Classic Pot Roast

Prep time: 10 minutes

Total cook time: 3 hours min.

Servings: 2 Servings per 1.5 lbs.

A Cold Weather Favorite

I look at the picture above and my mouth just waters. Nothing better than the combination of falling apart tender, juicy meat paired with potatoes and carrots with beefy gravy sauce. This dish is a fall and winter favorite in my home because is cozy, filling and delicious.

The best part about this meal is that is very easy to prepare and all in 1 pot! I make this meal about once a month. When I make it, I choose a day that I know I will be at home doing other chores so I can let the meat cook for the correct amount of time. My favorite time to make this meal is the day that we take out and set up all the Christmas decorations. I prep it and let it sit in the oven while we decorate and its done by the time that we are ready to eat it.

What type of meat should I buy?

For a classic pot roast, I have tried different cuts. I always make sure that I choose a roast except a rump cut. I tried it once and it just wasn't the same in my opinion. I like my steak a little marbled because once is fully cooked, the fat will make it super juicy and tender. My favorite is a chuck roast because I feel like you just can't go wrong with it. I usually find that these have the perfect amount of marble, it shreds easily, and everybody loves it.

What to pair with your classic pot roast?

I started making this for my husband as a "Sunday roast" paired with roasted potatoes and carrots, mashed potatoes, green peas and British Yorkshire puddings to get a taste of home. Besides these, there are many delicious options to pair with your classic pot roast. For this particular recipe, I am making it with carrots and potatoes but you can use roasted broccoli or broccolini, side salads and many more options.

Ingredients you will use

• Chuck roast beef: I bought 1.5 lbs and it was enough for my husband, baby and I. I would say 1.5 lbs per 2 servings.

• Spices: For this recipe I use: 1 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and paprika, 2 bay leaves. Don't worry if you do not have all the spices, salt and pepper and whatever other spice you have. The bay leaves will make a difference.

• Oil: olive oil or vegetable oil to slightly fry some of the ingredients.

• Onion: yellow onion is best but white onion works too!

• Garlic: 3 garlic cloves for flavor.

• Vinegar: This is used to deglaze. For flavor, I like to use malt vinegar but white or balsamic also work.

• Ketchup, Soy sauce and brown sugar: wet mix to season the meat and for the gravy too.

• Beef bouillon and tomato paste: To give flavor to the broth.

• Beef stock: You can also use chicken stock if you do not have beef stock. This is to cook the beef and also as part of the gravy.

• Heavy cream, butter and flour: To thicken the gravy. If you do not have heavy cream you can use, Mexican or sour cream diluted with milk.

• Potatoes and Carrots: Any type of potato and carrots. The potatoes will be cooked peeled. The carrots can be pilled or with the skin as long as they are very well washed.

Tips on cooking your veggies

Cooking the veggies can be kind of tricky because you do not want to end up with soggy carrots or potatoes. Although most of the recipes you will find cook the veggies the entire time that the meat is cooking, I like to cook mine 1 hour before the meat is cooked. For this recipe I used 1.5 lbs of meat and I left it cooking for about 3.5 hours. I had placed my veggies after 2 hours of cooking. When I took the meat out I wanted to leave it a bit longer so I took out the veggies because they were ready, and I placed the meat back in the oven for some extra time.

If you looked at the carrots in the first picture, you can see how roasted and blistered they are. The trick to do this is to place them in a baking sheet after they are done cooking in the dutch oven. You will add a bit of oil, it can be cooking spray or just slightly toss them in olive oil. Then for the magic touch, you will drizzle some honey, yes honey trust me!, some coarse salt and black pepper, and you will broil them until you reach the desire texture. Just make sure you keep an eye on them because its usually a pretty fast process. They will come out with slightly black patches that adds an incredible smoky flavor.

Useful gadgets for this recipe

If do not have a Dutch oven, I highly recommend you to get one because it is so helpful and useful to make slow cooking recipes like this one or a cozy soup. Dutch ovens help get a uniform temperature while sealing in steam to get those super tender fall apart meats. Another tool I use very much in the kitchen is my hand blender. It is just so much easier than letting something coo, transfer it to the blender and then have to wash the blender. There are many different brands and most of them are very affordable. I love mine which I have linked for you because it has attachments that I use a lot like the whisk, and the milk frother.

Check out my recommended dutch ovens and hand blender HERE.

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