The ultimate comfort food is yours with this near-perfect recipe. It is as easy as toss it in the oven or crock pot, add some veggies later and make gravy at the end. An old-fashioned Sunday dinner classic pot roast with great leftovers.
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Introduction and My Rating
AKA Wifo Pot Roast, this is the ultimate in old fashioned, classic comfort food that grandma would make. I steal only from the best, and in the pot roast world, that is my wife. So easy with these simple step by step photo instructions.
Pot roasts are usually made with tougher cuts of beef. These cuts will be the most flavorful when cooked with low heat the melts the tough connective tissue leaving fork-tender meat.
Generally cooked in tightly covered Dutch ovens or roasting pans, but crockpots and pressure cookers are frequently used. A variety of vegetables and liquids can be added. There are no real rules with pot roast.
I'm calling this more of a technique more than a recipe. It is simple and basic.
My Rating
We have this at least monthly. We love this "overdone" when is just falling apart. Mmm good.
🐄The Roast
My favorite cut of beef for this is a very well-marbled chuck roast. About 3 pounds so we will have leftovers, and if there are large chunks of fat, I trim them if on the edge of the roast. Bone-in or boneless does not matter.
Chuck roast will cook to fall apart tender and almost shred itself. It comes in a variety of sizes and is inexpensive.
But there are other choices. Top or bottom round are leaner and will need to be cut into slices but still tender. Or even brisket can be used. It is fattier and also will need to be sliced to serve. Many other cuts can be used.
🥔The Vegetables
The vegetables are generally the classic root vegetables of potatoes, onions, and carrots. Use what you want.
The Potatoes
Russet potatoes are where it at for that classic feel. They are what your grandma would have used. Always peel them and cut into chunks.
But potato types are very much interchangeable, and most others do not need to be peeled. Either red potatoes or Yukon gold are other common ones suggested.
The Carrots
Just peel and cut your carrots into chunks or slices, or you can use baby carrots. Do not cut your carrots into thin pieces since they can just fall apart and disappear.
A note about baby carrots. They are cut from big carrots. They are not really young and tender. They are woody and have a bit less flavor than normal carrots. But they are very convenient and are OK to use if you want.
The Onion
We tend to skip the onion, it can dominate the taste if you are not careful with the amount. So your choice. Yellow, white, or red are used interchangeably.
👨🍳Cooking
Put it in a roasting pan with a reasonably tight lid. A Dutch oven works great here, too. Just make sure it's big enough for the root veggies that you want to add later. No liquid is needed. Roast covered for a few hours.
Then add some ketchup, salt, and pepper along with root veggies (amount and type of your choice) and roast a few more hours.
🖊️Recipe Size
Yes, this is cooking for two, but that does not mean only two servings. Really, this will take 4 hours, give or take a bit, and that is too long to spend on two servings. You want the leftovers
Assume about 1/2 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 1/2 large russet potato per serving.
And finely, gravy volume is about 1/2 cup or more per serving. I briefly cover making gravy in the instructions, but if you want more details, please see How To Make Gravy at Home.
❄️Storage
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.
♨️Crockpot Pot Roast with Gravy
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 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 the garlic. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
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.
Making Gravy and Crockpots
Making gravy in a crockpot is not easy; in fact, it rarely ends well. It just doesn't get hot enough for most flour methods. So we are going to make gravy "with" a crockpot meal but not "in" the crockpot.
You do want to use a flour method here since gravy made with flour will store and reheat well. Cornstarch does neither.
You can make a roux and add it to the crockpot and turn the heat up with a fair amount of success. That takes time. But it works much better and more reliable to move the fluid out of the crockpot to use it in gravy. See How To Make Gravy at Home for details on gravy making.
📖Comfort Food Recipes
Old Fashion Scalloped Potatoes and Ham
Check out all the Comfort Food Recipes
🖼️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 lid. Place in 325° oven for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. (longer if frozen).
After 1 1/2 to 2 hours, remove from oven add 1/2 cup ketchup to 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 lid and roast another 1 1/2 to 2 hours until potatoes are soft.
Remove meat and veggies from pan.
Make a slurry of flour and cold water or beef broth. Add beef broth to the liquid in the roaster. You will want about 1 cup of liquid per pound of roast. And 2 tablespoons flour per cup of liquid.
Place roaster over stove burners on medium-high. Use two burners if you can. Bring to boil and then slowly whisk the flour mixture in to get the thickness you want. Decrease the heat to a low boil while continuing to mix and cook for a few minutes. See How To Make Gravy at Home for more information on making gravy.
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📖 Recipe
Easy Pot Roast with Gravy
Ingredients
- 3 lb chuck roast
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 3 potatoes - large
- 3-4 carrots
- 1 onion - medium optional
- 2-4 cloves garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon salt - to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper - to taste
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 lid. Place in 325° oven for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. (longer if frozen).
- After 1 1/2 to 2 hours, remove from oven add 1/2 cup ketchup to 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 lid and roast another 1 1/2 to 2 hours until potatoes are soft.
- Remove meat and veggies from pan.
- Make a slurry of flour and cold water or beef broth. Add beef broth to the liquid in the roaster. You will want about 1 cup of liquid per pound of roast. And 2 tablespoons flour per cup of liquid.
- Place roaster over stove burners on medium-high. Use two burners if you can. Bring to boil and then slowly whisk the flour mixture in to get the thickness you want. Decrease the heat to a low boil while continuing to mix and cook for a few minutes. See How To Make Gravy at Home for more information on making gravy.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- I set the size of this recipe to 6 servings that uses a 3-pound chuck roast. Adjust to what you need, but I don’t suggest under 4 servings. Assume 1/2 pound of meat, 1/2 large potato, 1 medium carrot and 1/2+ 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.
- 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 approaching 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 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 the garlic. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. 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.Nutrition
Editors Note: Originally Published February 15, 2011. Updated with updated text and photos.
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?