The Feel-Good Beef Pot Roast Recipe of My Childhood.
Several months ago, I asked our PWWB Instagram community about your all-time favorite comfort food. The most popular response by far? POT ROAST! I was a bit surprised but also totally psyched.
I’m all in on comfort food, and this oven-braised pot roast with vegetables is exactly that–cozy, flavorful, and packed with all the best things in life. It’s a seriously satisfying meal!
This Extra-Veggies Beef Pot Roast is inspired by the pot roasts my Mom made throughout my childhood. While everyone else went straight for the meat, my favorite part was always the slowly braised vegetables. Eventually, Mom got tired of me hoarding all of the potatoes and carrots, so she started adding extra veggies just for me. 🙃
This pot roast is packed with twice the veggies of a classic recipe, plus a few flavor-boosting secret ingredients that take it to the next level:
- A generous splash of Worcestershire sauce (my favorite savory umami bomb)
- A ton of fresh garlic
- And a good ol’ packet of onion soup mix (so retro but so good!)
Chuck roast braises slowly in the oven, on the stovetop, or in a slow cooker or Instant Pot for an easy, hands-off dinner until it’s melt-in-your-mouth tender. Loads of veggies and rich beef gravy make this a super satisfying, all-in-one meal–perfect for cold winter nights and Sunday suppers. I can’t wait for you to try it!
Maximum Flavor, Minimal Effort
3 foolproof secrets to low-fuss, flavor-packed dinners, learned from years working in restaurants.
Key Ingredients
Beef chuck roast – In my opinion, beef chuck roast is the best meat for pot roast, but you can also use other cuts like brisket or top round with lots of connective tissue. Tough cuts yield the best results when braising as the low and slow heat gently turns the hard-working tissues into rich, melt-in-your-mouth tender meat!
Onion Soup Mix
It may be a little retro, but I looove a good ol’ packet of onion soup mix. All throughout my childhood, it was one of Mom’s go-to secret ingredients (which you may recall from our PWWB House Burgers, one of my all-time favorite easy summer recipes). For me, it tastes like pure nostalgia!
As a bonus, making pot roast with onion soup mix is a seriously easy way to add instant flavor! These packets are filled with a ton of rich beef-enhancing French onion flavor with no added effort.
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Buy Now → How to Cook a Pot Roast (with Extra Veggies!)
One of the things I love most about this recipe is the fact that it’s seriously easy to prepare. Once everything is in the pot, the pot roast practically cooks itself!
First, prep the chuck roast. About 30 minutes before cooking, take your beef out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature. Why? ⇢ Bringing the meat to room temperature helps it sear evenly and stay juicy. Plus, you’ll spend less time battling moisture and more time getting that perfect, golden-brown crust!
Pat the roast dry to remove any moisture, then season generously with salt and pepper and lightly dust the beef with flour. Sear the roast for 3-4 minutes per side, making sure to brown the ends and narrow sides too! Why? ⇢ Browning the meat kicks off the Maillard reaction, a process that creates a deep, golden crust and layers in rich, savory flavor throughout the pot roast.
Assemble the pot roast in the same pot you used to brown the chuck roast, so you can capture all that rich flavor. Add the veggies, garlic, beef stock, Worcestershire sauce, and onion soup mix. Gently push the veggies to the outer edge of the Dutch oven, then nestle the browned roast in the center. Cover and transfer to the oven to braise for 3 – 3 ½ hours. You’ll know it’s done when the beef is fork-tender–and your kitchen will smell amazing!
Alternate Cooking Methods
While I love making pot roast in the oven, this easy pot roast recipe is seriously flexible. You can cook it on the stovetop, in a slow cooker or Crockpot, or in an Instant Pot or comparable electric pressure cooker. Check the Recipe Notes, below, for step-by-step guidance!
Serving Suggestions: A Super Simple Pot Roast Gravy
If you’d like to make a pot roast gravy by thickening the pot roast sauce, you can do so very quickly & easily. It’s a completely optional step but I personally love it!
How to make pot roast gravy ⇢ Transfer the beef and veggies from the Dutch oven to a serving platter. Return the pot to the stovetop over medium heat. Prep a quick slurry by whisking flour into warm beef stock, then stir the slurry into the pot with all of the leftover beef juices. As the mixture simmers it will thicken into a gravy-like consistency in about 3-4 minutes. Easy!
I can’t wait for you to try Mom’s Extra-Veggies Pot Roast recipe! It’s one of my all-time favorites and I know you’ll love it just as much as we do.
If you do give it a try, be sure to let me know! Leave a comment with a star rating below. You can also snap a photo and tag @playswellwithbutter on Instagram. We LOVE seeing your PWWB creations! ♡ Happy cooking!
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Extra-Veggie Pot Roast (Oven, Slow Cooker, and Instant Pot!)
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 hours 45 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours
- Yield: serves 6-8 1x
- Category: Main Dish, Beef Recipes
- Method: Oven Braised
- Cuisine: American
Description
The classic Braised Beef Pot Roast recipe of my childhood, with a few extra-special touches from Mom! Chuck roast is quickly seasoned and seared to create a base layer of flavor, then the pot roast is assembled with an extra-generous amount of veggies and retro-yet-delicious onion soup mix. An hours-long oven braise coaxes big, bold flavor out of the beef and vegetables for a seriously rich, fall-apart tender, and super easy pot roast. The ultimate comfort food meal, perfect for cold winter nights and Sunday suppers!
Stovetop Dutch oven pot roast, slow cooker, and Instant pot directions provided in the Recipe Notes, below.
Ingredients
- 3 – 3 ½ pounds boneless beef chuck roast, trimmed of excess fat
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 24 ounces baby gold potatoes (1 ½ pounds), halved as needed
- 6 medium carrots (1 pound), peeled as desired and roughly chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
- 2 medium yellow onions, sliced into sixths or eighths
- 8–10 cloves garlic, smashed
- 2 cups beef stock or broth
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- Two 1-ounce envelopes onion soup mix
- optional: flour slurry (1 heaping tablespoon flour whisked into 1 cup warm beef stock)
- kosher salt and ground black pepper, to season
Instructions
- Prep: 20-30 minutes before you’d like to begin preparing your pot roast, transfer the beef chuck roast from the refrigerator to the kitchen counter, allow it to come to room temperature for even searing. When you’re ready to begin preparing your pot roast, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F, ensuring a rack is situated in the center of the oven. Gather and prep all ingredients according to Ingredients List, above.
- Brown the chuck roast: Add the olive oil to a large, heavy-bottomed oven-safe pot with a tight fitting lid over medium-high heat (I use a 5-qt or 7-qt Dutch oven). Use paper towel to pat the surface of the beef chuck roast as dry as possible. Generously season with 1 tablespoon kosher salt and ground black pepper as desired. Spread the flour out on a large plate, then place the beef chuck roast over top, pressing to lightly coat the surface of the roast in flour. Shake off any excess flour. Once the oil in the pot is shimmering hot, carefully add in the seasoned dredged roast. Cook 3-4 minutes per side, including the ends & narrow sides, until nicely browned. Transfer the browned chuck roast to a plate & set aside.
- Assemble the pot roast: To the same pot used to brown the chuck roast, add in the baby potatoes, carrots, yellow onions, garlic, beef stock, Worcestershire sauce, and onion soup mix. Stir to combine. Use a wooden spoon to push the vegetables to the sides of the pot, then nestle the browned chuck roast in the center. Bring the pot roast to a simmer.
- Braise the pot roast: Cover the Dutch oven and carefully transfer the pot roast to the preheated oven to braise for 3 – 3 1/2 hours, until the chuck roast is fork-tender (i.e. it shreds very easily with a fork).
- Optional: Thicken the pot roast sauce: Once the beef is fork-tender, remove the pot from the oven. Carefully transfer the chuck roast and vegetables to a serving platter and set aside. Place the Dutch oven back on the stovetop over medium heat. Measure the beef stock in a liquid measuring cup, warming it in the microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Whisk in the flour. Once combined, add it to the Dutch oven – whisking constantly, stir in the flour slurry. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes until thickened as desired. Taste and season with additional kosher salt and ground black pepper as needed.
- Serve: Serve the pot roast immediately with the braised vegetables and the pot roast sauce. Enjoy!
Notes
- Gluten-Free Variation: For a gluten-free pot roast, simply swap the flour with your favorite 1:1 gluten-free flour or substitute with an equal amount of cornstarch.
- Make-Ahead, Storage and Freezing:
- Storage and Reheating: Leftover pot roast stores very well – it’ll get even better as it sits and its flavors have the chance to meld together. Transfer cooled pot roast, vegetables, and pot roast sauce to an airtight container. Store in the refrigerator for 4-5 days. Reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave until warmed through.
- Freezing Instructions: Pot roast is also incredibly freezer-friendly. To freeze, transfer the cooled pot roast, vegetables, and pot roast sauce to a freezer container (or divide it up between multiple freezer containers for smaller portions). Freeze up to 3 months. To thaw, place the frozen pot roast in the refrigerator overnight or submerge the freezer container in room temperature water for a quicker thaw. Reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave until warmed through, adding in a splash of water or beef stock to thin everything out a little as needed.
- Alternate Cooking Methods:
- Stovetop Braised Pot Roast: Prepare the recipe according to Steps 1-3, above. Rather than braising in the oven, braise the pot roast on the stovetop over medium-low or low heat (just enough heat to maintain a very gentle simmer), stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Braise 3 – 3 1/2 hours, until the chuck roast is fork-tender, then finish as desired with Steps 5-6 of Recipe Directions, above.
- Slow Cooker / Crock Pot Roast: Prepare the recipe according to Steps 1-2, above. Assemble the pot roast in the slow cooker as directed in Step 3. Slow cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 7-8 hours, stirring occasionally, until the roast is fork-tender. If your slow cooker has a searing/browning feature, you can use it to cook the entire pot roast recipe (Steps 1-5) in the slow cooker.
- Electric Pressure Cooker / Instant Pot Roast: Use your Instant Pot’s “Sauté” setting to cook the recipe according to Steps 1-3, above. Cover and seal the pressure cooker and cook on manual high pressure for 70 minutes. Allow the pressure cooker to naturally release pressure for 10 minutes before carefully flicking the valve to its “venting” position to vent out any residual pressure. Use the Instant Pot’s “Sauté” feature to thicken the pot roast sauce as described in Step 5 – let it simmer as long as you’d like to reduce and thicken as desired.
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I’m obsessed with this pot roast. I paired it with the PWWB fluffiest mashed potatoes recipe and OH BOY do I highly recommend!! Thank you!!
Pairing this roast with mashed potatoes sounds absolutely perfect, Carrie! So happy you love it as much as we do!
10/10! Followed the recipe exactly and I’m not disappointed at all.
So glad you loved it, Yaya! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review!
I’ve made this and love the extra veggies, I’ve also made the Grandpa Clarence recipe, and think I would combine the two, and put extra veggies in the Grandpa Clarence version.
Love the idea of that mash-up, Katie! Thanks for leaving a review!
Unfortunately WAYYYY too salty
So sorry to hear that, Gen! We definitely encourage adjusting the salt amounts to your own preferences. Hope you’ll give it a try again soon!
This is literally the greatest pot roast on the internet! It is so good! The gravy is a must – so flavorful! The meat is so tender and veggies turn out great.
That’s such a huge compliment, thanks Brittany! Happy you enjoyed the roast as much as we do 🙂
Do not recommend. So dry and just tasted like onion. I only used 1 onion instead of the 2 that the recipe called for.
Hi HD, we’re so sorry to hear that the pot roast didn’t turn out for you! Did you cook the pot roast according to the recipe directions, or did you use a different cooking method? We definitely recommend adjusting the amount of onion if you aren’t a fan of onion flavor! Hoping we can help you troubleshoot so the pot roast will turn out great if you give it another try! 🙂
Yum! I made this tonight and would argue that it could have even more veggies. I did add 2 diced celery stalks, but found that the carrots didn’t go that far. I would add another 2-4 carrots to the mix and half way through cooking I’d add another sliced onion or two so they are a little heartier vs the silky they ended up being. Overall, delicious!
Hey Katie, so glad you enjoyed the pot roast! We definitely approve of adding more veggies! 🙂
I love this recipe! So many veggies that really soak up all the delicious flavors. The meat just falls apart and is so tasty!
The extra veggies are arguably the BEST part 🙂 – so glad you loved this one as much as we do! Thanks!!
So good and so easy!
So glad you loved it Rachel! Gotta love a meal that’s mostly hands-off!🙌🏼
Super flavorful and delicious! Easy to prep too. Thanks for a great recipe!