I am so excited to share this labor of love with you. This amazing Pot Roast recipe went through so many trials to get right until it was just perfect. The first recipe, my husband flatly reported, was exactly what he expects a pot roast to taste like. The problem with that was that I wanted it to be something that knocks your socks off. After a lot of trial and error and even more research, what I have for you is a delicious pot roast recipe that is both decadent with a deep flavor and easy. You won’t find any hard to find ingredients or strange cooking methods. Yet, this straight forward Pot Roast recipe will definitely knock your socks off. While this recipe is many steps, and I encourage you to read through all of the steps before starting this, this recipe isn’t hard. I also believe that once you make this recipe you’ll be able to fly through it the second and third time.
How to Make Pot Roast
How to Make Pot Roast Gravy
The bulk of this pot roast gravy comes from the cooking of the meat itself. The base of the gravy is wine, tomato sauce, and beef stock. But the gravy gets its true flavor from the time those three liquids spend cooking the meat. They combine and create a deep and hearty sauce you will love. To thicken the sauce at the end, we are doing something that is like a reverse of the roux we use in my New England Clam Chowder. We are making a beurre manié, which is French for kneaded butter. In a roux you combine the butter and flour over heat and then add the liquid. In a beurre manié, you combine butter and flour off of heat and add it to hot liquid. It is simple and easy to do, and creates the beautiful gravy you see here.
What Kind of Meat for Pot Roast
For this recipe you want a chuck pot roast. This is a heavily marbled cut of beef. It requires long cooking in a sealed pot with liquid or braising. Over the cooking time the fat breaks down and develops a rich beef flavor, while the meat itself stays tender.
Choosing the Right Red Wine
When picking a wine to make a pot roast, the most important thing is that you pick a wine you would be able to drink. Do not use wine that is labeled “cooking wine” for this recipe. It will bring a lot to the party that you don’t want in your final dish, namely, a vinegar taste and more salt. For this recipe, I recommend a dry red wine. I used a Cabernet Sauvignon and it was perfect. A Malbec or a Pinot Noir would be great in this too. Do not break the bank on this. An inexpensive red wine will work just fine in this recipe, though I do not recommend a red blend.
Does the Alcohol Cook Off
This is a question that comes up a lot in cooking with wine. The general rule of thumb is that something has to cook for three hours in order to cook off all the alcohol. That does happen here. That being said, if you are serving this to someone who is sober, I recommend that you check with them as to what their preference is.
Cooking Pot Roast without Wine
If you decide to skip the wine in this recipe, replace it with more beef broth. The biggest thing is to use it to deglaze the pan and scrape up those delicious browned bits. Those caramelized pieces add a lot of flavor to this recipe.
The Purpose of Browning a Chuck Roast
A common misconception when it comes to searing meat before braising is that it is done to “seal in the moisture.” That’s actually just a myth. Cook’s Illustrated did a test in which they weighed two pieces of meat before and after cooking. One was seared and the other was not. The difference in the amount of moisture lost during cooking between the two was negligible. In other words, searing meat doesn’t change how much moisture is lost during cooking. The real reason that we are searing the chuck roast at the start of this pot roast recipe is for flavor. The flavor that is added to the pan as the meat sears is priceless. This is why we deglaze the pan, so all that caramelized goodness can get into the cooking liquid.
Why We Cook Pot Roast so Long
I’m sure most of you realize that beef doesn’t need to be cooked terribly long in order to reach doneness. In fact, it’s widely accepted that anything over 165 is going to be way over done. Your oven pot roast will hit about 180 by the time one hour of cooking is up. In this recipe we are overcooking our meat on purpose. By the time that the four hours is up, every bit of fat and every last piece of connective tissue will have broken down. What you are left with is the most tender and deliciously flavorful pot roast recipe.
Adding Potatoes and Carrots after an Hour
While many pot roast recipes call for adding the carrots and vegetables at the beginning of cooking, I had the best results when I added them in after an hour and a half. Two things happened.
First, when the roast was done, the vegetables weren’t mushy. The texture was much better.Second, they had better flavor. When they cooked for the full length of time, I found that they had a bitter aftertaste.
In my opinion, though it feels like an extra step, adding the vegetables in later is well worth it.
What to Serve with Pot Roast
This dutch oven pot roast is really a meal on it’s own, but if you want to round out your table further, these are some great options.
Cheddar Bay BiscuitsDinner RollsCaesar Salad
If you make this oven pot roast recipe or any of my other recipes, leave me a comment in the section below and let me know what you think. I love hearing from you!
