Perfect Pot Roast
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Truly the best melt-in-your-mouth pot roast, cooked low and slow and simmered until perfection. Serve with crusty bread!
Featured Comment
Cooked low and slow, this pot roast is perfect. Just perfect. The meat comes out incredibly tender and it is simply melt-in-your-mouth fall apart goodness. It’s ridiculous, really.
The secret is letting it simmer right in the oven for a few hours to make sure all the flavors really come together. Even the veggies soak up all that saucy goodness.
When ready to serve, make sure you serve with those precious leftover juices alongside some crusty bread and the leftover wine you had to use for the recipe. We don’t let anything go to waste here.
tips and tricks for success
- Patience. Making pot roast is a labor of love. Do not try to rush the process and increase the heat for faster results. Low and slow is the name of the game here.
- Use a heavy pot. A heavy bottom pot, such as a Dutch oven, is ideal here for slow cooking and even heat distribution. A tight fitting lid also traps all the lovely moisture inside, yielding the juiciest pot roast.
- 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.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH POT ROAST
Tools For This Recipe
Dutch oven
Perfect Pot Roast: Frequently Asked Questions
We recommend using chuck roast for the best results possible. Brisket or rump roast (bottom round roast) can also be used.
Additional beef stock can be used for red wine as a non-alcoholic substitute. Stock will be less acidic and more mild in flavor than red wine.
Absolutely! But because dried herbs are often more potent/concentrated than fresh herbs, you need less when using dry. The correct ratio is 1 tablespoon fresh herbs to 1 teaspoon dried herbs.
Yes! You can absolutely make pot roast in the slow cooker or Instant Pot.
Perfect Pot Roast
Ingredients
- 4 pounds boneless chuck roast, excess fat trimmed
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 medium sweet onion, cut into 1-inch wedges
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup dry red wine*
- 1 cup beef stock
- 3 large carrots, cut into 3-inch pieces
- 8 ounces cremini mushrooms
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary
- 1 ½ pounds small Yukon gold potatoes
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- Season beef with 2 teaspoons salt and 3/4 teaspoon black pepper.
- Heat canola oil in a Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add beef and cook until evenly browned, about 5-6 minutes per side; set aside.
- Reduce heat to medium. Add onion, and cook, stirring frequently, until tender, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in tomato paste and garlic until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Stir in wine and beef stock, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the Dutch oven.
- Stir in carrots, mushrooms, thyme and rosemary; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer. Top with beef.
- Place into oven, covered, and bake for 2 hours. Uncover and add potatoes; place into oven, covered, and bake until beef is fork-tender, about 1 hour to 1 hour and 30 minutes.
- Let stand 15 minutes. Remove beef from the Dutch oven; shred, using two forks.
- Serve beef, potatoes, carrots and mushrooms with juices immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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Delicious and so easy to make! I think next time I’ll add a few more carrots but it was otherwise perfect! Even though there were potatoes within, we served them with mashed potatoes, which pair nicely. Thank you for another delicious recipe!
Best pot roast ever! My 15 year old gives it 5 star. I did speed up the process by cutting the meat in quarters after I browned it, other than that, I followed the recipe. This website is my go to for a lot of my cooking at home and it’s always a hit. Thank you for creating damn delicious recipes that my whole family can enjoy.
Help – making this now- step #7 = Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer. (For how long??) Top with Beef. Then goes on to Step 8.
Such a reliable recipe! And easy to throw together! I had some parsnips from my garden and included them along with the carrots, absolutely delicious!! My husband was so excited when he realized I was making it
This is a wonderful recipe. I added three stalks of celery, two bay leaves, and doubled up on the garlic, onions and carrots.
Will definitely make this again!
Marinated approx an hour. Started in castiron skillet in avocado oil and finished in oven. Did add a dollop of dijon mustard to the marinade & stuffed a few thicker sliced of garlic into cuts in the meat. Let set for approx 15 min and sliced thin, against grain. Everyone loved loved loved this recipe. Three small pieces left from a whole roast & my 6 year old wants the leftovers in his lunch tomorrow. Did not make the gravy, served with the drippings from the pan and still pleased the masses.. i ate my serving over a bed of mixed greens, grated carrot and sliced boiled eggs. Give it a go!
Delicious! Turns out perfectly every time. I started adding a few more veggies than called for and that is great as well. I’ve tried it with both the red wine and beef stock options. Just perfect! Your recipes are so solid. If I see one of your recipes, I know it’s going to be good. Thank you!
My new family and I love this recipe. So tender and great flavor. I used a cook-in-bag to bake it
Thank you
Absolutely delicious! Made it according to recipe, with one exception-portobello mushrooms instead of cremini. Unfortunately, cremini mushrooms were not available. My family devoured the roast. It was stellar. I will make this recipe again.
Made this for supper yesterday and it was delicious! Easy but time consuming with the long cook time; but so worth it. Wife said it was the best pot roast ever, and I could not (nor did I want to) disagree. Five stars, no problem.
Wow. This really IS the perfect pot roast recipe. Made with Wagyu chuck eye and a French cab sav… it turned out just perfect. Kids were ecstatic. This will definitely be made many times more! Thanks!
Looking forward to making this dish. Can I use my cast iron Dutch oven on the burner instead of the oven?
Thanks
Are you on you tube? I wanted to save link, and add to favorites. Can’t figure out how with your platform.
We just had a delicious dinner. Thank you, 5 adults that were visiting shared our dinner.
Absolutely delicious!
I have made this several times. It’s my go-to pot roast recipe. Absolutely delicious!
I made the Perfect Pot Roast. The sauce and vegetables were delicious. The beef looked amazing but I was not able to get it to ‘shred’. I purchased the 3 lb boneless chuck roast … looked like your photos . . . and cooked it accordingly (2 hrs and then 1 hr). What is the tip to get the beef to be tender?
Thanks. Love your recipes.
Anne
When any meat is tough to shred, or tough in general it’s because it’s under cooked or cooked at too low of a temperature that the fat on/in the meat doesn’t render fully leaving you with a tough piece of beef.
I made the Perfect Pot Roast. The sauce and vegetables were delicious. The beef looked amazing but I was not able to get it to ‘shred’. I purchased the 3 lb boneless chuck roast … looked like your photos . . . and cooked it accordingly (2 hrs and then 1 hr). What is the tip to get the beef to be tender?
Thanks. Love your recipes.
Anne
Perfection in a pot – tender meat, perfectly cooked vegetables!
Minor changes – half roast size, more vegetable & skipped the potatoes but served with a sweet & russet potato mash. Roasting in the oven can’t be beat. Oh, also per your narrative, I felt comfortable swapping oregano & added small bay leaf – tasted great. Thank you Chugah – perfect!
This recipe was a total hit. The chuck roast was succulent, the sauce rich and flavorful, and the vegetables perfectly cooked. It’s a dish that warms the heart and satisfies the soul. It is a definite five-star experience!