The Weekend is For Cooking, Too!
Baby red potatoes
Slow Cooker Pot Roast
I’m giving you all your weekend dinner, which ought to fill up even your grandkids’ tummies. Saturday or Sunday, doesn’t matter: fill up those empty tummies and make them ask for more.
https://dinnerthendessert.com/ultimate-slow-cooker-pot-roast/
Here’s a tip for a good, tasty, tender pot roast: Sear the beef before you put it in the pot. It seals in flavor and makes the roast just a little more tender.
Coat the roast with flour and season it with a good amount of salt and pepper and sear on all sides until browned (about 5-6 minutes each side).
Transfer roast to the bowl of a 6-quart slow cooker. Add in all remaining ingredients and cook on low 8 hours. The meat will be very tender and falling apart, and the vegetables soft.
PRO TIP: It’s better to cook pot roast on the crock pot’s low setting rather than the high setting when it comes to pot roast. Your meat will be tender and delicious every time.
There are three main steps to the most perfect Pot Roast, whichever option you choose:
- SEAR your roast first: the flavor you get when searing your meat first is incredible. The fat is rendered while juices are sealed. This step is well worth the extra time and dishes. While slow cooking, the meat will release amazing flavor into your gravy.
- ADD veggies.
- SLOW COOK ON LOW using whichever method you like.
Tough cuts with lots of connective tissue that would be like chewing shoe leather if you cooked it quickly in a pan are the perfect cuts to use.
- Chuck Roast: tender, falls apart and easy to shred.
- Brisket: has a lot of connective tissue making it fattier cut that gets super tender while cooking slow, but can still be sliced for serving
- Round: (bottom round, top round) a lean and easy to slice cut.
Slow cooking these cuts breaks the collagen down, tenderizing the meat. The beef releases its juices into the broth, providing your roast with incredible flavor. Adding flour or cornstarch turns that liquid gold into a delicious, thick gravy.
Now what I’m doing is using the smallest red potatoes I could find, scrubbed clean and not peeled, as well as a box of pearl onions, and a half bag of baby carrots. I picked up a brisket and decided that the smaller potatoes and onions and the baby carrots would make it a better deal for me. The object is to stretch the budget until it squeaks, isn’t it? We might as well get into Depression-era cooking and make every single ounce count.
This is from the Dinner Then Dessert blog and it’s easy enough to follow.
Ingredients
- 4-5 pound chuck roast
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 pound carrots peeled and cut into 2″ chunks
- 2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes peeled and cut into large chunks
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 cups beef broth
- 2 tablespoons corn starch
- 2 tablespoons cold water
- minced parsley optional, to garnish
Instructions
- Season the chuck roast with the Kosher salt, pepper and thyme (if you are sensitive to sodium, adjust to your taste or you can even leave the salt out altogether since you’re adding broth).
- Heat your pan (or if you can brown in your slow cooker, do it in that insert to medium high.
- Add the canola oil and when it ripples and is hot add in the roast and brown, deeply, for 4-5 minutes on each side. (I would use EVOO [extra virgin olive oil] but that’s just me.)
- In your slow cooker add the carrots, potatoes and garlic.[I am including small pearl onions in mine, because they just add more to the dish, but again, that’s just me.]
- Lay the beef on top, then add the beef broth and cover, cooking on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 5-6 hours.
- In the last hour mix your cornstarch and water and add it to the slow cooker to thicken the sauce or you can take the food out when done cooking, and add the leftover liquid to a small saucepan with the cornstarch/water mixture and cook on high for just 2-3 minutes until the liquid is thickened into a gravy.
- Pour the gravy over the meat and garnish with parsley if desired.
I will be putting this together for my own weekend dinner, since it’s cold outside, baby, and I don’t wanna go out if I don’t have to.
For those who like to cook under pressure…. Pot Roast Ingredients: One 4-pound chuck roast Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 tablespoon olive oil 1/4 cup tomato paste 4 cloves garlic, minced 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1 1/2 cups dry red wine 1 1/2 cups mushroom or beef broth 16 small redskin potatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds) 4 large carrots, cut into 2-inch-long diagonal pieces 3 large celery stalks, diced 1 large sprig fresh rosemary 1 large sprig fresh thyme 2 large yellow onions, trimmed and halved Instructions: Sprinkle the chuck roast generously all over with salt and pepper. Turn a 6-quart Instant Pot® (Or any multi-purpose pressure cooker) to the high saute setting. Add the oil and once hot, add the beef and cook until deeply browned on both sides, about 5 minutes per side. Remove the beef from the pot, add the tomato paste and garlic and stir to combine. Add the flour and stir to make a paste. Whisk in the red wine until well combined and bring to a boil. Cook until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Add the broth, potatoes, carrots, celery, rosemary, thyme, 1 tablespoon salt and a large pinch of pepper. Nestle the beef on top and place the onions on top or around the beef, wherever they fit best. Follow the manufacturer’s guide for locking the lid and preparing to cook. Set to pressure cook on high for 1 hour 15 minutes. After the pressure cook cycle is complete, follow the manufacturer’s guide for quick release and wait until the quick release cycle is complete. Be careful of any remaining steam and unlock and remove the lid. Allow the beef to sit in the sauce, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Remove the herbs from the sauce and transfer the meat to a cutting board. Slice against the grain and put on to a large rimmed serving platter. Top with the sauce and vegetables. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/instant-pot-pot-roast-5195673 We have never tried this, but it sounds tasty: Mississippi Pot Roast Ingredients: One 2 1/2- to 3-pound boneless beef chuck roast (about 2 inches thick) Kosher… Read more »
They did have the Instapot version, but I wanted to let you drop in yours instead. Thank you for that!!!
You’re welcome.
I love the pressure cooker because of the speed and cleanup. Also you can take lesser cuts of meat and make them tasty and butter tender.
I am kinda interested in the Mississippi pot roast. Cooking with the pepperoncini’s seems to be a spiffy idea. After all, they are used on Philly cheesesteaks, etc.
GC, those recipes look like good stuff, though you could replace the red wine, or some of the beef broth with a good lager / dark beer (Yeungling for KOB). That being said, as a boy that was born and bred just outside of Philly, I can say without question that putting pepperoncinis on a Philly cheese steak would get you a serious beatdown at the least! Hot and Sweet Cherry peppers are the only ones acceptable on the food of the gods! (banana peppers, jalapenos, and pepperoncinis all have their places, but NONE of them belong on a cheesesteak! (my apologies for the rant!).. as to the Mississippi recipe, I’ve done a similar one in the past (just omitted the ranch dressing) and it was very tasty! (can be used on a good kaiser roll for a sammich, if you want it portable too)
Let us know how that turns out.
What?!!? no pan of hot cat heads or a loaf of that good crusty bread for soppin’ purposes? Sacrilege! Oh, that’s a given…my bad.
You know me too well Mi’Lady…and that soft spot (read empty) in my tummy for beef beast orasted lowly in a crockett pot, wid taters, carrots, and baby pearls. Made some of this using some eyes of bottom round I had in the freezerator last weekend. Could cut it with a C-Rat spork. Using the onyum powder more than the onyums of late. Gives me the flavor without the heartburn.
Hit the K Roger, AGAIN, today during my Chancre Mechanic escort duties. Bent management’s ear in re their Bat Flu policy AND the cutting of employees bonus monies while the CEO was struggling to make ends meet on his $12 million paltry paycheck. He (a Black Gentleman 40 years service) was in full agreement with my stance and is fixin’ to walk. His assistant (a young Black Female) is fixin’ to take her experience and skilz over to Publix. Both were Trump supporters and are livid at what Brandon is doing to the Country. Did get me some deals from my main man (and Lady) in the meat dprt. Ten # bags of yard bird leg quarters for .29 a #, some 92/8 grounded beef beast (sirloin) @ $3.49 #, some 85/15 grounded chuck beef beast @ $2.99 #, and their Private Selection Spiral Sliced Smoked Ham @ $1.99 #. Dropped half of it off at Baby Sister’s work place and the other half with some folks that have been struggling a mite, with health issues and the inflation rates. If I’d a had my big cooler with me, I’d a shorely played load up ’em buggy. We’re all in this mess together.
Cold? Balmy 70s here at Firebase Magnolia, til Monday anywho, dropping to the mid 40s then overnight, low 60s during the day.
Thanks Matey…Let’s eat!
Now usually I scream “Now go on, GIT!” BUT I am thankful for you gitarcarver because I have an unnatural affection for my InstantPot. It stays on my counter and probably gets used weekly At least to make a fresh pot of rice.
Now with the temperatures getting pretty solid in the 40s I’m thinking it’s pot roast and vegetables time with a nice hearty salad gravy
Solid not 🥗.
What the fuck is a salad gravy and besides who fucking eats salad anyway …that’s what Food eats.
OK OK I admit it I’ve eaten a salad on occasion but it’s not a regular thing so don’t hit me. And by the time I’m done with it it’s more like a bunch of condiments and side items with a couple leafs of green shit. Hint hint I get my croutons at Costco 😄😋
Croutons? They are a nice, tasty snack, in my view.
Baby, it’s cold outside, so I’m staying in where it’s warm. The only thing I miss here is the lack of a wood-burning fireplace, because that does make it feel even more homey, in my view.
nobunny salad – lettuce and onion on a Culver’s cheeseburger
AW1Ed and Ex-PH2 have been kind enough to allow me to post pressure cooker versions of the recipes they post.
My Instant Pot sits on a shelf until I need it because I don’t have the counter space. But between it and my Instant Omni Plus Oven (toaster, rotisserie, convection oven, dehumidifier, air fryer, etc) I can’t tell you the last time I have turned on the big oven.
I will turn that thing on this week as it is cookie week for friends and food charities, but I am pretty sure I don’t want to live without my Instant Pot. (Also going to make pecan pralines and walnut turtles this week. And a friend wants to make bacon and bourbon caramel popcorn.)
I’ve made everything in it from soups (you haven’t lived until you have fresh noodles in a soup in a pressure cooker,) beef stroganoff, lasagna, stews, bbq chicken, gumbo, etc.
The only thing it really doesn’t do is bake, but the fact that it does everything else (including being a slow cooker) makes it a no-brainer for me. (And clean up of pot can’t be beat.)
As I said, my contribution to this “….Are For Cooking” threads is the pressure cooker part and I really do thank AW1Ed and Ex-PH2 for letting me try to “spread the word” so to speak.
The bottom line is that these threads are about good food and the journey and methods of getting there.
Take care.