The Best Pot Roast

I love a good roast.  It is hands-down my favorite meal to eat when we visit my in-laws.  Mom always serves it up with squash casserole, mashed potatoes {or sometimes rice}, cauliflower with cheese sauce, and often a chocolate pie for dessert.  During our first year of marriage, we lived just down the street from my in-laws, and we would frequently have Sunday dinner after church at their house.  We definitely made it a point to go if previously stated menu was on the agenda.

I have never been able to make a good roast.  It either ends up too dry or just tasteless.  One of my cooking goals this year was to learn how to make a delicious roast.  Goal accomplished.   Last week I found and tried the perfect pot roast recipe and it.was.delicious.

I’ve been given permission to make this one again, so that tells me it’s truly a winner!  Next time I might try the red wine instead of the beef broth, though–we’ll see what a difference that makes in the taste.

Why did I like this recipe so much?  Searing the onion and the carrots before cooking gave both a sweet flavor that I don’t normally taste in a roast.  We also had a few carrots from our garden, so it was fun to put those to work in one of our meals.

The meat was perfectly done without having to do anything to it.  Once it was in the pot in the oven, I left it alone and just took it out in time to eat it.  It was tender, juicy, and fell right off of the fork.

Instead of having to make gravy after the meat was done, we just used the juices in the pan for our potatoes, and it was perfect.  This saved time, and I’m not the world’s best gravy maker, so it also saved me some frustration.

If you’re looking for an easy pot roast recipe, this is the one!  Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Perfect Pot Roast

1 whole Chuck Roast (4-5 pounds)
2 Tablespoons oil
2 whole onions
6 whole carrots {I don’t think I quite used 6, just whatever was in the fridge}
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup beef broth {or red wine}
3 cups beef broth
1 teaspoon dried thyme

Salt and pepper the roast on both sides.  Heat oil in a large oven-proof skillet or Dutch oven.  Cut onions in half.  Place onions in hot oil until browned on both sides.   Set onions aside.

Place carrots in the hot pan and cook until nicely browned, but not cooked thoroughly.  Remove carrots.

Add some more oil, if needed, to the pan, and sear the meat on all sides.  Remove roast to a plate.

With the burner still on high, pour in 1 cup of beef broth and whisk vigorously to remove all brown bits from the bottom of the pan.

Place the roast back into the pan, along with the carrots, onion, remaining broth and thyme {you can also throw in some rosemary}.

Put the lid on the pan and cook at 275F for 3 hours {for a 3 pound roast} or 4 hours for a 4-5 pound roast.

source:  Pioneer Woman