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
Nagi, do I leave it slow cook for a total of 8 hours (5+3) or is it a total of 5 hours (2+3)?
Hi Dave! It’s 5 + 3 🙂 So 5 hours, add potatoes, then 3 hours 🙂 N x
1st time making a roast 2nd time using a slow cooker so relied on the recipe cook times… I changed from wine (not vino guy) to a coffee craft stout and it worked well… I will say the amount of cook time was wayyyyyy too long for me regarding the carrots and potatoes… I like my veg with some tooth still there and they were all but mush when dinner was done. Next time they go in last few hours at best
Hi Myk! Yep, definitely add the veggies in right at the end if you want some bite in your vegetables! They definitely are cooked to soft, like in casseroles 🙂 N x
What kind of cooker (brand) did you use to cook this? I need to upgrade, what do you recommend. Thanks much. I love your website!
Hi Chris! I’m in Australia and used a Breville Slow-Fast Cooker, which is a slow cooker and pressure cooker in one 🙂 So glad you enjoy my website! N xx
Thank you.Thought it might be something like that. Time to go shopping!
Hello!
Do you know what the chuck roast equivalent is in Canada? We don’t have Chuck roast in any stores here.
Thanks!
My friend tells me it is called Cross Rib, Top Blade or Bottom Blade. 🙂 Nicely marbled with fat and should be good value! N x
Thanks, Nagi!
Would eye round work?
I have this right now in my slower cooker. It smells amazing!! We can’t wait to enjoy it for dinner tonight! Thank you Nagi.
Hope everyone loves it Michelle! N xx
Hello!
What size slow cooker did you use?
Thanks!
Hi Mark,
I used a 6 qt slow cooker for most everything I cook in a slow cooker. It’s perfect for a family of 4 plus leftovers!
Thanks, Michelle.
I appreciate your reply 🙂
You’re pot roast are the best, the sauce is so good. , my son says ‘it melts in my mouth’”. Don’t have the red wine uses the beef broth, nor the thyme I do have the rosemary although it’s fresh but turn out so good. Thanks . Ruby
P.s. I used the dutch oven and follow exactly the directions .😋
Thank you, you have inspired me to get creative and embrace the joy of cooking for my family. Would White wine work in place of red wine?
Hi Misha! White will be fine – not quite the same as red but it will still add that little something something that is better than not using any wine at all! 🙂 N x
Nagi, I have printed so many of your recipes because they sound so good, but this is the first one I’ve actually cooked….it was amazing, I have a very fussy husband and he loved it, so did the guys as work when they got leftovers the next day. Thank you
LOVE hearing that! 🙂 I’m so glad even Fussy Hubby approved! ❤️
I have been searching for the perfect pot roast recipe for quite a while. Your recipe and proportions were perfect and the results were delicious, congratulations! Idid substitute fresh thyme, fresh rosemary and bay leaf… but otherwise followed it as written! Excellent!! 👏👏👏
So glad you enjoyed this Deb! Thanks for letting me know! N x
Nagi, this the first thing I have ever made in a slow cooker and it was delicious! Just the perfect thing to have after a snowy night in Boston!! I am looking forward to trying more of your recipes.
WHOOT! Welcome to the world of slow cooking – and what a way to make an entrance! 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi. I’m just trying your Pot Roast Recipe today I usually wing it and throw everything in the crock pot, and hopefully it turns out😬. So, we might have company tonight, I thought I better try a recipe this time😁. It’s turning out great. My future hubby even said it looks good, especially with the gravy. Anyways, I’m excited for dinner tonight and I wanted to say THANK YOU for taking the time to put your recipe online. It helps people like me who panic at the last minute (always) and need a recipe FAST. You must be a wonderful person. Take care😊
You’re so welcome Susan! I’m so glad you’re enjoying my recipes! N xx
Made this bad boy AGAIN yesterday, whacking it on before we left for work. OMG, the smell when we arrived home at 5.30pm was sooooooo good. I actually threw in whole potatoes in the morning and when got home cut them in half, absolutely perfect!. To thicken the gravy a tad I included 1/2 cup of risoni which always works a treat and still plenty of gravy to slurp up with bread.
Yesterday was 34 in Brissy with 750% humidity BUT we didn’t care as we scoffed into dinner.
Man oh man Nagi this is a really u-beaut recipe full of flavour to the max. Dinner again tonight, can’t wait.
Ripper Rita!
(Mum’s teriyaki salmon on Tuesday also made it to the ‘pool room’!, leaves the bottled rubbish for dead)
BARB! You absolutely crack me up! 🤣 It sounds crazy to be making pot roast in that weather but I guess a slow cooker is the way to go!! So glad you love this one so much Barb! N xx
After 5 hours in a crockpot on high, the sauce is still watery. I followed the original recipe using flour. Should it already have thickened?
Hi Cristina – it should definitely have thickened by now! Just mix a splash of the broth with 1 tbsp flour, then pour in a bring to simmer, it should thicken 🙂
How long do I cook it if I have it on high in the crock pot?
Hmm, guessing 5 hours 🙂
Bless you for putting in the different cooking methods!!! When possible, I love to use my pressure cooker, but I’m always afraid to “translate” other methods, on my own, to the pressure cooker, lol 🙂
Flour in a pressure cooker can be problematic and sometimes dangerous.
You might want to consider obtaining guidance elsewhere for pressure cooker instructions, or refer to your manufacturer’s instructions. For a few reasons – placing flour in a pressure cooker is discouraged by the manufacturers of pressure cookers and by most reputable cooks / chefs / sites that have experience with pressure cookers.
There is the risk that flour encourages pockets of pressure that retain a level of pressure after the cooker has itself depressurised. When those steams pockets are disturbed (when mixed after the cooker is open) they can jump / explode and scald those nearby. This risk increases when flour has not been thoroughly mixed through and unfortunately the above recipe says “lumps are ok”.
Flour in this style of cooking is acting as a thickener, which leads to other pressure cooker issues including the inability or extended delays in the cooker reaching pressure / generating steam, with flour impacting boiling / steam characteristics required for a pressure cooker. Depending on the style and quality of the cooker – flour can also cause damage to the cooker’s valve or trigger the need for unnecessary time consuming maintenance of the valve.
Some would say this is one the basic pressure cooking rules.
The site was informed of scalding dangers to those following the instructions over 10 days ago. Don’t want anyone to hurt themselves – so providing this comment as a courtesy as the site hasn’t responded or updated the instructions.
Mr. C, thank you so much for your reply and for sharing your information—it was very helpful and I appreciate it!
Sure, no problem. Don’t let this scare you off using your pressure cooker. Best to add flour as a thickener after it has been opened. Recipe also seems to be calling for a lot of liquid for 1 – 2kg of beef plus the veg. In a pressure cooker – thinking 1 to 1 1/2 cups combined wine + stock should be more than enough, but again check your manufacturer’s instructions. Good luck with it.
Hi Mr C! This recipe is intended to have plenty of liquid so the beef is mostly submerged so it absorbs the flavour 🙂 I have never had a problem using flour as a thickener in a pressure cooker and in fact, I made this twice written as is in my pressure cooker (picture – it’s a slow cooker and pressure cooker in one). 🙂 Hope that helps!
Good morning Nagi.
I just made this recipe using the pressure cooker and it came out great even though I am sure I didn’t use the pressure cooker correctly, first time playing with it, lol. I have the fagor lux multicooker and I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to let the pressure release naturally or quickly so I just quick released it. Even with my lack of knowledge, it still came out good. I will try slow cooking it next time though. Thanks for the recipe!
Love hearing that Alexandria! Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed it! N xx
I just put this together and it already smells delicious!!! Looking forward to dinner tonight:)
Hope you LOVE IT Mary!! N xx
Very good recipe for pot roast. We wanted thicker gravy and I didn’t have cornstarch on hand to thicken it as your recipe suggests. Can I just double the amount of flour next time and then cook?
Thanks Nagi!
-Barbara
Hi Barbara! Yep you sure can! The sauce for this is definitely not as thick as your usual gravy for pour over roasts etc, so definitely add more flour if you want it thicker! N x
Nagi, you’re the best! Husband LOVES his beef and gravy. Now I have a question: Do you have a recipe for stuffed peppers. I think you call them capsicum?