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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
Dear Jaim
After crying through the onions and wiping off my tablet of tomato sauce, ginger, cinnamon, apple juice and onions (yes, I had an accident) this recipe turned out great. I am giving part of the diner and recipe to the Priests tomorrow for mission prep. I think they should add Crock Pots to missionary required items, don’t you?
Thanks
Dad
P.S. Mark was awesome on Saturday.
Dad (Bill),
So glad you liked the recipe!!! Glad it was worth the tomato sauce on your tablet. 🙂 Thanks for going to see Mark on Saturday. He’s always glad to have you see him play, and for your tips.
Love ya,
~Jamie
!I give that a (-)5 has no flavor all you taste is cinnamon,cinnamon and meat not good ,we did not like it at all.Mad about how much money I spend for the meat.What a waste!!!
Hi Jamie,
I am a longtime follower of your blog and love your family friendly recipes! I made this pot roast yesterday for Sunday dinner and it was amazing. My family had fun trying to figure out the “secret” ingredients! 🙂 Thank you for all the great recipes; I realized that on my menu plan this week I have three of your recipes. Thank you!
I make something very similar to this, also doing cornstarch at the end…its fabulous everytime!! I usually do 1-2 inch cubed potatoes in the bottom of crockpot under tge meat….my goodness, no work involved in this dish and we eat til we cant move…..thanks for sharing, i cant wait to try the applejuice and ginger!!!!!
PS. I use a 3-4 lb TRITIP. we get em for a steal on clearance and freeze em. Ive used pork too. I heart my crock pot!!
Made this with pork butt and served rice and caramelized onions on the side. It was delicious! Thanks so much for sharing your recipes with us.
Going to make this soon, well I hope soon – the next time I find chuck roast on sale! I too am wondering about the reason for cutting the meat in half. I have cooked many a crock-pot roast and never cut it, wondering if maybe it’s time to start, if I’ve been missing something all this time, or if it is just a matter of preference or making it fit in your particular crock pot?
Do you think it would come out ok if i put potatoes and carrots in with it?
I made this today, but I am sorry to say it was not very successful for us. The cinnamon was way too much. I have two meat eating children, one did not like it and the other refused to even try it. My husband and I ate it over egg noodles, and it wasn’t bad, but did not like it enough to keep the recipe. I’m going back to drunken garlic pot roast. Its a lot more work, but everyone loves it.
a very large number of peuctris which come under various different licenses. you need to check with each image that it’s available for use, whether it’ available for use in commercial context, can be altered, or requires attribution.here’s the best bit you can search all of the
I don’t have a crackpot.. will it be OK to cook in the oven in a casserole dish? And at what temp?