Classic Pot Roast Recipe
Published January 12, 2024. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
This classic Pot Roast Recipe is a pre-seasoned roasted chuck roast that is slowly braised in a flavorful beef broth and finished with perfectly cooked vegetables for an amazing home-cooked meal. I’ve always loved making and eating pot roast, and this is the ultimate recipe for comfort.
Meat is very expensive, so when I buy it and cook it, I want to ensure it’s spot-on and tasty beyond all belief. If you’re looking for foolproof beef recipes, you must try my Chateaubriand or Steak au Poivre.
Pot Roast
Pot roast is an American dish of a large, inexpensive cut of beef that is browned and slowly braised in liquid and vegetables until fork tender. This cooking process renders an extremely flavorful cut of meat. This dish has many variations, including the cut of beef and vegetables used to make a meal tailored to your liking.
This is different from Boeuf Bourguignon, also called beef burgundy, as that traditional French dish uses things like bacon and a lot of red wine while also using smaller chunks of beef as opposed to one big piece. Regardless, to me, there is no wrong way to make a pot roast.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Beef – Beef chuck roast is the best cut of beef to use. However, you can use brisket, top or bottom round, and sirloin.
- Vegetables – Carrots, celery, and potatoes are the basic vegetables used in a pot roast. This can be enhanced by adding parsnips, turnips, rutabaga, celeriac root, and mushrooms. Options for potatoes are baby Yukon golds or reds, fingerlings, or larger russet potatoes that are quartered.
- Onions – I used yellow onions, leeks, and garlic. You can use onions and garlic in this recipe. In addition, you can substitute the yellow onion for a red, white, or sweet one.
- Tomato Paste – Some tomato paste will help add a touch of sweetness and acidity to the pot roast.
- Flour – Regular all-purpose flour is used to make a beurre manié, a thickening agent for the sauce.
- Fat – Olive oil, avocado oil, lard, or beef tallow can be used when searing the beef and vegetables. In addition, you will need some softened unsalted butter.
- Wine – You can use dry red or white wine for this recipe. For red, use cabernet sauvignon, merlot, or shiraz. For white, use chardonnay, sauvignon Blanc, or pinot grigio. In addition, you could also use a dark beer such as Guinness.
- Herbs – I like to use a combination of fresh thyme and parsley with the addition of bay leaves. Fresh rosemary would also be an acceptable option. For dry ingredients, substitute the fresh thyme with 2 teaspoons of dry thyme and 2 teaspoons of dry parsley for the fresh parsley.
- Stock – Beef stock is best to use for this recipe. You can substitute with water, brodo, vegetable stock, or chicken stock.
How to Make a Pot Roast
Season the beef on all sides with salt.
Place on a rack over a sheet tray and place uncovered in the refrigerator for 12 to 48 hours.
Remove the beef from the fridge and season with pepper.
Add the olive oil to a large pot over high heat until it smokes.
Place in the beef, turn the heat down to medium and sear on all sides until it is completely golden brown all around.
Set the beef aside on a plate and add the onions and leeks, season with salt, and sauté for 4 to 6 minutes. Then, turn the heat down to low medium and continue cooking for 10 minutes.
Stir in the garlic and cook just until fragrant, which takes 30 to 45 seconds.
Deglaze with ¼ cup of wine and cook until it’s absorbed.
Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
Pour in the ¾ cup wine, beef stock, bay leaves, thyme, parsley, salt, and pepper and stir to combine.
Add back in the seared beef and bring the mixture to a boil. Add on a lid, place it on a rack in the lower third of the oven, and cook at 325° for 3 ½ to 4 hours or until fork tender and has an internal temperature of 200° to 210°.
With about 70 minutes left in the cooking process, add the potatoes, prepared carrots, celery, and any other vegetables to the pot along with the beef and finish cooking alongside the pot roast.
Remove the pot from the oven and carefully set aside only the beef roast. Mix softened butter and flour to make a beurre manie.
Add the beurre manie to the pot with the liquid and vegetables and cook over low to medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens like a gravy.
Finish the mixture by stirring in optional vinegar and Worcestershire sauce.
Add the beef back to the pot and serve.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: You can make this up to 1 hour ahead of time. Keep it warm, covered over very low heat.
How to Store: Cover and keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Cover and keep in the freezer for up to 2 months. Thaw for 1 whole day before reheating.
How to Reheat: Add your desired portion of pot roast and vegetables to a small pot and cook over low heat until hot. Be sure to stir occasionally.
Chef Notes + Tips
- I used a 2 ½ gallon Dutch oven pot. No matter the material, any large pot will work for this recipe.
- The vegetables do not need to be submerged in the liquid as they cook.
- This goes from a regular pot roast to a Yankee pot roast when adding vegetables later so they do not overcook.
More Beef Recipes
Video
Classic Pot Roast Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 ½ to 4 pound beef chuck roast
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 peeled julienne yellow onion
- 2 thinly sliced and rinsed leeks, white and yellow parts only
- 6 thinly sliced garlic cloves
- 1 cup red wine
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 6 cups beef stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 8 to 10 sprigs fresh thyme
- 8-10 fresh parsley stems with leaves
- 2 pounds baby Yukon potatoes
- 6 peeled regular or 10 baby tri-colored carrots cut into 2” inch pieces
- 4 ribs of celery cut into 2” inch pieces
- 2 peeled parsnips, cut into 2” inch pieces
- 1 peeled rutabaga cut into 1” cubes
- 1/2 beurre manié recipe
- Worcestershire sauce to taste
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- coarse salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
- optional finely minced parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Generously season the beef on all sides with salt.
- Place on a rack over a sheet tray and place uncovered in the refrigerator for 12 to 48 hours.
- Remove the beef from the fridge and season with pepper on all sides.
- Add the olive oil to a large Dutch oven pot over high heat until it smokes lightly.
- Place in the beef, turn the heat down to medium, and sear on all sides until it is golden brown all around. This will take 3 to 4 minutes per side.
- Set the beef aside on a plate and add the onions and leeks, season with salt, and sauté for 4 to 6 minutes. Then, turn the heat down to low medium and continue cooking for 10 minutes or until the onions are well browned.
- Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, which takes 30 to 45 seconds.
- Deglaze with ¼ cup of wine and cook until it is completely absorbed.
- Next, stir in the tomato paste and cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until it is incorporated into the vegetables.⅘
- Pour in the ¾ cup wine, beef stock, bay leaves, thyme, parsley, salt, and pepper and stir to combine.
- Add back in the seared beef and bring the mixture to a boil. Add on a lid, place it on a rack in the lower third of the oven, and cook at 325° for 3 ½ to 4 hours or until fork tender and has an internal temperature of 200° to 210°.
- With about 70 minutes left in the cooking process, add the potatoes, prepared carrots, celery, and any other vegetables to the pot along with the beef and finish cooking alongside the pot roast.
- Remove the pot from the oven and carefully set aside only the beef roast. Mix softened butter and flour to make a beurre manie.
- Add the beurre manie to the pot with the liquid and vegetables and cook over low to medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens like a gravy.
- Finish the mixture by stirring in optional vinegar and Worcestershire sauce.
- Add the beef back to the pot and serve.
I’d love to make this, but if I do all of the prep in my pot, can I then transfer everything to a crock pot?
yup
Chef, this recipe is fabulous! I was very intimidated to try this recipe when I initially read the steps but luckily I found your YouTube video and followed it step-by-step to achieve the most delicious beef stew I have ever made. To be honest, I think this was the most delicious meal I have ever made in general. The meat was perfectly cooked, tender, juicy, and so flavorful. This honestly came together much easier and it was such a fun dish to make. I will only make beef stew using this recipe. My family loved this dish and so did I. Thank you for an excellent recipe and such an easy to follow and informative YT video. Cheers!
Thanks for giving it a shot!!
So yummy, second time making it, needed to give back by posting a review a stellar review, my kid is dairy intolerant so instead of butter used plant based earth balance for the beurre meuniere and it turned out amazing.
Appreciate you giving it a shot!
I had a bone in chuck roast from locally raised farm, so I used that. My small town grocer didn’t have fresh thyme or parsley, so I just used my dry. No leeks either so I doubled the onions and I had plenty of fresh garlic. I used only the veggies I could get at the small grocery, carrots, celery, onions and the small yellow potatoes that are called for in the recipe. I like mushrooms but the grocery store mushroom were sliced and didn’t look good. Thankfully I had everything else. I followed the recipe to as described. Grateful for my large cast iron ceramic glazed and lidded Dutch oven! I don’t use it as often as I’d like. This is wonderful! Now it’s breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next week!
Appreciate you giving it a shot!
I had a bone in chuck roast from locally raised farm, so I used that. My small town grocer didn’t have fresh thyme or parsley, so I just used my dry. No leeks either so I doubled the onions and I had plenty of fresh garlic. I used only the veggies I could get at the small grocery, carrots, onions and the small yellow potatoes that are called for in the recipe. I like mushrooms but the grocery store mushroom were sliced and didn’t look good. Thankfully I had everything else. I followed the recipe to as described. Grateful for my large cast iron ceramic glazed and lidded Dutch oven! I don’t use it as often as I’d like. This is wonderful! Now it’s breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next week!
I didn’t put the parsnips and other vegetables in it, because I didn’t realize I needed them while I shopped for this recipe. I just put in the carrots, celery and new potatoes. I also made mashed potatoes and the gravy from this made them taste out of this world! This has to be the best pot roast recipe I’ve ever made!! Thank you!!
Thank you for giving it a try!
Made this tonight. I used REAL Salt which has less sodium and is from a uncontaminated cave unlike sea salt. I added red radishes, portable mushrooms. Used 2 onions as I had no leek. . Had no Red Wine Vinegar so I used white wine vinegar. The rest was as written I pre-made Garlic butter with thyme, chives, and chopped parsley. Added it to our plates. Took it to Awesomeness! Hubby says 10 Stars! Thank you for sharing and teaching us.
Thanks for giving it a try!
Humble recommendation, don’t waste money on expensive salt making wild claims of ‘less sodium’ and ‘uncontaminated caves’. Salt is a simple chemical compound NaCl. Na is sodium, Cl is chlorine. It is literally impossible to make ‘lower sodium’ salt (unless it has 0 sodium like Potassium Chloride, which is still A salt, but not ‘salt’ as the term is commonly used, which again is NaCl). Any ‘salt product’ that promises ‘lower sodium’ just means the actual salt is diluted with other ingredients. If the product is ‘50% less sodium’ it means you’ll need 2X the amount to get the same amount of saltiness, and you’ll pay more for it to boot.
Salt is indeed NaCl, however Real Salt from Utah also contains trace minerals similar to Himalayan Red Salt. They both add a subtle and sublime flavor that pure NaCl lacks. I only use Himalayan Red Salt in my dishes because of this.
Made this today. It was amazing! Very good and flavorful! The dry brine and buerre manie made this over the top! Thank you for sharing.
My pleasure!
I made this recipe for dinner and my family absolutely loved it. It was so easy to make. Thanks for the recipe and idea
Excellent! Glad it was a hit!
Absolutely delish! Pre-salting the meat and caramelizing the onions definitely makes a very tender roast and a gravy that is “to die for”!
So glad you enjoyed it!