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This classic Slow Cooker Pot Roast is as luscious as you remember it, with meltingly tender beef and lots of vegetables. A crockpot does all the work, so you’re free to do other things until it’s time to make the gravy.
This is the ultimate easy cold-weather recipe. I always brown the roast for a deeper, more robust flavor and give the veggies a little skillet time too. But after that, it’s easy street to Sunday Dinner.
Make as big a roast as your slow-cooker can fit. If you’re like my family, you’ll be thrilled to have the leftovers of the best crock pot roast recipe for the week ahead. My current favorite way is on soft yeast dinner rolls with balsamic mushrooms and onions for mini sliders.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Beef roast: Chuck roast is what I like the best for this dish. It’s also called shoulder steak or boneless chuck roast. Your butcher may also recommend brisket or round roast (another name: rump roast.) Every one of them excels at long, slow cooking. Choose a size that will fit in your Dutch oven. A 3.5-quart pot can hold a 3-pound roast well. If you’re sizing up to 6 quarts, choose up to a 4.5-pound roast.
- Carrots: 3 medium carrots, peeled and chopped, may be substituted for the baby carrots. You could also add celery if you love the flavor.
- Potatoes: Small red potatoes are low in starch and hold their shape well during the long cook time. Starchier potatoes, such as russets or even Yukon gold potatoes, will get mushy or may even dissolve.
- Red wine: I use a lighter, dry red such as Pinot Noir, but it can be anything. Just make sure you like it because you’ll have extra. If you don’t want to use wine, use extra beef broth, or even chicken broth for deglazing the bottom of the pot. Some people love the flavor of Worcestershire sauce, so feel free to add a teaspoon or more of that.
- Thyme: Or substitute your other favorite herbs like rosemary, sage, or parsley. Save some extra for garnish if you like a pop of bright green on your plate.
- Flour: Or thicken the gravy with cornstarch (it’s a gluten-free alternative).
Step-by-step instructions
- Pat chuck roast dry and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper all over. In a large skillet or dutch oven over high heat, heat oil until shimmering. Sear beef on all sides until a deep brown crust develops, about 7 to 10 minutes. Transfer beef to slow cooker.
- In the same skillet, add carrots, onions, and potatoes and cook stirring occasionally, until vegetables begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Stir in red wine, deglaze pan by scraping up brown bits. Add beef broth, tomato paste, thyme, bay leaf, 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper and bring to a simmer. Transfer mixture to slow cooker.
- Cover slow cooker and cook on low until meat is fork-tender, about 5-8 hours. Remove beef and vegetables (discard bay leaf). Keep warm while making gravy.
- To make the gravy, pour drippings into a bowl. Allow fat to rise to the top. Spoon off fat and reserve ¼ cup (discard any excess). In a large saucepan over low heat, pour in reserved fat. Whisk in flour to make a slurry and stir until mixture is bubbly. Set aside to cool.
- Measure remaining meat juices and add water until it reaches 2 cups liquid. Add mixture to sauce pan, return to medium-high heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil until mixture thickens, about 1 minute. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to a serving platter or serve the pot roast with vegetables right from the slow cooker.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This recipe plans on feeding 12, with each person eating 3-4 ounces of protein in the meal.
- Storage: Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Make ahead: Pot roast always tastes better the next day, so plan on making it ahead if you have time. Cool, cover, and refrigerate. Reheat in the oven at 325 degrees until hot, a slow cooker on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours, or in a pot on the stove for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Freezing: Leftover pot roast freezes beautifully for meal prep and last-minute lifesaving dinners. Freeze with the gravy, if desired, for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then reheat as you like.
- Vegetables: Some cooks recommend adding any vegetables into the pot midway through the cooking so they stay firm. But I prefer the flavor they add to the roast, and don’t mind the softer vegetables.
- Larger cuts: For better flavor, I recommend that you cut larger (5 pound or more) roasts into two smaller cuts to fit into the crock pot. That way there’s more surface area for browning.
- Slicing or shredding: If you prefer shredded beef, use two forks. If a hunk of meat is more your style, slice the roast against the grain.
- Oven-braised: Try my classic pot roast recipe if you want to make pot roast in the oven.
- Roasted pork: If you have pork in the refrigerator, try my Pork Roast with a delicious spice blend and potatoes, carrots, and onions roasted right along with it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Searing the meat is always optional but recommended. A hot skillet will add delicious caramelization to the meat and that’s especially important in slow cooker recipes. We take advantage of that rendered flavor by cooking the vegetables in it too. These extra steps are the difference between a crockpot pot roast that is excellent vs. one that is not.
That really depends on how soon you want to eat it and how well your slow cooker works. If your slow cooker is 10+ years old, it might be losing steam and therefore you’re better off cooking a roast on high regardless of when you need it. But if you’re crockpot is new and working optimally, choose the time that makes sense based on when you want to eat.
It isn’t necessary for the roast to be completely submerged in liquid. Slow cookers work by trapping steam and cooking meat evenly throughout. Even if the a pot roast went into a totally dry slow cooker, plenty of fat and juices (or water from vegetables) will come out to help aid in the cooking process.
You need to cook it longer or increase the temperature. Roasts are economical cuts of meat because they are tough unless prepared correctly. It takes a long time and/or a high temperature to properly break down all the fat in the roast to make it fork-tender.
More slow cooker favorites
Soup and Stew Recipes
Crock Pot White Chicken Chili
Sandwich Recipes
Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken
Beef Recipes
Slow Cooker Beef Brisket
Soup and Stew Recipes
Slow Cooker Ham and Bean Soup
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Slow Cooker Pot Roast
Ingredients
- 1 (3 to 4 pound) boneless beef chuck roast (see note 1)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 8 ounces baby carrots about 1 ½ cups (see note 2)
- 2 large onions thinly sliced, about 2 cups
- 1 1/2 pounds red potatoes cut into 1-inch pieces (see note 3)
- 1 cup red wine (see note 4)
- 2 cups beef broth
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 sprig fresh thyme or ½ teaspoon dried (see note 5)
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (see note 6)
Instructions
- Pat chuck roast dry and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper all over. In a large skillet or dutch oven over high heat, heat oil until shimmering. Brown beef on all sides until a deep brown crust develops, about 7 to 10 minutes. Transfer beef to slow cooker.
- In the same skillet, add carrots, onions, and potatoes and cook stirring occasionally, until vegetables begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in red wine, deglaze pan by scraping up brown bits.
- Add beef broth, tomato paste, thyme, bay leaf, 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper and bring to a simmer. Transfer mixture to slow cooker. Cover slow cooker and cook on low until meat is fork-tender, about 5-8 hours. Remove beef and vegetables (discard bay leaf). Keep warm while making gravy.
- To make the gravy, pour drippings into a bowl. Allow fat to rise to the top. Skim off fat and reserve ¼ cup. In a large saucepan over low heat, pour in reserved fat. Whisk in flour and stir until mixture is bubbly. Set aside to cool.
- Measure remaining meat juices and add water until it reaches 2 cups liquid. Add mixture to sauce pan, return to medium-high heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil until mixture thickens, about 1 minute. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to a serving platter or serve the pot roast with vegetables right from the slow cooker.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Beef roast: Chuck roast is what I like the best. It’s also called shoulder steak or boneless chuck roast. Your butcher may also recommend brisket or round roast (another name: rump roast.) Every one of them excels at long, slow cooking. Choose a size that will fit in your Dutch oven. A 3.5-quart pot can hold a 3-pound roast well. If you’re sizing up to 6 quarts, choose up to a 4.5-pound roast.
- Carrots: 3 medium carrots, peeled and chopped, may be substituted for the baby carrots.
- Potatoes: Small red potatoes are low in starch and hold their shape well during the long cook time. Starchier potatoes, such as russets or even Yukon gold potatoes, will get mushy or may even dissolve.
- Red wine: I use a lighter, dry red such as Pinot Noir, but it can be anything. Just make sure you like it because you’ll have extra. If you don’t want to use wine, use extra beef broth, or even chicken broth for deglazing the bottom of the pot.
- Thyme: Or substitute your other favorite herbs like rosemary, sage, or parsley. Save some extra for garnish if you like a pop of bright green on your plate.
- Flour: Or thicken the gravy with cornstarch (it’s a gluten free alternative).
- Yield: This recipe plans on feeding 12, with each person eating 3-4 ounces of pot roast as a meal.
- Storage: Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
I’m so happy to be a part of this group and am really looking forward to being here and learning new tricks of the trade. Thanks!
You’re welcome, Sandra! Please feel free to write if you have any questions. Happy cooking! – Meggan
I really like the recipe, but I was confused by the instructions. In the beginning portion, the prep time was 25 minutes and the cook time was five hours, but farther down to the detailed instructions, the cook time was eight hours.
I didn’t want it to turn to mush, so I cooked it for five hours and it was very good – but would it have been better if I had left it in for eight?
Hi Christine, thanks for pointing that out, it’s a typo. Since slow cooker and roast size vary, it should read 5 to 8 hours. (I have a small slow cooker that seems to still boil on low.) I’m glad you enjoyed it and I’ll fix the recipe right now. – Meggan