This roast will astound you. It is so moist and flavorful and delicate. And the cream soup adds such a rich flavor. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on expensive meat to get it to taste this way. I’ll tell you how it’s done.
Believe me, I have had more pot roasts go dry on me than I care to share. Take it from someone who knows. You’ll love this recipe, and so will your pickiest kids.
The best part: it’s extremely easy and quick to throw together, and your house will smell like a restaurant when you come home from a busy day.
Step 1: Put the broth, soup and veggies in the crockpot.
Notice the ONLY chopping I did was on the onion (you can use whichever onion you want. It doesn’t have to be red). I deliberately chose baby carrots and potatoes for the EXPRESS purpose of minimizing prep time. Being lazy requires more planning than people think.
Also, the soup is actually quite optional. So are the mushrooms. It just depends on what you are going for. I really wanted to do the rich, creamy route this time. But you can also do a traditional broth-only pot roast. It works the same way. Just keep the onions, potatoes, and carrots as a veggie staple. Feel free to add celery as well.
I have nothing against using the packaged pot roast seasonings for either recipe, but they are not as necessary as you might think. The salt and pepper, broth, and aromatic vegetables do amazing things to a pot roast and are not given enough credit in my opinion.
Step 2: Season, flour, and seer the meat.
This is the MOST. IMPORTANT. PART. More important than catching the latest episode of Castle. More important than flossing your teeth. Why? Because THIS is where you seal the meat so it holds on to it’s moisture and fat and absorbs the greatest amount of flavor. I’ve tried cooking pot roast every other way under the sun, and this really is the only way to do it right. So take those extra few minutes to season, flour, and sear the meat, and you will not regret it.
When I was young my mama used to take a huge slab-0-beef and throw the whole thing in the pot. And it always turned out delicious. But I could never pull it off with much finesse when I tried that. I have had much more consistent success with breaking the beef down in to more manageable pieces and searing them.
Step 3: Put the meat in the crockpot and cook on low for 6 hours.
Keep that lid on the whole time if you plan to optimize on the moisture. I usually turn the heat off about 45 minutes before we eat. It still gets cooked, but it cools down a little bit for those tender little palates.
- 2 lb+ chuck roast cut into smaller pieces
- 2 cups baby carrots
- 2 cups baby potatoes (the kinds that are almost small enough to be bite-sized)
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 cup diced mushrooms
- 2 cups beef broth
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup
- Whisk creamed soup and beef broth together and pour into crockpot.
- Add carrots, potatoes and diced onion.
- Slice the beef into small 6 oz. portions, liberally add salt an pepper to all sides, roll in flour, and sear in butter on high heat for a minute or two--just enough to seal those juices.
- Place meat into the crockpot, on top of all the vegetables, cover, and cook on low for 6-7 hours.
