Tender Pot Roast simmered in a rich gravy is the perfect winter comfort meal. It’s also great for anyone short on time, with your trusty slow cooker doing a majority of the work!
Fall apart, tender pot roast slow cooked and smothered in a delicious gravy with potatoes and carrots. A warm and hearty dinner recipe; this beef roast can be thrown together with minimal effort and maximum flavour.
POT ROAST
When it comes to a wholesome Sunday dinner, nothing quite beats a classic pot roast! As much as we love our Beef Tenderloin Roast and Pork Roast, a pot roast really knows how to hit the spot on a cool Sunday evening.
Filling your home with the mouth-watering aroma of rich gravy, earthy vegetables and tender beef, this roast can be cooked in a slow cooker, Instant Pot or traditional oven.
WHAT IS POT ROAST?
Pot roast is a big, tough beef cut (usually a cheap cut, perfect for slow cooking), seared, covered and cooked slow with herbs and veggies in a flavourful broth until fall-apart-tender.
A good pot roast can be made with any cut of beef roast: chuck roast, round roast, or briskets. The beef is seasoned and seared then added to your slow cooker or Instant Pot with a braising liquid—for this recipe, you’re going to use beef broth and red wine to help tenderise the meat and add a deeper flavour.
There are three main steps you should follow to achieve the perfect pot roast:
- SEAR your roast first: the flavour you get when searing your meat first is incredible. The fat is rendered while juices are sealed. This step is well worth the extra time and dishes. While slow cooking, the meat will release amazing flavour into your gravy.
- ADD veggies.
- SLOW COOK using whichever method you like!
Once all three steps have been completed, you’ll be left with a gorgeous pot roast gravy to pour over your finished meat and vegetables.
WHAT VEGETABLES TO USE
A pot roast usually includes a classic mix of:
POTATOES: Yukon gold, red potatoes or peeled russet potatoes.
ONIONS: White or yellow onions are the best to use for adding flavour while slow braising.
CARROTS: Add them peeled or unpeeled. Make sure you cut them into thick chunks, as slicing them into thin discs will turn to mush.
WHAT CUT OF MEAT TO USE
This might sound crazy, but tough cuts of meat with lots of connective tissue that would be like chewing shoe leather if cooked quickly are the perfect cuts to use.
- Chuck Roast: tender, falls apart and easy to shred.
- Brisket: has a lot of connective tissue making it a fattier cut that gets super tender while cooking slow, but can still be sliced for serving.
- Round: (bottom round, top round) a lean and easy to slice cut.
Slow cooking these cuts breaks the collagen down, tenderising the meat. The beef releases its juices into the broth, oozing incredible flavour into your roast. Adding flour or cornstarch turns that liquid gold into a delicious, thick gravy.
HOW LONG TO COOK POT ROAST IN CROCK POT
Season roast with a good amount of salt and pepper and sear on all sides until browned (about 5-6 minutes each side). Transfer roast to the bowl of a 6-quart slow cooker. Add in all remaining ingredients and cook on low for 8 hours. The meat will be falling apart, and the vegetables soft and tender. Remember to taste test and add extra red wine, brown sugar, salt or pepper if needed.
PRO TIP: It’s better to cook pot roast on the low setting rather than the high setting. Your meat will be tender and delicious every time.
HOW LONG TO COOK POT ROAST IN INSTANT POT
Heat oil in the Instant Pot and set to ‘saute’. When oil is hot, sear on all sides until browned (about 4-5 minutes each side). Add in all remaining ingredients and cook on high pressure for 60 minutes, followed by a 15 minute natural release. Then use the quick pressure lever to release any remaining pressure. Carefully remove the lid and transfer the roast and veggies to a warm plate.
PRO TIP: the natural release portion of electric pressure cooking is an important step. We have found that if you release the pressure immediately after cooking, your beef may toughen up. Letting the pressure cooker sit for 15 minutes during the natural release stage produces a tender result.
HOW LONG TO COOK POT ROAST IN OVEN
Use a dutch or heavy based oven-proof pot to sear your well-seasoned roast. Transfer the roast to a plate. Sauté garlic for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the stock and wine to deglaze your pan, scraping up any browned bits. Whisk in the flour and let cook for about 4 minutes (don’t worry about any lumps, they will cook out).
Add the rest of your ingredients, bring to a simmer, cover with a lid (or foil) and transfer to your preheated oven. Roast for 3-4 hours, or until meat is starting to fall apart. Transfer the roast, carrots, and potatoes to a warm plate, and use a spoon to skim the fat off the surface of the cooking liquid. Cut the roast into thick slices, and serve with the vegetables.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH POT ROAST:
Easy Creamy Mashed Potatoes Recipe
Cheesy Garlic Bread
Rice
Buttery Sautéed Green Beans
Slow Cooker Pot Roast
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 pounds chuck roast or blade roast, boneless and trimmed of excess fat
- 2 yellow onions chopped
- 8 cloves garlic smashed with the back of a spoon
- 1 pound baby potatoes white or Yukon gold, you may need to halve them if they are too large
- 4 carrots large, cut into 2-inch pieces
- 2 celery stalks cut into 1-inch pieces
- ½ cup dry red wine
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 2 teaspoons crushed bouillon
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- ½ teaspoon black pepper or to taste, freshly ground
- 1 cup reduced-sodium beef broth
- 2 tablespoons plain flour optional - for a thick gravy
- 2 tablespoons parsley fresh, chopped, to serve
Instructions
SLOW COOKER:
- Heat oil in a large skillet or pan over high heat. Season roast with a good amount of salt and pepper. Sear on all sides until browned (about 5-6 minutes each side). Transfer roast to the bowl of a 6-quart slow cooker.
- Add the onions, garlic, potatoes, carrots, celery, wine, mustard, brown sugar, thyme and bouillon. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Mix the stock with the flour and pour into the slow cooker bowl (don't worry about any lumps, they will cook out).
- Cook on low setting for 8 hours, or until meat is tender and falling apart and the vegetables are soft.
- Taste test and add any extra wine, brown sugar, salt, or pepper, if needed.
- Slice meat, garnish with parsley and drizzle with gravy.
INTANT POT:
- Season roast with a good amount of salt and pepper. Heat oil in the Instant Pot and set to 'Saute'. When oil is hot, sear on all sides until browned (about 4-5 minutes each side).
- Add the onions, garlic, potatoes, carrots, celery, wine, mustard, brown sugar, thyme and bouillon. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Mix the stock with the flour and pour into the slow cooker bowl (don't worry about any lumps, they will cook out). Place lid on Instant pot with the steam valve closed.
- Change Instant Pot setting to 'manual' mode for 60 minutes on 'high' pressure.
- When time is up and the cooker beeps, turn it off and allow pressure to release naturally for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, use the quick pressure lever to release any remaining pressure. Carefully remove the lid and transfer the roast and veggies to a warm plate.
OVEN:
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Heat oil in a dutch oven or heavy based oven-proof pot over medium-high heat. Season roast all over with a good amount of salt and pepper. Sear until brown on all sides (about 4-5 minutes each side).
- Transfer the roast to a plate. Sauté onions until transparent, then add garlic and cook for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the stock and wine to deglaze your pan, scraping up any browned bits. Whisk in the flour and let cook for about 4 minutes (don't worry about any lumps, they will cook out).
- Transfer the roast back into the pot. Add the potatoes, carrots, celery, mustard, brown sugar, thyme and bouillon. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Bring to a simmer, cover with lid (or foil) and transfer to the oven. Roast for 3-4 hours until the meat is tender and falling apart. (Check roast after 1 ½ hours. If the liquid has mostly been absorbed, stir in 1 cup of extra broth and continue cooking.)
- Transfer the roast, carrots, and potatoes to a warm plate. With a spoon, skim the fat off the surface of the cooking liquid. Cut the roast into thick slices, and serve with the vegetables. Pass the pan juices separately.
Janet says
Best pot roast recipe ever! We receive plenty of compliments when served. We make it in a crockpot with chuck roast. Initially, we did not have all ingredients on hand so we substituted as follows, and the dish turned out wonderfully so we subsequently use same subs:
* 2T Worcestershire sauce for bouillon
* 1/2c more beef broth (added to the 1c of beef broth) for dry red wine
One last tip, after searing & moving roast to the crockpot, remove pan from heat, pour beef broth into the pan, scrape the tasty bits off the pan with a spatula, then slowly add flour and mix (as stated in recipe clumps may remain as any lumps will break down with 8hrs of slow roasting).
Turns out tender and packed with flavor every time. Thanks for sharing!
Hylton J Walter says
I have cooked this recipe to death. I love pot roast and this recipie is so simple. The only thing, i think, would make it better is adding the onion, minced garlic, and celery in way later on as when it cooks down the onion garlic celery combo becomes mushy and is reduced completely so they don’t appear in the finished product. Also when the onion becomes mush like that it leave a horrible aftertaste. I discovered this and conclude it is the onion when cooked too long leave a slightly unpleasant aftertaste.
Judy Ferguson says
Tried this today and it was amazing! Definitely making it again.
Erin says
I know this recipe is a few years old now but I still make it as my go-to roast recipe. I just wanted to add that my mother in law added fig balsamic vinegar and it amped up the flavor even more. Just thought I would share in case someone wanted to try it.
Karina says
Hi Erin, I appreciate you sharing that wonderful addition to the recipe! Fig balsamic vinegar sounds like a fantastic twist that could bring a delightful depth of flavor to the roast. It’s great to know that this recipe remains a go-to for you, and I’m sure your tip will be helpful for others looking to enhance the dish!
Cathy Fischl says
This recipe was a great find! Only thing I changed was using rosemary instead of thyme (which I was out of). It was DELISH! Can hardly wait for leftovers tomorrow! Thanks!!
Baby Kato says
Thank you for sharing your lovely recipe. The roast was fantastic. It easily fell apart and tasted devine, just as good as it smelled. Made as written for a wonderful meal, the only difference was I used a fig balsamic, it was all I had on hand, it worked really well in the dish. I’ll be making this recipe often.
Barbara says
I made this tonight and it was totally delicious! Saving this and will be making again soon!
Rose says
This was so good and so easy! I used the slow cooker and especially liked that the vegetables didn’t get mushy even after 6 hours (I had a smaller roast so it took less time) because they were on top of the meat and not under the liquid for most of the cook time so they got super concentrated and delicious but not overcooked. Highly recommend!