Ultimate Slow Cooker Pot Roast

8 servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours
Total Time 8 hours 15 minutes

Ultimate Slow Cooker Pot Roast that leaves you with tender meat, vegetables and a built in gravy to enjoy them all with in just 15 minutes of prep! Perfect weeknight dinner!

Ultimate Slow Cooker Pot Roast that leaves you with tender meat, vegetables and a built in gravy to enjoy them all with in just 15 minutes of prep! Perfect weeknight dinner!Ultimate Slow Cooker Pot Roast is a perfect weeknight meal you can make with little effort the morning of and you can even prep the night before. This pot roast recipe is a pared down version of a recipe I used to use and adapted to give to client’s who’s children were going off on their own.

They wanted easy recipes they could make that would remind them of the meals I had made for them. This dish delivers on that promise offering a warm, hearty, healthy meal with little cooking knowledge needed and even without searing the meat you’ll have a delicious meal!Ultimate Slow Cooker Pot Roast that leaves you with tender meat, vegetables and a built in gravy to enjoy them all with in just 15 minutes of prep! Perfect weeknight dinner!The great thing about this Ultimate Slow Cooker Pot Roast is that the whole meal really is made in one place. We like to serve it with a side salad to add a fresh flavor to the meal but for wintery weather and busy weeknights this is pretty much the gold standard for us for delicious food!

You can add in other herbs and vegetables as you would like. We love playing with adding different root vegetables like turnips and parsnips, sometimes we add onion or sweet potatoes. In the fall we love different squash too. This dish can be adjusted to your favorite veggies with no problems!

Looking for more slow cooker recipes? They’re a favorite around here, here are just a few of them:

Ultimate Slow Cooker Pot Roast that leaves you with tender meat, vegetables and a built in gravy to enjoy them all with in just 15 minutes of prep! Perfect weeknight dinner!

Some quick tips about this Ultimate Slow Cooker Pot Roast:

  • Browning the beef in a pan before adding it to the slow cooker is a step I would not skip if even remotely possible. That crust is delicious and you don’t want to miss it.
  • Seasoning – Yes it looks like a lot of salt, but you also have to remember you have 3 pounds of vegetables under the meat you are seasoning too.
  • The cornstarch finisher – To thicken the liquid you’ll need some cornstarch. I usually add this in the last hour of cooking but a quick saucepan heat-up of the liquids with cornstarch will take care of it for you in just a couple of minutes too. It is just one more dish to wash, haha.
  • Yukon Potatoes – I love the buttery texture of a yukon gold, you can alternately use russet potatoes here without any problems too.
  • If you have fresh thyme by all means use it, I just like how easy this recipe is and pantry friendly so I normally use dried thyme unless I already have fresh on hand.

Ultimate Slow Cooker Pot Roast that leaves you with tender meat, vegetables and a built in gravy to enjoy them all with in just 15 minutes of prep! Perfect weeknight dinner!

 Tools Used in the Making of this Ultimate Slow Cooker Pot Roast:
Slow Cooker: Love this slow cooker and how programmable it is, it has been a workhorse for me… until…
My New Slow Cooker: This recipe was made in this slow cooker. For larger roasts I also brown the meat in the insert and not lose a bunch of the flavor by transferring the meat and leaving the browned bits behind. If you’re thinking of a new slow cooker, consider it if your budget is open.
Better Than Bouillon: I use this for most recipes where I call for broth (I have it in Chicken, Vegetable, Beef and Mushroom (I love this one for adding umami flavor to things). Its so easy to just add a spoonful to some water and it is just beef broth that has had the water cooked out of it.

Ultimate Slow Cooker Pot Roast that leaves you with tender meat, vegetables and a built in gravy to enjoy them all with in just 15 minutes of prep! Perfect weeknight dinner!

Ultimate Pot Roast

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Ultimate Slow Cooker Pot Roast

Ultimate Slow Cooker Pot Roast that leaves you with tender meat, vegetables and a built in gravy to enjoy them all with in just 15 minutes of prep! Perfect weeknight dinner!
Yield 8 servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours
Total Time 8 hours 15 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 4-5 pound chuck roast
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil
  • 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1 pound carrots peeled and cut into 2" chunks
  • 2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes peeled and cut into large chunks
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 cups beef broth
  • 2 tablespoons corn starch
  • 2 tablespoons cold water
  • minced parsley optional, to garnish

Instructions

  • Season the chuck roast with the Kosher salt, pepper and thyme (if you are sensitive to sodium, adjust to your taste or you can even leave the salt out altogether since you're adding broth).
  • Heat your pan (or if you can brown in your slow cooker, do it in that insert to medium high.
  • Add the canola oil and when it ripples and is hot add in the roast and brown, deeply, for 4-5 minutes on each side.
  • In your slow cooker add the carrots, potatoes and garlic.
  • Lay the beef on top, then add the beef broth and cover, cooking on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 5-6 hours.
  • In the last hour mix your cornstarch and water and add it to the slow cooker to thicken the sauce or you can take the food out when done cooking, and add the leftover liquid to a small saucepan with the cornstarch/water mixture and cook on high for just 2-3 minutes until the liquid is thickened into a gravy.
  • Pour the gravy over the meat and garnish with parsley if desired.

Nutrition

Calories: 542kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 47g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 156mg | Sodium: 1039mg | Potassium: 1435mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 9500IU | Vitamin C: 16.5mg | Calcium: 99mg | Iron: 8.8mg
Keyword: beef roast, chuck roast, pot roast, Ultimate Slow Cooker Pot Roast

Ultimate Slow Cooker Pot Roast that leaves you with tender meat, vegetables and a built in gravy to enjoy them all with in just 15 minutes of prep! Perfect weeknight dinner!

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

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Comments

  1. Great base recipe! One thing I do differently is searing my chuck in a cast iron then once it has cooled I put the broth in the pan and scrape up all of the goodness. Don’t want to miss out on all of that extra flavor!

  2. This is my second time making this ! My old pot roast is out the window! My son was hollowing out crescent rolls stuffing them with the meat some potato and drowning it with the thickened gravy. Then asked for leftovers for breakfast! DO NOT skip the thickened gravy step! Trust me!

  3. Really easy and the smell as it cooks makes you want to cheat and taste it early. I used fingerling potatoes, a bag of baby carrots, 2 pints of mushrooms and a bag of frozen mixed vegetables. I think next time I may brine my roast overnight first.
    Thank you for this recipe.

  4. Hi i plan on making this recipe on Wednesday and i was wondering, since i dont like carrots and planned on adding onion instead if i should add the onion later like around the time i add the cornstarch or with the potatoes so that the onion doesnt get too mushy

  5. Love this recipe so much! I will say that when I make it I like to add a quartered onion and a little (1/4 tsp) cayenne pepper for a little heat.

  6. Very good. I made this in a large crockpot and was worried there wasn’t enough juice because it barely touched the meat. I let it cook anyway and it was perfect. So glad I found a good recipe in the crockpot because it takes no time at all to prep!

  7. Tastes great. This time when I made it, I did the cornstarch step to make a gravy. I was surprised that the liquid didn’t thicken up that much at all. My crockpot was on High, and I let it go on high for over an hr to thicken. Not sure what I did wrong. Wondering if it is supposed to just thicken slightly, or if it is actually supposed to be a thick gravy, that slowly drips off the spoon. That was what I was going for. It was delicious, though. Here in the South we always blame the humidity when the liquid part doesn’t turn out right.

    1. I’m glad you enjoyed the Slow Cooker Pot Roast. Liquid amounts vary and can make a difference for sure in the gravy thickness. Your “in the South we blame the humidity” comment made me laugh…I have heard that before. Thank you for the 5 star review Chrissy!