Description
This perfect Southern Pot Roast recipe is truly like a tight + warm hug made edible, y’all. Beef chuck roast slowly cooks with fragrant spices, herbs, vegetables, and potatoes in a super-rich onion gravy. The beef is luxuriously silky, meltingly tender, and succulent. It’s a classic pot roast recipe that you can rely on with flavor-loaded results every time. You can execute this cozy staple in the slow cooker or oven!
Ingredients
- 3 – 3 ½ lbs boneless beef chuck roast
- 2 tablespoons Creole Cajun seasoning, homemade or store-bought
- 2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil, for browning & sautéing
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 1 bell pepper, chopped
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 2 tablespoons garlic paste
- 2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 Beefy Onion Soup packet (see notes)
- 3-4 sprigs fresh rosemary, destemmed
- 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme, destemmed
- 1 ½ cups baby carrots
- 1 lb gold baby potatoes
- 1 cup water (or beef broth)
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch + 3 tablespoons water, mixed together (for cornstarch slurry)
Instructions
- Season & rest the beef. On a large plate or medium-rimmed baking sheet, season the chuck roast with Cajun seasoning, use your hands to rub the seasoning into the beef until well coated all over. Set the beef aside to rest and allow it to come up to room temperature for at least 30 minutes. Note: The following instructions are for slow cooking method. For oven method instructions, see notes.
- Brown the chuck roast. In a large skillet/pan over medium-high heat, add 2 tablespoons of oil. When hot, gently swirl the pan around to evenly coat the bottom. Add the chuck roast to the pan. Sear the beef until a deep brown crust appears, about 4-5 minutes. Then flip the beef over to the other side to brown, about 4-5 minutes. Then place the browned chuck roast into your slow cooker vessel- but don’t turn off the stovetop heat.
- Sauté the veggies. Reduce the heat to medium- there should be some oil still in the pan but if your pan looks dry, add a tablespoon of oil only as needed. Then add the onion, bell pepper, and celery into the pan and sauté until tender and golden, about 5-7 minutes. Then remove from heat.
- Assemble the braise. Transfer the sautéed veggie mixture to the slow cooker with the browned beef. Then add the garlic paste, worcestershire sauce, butter, beefy onion soup packet, fresh rosemary + thyme, baby carrots, baby potatoes, and water. Gently stir/toss all the ingredients together until briefly combined in the slow cooker.
- Slow-cook the pot roast. Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 6-7 hours or on high for 4-5 hours; until the beef is cooked through and fall-apart tender.
- Finish & shred the beef. Lastly, after slow cooking, make a slurry by combining the cornstarch with water and then pour that into the slow cooker. Stir well to combine with the pot roast and let sit for about 10-15 minutes, stirring every so often, until slightly thickened. Now let’s shred the beef- you can do this in 2 ways. Shred the tender beef with two forks right in the slow cooker vessel itself or remove the beef and place it on a large plate/rimmed baking sheet and shred with two forks. We’re not looking to totally shred up the beef- just enough to create nice chunks of beef. Stir the chunked beef with the pot roast braising liquid until nicely saturated.
- Serve this hearty pot roast as-is or alongside mashed potatoes and cooked peas for a complete homestyle meal, as desired. Enjoy!
Notes
- Beefy Onion Soup Mix: We use Lipton Recipe Secrets Beefy Onion, it’s a dry seasoning mix found in the soup aisle of grocery stores!
- Oven instructions are included in the blog post if needed.
- Please read blog post in its entirety for more tips + tricks.