real Philly steak and cheese and only have Cheese whiz or American cheese
Can I make this with bottom round?
Top round and bottom round cuts come from the back end of the cow. The top round is very lean but tends to be more tender than the bottom round.. The bottom round, which is divided into a bottom round roast and a rump roast, is a bit tougher. I would worry that it might be too tough cooked the way that I did with the short cooking time and long pressure release. You could try it but I would cook for a long time instead of a short time. I haven’t tried this so I am just guessing!
What if my meat is still a little frozen… can I do this recipe, and will it still come out tasty?
how frozen? You can probably still do it. I would increase the cooking time though and use a meat thermometer to make sure it is cooked all the way through.
So easy and fast to make!! Perfect sandwich for a busy day; add a salad and chips and dinner is on the table. Delicious!!!!!
★★★★★
Glad you liked it Karin!
Karen… how about a bottom round roast or will it be too tough? Thanks again!
Hi Jim, I bet that would work just fine!
Thanks for making PA’s recipe a philly cheese steak! I was hoping you would. As a born and raised Pittsburgh girl, I honestly can’t think of anything that would represent PA better. I’ve eaten cheese steaks all my life but the very best one I ever had was out in Philly. It didn’t have cheese whiz on it, I think it was white american. When I get one here at home I prefer provolone, onions, green pepper and sometimes mushrooms. Not a true cheese steak but it’s really whatever you prefer. Thanks for this recipe for the IP Karen!
Thanks for chiming in Bonnie! It’s good to hear from someone from PA!
I’ve heard so many mixed things about the cheese. I’ve heard they are all okay with cheese whiz, provolone or white american. Who makes the rules though???
I was born and raised in Philly. Every cheese steak I ever ate had white american cheese on it. Lovely melted, gooey perfection. When you ordered the sandwich you weren’t give a choice of which cheese you perferred.
Cool! Thanks for sharing your experience Kathy. I love hearing from people from Philly 🙂
I grew up twenty minutes outside Philadelphia most all my life , in FL now , but we always had white American cheese on our philly cheese steaks from Pats on south street in Philly No one has ever come close to Pats original Philly Cheese Steak not even Gino’s although they are good
I am from central PA. When we we to a Phillies game with my husband’s nephew, who was born and raised in Philadelphia, he told me I had to have the traditional cheese steak. When I asked what that was, he said it had Cheese Whiz on it. I always ate it with, Provolone, but he told me I was not eating the traditional eating.the sandwich.
Good to know!! Thanks for sharing your experience Glenda!
Looks delicious! I don’t have a trivet, but I’ve cooked many roasts without one in my IP. Do you think this recipe would work without a trivet?
Oh for sure you could do that!
Yum! This sounds so easy and delicious.
Kaitlyn @ Oh, the Places We’ll Go!
They were so good!!!
Thanks for doing a recipe from the northeast! I live in Jersey right outside of Philly, and this is a great choice! I don’t think the rest of PA really has any iconic food, other than Pennsylvania Dutch cooking and scrapple. Waiting for NJ now…I’m thinking something Italian?
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I’d love any NJ ideas you could give me!