Slow Cooker Pot Roast
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This easy slow cooker pot roast cooks low and slow right in the crockpot, yielding the most fall-apart tender beef and the dreamiest gravy!
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Why you’ll love this slow cooker pot roast
- Classic comfort food. Sometimes you just need a classic comfort food dish that brings you back home. Something mom used to make, and something you can simply enjoy on a Sunday night with friends and family with all the crusty bread.
- Easiest crockpot recipe. This is truly the easiest pot roast recipe that can cook all day long in your slow cooker for 7-8 hours, filling up the entire house with a cozy, homey feeling all around.
- Includes a built-in gravy. The meat not only comes out unbelievably fall-apart tender, but the recipe also includes the most perfect gravy that you can make from the leftover cooking juices!
- Freezer-friendly. Pot roast is an excellent dish to freeze for meal prep, whether it’s for a new mom, a neighbor, or a loved one recovering from surgery, keeping in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Key Ingredients
Beef
Boneless chuck roast
Vegetables
Yukon gold potatoes, carrots, celery, and sweet onion
Liquid
Beef broth, red wine, flour, and tomato paste
Aromatics
Garlic, thyme, bay leaf, and parsley
how to make the easiest crockpot pot roast
- Prep the beef. Season the chuck roast liberally with salt and pepper.
- Sear. Brown the chuck roast in a hot cast iron skillet until a nice crust forms, about 3-4 minutes on each side.
- Combine. Whisk together the beef broth, red wine, all-purpose flour, tomato paste, and Worcestershire sauce.
- Layer the ingredients. Place the potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf at the bottom of a 6-qt slow cooker, then stir in the liquid mixture and season with salt and pepper. Place the seared chuck roast on top of the vegetables.
- Cook low and slow. Cover with a lid and cook on low heat for 7-8 hours. The pot roast will be done when it is fork-tender and falling apart.
- Shred the beef. Remove the beef and vegetables from the slow cooker, then pull the meat apart using two forks or a hand mixer. Cover with aluminum foil and keep warm.
- Make the gravy. Strain the leftover cooking juices from the slow cooker into a small saucepan, then skim the fat (or else you’ll end up with greasy gravy). Bring to a gentle simmer until thickened, about 5-10 minutes.
- Serve. Serve the shredded meat with the vegetables, spooning the gravy over on top.
PRO TIP
This pot roast makes for great leftovers.
Use the leftover meat for sandwiches, soups and stews, stroganoff, tacos, burritos, quesadillas and casseroles.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH POT ROAST
Tools For This Recipe
Slow Cooker Pot Roast: Frequently Asked Questions
Chuck roast is ideal but brisket or rump roast (bottom round roast) can also be used.
Not at all! Additional beef broth can be used for red wine as a non-alcoholic substitute but broth will be less acidic and more mild in flavor than red wine.
Absolutely! But because dried herbs are often more potent and concentrated than fresh herbs, you need less when using dry. For example, the correct ratio is 1 tablespoon fresh thyme = 1 teaspoon dried thyme.
The pot roast is ready when it easily pulls apart with a fork. If there’s any resistance, that’s a sign that the connective tissue (collagen) has not broken down yet. You can also insert a digital thermometer into the thickest part of the roast, checking that it reaches 190-205°F.
Yes! Don’t have 7-8 hours to wait in the slow cooker? Here is one of my favorite pot roast recipes made in the oven.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Pot roast freezes like a dream and can keep in the freezer for 2-3 months, perfect for quick and easy meals during those busy weeks ahead.
Slow Cooker Pot Roast
Video
Ingredients
- 3 pound boneless chuck roast, excess fat trimmed
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 ½ tablespoons canola oil
- 1 ½ cups beef broth
- ½ cup dry red wine
- ¼ cup all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes
- 3 carrots, cut into 3-inch pieces
- 2 ribs celery, cut into 3-inch pieces
- 1 medium sweet onion, cut into 1-inch wedges
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 6 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
- Season beef with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon black pepper.
- Heat canola oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add beef and cook until evenly browned, about 3-4 minutes per side.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together beef broth, wine, flour, tomato paste and Worcestershire; set aside.
- Place potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, thyme and bay leaf into a 6-qt slow cooker. Stir in beef broth mixture; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Top with beef.
- Cover and cook on low heat for 7-8 hours, or until beef is fork-tender.
- Remove beef, potatoes, carrots, celery and onion from the slow cooker; shred beef, using two forks. Cover with aluminum foil.
- Strain cooking juices through a fine-mesh sieve into a small saucepan over medium heat; discard solids. Skim any remaining fat from surface and discard. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, whisking constantly, until desired thickness, about 5-10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve beef, potatoes, carrots, celery and onion with juices immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.
Equipment
Notes
- Sear the meat. Searing the chuck roast – top, bottom, sides, everything and all around – over medium high heat will add all the extra, deeper flavors here, sealing all the juices inside.
- Choose a wine you will drink. A dry red wine (cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir or merlot) is great here – it does not have to be anything fancy or overpriced. Just something you don’t mind sipping on since you will have an open bottle.
- Yukon golds hold up very well. Yukon golds hold up much better throughout the long cook time than russet potatoes, which tend to break down and fall apart. Red potatoes can also be used.
- Carrots and celery should be cut in larger pieces. The vegetables should be cut a little larger here as they will cook down quite a bit in the slow cooker (or else they will be overcooked, fall apart and turn to mush).
- Tomato paste adds so much flavor. Tomato paste is a key ingredient in pot roast, adding body and richness in small amounts without adding too much liquid to the roast. Opt for tomato paste in a tube, using up only what you need at a time without having to open up a whole can.
- Freeze as needed. Pot roast freezes like a dream! Freeze the shredded meat separately from the sauce, packing the meat tightly in freezer bags with a little bit of the cooking juices to prevent the meat from drying out. To reheat, thaw overnight in the fridge, reheating over low heat, stirring occasionally, until heated through.
- Serve with crusty bread. Serve with all the homemade crusty bread for dipping, sopping and dunking in the leftover gravy!
Did you make this recipe?
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The name damn delicious is very appropriate. Pot roast came out tender & flavorful Gravy was perfect I will definitely make this again.
I have never found a great slow cooker pot roast recipe until this one. Very tasty even with the smaller amount of salt that I added. Everyone in the family enjoyed it and we have leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
I make this exactly to the recipe with one exception – on the recommendation of some Jewish friends, I substitute one cup of Manishevitz wine -any sweet Kosher wine will do. It somehow breaks down the fibers in the meat making it the most tender we have ever had. Today is the fourth time I’ve made it since discovering your website.
That looks delicious! Gonna try it this weekend (but might be hard to get my hands on some ingredients).
Delicious. Thank for the simple recipe. It came so tender and delicious.
It was amazing. Followed the recipe to a T and was not disappointed
Im so happy I tried this recipe. My slow cooker pot roast turned out AMAZING!! It filled the house with the most amazing smell too. Thank you. Also, I just have to say, “Damn delicious” is literally the BEST recipe and weight loss community anywhere on the internet. I always find cool new stuff to try everyday and am so grateful I found KetoCustomPlan. This was truly a game changer for me. It created a custom keto meal-plan tailored around what I already like to eat that worked FAST!! I not only lost weight quickly but kept it off for good! I hope this helps some others.
Emily, are you reviewing the recipe, or spamming and promoting the keto custom program???
Excellent recipe! I deglazed the browning pan with some extra red wine and added that to the crock pot as well! Easy recipe just have to wait till it cooks. Recommend this for flavor and ease of prep!
Excellent!! I used broth instead of wine!, lots of carrots, no celery, lots of garlic and a can of fire roasted petite tomatoes! Cooked it on low, done in 7 hours!! Used rosemary, out of thyme!! (Not a pun)
I don’t think I could find all the ingredients you listed in the recipe. But my wife said she already keep this in her bucket list.
Pot roast perfection. I prefer less fatty cuts of meat and it was richly delicious in every bite. I also prefer less of a tomato base so I cut back on the paste but did include some which added to the flavor profile of the amazing gravy. Highly recommend!
looks delicious . my husband and i are preparing this roast recipe as we speak!
While sheltering in place, I wanted real comfort food and this was it! Damn delicious for sure! After it was done, I did pull off the broth and after removing most of the oil (my roast was HUGELY FAT), I used the broth and some extra flour to make the gravy. I can pretty much grab a recipe from your website and love it.
I made this recipe pretty much to the word, except I didn’t have wine (drank it all day before unfortunately) so I added more beef broth. Maybe that was the reason the gravy didn’t thicken. It smells delicious and it shredded nicely after cooking for 7.5 hours. Have to wait for hubby to get home now, excited to see how it tastes! I am concerned about the tomato paste comment because mine isn’t as brown, but we’ll see! Thanks for an easy-to-follow recipe!
I made the slow cooker roast beef very delicious.
I love cooking. I will be using some of your recipes. Thank you for sharing.
Best ever! As noted by others left out celery..halfed the tomato paste. No kidding..best.
great recipe!
Added ‘shrooms and deleted the potatoes (we had ’em last night)
Set up to cook @ 9:15 –> done to perfection by 5:30
Loved it all, gravy worked great right out of pan.
Thanks and stay safe!
Worked like a dream! Family favorite. Thank you.
We have made this a couple times and have it dialed in to suit our taste.
First I agree with the other reviewers: cut the tomato paste in half.
We subbed out celery for mushrooms for obvious reasons.
Also we deglaze the pan we cook the meat in with a little wine and into the pot it goes.
We have found the gravy to be thick enough straight out of the pot, but we are into mashing up the potatoes or swabbing up the gravy with bread.
The one problem with this recipe is you have to open a bottle of red wine at 8AM. This is s problem because I have to have a glass! Does this mean I’m a problem drinker?
Does this mean I’m a problem drinker? Not if you’re French (like I am).
Great additions to the recipe. Thank you! I deglazed and it was ridiculously hard not to get a glass out for the open bottle of wine!
Planning to make pot roast next week while my sister in law is staying with us. I’m torn between this recipe and your instant pot version… which one should I try out?
This one!! You don’t need speed today, but need kthe house smelling great.