Published October 17, 2024. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
This Slow Cooked Chuck Roast Recipe uses simple techniques to transform this classic cut of beef into a restaurant-quality meal. Dry-brined and slowly braised in savory beef stock until fall-apart tender, one bite will instantly curb your comfort food cravings.
The mouthwatering shredded chuck roast only gets better when served over a fluffy bed of Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Homemade Beef Gravy drizzled over the top.
Beef Chuck Pot Roast
There’s no denying that Classic Pot Roast is the king of comfort foods, but this super similar slow-cooked beef chuck roast recipe is a close second. The easy-to-follow techniques I use in this recipe—dry brining, searing, and slowly braising the meat for hours—will give you an exceptionally flavored and fall-apart tender beef roast every time.
This isn’t the quickest Sunday dinner you’ll find, but it is straightforward to prepare. Setting aside a few hours to season and cook your beef chuck roast will always give you mouthwatering results, whether you’re new to pot roast recipes or not.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Chuck roast — Choose a 4—to 5-pound chuck roast with a good amount of fat marbling. A fatty chuck roast is more delicious and shreds easily after cooking.
- Salt – Coarse sea salt or Kosher salt is rubbed all over the beef to help tenderize the meat fibers and enhance the moisture content. The longer your beef sits with the salt rub, the more mouthwatering it will be.
- Vegetables—Sautéed onion, carrots, celery, and garlic give the braising liquid a savory baseline of flavor. This can be enhanced by adding sliced cremini mushrooms, leeks, or shallots. You can also place chopped Yukon gold or red potatoes, turnips, parsnips, baby carrots, or rutabaga around the beef in the pot right before it goes into the oven for a classic pot roast-style meal. Just remember to remove them from the pot before shredding the beef.
- White Wine — I recommend using dry white wine, like Chardonnay, for a subtle brightness that won’t overpower the rest of the flavors. If you’d rather skip the wine, you can substitute an equal amount of stock.
- Tomato paste – For a hint of sweetness and a pop of umami in the braising liquid.
- Stock – Beef stock is best for this recipe, although water, brodo, vegetable stock, and chicken stock will work well as substitutes.
- Fresh herbs — A large rosemary sprig and a bay leaf bring fresh vegetal notes to the beef braise. Two sprigs of fresh thyme and/or a small bunch of fresh parsley will also work well here.
How to Slow Cook Chuck Roast
Place the chuck roast on a metal rack fitted over a sheet tray. Generously season all sides with salt.
Transfer the beef to the fridge, uncovered, for 4 to 24 hours.
Afterward, take the dry-brined beef out of the fridge and season all sides with black pepper.
Pour the oil into a large pot and heat over medium heat. Once hot, add the chuck roast and sear on all sides until it’s completely browned. Set it aside.
Finely mince the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic in a food processor.
Add the minced vegetables to the now-empty pot. Season with a pinch of salt and cook over low to medium heat for 15 minutes, occasionally stirring.
Deglaze the pot with white wine. Turn up the heat to high and cook until the wine has reduced to only 2 or 3 tablespoons.
Stir the tomato paste into the pot and cook over low to medium heat until it takes on a darker rust-like color.
Pour the tomato puree, beef stock, rosemary, bay leaf, salt, and pepper into the pot and stir to combine. Then, add the seared beef roast.
Transfer the pot to the middle rack in the oven and cook until the beef reaches an internal temperature of 200ºF or easily shreds apart.
When the chuck is out of the oven, shred it with two forks or serve it in chunks next to your favorite side dishes.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: The chuck roast can be salt-brined for 24 hours before cooking. Or, prepare this recipe up to 1 hour before serving. Place the pot on the stove over medium heat and cover with a lid to keep the beef warm.
How to Store: Once it has cooled to room temperature, transfer the shredded beef and pan drippings to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months. Thaw the leftovers in the fridge overnight before reheating.
How to Reheat: Add as much beef as you plan to eat to a skillet with a splash of stock and reheat over medium heat until warmed. Stir occasionally to prevent it from sticking to the bottom.
Chef Notes + Tips
- I made this beef roast in a large rondeau pan, but a Dutch oven or another large oven-safe pot would work just as well.
- Finely mince the vegetables with a chef’s knife if you don’t have a food processor.
- After deglazing the pan with the wine, scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. These small caramelized pieces of meat are packed with beefy flavors.
- Take the time to sauté the tomato paste. The heat will caramelize the sugars in the tomato paste, intensify its amazing natural flavors, and cook off the tinny flavor that usually comes with canned or tubed tomato paste.
- If the roast isn’t falling apart easily after cooking for 3 ½ to 4 hours, put it back in the oven for another 30 minutes.
- You can skip the dry brine if you’d prefer to get this meal on the table even faster.
- If the pan gravy isn’t as thick as you’d like, make a beurre manié using butter and flour and add it to the pot after it comes out of the oven. Heat it on the stove over medium heat for about 4 to 5 minutes or until the gravy reaches your desired consistency.
- Serve the shredded beef with the pan drippings drizzled over top, especially when serving this recipe alongside roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes, and/or roasted carrots.
More Beef Recipes
- Roast Beef Recipe
- Smoked Prime Rib Recipe
- Easy Beef Stroganoff Recipe
- Perfect Beef Tenderloin Roast Recipe
- Bone-In Standing Ribeye Roast Recipe
Slow Cooked Chuck Roast Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 to 5 pound chuck roast
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 peeled medium-sized yellow onions
- 5 peeled medium-sized carrots
- 5 ribs of celery
- 8 cloves of finely minced garlic
- 1 cup dry white wine, like chardonnay
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 28 ounces tomato puree
- 4 cups beef stock
- 1 large sprig of fresh rosemary
- 1 bay leaf
- coarse salt and freshly cracked pepper to state
Instructions
- Place the chuck roast on a rack over a sheet tray and generously season all sides with salt. This could be 1 ½ to 2 tablespoons worth.
- Place it in the refrigerator uncovered for 4 to 24 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350°.
- Once it’s done dry brining, remove it from the fridge and season it with pepper on all sides.
- Add the oil to a large rondeau or Dutch oven pot and heat it over medium heat for 90 seconds.
- Place the roast into the pot and sear it for 4 to 5 minutes on all sides or until it’s completely browned. Set it to the side.
- While the beef is roasting add the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic to a food processor and process at high speed until everything is finely minced. You can also do this by hand.
- Once the beef is removed from the pot add the vegetables, gently season with salt, and cook over low to medium heat for 15 minutes while occasionally stirring.
- Deglaze with white wine and cook over high heat until there are only 2 to 3 tablespoons remaining.
- Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 3 to 4 minutes over low to medium heat until it becomes a rust color. This is known as pinceing.
- Next, add in the tomato puree, beef stock, rosemary, bay leaf, salt, and pepper and mix to combine. Place the seared beef roast back in.
- Place it on a middle rack in the oven at 350° for 3 ½ to 4 hours or until it easily shreds apart. This will read 200° + internally.
- Remove the chuck roast, pull it apart or serve it in chunks.
Slow Cooked Chuck Roast Recipe