Classic pot roast

Why a chuck roast

Most chuck roast recipes are pot roasts, and for good reason. Chuck, from the shoulder, is laced with fat and connective tissue. Roasted dry like a prime rib, it is tough. Cooked slowly in a covered pot with a little liquid, its collagen melts and the meat turns tender enough to pull apart with a fork. Look for a roast labeled chuck roast, chuck eye roast or shoulder roast, about 2 inches thick, with visible streaks of fat. Bottom round and rump roasts are sold for pot roast too, but they are leaner and come out drier and more sliceable.

Pot roast is not cooked to a temperature like a steak. It is safe long before it is tender, and it is done when the meat inside has reached about 200 to 205°F and a fork twists in it with no resistance. If it still feels firm, it needs more time, not less. Take it out early and the collagen has not melted yet.

Dutch oven pot roast in the oven

This is the method in the recipe, and it is also how to make pot roast without a crock pot. A heavy Dutch oven holds steady heat, and the oven surrounds it evenly, so the liquid stays at a bare simmer for hours without stirring. Use a pot only a little larger than the roast, so the liquid comes a third of the way up its sides. In a pot that is too big, the liquid spreads out thin and evaporates. The vegetables go in for the last hour or so. Put in at the start, they turn to mush by the time the meat is tender.

How long to cook a chuck roast

The times are a guide: two roasts of the same weight can differ by half an hour, depending on their shape and how much connective tissue they have. Check with a fork rather than the clock.

Slow cooker pot roast with carrots and potatoes

Brown the roast and soften the onions on the stove first. Put the potatoes and carrots in the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker, set the roast on top, and pour in the onions and garlic with 1 cup of broth, the tomato paste and the Worcestershire. A crock pot loses almost no liquid, so it needs half as much as the oven. Cook on low for 8 to 9 hours or on high for 5 to 6. On low the meat comes out noticeably more tender. In a slow cooker the vegetables can go in at the start, because its low, steady heat cooks them gently over the whole time. Make the gravy on the stove as written, or in the slow cooker on high with the lid off for 15 minutes.

Instant Pot pot roast

Cut the roast into three even pieces, so the heat reaches the middle of each, and brown them on Sauté. Soften the onions, add 1 1/2 cups of broth with the tomato paste and Worcestershire, scrape the bottom well, and add the meat and herbs. Cook at high pressure for 60 minutes and let the pressure release naturally for 15. Lift out the meat, add the potatoes and carrots, and cook them 4 minutes at high pressure with a quick release. Thicken the liquid on Sauté.

The best potatoes for pot roast

Yukon Golds hold their shape after an hour in the liquid and turn creamy inside. Red potatoes hold together too, but are less buttery. Russets break down and partly dissolve, which thickens the gravy but leaves few whole pieces. Cut them into large chunks, about 2 inches, and the carrots the same size, so they finish at the same time as the meat.

Pot roast seasoning

The salt matters most. Use about 3/4 tsp of kosher salt for every pound of meat, rubbed in before browning. If you can, salt it the night before and leave it uncovered in the fridge, which seasons the meat deeper and dries the surface so it browns better. For a dry rub, mix the garlic and onion powder with 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1/2 tsp dried thyme and 1/2 tsp dried rosemary, crumbled. Packet seasonings work, but many contain about a day's worth of sodium for the whole roast before you add any salt of your own.

Mississippi pot roast

The viral pot roast of recent years is a slow cooker recipe: a chuck roast with a packet of ranch dressing mix, a packet of au jus gravy mix, a whole stick of butter and a handful of pepperoncini peppers, cooked on low for 8 hours and shredded. The tangy, buttery juice is the point. It is also a lot of fat and salt: the stick of butter alone adds about 100 kcal a serving, and the two packets carry several thousand milligrams of sodium between them, more than a day's worth for the whole roast.

Our lighter version keeps the flavor. Brown the roast and put it in the slow cooker. Mix your own ranch seasoning: 1 tsp each of dried dill, dried parsley, garlic powder and onion powder, with 1/2 tsp black pepper. Rub it over the roast. Add 1 cup low-sodium beef broth with 1 tbsp Worcestershire in place of the au jus, 2 tbsp butter in place of the stick, and 8 pepperoncini with 2 tbsp of their brine. Cook on low for 8 hours, spoon the fat off the juice, shred the meat in it, and serve it over mashed potatoes or on rolls. Without the potatoes and carrots, a serving has about 350 kcal and 34 g of protein.

Leftover pot roast

Leftover pot roast keeps 4 days in the fridge, and it reheats better than almost any other meat, because it is already sitting in its own juice. Shred it for tacos or sandwiches, fry it with diced potatoes and onion into hash, or cut it small and add it to our vegetable soup for a beef and vegetable soup. It freezes in its gravy for 3 months.

What it is worth nutritionally

A serving, about 4 oz of cooked meat with a cup of vegetables and gravy, has about 460 kcal, with 38 g of protein, 21 g of fat and 31 g of carbohydrate. Spooning the fat off the liquid before you make the gravy matters: a 3-lb chuck roast can render up to half a cup of it. With cornstarch for the gravy, it is gluten-free; check the Worcestershire and broth labels, as a few Worcestershire brands contain malt vinegar from barley. For chuck braised in red wine and cut in pieces, see our braised beef; the same cut in smaller cubes, cooked with the vegetables, is our beef stew.