Melt in your mouth tender, full of rich beefy flavor, and all cooked in just one pot, the ultimate comfort food.
Every home cook needs to have a classic pot roast recipe served with carrots, potatoes, and rich brown gravy!
This easy recipe is great for beginners and delivers incredible results every time! Chuck roasts are inexpensive cuts of beef that cook in the oven at a low temperature for a few hours. Add in a handful of veggies and some savory herbs for the perfect meal.
What is Pot Roast?
This is a classic recipe and for good reason! A pot roast is a beef roast that generally starts with a tougher cut of beef. Cooking at a low temperature for a long time breaks down the tough connective tissues resulting in deliciously tender beef with a flavorful gravy. The meat is seared, surrounded by carrots, onions, and a savory combination of herbs and spices and baked or oven-roasted until melt in your mouth tender.
This is one of the best pot roast recipes because it isn’t overly salty with additions like packets of onion soup or canned soups.
The Best Roasts for Tender Pot Roast
The best pot roast is made with the right cut of beef. For pot roast choose meat with nice marbling throughout and cook it low and slow. Tougher cuts will become fork tender.
- boneless beef chuck roast (my favorite choice)
- round roast
- rump roast
How to Cook a Pot Roast
Similar to Mississippi roast this can be made in a slow cooker (this recipe is made in the oven), but pot roast can also be made in an instant pot (or pressure cooker) too! While this oven version is our favorite an instant pot pot roast is great when you’re short on time!
Here’s how to make pot roast:
- SEAR BEEF Add oil to the pan and sear chuck roast in oil (bacon grease is better if you have it!) until browned on all sides.
- ADD BROTH Place the onions around the roast and add wine, broth, rosemary, and thyme. Bring to a simmer and then bake two hours in the oven.
- ADD VEGGIES Add potatoes and carrots and bake until the potatoes are tender, about two more hours. Remove the bay leaf.
- SERVE Cut the roast into smaller pieces or shred with two forks and serve.
Pot roast is an instant favorite! Not only is it easy to put together, but it makes for great pot roast sandwiches as leftovers with gravy or in a crusty bun dipped in the leftover juices (like a French dip). Serve this hearty and heartwarming recipe over creamy mashed potatoes and with a side of homemade garlic bread.
How Long to Cook a Pot Roast
This recipe is based on a typical chuck roast, about 4lbs (give or take). Pot roast is best cooked at a low temperature for a long period of time to break down any tough tissue.
- Cook a 3lb roast for 3-3.5 hrs
- Cook a 4lb roast for 3.5-4 hrs
- Cook a 5lb roast for 4.5-5 hrs
Cook times can vary based on the type of roast. Check the roast with a fork, if it is tough, the roast probably needs MORE time to cook. Cover it back up and let it keep on cooking.
How to Make Pot Roast Gravy
Turn the sauce into a great pot roast gravy in only 3 steps!
- Whisk two tablespoons of corn starch in cold water until smooth (this is called a slurry).
- Remove beef and veggies the broth and bring to a simmer. You should have about two cups, add more beef broth if needed.
- Whisk the slurry into the simmering broth until thickened.
Tips for the Perfect Roast
- Select a roast that has lots of marbling in it -which carries flavor and helps make the gravy absolutely mouth-watering!
- Baby potatoes are a great choice. They don’t require peeling and hold their shape well (russet potatoes tend to fall apart, although they still taste great)
- Cut the carrots and celery a bit bigger so they don’t overcook
- After searing, add a little of the broth to the pan and scrape up any browned bits, they add lots of flavor.
- Fresh herbs are best but dried ones can be used, just use them sparingly since dried herbs have a more concentrated flavor than fresh.
- Add 2 tablespoons tomato paste to the broth if desired.
Favorite Cozy Beef Meals
- Beef Stew Recipe
- Beef Tips & Gravy
- Easy Beef Stroganoff
- Beef Rouladen
- Slow Cooker Barbacoa Beef
Did you make this Pot Roast? Be sure to leave a comment and a rating below!
Perfect Pot Roast
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 to 4 pounds chuck roast or rump roast
- 1 large onion chopped, or two small onions
- 4 carrots cut into 2-inch pieces
- 2 ribs celery cut into 1 ½-inch pieces
- 1 pound baby potatoes
- 2 cups beef broth or as needed
- 1 cup red wine
- 4 cloves garlic coarsely chopped
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 1 bay leaf
Instructions
-
Preheat oven to 300°F.
-
Season roast with salt and pepper.
-
In a large dutch oven, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Sear the roast on each side until browned, about 4 minutes per side adding more oil if needed.
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Arrange onions around the roast. Combine broth, wine, garlic, rosemary, and thyme. Pour over the roast. Add bay leaf.
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Bring just to a simmer on the stovetop over medium-high heat. Once the broth is simmering, cover and place in the oven and bake 2 hours.
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Add potatoes, carrots, and celery, and bake an additional 2 hours (for a 4lb roast) or until the roast and potatoes are fork-tender.
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Discard bay leaf. Gently pull beef into large pieces with a fork or slice into thick pieces. Serve with juices (or make gravy below if desired).
Notes
- Combine 2 tablespoons cornstarch with 2 tablespoons cold water until smooth.
- Remove beef and vegetables from the pot and set on a plate to rest.
- Bring broth to a boil and whisk in cornstarch mixture a little bit at a time until thickened. Add extra broth if needed.
- Season with salt & pepper to taste.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Beef, Dinner, Entree, Main Course
Cuisine American
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Have made this a number of times and it is a hit every time.
This is my favorite pot roast recipe! I use it with a crockpot.
I would like to use an Instapot pressure cooker this time. Will I need to change anything as a result?
I use this recipe for Instant Pot Pot Roast.
Thank you.
I made it with your Instapot recipe and it came out perfectly.
So glad you loved it Donna!
Yes the most delicious pot roast I have ever made. I did add extra carrots and celery and broth as this time I wanted to serve it over mashed potatoes with more gravy. The whole family said it was great! Another keeper Holly. Thank you
Best pot roast recipe I’ve tried!
Great
Hi! I have about 43 minutes left until I add my veggies to my pot roast. I wanted to know if I should shimmy them underneath the roast and add more beef broth, or just add directly on top of the roast and not add more broth? I just want to make sure my liquid level and positioning are good for both the meat and veggies. Thanks!!
We add the vegetables around the edge of the roast as shown in the pictures. I hope that helps, Kacey!
This was fabulous. I didn’t have the rosemary or wine and it still turned out great. I subbed in a cup of vegetable broth (better than bouillon) for the wine. I added a little Kitchen Bouquet to the gravy and our meal was so good that my husband even commented on how good it was. My roast was about 2.5 lbs. and I cooked this for a total of 3.5 hours for the tenderest, most delicious cut of meat. This was the first time I ever used my Dutch oven and wow, this was as easy as using the slow cooker only in less than half the time. Thank you for sharing this. It’s a keeper.
Absolutely perfect!
Hello Holly, what could I use in place of red wine?
Hello Brigade. A good substitute for red wine would be beef broth. I hope that helps.
I slow roasted a 2.25 lb. of boneless beef chuck roast for about 3 hours on 300 degrees in the oven and the inside was tender, however outside was black. What did I do wrong? I also had a tight fitting cover of tinfoil.
This recipe uses a 3 to 4 pound roast so if your roast was smaller, it may have needed a bit less time.
Just “bake for 2 hours”
At what temperature?
Same for 1 pound, 2 pounds, 5 pounds?
Clearly not proofread by anyone with any cooking experience.
Please scroll down or click Jump to Recipe at the top to find the full details. They are all there ;)
Temp is clearly stated in recipe. Clearly not understood by people who have no experience reading recipes.
Hi, there
I noted that you said this can be done in a crockpot…would you advise simply transferring to the crockpot after searing? Would the amount of liquids stay the same and would the veggies be added at the same time as the roast?
Hi Maureen, that is correct. Then cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-6 hours. Let us know how it turns out!
This is the most amazing delicious pot roast recipe I have ever made.
This recipe for pot roast is simple and delicious !!!! It’s Not the first time I’ve made it ! It’s a popular recipe I go to especially in the winter time ! It’s a delicious comfort food that takes me back to when my mom used to make her delicious pot roast in our humble little kitchen ! Good food brings warm memories !!!!