Ultimate Slow Cooker Pot Roast
Comfort food at its finest, this slow cooker pot roast with carrots and potatoes is a perfect weeknight dinner for busy families. Just 10 minutes of prep in the morning, the roast simmers in a red wine beef broth in the crockpot all day and you have dinner ready when you get home. Fork-tender beef, perfectly cooked potatoes, carrots, celery, and onions ready to be devoured with very little hands-on work!
I love making beef roasts in the slow cooker – it’s amazingly easy and a satisfying meal for the family. No need to wait for a Sunday to make a pot roast. Plan ahead of time and you can prep the veggies and sear the beef the night before and put everything in the slow cooker in the morning and let it cook to perfection while you manage your day.
While there are hundreds of recipes for pot roast online, I decided to share mine because it uses a slightly different technique for layering of the meat and potatoes in the slow cooker and I always use a waxier potato like a Yukon gold to keep the integrity of the potatoes in the pot roast.
We hate mushy carrots and potatoes, so the key to preventing mush is to layer the potatoes on top of the beef in the slow cooker. You may think, how will the potatoes get cooked, but I promise, they get infused with the beefy flavor and get tender and perfectly cooked on top of the meat, rather than below it.
Also, searing the roast before cooking really does make a difference in the final taste. You get perfectly seared beef pieces that have great caramelization and flavor plus extreme tenderness from simmering all day in the slow cooker.
What is the Best Cut of Beef for Pot Roast?
The best cut of beef for a pot roast is a boneless Chuck Roast or boneless Cross-Rib Roast.
Also known as a chuck center roast, this is a budget-friendly cut from the shoulder, with marbling throughout, making it ideal for oven roasting or slow cooking. It is a heavily exercised muscle, which gives the beef good flavor but it also makes it tough. Chuck is often ground for hamburger meat because of its high ratio of fat to meat.
Chuck can be used for a pot roast or beef stew when cubed because the connective tissue melts as the roast braises and bastes the beef, making it very tender. It’s also an ideal cut for shredded beef because of the higher fat ratio – the meat falls apart easily and can be shredded with a fork.
The Cross-Rib Roast is a savory cut of beef for roasting or slow-cooking to achieve a tender finish. The name originates from the muscle groups extending across the main rib bones of the chuck, thus the name “Cross-Rib”. This roast is always tied with twine because it has a seam of tissue through the center, which melts during the roasting or slow cooking process, yielding a delicious flavor. The cross-rib roast has slightly less fat than a center chuck roast, but both make equally tender and delicious pot roast.
Related Reading: Beef Roast Cuts & What’s The Best Cut for Pot Roast, Sliced Roast Beef and More
Ingredients in Pot Roast
- 3 lb. Boneless Chuck Roast
- olive oil
- salt
- pepper
- dried oregano
- garlic powder
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 4 large carrots, chopped into 2-inch long pieces
- Yukon gold potatoes, halved
- 1 onion, chopped into 1-inch pieces
- 3 celery stalks, cut into 2-inch long pieces
- 6 cloves of garlic, smashed
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
- 1 teaspoon fresh or dried rosemary
- 1 cup beef broth
How to Make a Pot Roast in the Slow Cooker
Rub the roast with olive oil on both sides and season generously with salt, pepper, dried oregano and garlic powder.
Heat a large skillet to medium-high heat. Once the skillet is hot, place the roast onto the skillet to sear the beef. Sear on all sides for about 3-4 minutes on each side until a crust forms (Caramelizes). Remove the beef roast from the skillet and place it into the slow cooker.
Pour the red wine into the skillet to deglaze the pan, using a wooden spoon to scrape up any brown bit of flavor in the pan. Pour this over the roast in the crockpot.
Layer the onions, celery, carrots and potatoes over the roast in the slow cooker.
Season the vegetables with salt, pepper, dried oregano, additional garlic powder, fresh thyme, and chopped rosemary. Pour the beef broth into the slow cooker and top with the lid.
Cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 6 hours.
45 minutes ot one hour before serving the roast, gently lift the roast out from under the potatoes and place it on top in the crockpot. This way the potatoes get infused with all the delicious beef broth.
Remove the roast from the crockpot and remove any excess fat. Plate on platter pieces of beef, carrots, potatoes, and celery.
What to Serve with a Pot Roast
A pot roast with potatoes and veggies is a meal in itself, but if you want additional sides, I would serve with a cauliflower mash, or mashed potatoes, a side salad, and some rustic homemade bread.
Roasted Lyonnaise Potatoes With Onions and Feta
Mediterranean Green Bean Salad
Slow Cooker Pot Roast
Ingredients
- 3 lb. Boneless Chuck Roast
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon salt divided
- 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper divided
- 1/2 tablespoon dried oregano divided
- 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder divided
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 4 large carrots chopped into 2-inch long pieces
- Yukon gold potatoes halved
- 1 onion chopped into 1-inch pieces
- 3 celery stalks cut into 2-inch long pieces
- 6 cloves of garlic smashed
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
- 1 teaspoon fresh or dried rosemary
- 1 cup beef broth
- fresh parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Rub the roast with olive oil on both sides and season generously with salt, pepper, dried oregano and garlic powder.
- Heat a large skillet to medium-high heat. Once the skillet is hot, place the roast onto the skillet to sear the beef. Sear on all sides for about 3-4 minutes on each side until a crust forms (Caramelizes). Remove the beef roast from the skillet and place it into the slow cooker.
- Pour the red wine into the skillet to deglaze the pan, using a wooden spoon to scrape up any brown bit of flavor in the pan. Pour this over the roast in the crockpot.
- Layer the onions, celery, carrots and potatoes over the roast in the slow cooker.
- Season the vegetables with salt, pepper, dried oregano, additional garlic powder, fresh thyme, and chopped rosemary. Pour the beef broth into the slow cooker and top with the lid.
- Cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 6 hours.
- 45 minutes ot one hour before serving the roast, gently lift the roast out from under the potatoes and place it on top in the crockpot. This way the potatoes get infused with all the delicious beef broth.
- Remove the roast from the crockpot and remove any excess fat. Plate on platter pieces of beef, carrots, potatoes, and celery.
- Strain the remaining juices in the crockpot and serve over the roast and potatoes to keep it moist.
Additional Beef Roast Recipes
Red Wine and Rosemary Crockpot Rump Roast Recipe
Garlic Herb Crusted Bottom Round Roast
What to Make with Leftover Beef Roast
Toasted Chipotle Roast Beef Sandwich with Au Jus
Pot Roast Pizza & Perfect Recipe for Leftover Beef Roast
Crockpot Beef Stroganoff Recipe
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