Slow cooker chuck roast is the ultimate hearty comfort food! This classic crock pot meal has just 6 basic ingredients and is full of hearty rich flavor.
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- 🥩 Ingredients needed:
- 🗒️ Ingredient notes:
- 🔁 Variations
- 🔪 How to make pot roast in the slow cooker, basic instructions
- 🔥 Pre-sear your roast for added flavor
- 📷 Chuck Roast: Slow Cooker, photo instructions
- 🍴How to make pot roast gravy
- 👩🍳 Chef Tips:
- ❓ Frequently asked questions, answers and tips:
- Printable Recipe Card
- Sarah Mock
🥩 Ingredients needed:
Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the recipe at the bottom for quantities.
- 3-5 lb chuck roast
- 1 onion diced
- 4 carrots - peeled and diced
- 4 celery stalks diced
- 2 envelopes Lipton dry onion soup mix
- 1 16 oz beer
- 1 c beef broth
🗒️ Ingredient notes:
- Chuck Roast- look for it also to be called: chuck roast, shoulder steak, boneless chuck roast, or chuck shoulder pot roast.
- Onion - White onion is used in this recipe but if you have a purple onion, that will work as well. If using shallots I would use 4 big ones in place of one onion.
- Carrots - whole carrots that have been peeled and diced are what is featured in this recipe. But if you have a bag of baby carrots those will work as well. Be sure to use the 'thicker' baby carrots because these will hold up better on this longer cook.
- Celery - Celery is part of the classic mirepoix, a foundation of French cooking. The other two ingredients in a Mirepoix is carrots and onions.
- Beer- use a can of beer of your choice. I like dark beer for this recipe because it pairs well with beef. Alcohol is optional in this recipe. Just add more beef stock or broth to the cooker.
- Beef Broth - If you have homemade broth or beef stock this would be a delicious recipe to use it in. But not everyone has that on their shelf. A box of stock is perfectly acceptable.
🔁 Variations
For added flavors, you can add some or all of the following ingredients or substitutions.
- Garlic - 3-5 cloves of garlic, crushed
- Worcestershire sauce - ¼ cup
- Yukon gold potatoes - (yellow potatoes) - 2 potatoes, scrubbed and cut into bite-sized chunks.
- Herbs - wrap kitchen string around a bundle of rosemary, sage, parsley and thyme. Use the kitchen string to easily remove the bouquet garni at the end of cooking.
- Wine - beer is called for in this specific recipe but I also love a dry, robust red wine. Merlot is one of my favorites for this recipe.
🔪 How to make pot roast in the slow cooker, basic instructions
- Place your celery, onions and carrots in the bottom of a slow cooker.
- Top your veggies with Lipton Onion soup mix and pour a beer over the top of your veggies along with a cup of beef broth.
- Next, place your roast on top and cook on low for 6-8 hours until your roast is cooked through and tender.
- Shred the roast with 2 forks.
- Serve over mashed potatoes or with buttered bread!
🔥 Pre-sear your roast for added flavor
- Preheat a wide skillet with high sides on high heat and add 1-2 Tablespoons oil to the bottom of the pot.
- Sear the meat in the bottom of the pan without moving it for 1-2 minutes.
- Turn meat over and sear on the other sides. The meat will easily pull away from the pan when it is properly seared.
- Remove the meat to a slow cooker before deglazing the pan.
- After the meat is removed from the pan, carefully drain out any excess oil. Add the stock to the pot, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan of the stuck on brown bits. Those bits are called fond and are full of flavor and will help enhance the sauce.
- Pour the deglazing liquid over the meat in the slow cooker. In this recipe, I will use about a cup of beef stock that is called for.
📷 Chuck Roast: Slow Cooker, photo instructions
- Place chopped celery, diced onions and chopped carrots in the bottom of a slow cooker.
2. Sprinkle the 2 packets of onion soup mix over the mirepoix.
3. Add the beer (if using) along with the beef broth. Stir to combine.
4. Place the chuck roast in the slow cooker. If there is a fattier side to the roast, place it fat side up.
5. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until the carrots are fork tender.
6. If making a gravy or sauce, ladle out some of the fat that has accumulated on top of the surface.
7. Remove the meat from the slow cooker, chop the meat and return it to the slow cooker or use 2 forks to tear apart the beef into shreds.
🍴How to make pot roast gravy
To thicken the liquid left in the slow cooker to make a pot roast gravy you are going to need to skin off some of the fat from the top of the pot roast.
- Skim off about a ½ cup of fat that will be on the surface.
- Add that to a medium saucepan and add 3 tablespoons of flour to the drippings.
- Over medium-high heat, whisk vigorously to break up any flour lumps.
- Gradually add 3-4 cups of liquid from the pot roast, whisking to combine and thicken.
- Bring to a boil for 1 minute to cook out the flour taste.
- Check for seasoning and adjust with salt and pepper.
👩🍳 Chef Tips:
To add another layer of flavor, I suggest pre-searing the meat before adding it to the slow cooker. I don't always have time in the morning to take this step but I am always glad when I do because the flavor profile of the finished dish is fantastic!
See note above on how to pre-sear the meat.
❓ Frequently asked questions, answers and tips:
The beer will cook-off. However, if you don’t want to use a beer, simply use more beef broth or water. You want to cover the vegetables and the roast.
Printable Recipe Card
Chuck Roast (Slow Cooker Recipe)
There is more to a recipe than just the recipe card. Frequently Asked Questions within the blog post that you may find helpful. Simply scroll back up to read them!
Ingredients
- 3-5 lb chuck roast
- 1 onion diced
- 4 carrots peeled and diced
- 4 stalks Celery diced
- 2 envelopes onion soup mix
- 16 oz beer
- 1 c beef broth
Instructions
- Place chopped celery, diced onions and chopped carrots in the bottom of a slow cooker.1 onion, 4 carrots, 4 stalks Celery
- Sprinkle the 2 packets of onion soup mix over the mirepoix.2 envelopes onion soup mix
- Add the beer (if using) along with the beef broth. Stir to combine.16 oz beer, 1 c beef broth
- Place the chuck roast in the slow cooker. If there is a fattier side to the roast, place it fat side up.3-5 lb chuck roast
- Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until the carrots are fork tender.
- If making a gravy or sauce, ladle out some of the fat that has accumulated on top of the surface.
- Remove the meat from the slow cooker, chop the meat and return it to the slow cooker or use 2 forks to tear apart the beef into shred
Nutrition Disclosure
Nutritional facts are estimates and are provided as a courtesy to the reader. Please utilize your own brand nutritional values to double check against our estimates. Nutritional values are calculated via a third party. Changing ingredients, amounts or cooking technique will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.
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Sarah Mock
She Does It All
Sarah Mock is a classically trained Chef and graduate of Johnson & Wales University. A culinary blogger for 13 years Sarah helps the home cook prepare her recipes with professional results.
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