The Easiest And Best Pot Roast Recipe Ever

This is the Easiest And Best Pot Roast Recipe with tender fall apart beef and fresh roasted vegetables!  Slow braised beef roast with potatoes, onions, and carrots make a delicious and comforting meal the whole family will love.

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This one pot meal is really the best pot roast recipe ever and is adapted from an old Food & Wine magazine (February 1991 issue date).

It’s a perfect recipe for when you don’t know what to do with boneless chuck roast. And it’s the easiest one too!

No liquid at all is used in the pot and only salt and pepper for the seasoning, yet it consistently produces the most fantastic tasting roast around. 

Every single time!

Cooking tips

How to make the best pot roast recipe all starts with selecting the best quality ingredients.  Choosing a well marbled, thick cut piece of beef and fresh vegetables to surround it is the key to tasty success.

This is a quick chuck roast recipe to prepare and let braise in the oven for a couple of hours. It’s also the perfect meal to make a day ahead of time too.

The next day just remove the congealed fat in the pot and puree the onions with the remaining liquid to make a gravy.  

Slice the roast and put it in the gravy before reheating or use the leftovers to make a roast beef hash.

Best cut of beef to use

Chuck roast is a rich cut of beef from the cow’s shoulder and neck area.  It’s a cut that is tough and fatty, so it’s full of flavor, yet is inexpensive compared to other beef cuts.

An inexpensive, tough piece of meat benefits greatly from a slow and low cooking method, such as braising.

Braising is the best way to break down the roast’s collagen and connective tissue and it turns the meat into the most fall apart, fork tender beefy goodness.  

What is braising

Braising is a one pot cooking method where meat is browned in oil, then placed in a pan with a tight fitting lid. It’s cooked at a lower temperature in a moderate amount of liquid, in the oven or on the stove-top.

There are two types of braising: short and long. Short braising cooks in about an hour.

Long braising takes a few hours. This long cooking method makes the best recipe for a beef roast in oven too!

Braising Tips:

1. Use a dutch oven with a tight fitting lid.
2. Pat meat until dry for better browning.
3. Heat up a little oil in the pan over medium-high heat until hot, then sear the meat on all sides.
4. Add a little liquid (or none at all, like in this recipe!). When adding liquid, make sure everything isn’t submerged. It’s cooked by steam with the liquid, but shouldn’t be boiling in the liquid.
5. Cover the pot with the tight fitting lid and cook low and slow, either in the oven or on the stove-top.

Best pots for braising

A Dutch Oven with a lid is the BEST kind of pot to use for braising. They come in different types of materials and range from inexpensive to very expensive.

A Stainless steel Sauteuse works well too, but they are smaller in size than a dutch oven.

If you want to be the envy of all your braising friends, get a Doufeu. It’s a fancy dutch oven with a concave lid that holds ice to create condensation while cooking, which helps provide moisture to the food.

If you don’t have any of the above in the house, MacGyver a kind of homemade dutch oven. Use a deep roasting pan and tightly cover with heavy duty foil. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than nothing!

Other names for chuck roast

Chuck roast can be labeled different names for the same cut of beef.  Any piece of beef that is labeled as a “pot roast” is typically suitable for braising.

• 7-Bone Chuck Roast
• Chuck Arm Pot Roast
• Blade Chuck Roast
• Chuck Eye Roast
• Chuck Pot Roast
• Shoulder Pot Roast
• Chuck Roll Roast
• Chuck Neck Roast

Side dish recipes

Honesty, anything will pretty much go with this ultimate comfort, but I’ve listed a few of my favorites down below:

• Mashed Potato Cakes ~ Of course, everyone loves mashed potato with pot roast, BUT make dinner more special by turning some mash into crispy potato cakes!
• Beet Salad with Goat Cheese, Apricots, and Pistachios ~ Beets and beef go together like peanut butter and jelly.
• French Bread ~ I love a pot roast meal with hot, fresh bread and butter on the side. Plus, you can use the bread to dip in the gravy. YEEEAAAAAAAH!
  • Recipe makes 2 loaves of french bread, so enjoy one now and freeze one for later!
• Fresh Green Beans ~ Green beans sautéed with garlic and fresh ginger is the perfect accompaniment to the braised beef with potatoes and carrots.
• Angel Biscuits ~ A light biscuit-like roll with garlic and cheese that doubles as the bread for a leftover roast sandwich the next day.
• Spinach Artichoke Risotto ~ A creamy, cheesy risotto flavored with spinach, garlic, and artichoke hearts. Tastes just like the dip, but in a side dish form.
• Brie Soufflé ~ Soufflés are really easy to make and this batter can even be made a day ahead of time! Fluffy and so airy, these are ideal as a main entrée for the vegetarians at your dinner table.
• Sweet Potato Rolls ~ A cloverleaf shaped yeast roll made with cooked, mashed sweet potatoes and topped with a bacon butter mix. Save this one for later because it makes a PERFECT holiday roll.
• Chipotle Cauliflower ~ Keep it low carb by substituting the potatoes around the roast for oven roasted chipotle cauliflower florets.

Hope you enjoy making this oven baked chuck roast recipe! Please let me know in the comments below if you agree this is the easiest and best pot roast recipe ever too.

The Easiest And Best Pot Roast Recipe Ever

This is the Easiest And Best Pot Roast Recipe with tender fall apart beef and fresh roasted vegetables! Slow braised beef roast with potatoes, onions, and carrots make a delicious and comforting meal the whole family will love.

5 from 2 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Entree

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 2 hours

Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes

Servings: 6 servings

Calories: 572kcal

Author: Karrie | Tasty Ever After

Ingredients

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 3 1/2 pounds beef chuck roast
• 1 large yellow onion , peeled and cut into wedges
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 large potatoes , unpeeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
• 5-6 large carrots , unpeeled and cut into 2 inch pieces
• salt and pepper , to taste

US Customary – Metric

Instructions

• Take the beef roast out of refrigerator and bring to room temperature, about 30 minutes, before cooking.
• Preheat oven to 325F/163C degrees. Heat oil in a large (5-7 quart), heavy dutch oven pot over medium high heat until hot. Place meat in pot and cook, without turning, until bottom is well browned. Using tongs, turn meat and brown on all sides.
• Push meat to the side of pan, add the onion, and lightly brown. Stir in the bay leaf and set the meat on top of the onion mixture.
  Scatter the potatoes and carrots around the meat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Cover the pot with a lid or foil and roast in oven for 30 minutes at 325F/163C degrees.
  
• Reduce temperature to 300F degrees and cook another 1 1/2 hours, or until tender.  Serve immediately.
  

Recipe Notes & Tips:

• No liquid is needed in the recipe, as the roast produces it’s own while it’s cooking
• To make a quick gravy:  Purée the onions and cooking liquid together
• Leftovers are even better the next day!  Cook this roast a day ahead and heat up right before eating for an easy meal or make this beef hash
• Can freeze leftovers by storing in an air-tight container for up to 3 months
• Adapted from a recipe in February 1991 Food & Wine magazine

Nutrition Facts

The Easiest And Best Pot Roast Recipe Ever

Amount Per Serving

Calories 572 Calories from Fat 279

% Daily Value*

Fat 31g48%

Saturated Fat 13g65%

Cholesterol 182mg61%

Sodium 260mg11%

Potassium 1507mg43%

Carbohydrates 19g6%

Fiber 4g16%

Sugar 3g3%

Protein 54g108%

Vitamin A 8525IU171%

Vitamin C 16.5mg20%

Calcium 98mg10%

Iron 9.1mg51%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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