Instant Pot Po Boy Roast Beef Sandwich–roast beef drenched in gravy served on a crusty bun with lettuce, tomatoes, mayo and pickles. Use your Instant Pot to make the tender, shreddable beef.
Note: the slow cooker instructions are listed in the recipe card below.

Instant Pot Po Boy Roast Beef Sandwich
Today’s recipe for po boy roast beef sandwiches is a tasty recipe that seems like something you’d order at an expensive sandwich shop for $12. It’s really easy to make it at home. The hardest part of this recipe is searing the meat for a few minutes before you pressure cook it.
How to make your roast tender in the Instant Pot: I like quartering the roast to make each piece as tender as possible. If you freeze your roasts cut them into quarters before freezing so that when you pull them out to cook you can still cook them in the smaller pieces. If you can, cut the roasts against the grain to achieve maximum tenderness. In addition, make sure to choose a chuck roast, cross rib roast or rump roast.
Why is it called a Po Boy? According to Wikipedia a popular local theory claims “that the “poor boy” (later “po’ boy”, etc.) as specifically referring to a type of sandwich, was coined in a New Orleans restaurant owned by Benjamin (“Benny”) and Clovis Martin, former streetcar conductors originally from Raceland, Louisiana. The Martins established their eatery in 1921, but it was not until 1929 that the bakery of John Gendusa first baked the bread to be used for this sandwich. In 1929, during a four-month strike against the streetcar company, the Martin brothers served their former colleagues free sandwiches…The Martins had been interviewed on record regarding the origins of the sandwich. Benny Martin reminisced that they at the restaurant jokingly referred to an incoming diner as “another poor boy” if he turned out to be one of the strikers. The Martin brothers were also posed the question of whether the name was inspired by some French or French patois word such as pourbois, but they denied that was the case.”
The difference between Po’ boy and Sub. Po’ boy means a traditional submarine sandwich from Louisiana, typically consisting of meat or seafood, usually fried, served on a Louisiana baguette.
More Instant Pot Beef Recipes…
Instant Pot Hot Wieners (Rhode Island Style)

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Instant Pot Po Boy Roast Beef Sandwich
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
Roast beef drenched in gravy served on a crusty bun with lettuce, tomatoes and pickles. Use your Instant Pot to make the tender, shreddable beef.
Ingredients
- 3 pound chuck roast, trimmed of fat and cut into quarters and patted dry
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 2 Tbsp canola or vegetable oil
- 2 cups beef broth
- Cornstarch
- Fresh white bakery bread for sandwiches (french loaf or hoagie rolls do great)
- Tomatoes, dill pickles, shredded lettuce and mayonnaise
Instructions
Instant Pot Instructions:
- In a small bowl or ramekin stir together salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder. Rub the seasonings all over the meat.
- Turn Instant Pot to sauté setting. When display says HOT add in the oil and swirl around. Add in the 4 pieces of roast and let sear on one side for 3 minutes and then flip and sear on another side for 3 minutes. Use tongs to move meat to a plate.
- Pour in the broth and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking. Turn off Instant Pot. Add meat back into the pot.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 60 minutes. When time is up let the pressure release naturally for 15 minutes. Move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Place meat on a cutting board. Shred.
- Pour out all but 1 cup of liquid from the pot. In a small bowl stir together 1 Tbsp cornstarch with 2 Tbsp cold water. Turn Instant Pot to sauté. Pour in the cornstarch mixture to thicken the gravy. When gravy is thick turn off Instant Pot. Add meat back into pot and stir to coat with the gravy.
- Cut your bread for sandwiches. You can toast your bread, if desired, in the oven using the broil setting. Spread mayonnaise on the bread, add a generous helping of roast beef on top and then pickles, lettuce and tomatoes. Eat and enjoy!
Slow Cooker Instructions:
- In a small bowl or ramekin stir together salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder. Rub the seasonings all over the meat.
- Heat a pan over medium high heat. Add in oil and swirl it around. Add in the 4 pieces of roast and let sear on one side for 3 minutes and then flip and sear on another side for 3 minutes. Use tongs to move meat to the slow cooker.
- Pour in the broth.
- Cover and cook on low for 8-12 hours, or until roast is tender and shreddable.
- Place meat on a cutting board. Shred.
- Pour out all but 1 cup of liquid from the slow cooker. In a small bowl stir together 1 Tbsp cornstarch with 2 Tbsp cold water. Turn slow cooker to high. Pour in the cornstarch mixture to thicken the gravy. When gravy is thick add meat back into pot and stir to coat with the gravy.
- Cut your bread for sandwiches. You can toast your bread, if desired, in the oven using the broil setting. Spread mayonnaise on the bread, add a generous helping of roast beef on top and then pickles, lettuce and tomatoes. Eat and enjoy!
- Category: Beef
- Method: Instant Pot or Slow Cooker

*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.
Thank you for fixing the problem with the link to get recipes.
you’re welcome I am still not sure why it was doing that. I am so frustrated!