Pot Roast – fall apart beef, tender flavour infused vegetables and potatoes smothered in a rich gravy. It’s mouthwateringly good, yet simple to make, especially if you use a slow cooker. However, this beef pot roast recipe can be made in an instant pot, oven OR crockpot – pick which method works best for you!
Pot Roast
Confession: I wasn’t a fan of pot roast for most of my life. I just didn’t get it – the beef and vegetables were fine, but typically they are braised in just liquids that aren’t thickened in any way so the end result is like a watery broth.
Plenty of flavour in it, but when you pour it over the beef and vegetables, it doesn’t cling to it at all because it’s watery.
So I decided to change it and thicken the sauce using a touch of flour. So it’s more like a gravy. Now THAT’s a pot roast worthy of company, in my humble opinion!!!
If you love meltingly tender, slow cooked roast beef and deeply flavoured gravy, this pot roast recipe is for you!
How to make Pot Roast
Season beef well with salt and pepper
Sear beef aggressively – this is KEY for flavour in the broth and the beef!
Sauté onion and garlic, then deglaze* the skillet or pot with red wine (or water or broth);
Tip everything into a slow cooker, instant pot / pressure cooker or casserole pot for oven along with beef broth, carrots and celery;
Sprinkle with dried rosemary and thyme then slow cook 8 hrs low, 55 min pressure cook on high, or oven 4 hours at 300°F/150°C;
Add the potatoes partway through cooking and by the time the potatoes are cooked, the beef will be meltingly tender!
* Means simmering liquid and scraping bottom of pan to release the flavour stuck on the bottom of the pan from searing. It adds a ton of flavour into the cooking broth!
Best cut of beef for pot roast is chuck roast
The best beef for pot roast is Beef Chuck Roast. It’s an economical cut of beef that’s marbled with fat that needs to be slow cooked to breakdown the tough connective tissues so it becomes ultra tender to eat.
Chuck roast can be purchased in large pieces that are or aren’t rolled. You want to use rolled chuck roast for this recipe, otherwise the beef ends up all warped. Supermarkets and butchers should carry chuck roast that’s already rolled, otherwise, you can roll it yourself and tie with kitchen string or ask the butcher to do it for you.
It’s essentially a slow cooked Roast Beef!
The key point of difference with this pot roast recipe is that the braising liquid is thickened so it comes out like a deeply flavoured gravy rather than a watery broth which is how most pot roasts are made.
So it’s essentially a slow cooked Roast Beef that’s fall apart tender that comes with a gravy and tender flavour infused vegetables. Complete meal in one pot!
Because the beef needs to be mostly submerged in liquid while it slow cooks, you end up with lots and lots of liquid in the finished dish.
Which means, in my Pot Roast, you end up with lots and lots of very tasty gravy.
This is a sensational “problem” to have. Keep leftovers, drown your potatoes with them, toss through pasta (oh yes!!), serve it as a sauce for tomorrow night’s dinner. – Nagi x
PS Bread to mop your bowl clean wouldn’t go astray. Try these No Knead Dinner Rolls, a quick No Yeast Irish Bread or these moreish Cheese Muffins.
Watch how to make it
Note: My slow cooker looks like a pressure cooker because it’s a multi function slow cooker (but no, it’s not an Instant Pot!).
This pot roast recipe was originally published January 2018. Updated for housekeeping matters. No change to recipe – I wouldn’t dare! 🙂
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Pot Roast
Ingredients
- 2 kg / 4 lb beef chuck roast , rolled (Note 1)
- 1 tsp each salt and pepper
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion (large), cut into large dice
- 5 garlic cloves , peeled and smashed (Note 2a)
- 5 carrots , peeled and cut into 2.5cm/1″ pieces
- 3 celery stalks , cut into 4 cm / 1.5″ pieces
- 1 cup (250ml) dry red wine (sub with beef broth)
- 3 cups (750ml) beef broth , salt reduced
- 1/3 cup (50g) flour (plain / all purpose) (GF – Note 2b)
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 1 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 750g / 1.5 lb potatoes , peeled and cut into 2.5 cm / 1″ pieces
Instructions
- Pat beef dry with paper towels. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper all over.
- Heat oil in a skillet over high heat. Brown aggressively all over – a deep dark brown crust is essential for flavour base! Should take about 7 minutes.
- Transfer beef to slow cooker.
- In the same skillet, add onion and garlic. Cook for 2 minutes until onion is browned.
- Add wine, reduce by half. Transfer to slow cooker.
- Mix together flour and about 1 cup of the broth. Lumps is fine. Pour into slow cooker.
- Add remaining broth, carrots, celery, rosemary and thyme into slow cooker.
- Cover and slow cook on LOW for 5 hours. (45 min pressure cook on HIGH, Note 3a for Oven and Stove)
- Add potato, slow cook on LOW for 3 hours. (10 min pressure cooker on HIGH, Note 3b)
- Remove beef. Rest for 5 minutes, then slice thickly.
- Adjust salt and pepper of Sauce to taste.
- Serve beef with vegetables and plenty of sauce! Bread also terrific for mopping up sauce – try these No Knead Dinner Rolls, No Yeast Irish Soda Bread or these fabulous Cheese Muffins.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
More slow cooked beef recipes
Because nothing beats the flavour of beef cooked long and slow until it’s meltingly tender….
Life of Dozer
When the homeless man at the dog park isn’t at his car (usually off tending to the park grounds – best groundskeeper EVER!), I tie food to the boot of his van. Pot Roast, in this case!
And this is Dozer, trying to figure out if he can reach the bag. #SHAMELESS
From my youngest son “Nailed it!”
I’ve been searching for a good pot roast recipe for a long time. I love putting a dish into the oven for hours on a cold winter’s day. This is the best pot roast recipe I’ve found.
What’s your ‘beef’? And what is your suggestion? Any why only 1 star? Very odd post.
Sorry forgot the star rating … recipe is excellent
I love searching for recipes! This gives me new perspectives. I learn this way. I have to say this is a winner in my house. My husband says “what did you do to the beef and the carrots, he couldn’t help it. He tried to share but took them all. He ask if I could make it for Thanksgiving and did! Here comes my brother and his girlfriend. That beef! This is surely a keeper. I love your site it has some amazing recipes. Thank you very much!
This is a great recipe for roast beef chuck. I had a 2 kg chuck cut that was roughly box shaped, so no need for tying with string. I used my enameled dutch oven, and misjudged the capacity. So I ended up roasting all of the potatoes and most of the carrots separately (@ 400 F for about 45 minutes with evoo, salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and Italian herb seasoning). The dutch oven was in the oven at about 300 – 325 for three hours, and then another 3 hrs as low as I could turn down the oven (around 200 F) because we had to go somewhere. The roast was super tender and delicious. I’m sort of glad I did the carrots and (most) of the carrots separately, as it brings out their natural sweetness. A real crowd pleaser, and my new go to recipe for roast beef. Thanks for the great recipe!
PS – The gravy was divine.
This is the best pot roast recipe I have ever tried. My family loved it too! This recipe is a keeper!
I am so grateful for you, Nagi. Your recipes never disappoint. I looked for a roast beef recipe and when I saw yours I knew it would be great. I’m not a roast beef fan (my husband is) but this recipe changed me! It’s fantastic! Thank you.
By far the BEST “roast” beef I have even had!
Perfection in a pot, I would not change a thing. I would never have thought of putting in the flour while it’s cooking. Great idea.
Perfection in a pot! I would change nothing. Yum
Thank you for another wonderful recipe, Nagi! My pot roast was so tender and delicious and the whole family raved about how tasty the roast was. Thank you so much!!
Absolutely delicious! Followed recipe exactly and honestly wouldn’t change a thing. Love all your recipes, you are definitely my go to for recipes
Delicious but very greasy and didn’t thicken much if at all. Next time I’ll make it the day before and refrigerate the liquid separate to the meat and veg, so I can scrape the fat off the top of the liquid (when it’s cold) and make less-fatty gravy with flour before recombining and warming up.
Such perfect comfort food! Absolutely delicious.
Great recipe – really worth the wait (cooked it in the Instant Pot on ‘slow’
– the softest meat I’ve ever managed to prepare!!
This was lovely! I made it with brisket.
Pretty tops. I could only get a bolar blade roast and was worried it was going to be dry, but it wasn’t. Cooked via slow cooker, followed recipe but also added a little Worcestershire, Dijon and Marsala wine. The meat was tender and gravy was flavourful. Served with steamed veg and peas. Really yummy, will make again.
The gravy really makes this dish. It was delicious. We will make it again, but will cook for an extra hour as the meat was still a bit tough after 3h in the oven (I had 1.3kg of chuck).
Made this on Sunday as I was craving a warm, comforting dinner now that winter is here in Queensland. Absolutely delicious. Thank you for a wonderful recipe