Have fall-apart tender pot roast with this easy recipe we have made for over 40 years—the ultimate comfort food. Make it in the oven or crock pot—an old-fashioned Sunday dinner classic pot roast with great leftovers.
Jump To:
- 😊Why you will make this recipe over and over
- 👨🍳How to Make Old Fashioned Pot Roast in the Oven
- 🥣How to Make Pot Roast Gravy
- 🐄Ingredients for Pot Roast
- ♨️How to Make Old Fashioned Pot Roast in a Crock Pot
- 🖊️Making a Smaller Pot Roast
- ❓FAQs
- 📖Comfort Food Recipes
- 🖼️Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
- 📝Recipe
😊Why you will make this recipe over and over
- This is the ultimate in old-fashioned, classic comfort food that grandma would make.
- Easy step-by-step photo instructions.
- Tender meat from a cheap cut of beef due to the long cooking time that melts the connective tissue.
- A variety of vegetables and liquids can be added. And if root vegetables are used, it is called a Yankee Pot Roast.
👨🍳How to Make Old Fashioned Pot Roast in the Oven
- Place a 3-4 pounds chuck roast seasoned with salt and pepper in a Dutch oven or roasting pan with a reasonably tight lid and big enough to add the root vegetables later.
- Cook for 2-3 hours.
- While cooking, prepare root vegetables—usually potatoes and carrots.
- Mix ketchup into any liquid in the pan and cover the top of the meat with garlic.
- Add the prepared vegetables to the roaster, cover, and roast until the potatoes are soft—about 1 ½ to 2 hours.
- Move the cooked roast and root vegetables to dishes and cover with foil.
- Make gravy.
🥣How to Make Pot Roast Gravy
Pot roast gravy is, in many ways, the reason to make pot roast. So we must get it right—thick with great flavor.
- Use any liquid drainage in the pan or the crock pot.
- Add additional beef broth to get to the volume of gravy you want. For oven baked, remove the meat and vegetables and use the roasting pan. For the crock pot version, pour the liquid into a large saucepan.
- Mix a slurry of flour and water or broth. You need 2 tablespoons of flour and ¼ cup of cold water or broth for each cup of gravy you are making. But mix a little extra, just in case you need it. Whisk or shake until smooth before using.
- Bring the drainage and broth mixture to a medium boil over medium-high heat.
- Slowly whisk but ¾ of the flour slurry into the boiling liquid. Adjust the heat to a light boil.
- Continue to whisk. Add more slurry every few minutes until you reach the thickness you want—taste test for salt.
🐄Ingredients for Pot Roast
- Beef roast—use a well-marbled chuck roast. But there are other choices. Top or bottom round are leaner and will need to be cut into slices but are still tender.
- Onion—optional and can dominate the flavor. So if you use them, go light.
- Seasoning—Garlic, ketchup, salt, and pepper. Other flavors can be added with sprigs of rosemary or thyme. Other fresh herbs can also be added.
- Optional—The beefy taste can be enhanced with a cup of dry red wine or 1-2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce.
♨️How to Make Old Fashioned Pot Roast in a Crock Pot
This is an easy conversion to a crockpot. The ingredients are the same.
- Sear the chuck roast for 2-3 minutes per side with a couple of teaspoons of oil over medium-high heat in a skillet.
- Prepare all veggies and place them in the bottom of a 6-quart or larger crockpot. Add the ketchup and 14 oz of beef broth. Place the roast on the vegetables and cover with garlic. Cover the crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours—the potatoes should be over 200° and the roast over 180°.
- When the potatoes and meat are fork-tender, remove them and tent them with foil to keep warm.
- Make the flour slurry.
- Pour all liquid into a large saucepan. Add more beef broth if needed for volume and bring it to a boil. Then proceed per these instructions to add the slurry and simmer to thicken.
🖊️Making a Smaller Pot Roast
If you want a pot roast for two recipe, I suggest making four servings. This blog is "cooking for two," but that does not mean only two servings. This will take about 4 hours, give or take a bit, which is too long to spend on two servings. You want the leftovers.
Assume about ½ pound or a bit more of meat per serving - it will cook down some. The vegetable amount should then be adjusted to the serving number for the meat weight. I suggest a medium carrot and ½ large russet potato per serving.
And finally, the gravy volume is about ½ cup or more per serving. I briefly cover making gravy in the instructions, but please see How To Make Gravy at Home if you want more details.
❓FAQs
Making gravy in a crock pot is not easy; it rarely ends well. It just doesn't get hot enough for most flour methods. So we will make gravy "with" a crockpot meal but not "in" the crockpot.
You can make a roux, add it to the crockpot, and turn the heat up with a fair amount of success. That takes time. But moving the fluid out of the crock pot to a stovetop pan works much better and is more reliable. See How To Make Gravy at Home for details on gravy making.
Sealed airtight in a container, leftovers are good refrigerated for 3-4 days.
To freeze, store airtight for 3-4 months.
To reheat, add the meat to all the gravy and veggies and warm up on the stovetop. It may need water since the gravy flour will absorb more moisture when stored.
Pot roast is generally a tougher cut of beef cooked with liquid. If root vegetables are added, which I think is mandatory, it is officially a "Yankee Pot Roast."
📖Comfort Food Recipes
Old Fashion Scalloped Potatoes and Ham
Check out all the Comfort Food Recipes
This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.
🖼️Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
Start with a nice 3-pound chuck roast and trim the roast of any large areas of solid fat. Lightly salt and pepper and place in a large roasting pan or dutch oven. Cover with the lid. Place in 325° oven for 1 ½ to 2 hours. (longer if frozen).
While cooking, prepare the root vegetables—usually Russet potatoes are peeled and cut into chunks, and carrots are peeled and cut into pieces or slices, or you can use baby carrots. After 1 ½ to 2 hours, remove from the oven, add ½ cup ketchup to the liquid in the pan and mix well. Then cover the top of the meat with crushed or minced garlic.
Add your vegetables and lightly salt and pepper. Increase oven temp to 350°. Replace the lid and roast for another 1 ½ to 2 hours until the potatoes are soft.
Remove meat and veggies from the pan—tent with foil while making gravy.
Make one cup of gravy (or a bit more) for each pound of meat. Use any liquid drainage in the pan or the crock pot. Add additional beef broth to get to the volume of gravy you want. Mix a slurry of flour and water or broth. You need 2 tablespoons of flour and ¼ cup of cold water or broth for each cup of gravy you are making—but mix a little extra, just in case you need it. Whisk or shake until smooth before using.
Place the roaster over a stove burner(s) on medium-high heat—use two burners if you can. Bring the drainage and broth mixture to a medium boil over medium-high heat. Slowly whisk but ¾ of the flour slurry into the boiling liquid. Adjust the heat to a light boil. Continue to whisk. Add more slurry every few minutes until you reach the thickness you want—taste test for salt.
See How To Make Gravy at Home for more information on making gravy.
📝Recipe
Old Fashioned Pot Roast with Gravy
Ingredients
- 3 lb chuck roast
- ½ cup ketchup
- 3 potatoes - large russet
- 3-4 carrots
- 1 onion - medium optional
- 2-4 cloves garlic
- ½ teaspoon salt - to taste
- ¼ teaspoon pepper - to taste
Instructions
- Start with a 3-pound chuck roast and trim the roast of any large areas of solid fat. Lightly salt and pepper and place in a large roasting pan or dutch oven. Cover with the lid. Place in 325° oven for 1 ½ to 2 hours. (longer if frozen).
- While cooking, prepare the root vegetables—usually Russet potatoes are peeled and cut into chunks, and carrots are peeled and cut into pieces or slices, or you can use baby carrots. After 1 ½ to 2 hours, remove from the oven, add ½ cup ketchup to the liquid in the pan and mix well. Then cover the top of the meat with crushed or minced garlic.
- Add your vegetables and lightly salt and pepper. Increase oven temp to 350°. Replace the lid and roast for another 1 ½ to 2 hours until the potatoes are soft.
- Remove meat and veggies from the pan—tent with foil while making gravy.
- Make one cup of gravy (or a bit more) for each pound of meat. Use any liquid drainage in the pan or the crock pot. Add additional beef broth to get to the volume of gravy you want. Mix a slurry of flour and water or broth. You need 2 tablespoons of flour and ¼ cup of cold water or broth for each cup of gravy you are making—but mix a little extra, just in case you need it. Whisk or shake until smooth before using.
- Place the roaster over a stove burner(s) on medium-high heat—use two burners if you can. Bring the drainage and broth mixture to a medium boil over medium-high heat. Slowly whisk but ¾ of the flour slurry into the boiling liquid. Adjust the heat to a light boil. Continue to whisk. Add more slurry every few minutes until you reach the thickness you want—taste test for salt.
Your Own Private Notes
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- I set the size of this recipe to 6 servings that use a 3-pound chuck roast. Adjust to what you need, but I don’t suggest under 4 servings. Assume ½ pound of meat, ½ large potato, 1 medium carrot, and ½+ cup of gravy per serving.
- Chuck roast, bone-in or boneless, is suggested, but you may use other cuts. Leaner cuts may not be as fall-apart tender but still tender.
- Different potatoes may be used.
- Do not cut your carrots too thin.
- We usually skip the onions. It can dominate the taste. If you use them, be careful of the amount.
- The exact cooking times are a bit loose due to so many variables. So check for tenderness before stopping and watch, so you don’t overcook for your taste. We like this approach overdone.
- Good refrigerated for 3-4 days. To reheat, add the meat cut up a bit to all the gravy and veggies and warm up on the stovetop. It may need a bit of water.
- Good frozen for 3-4 months. Make it up like I suggest to reheat but then freeze.
- See How To Make Gravy at Home for more details on gravy making at home.
- Nutrition includes all listed ingredients: meat, potatoes, carrots, onion, and gravy.
Crock Pot Instructions
This is an easy conversion to a crockpot. The ingredients are the same. 1) Brown the chuck roast for 2-3 minutes per side with a couple of teaspoons of oil over medium-high heat in a skillet. 2) Prepare all veggies and place them in the bottom of a 6-quart or larger crockpot. Add the ketchup and 14 oz of beef broth. Place the roast on the vegetables and cover with garlic. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours—the potatoes should be over 200° and the roast over 180°. 3) When the potatoes and meat are fork-tender, Remove them and tent to keep warm. 4) Make the flour slurry. 5) Pour all liquid into a large saucepan. Add more beef broth if needed for volume and bring it to a boil. Then proceed per these instructions to add the slurry and thicken.To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Editors Note: Originally Published February 15, 2011. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Menolly
Hi! I was thinking about doing this, tomorrow, in the oven. But I don't see any liquid addition for the cooking part (broth, water, etc). Do we dry roast this in the Dutch oven without any liquid? I've always added liquid whenever I Braised chuck in the oven so I'm a little confused. Thank you for your time.
Kimberlee
Hi Dr Dan,
I'd like to to make mashed potatos and not add the carrots and onions to your recipe. Will this affect the cooking time? Also, should I brown the roast before I put it in the oven? I'm planning to use the oven recipe, not the crockpot one.
Thank you so much for all of the wonderful, failproof recipes you provide.
Happy Holidays to you, your wife and the "kids"!
Kimberlee
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Kimberlee,
Welcome to the blog.
This one of our favorite comfort foods. Great choice.
The cooking time will be the same with or without the potatoes, carrots, etc. And I consider the oven the best method here.
Enjoy your roast and have a great holiday.
Dan
Kimberlee
Hi Dr. Dan,
I'm still wondering, though, if I should brown the roast before putting it on the oven? I want to make it for Christmas dinner.
Thanks, Kimberlee
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Kimberlee,
If in a crockpot, I suggest browning first since it cooks at relatively low temperature. For the oven, I generally don't since it browns nicely by itself. But it never hurts to brown it first even for the oven. And if you skip it, you will miss only a little taste in the crockpot.
Dan
Kellie
The pandemic upended my original Easter dinner recipe plans, so I decided to give this a try, and it worked beautifully! Thanks for another good recipe.
Dea
Oh My Gosh!!!!!! If there was a way to give this 10 stars I would, but 5 will have to suffice! The smells coming from the oven while this was cooking were intoxicatingly wonderful!!! Upon taking a first bite, my husband raved on and on about it, declaring it good enough for fine dining! I would have to agree! The flavors were amazing! The ONLY thing we did differently with the recipe was to add some fresh broccoli florets to the roast and all the other vegetables during the last 15 minutes of cooking. This very well might become our go-to Sunday night dinner from now on! Thanks Dr. Dan!!!!!!
DrDan
Hi Dea,
Glad you enjoyed it. We do it at least monthly. So good for leftovers.
Thanks for the note and rating.
Dan
Dr Dan
Just a little tangy that we like plus it adds to the gravy taste.
Chris
I've never added ketchup before but it seems like it emulsified well with the meat drippings. Does it end up with a light tangy flavor?