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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This looks delicious. I generally just make a beef stew out if chuck steak, a pot roast though looks like a great idea.
Thank you ! 10 stars for this one! Sooo delicious! My whole family loved it! I loved the ease, the flavours and – just one dish for the whole family! Shredded beef burgers the next night were a hit as well! Definitely my go-to roast dish. ❤️
Wonderful recipe. I followed the recipe but added a bit more beef broth when I added my potatoes.
I made this tonight and it really was very good. It’s a keeper.
Hi, Chungah! I make this all the time this way. I did notice in your second pic above, you had also included in the photo, fresh Thyme. And I always add that too, but did I miss it in your ingredient list? Love your recipes and photos, always perfect!
Hello can I increase the stock in place of the red wine? Or would you recommend substituting something else?
Can we do this in a crock pot?
Leslie: Definitely. 10 hours on Low should make it perfect. Covered, of course.
Hi Chungah ,
Yes, cooking low and slow is the best way; unfortunately, as we get more and more pressed for time, we tend to go for quicker recipes.
Of course, it’s not the same. We do need to find the time and go back to the traditional way of cooking.
Thyme and rosemary are on top of my favorite seasonings, and I find myself using mushrooms, more and more.
Thank you for this fabulous recipe!
XOXO!
What can be substituted for the wine?