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I am going to let you in on a little secret.
I’ve never been a great beef pot roast maker. It’s true. My pot roast usually comes out kind of tough and not very flavorful. I’ve researched the best methods for cooking the blessed meat and tried countless recipes. Goodness knows I have even left it cooking in my crock pot with fingers crossed it would turn out wonderfully. Much to my dismay…it wasn’t ever great. Just okay, and certainly not blog worthy.
Until now.
Thank heavens, I have finally found a pot roast recipe to love and cherish. My sunday dinners will never be the same! This beautiful beef roast is divine. Succulent, even! (Full of wonder). The meat turns out so tender you don’t even need a knife to cut it. It simply shreds easily with a fork. The flavor is fragrant and rich. It cooks slowly in the crock pot drenched in wonderfully simple sauce. When the meat has cooked through you add a bit of cornstarch and cold water to the pot, which turns the sauce into a fabulous gravy. Serve it all with a side of mashed potatoes and life will be a beautiful thing. 🙂
Make this, my friends.
Make it and love it and give your crock pot a big fat kiss, won’t you?
Monthly Menu Plan coming up on Monday, followed by an entire week worth of posts. Sugary, heavenly, Christmas-like posts my friends. ‘Tis the season, after all. I’ve got some great things to show you! Hope you’ll join me. 🙂
Now, let’s make some roast. You, me and a beautiful chunk of meat.
1. Find yourself a nice 3-4 pound beef chuck roast. Cut it in half with a nice sharp knife.
2. Heat a large, deep skillet up over medium high heat. When the pan is hot hit it with a bit of cooking spray and lay your pot roast in it.
Let the meat get a beautiful brown sear on both sides. Should take several minutes per side.
3. While your meat is browning, pour 1 1/2 cups of apple juice into a small mixing bowl.
Add 1 can tomato sauce,
1 chopped onion,
2 tablespoons vinegar,
2 teaspoons of cinnamon,
and 1 tablespoon ginger. Give it all a nice stir to combine.
4. Spray the inside of your crock pot with cooking spray. Stack the slabs of meat, one on top of the other.
Pour the yummy sauce over the top of the browned meat. Cover the crock pot and on low for 5 hours, or until the meat easily shreds with a fork.
5. In a small bowl combine 1/4 cup cornstarch and 1/2 cup cold water. Stir it until smooth. Pour it into the crock pot sauce. (Try not to get it all over the roast like I did!)
6. Stir the cornstarch mixture into the meat. Put the lid back on and allow the roast to cook for about 30 more minutes, or until the sauce has thickened.
7. Remove the meat from the pot and allow it to sit for 5 minutes.
Serve with mashed potatoes. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 (3-4 pound) chuck beef roast
- 1 1/2 C apple juice
- 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 T vinegar
- 1 T salt
- 2 t cinnamon
- 1 T ginger
- 1/4 C cornstarch
- 1/2 C cold water
Instructions
1. Find yourself a nice 3-4 pound beef chuck roast. Cut it in half with a nice sharp knife.
2. Heat a large, deep skillet up over medium high heat. When the pan is hot hit it with a bit of cooking spray and lay your pot roast in it. Let the meat get a beautiful brown sear on both sides. Should take several minutes per side.
3. While your meat is browning, pour 1 1/2 cups of apple juice into a small mixing bowl. Add 1 can tomato sauce, 1 chopped onion, 2 tablespoons vinegar, 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, and 1 tablespoon ginger. Give it all a nice stir to combine.
4. Spray the inside of your crock pot with cooking spray. Stack the slabs of meat, one on top of the other. Pour the yummy sauce over the top of the browned meat. Cover the crock pot and on low for 5 hours, or until the meat easily shreds with a fork.
5. In a small bowl combine 1/4 cup cornstarch and 1/2 cup cold water. Stir it until smooth. Pour it into the crock pot sauce. (Try not to get it all over the roast like I did!)
6. Stir the cornstarch mixture into the meat. Put the lid back on and allow the roast to cook for about 30 more minutes, or until the sauce has thickened.
7. Remove the meat from the pot and allow it to sit for 5 minutes.
Serve with mashed potatoes. Enjoy!
Recipe adapted from Taste of Home
Just finished eating supper. This pot roast was excellent! Thumbs up from my entire family. (I did throw baby carrots in with the roast, and we had mashed potatoes.)
Did you cook it on a high or low setting? I always somehow destroy my roasts. I will give this one a shot!
Mindy,
The low setting should work well for you. Good luck! Hope it turns out well for you.
~Jamie
So this recipe concluded that my crock pot cooks too hot and it’s time to buy a new one :(. What crock pot do you recommend?? My roast was way over cooked, but smelled heavenly.
Gina,
I have had several crock pots that cook pretty hot. I don’t have a paticular brand that I like, I just buy whatever is reasonably priced and hope for the best. 🙂 I have noticed they have 5 and 6 quart crock pots on sale at Walmart currently for around $17. I also have noticed that when cooking a small amount of meat (like this 3-4 pound roast) in a large (7quart) crock pot…it does cook a lot faster then a smaller crock pot. Maybe this is your trouble?
Good luck!
~Jamie
Promise you’ll try this recipe for pot roast (https://mykitchenmoovement.squarespace.com/recipes/2011/1/27/pot-roast.html). It is a dream; I mean it haha.
We had this for dinner tonight and it was excellent!
We just had this for dinner and it was fantastic! I served it with mashed cauliflower (blood sugar issues and can’t eat potatoes) and thickened it with arrowroot instead of cornstarch and it all worked out great! I’ve always made my pot roasts with Lipton soup mix, but this one is going to be my new standby.
Hmmm….I was so excited about this but I didn’t care for the gravy/sauce. Maybe I just don’t care for those flavors….not sure, but this wasn’t a hit for me or my husband. Every single thing I have made from your site until now has been though, so I think it may just be a preference of flavors.
Do you think this would be good with any kind of roast?
Tammy,
I would imagine it would be good with any kind of beef roast, but have only tried it with a chuck roast. Hope you enjoy it!
~Jamie
Num! I made this yesterday and it was so good. The flavor is full of depth in every bite. I have to admit it is a little different flavor as Im used to the standard onion soup mix and loads of veges pot roast, but it was tasty. In your step by step directions with photos, you dont mention to add the salt so I forgot to (I follow the pictures directions) but added it at the end and it was fine. I feel the sauce is a bit runny so I added a little more cornstarch…accidentally added to much so it was pasty so I toned it down w/ a cup of good dark beer…this also toned down the apple juice/ginger strong flavor. I think this would be super delicious over egg noodles. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Have made this roast several times now and it just gets better each time I make it! I have to say it is one of the best recipes for a roast I have ever tried,,, you have a winner here Jamie!!! So glad I tried it… I will admit, I was a little scared with the combination of things going into that crock pot, but I trusted you and it just turns out wonderful!!! Thank you for this recipe and for the many other’s that you share!