There are some foods that take you right back to childhood. And for me that list of foods is actually fairly long. I was lucky enough to grow up in a house where home cooked meals and sit-down dinners were a [close to] daily thing. Pot roast is a dish that easily falls under that list of nostalgic meals. It was one of my mom’s go-to Sunday night dinners – hearty, comforting, and simple to whip together.
Although I’ve added my own twists to this recipe, I have to say that my mom’s pot roast veggies looked way fancier than mine do in this recipe. She’d use a wavy veggie cutter [like this one] to chop up the potatoes and carrots, which gave the veggies a way nicer presentation.
Pot roast is the perfect Sunday meal in the fall and winter – warm and filling. Once the timer on our crockpot goes off, it automatically switches to the “warm” setting [if there’s a way to change that setting, I am clearly unaware, so please help a sister out if you know something I don’t]. So, unless your crockpot turns off completely, I recommend making this during the weekend when you are available to turn the crockpot off completely – the last thing you want is overcooked beef!
After I clean the potatoes, I also cut off some of the tiny knobs and notches [what gross words, I know… apologies].
When picking out your beef, you want to be sure there is not too, too much fat. Otherwise, you’ll want to trim a bit off. A thin layer of fat is great – fat is flavor – but too much fat will cause a chewiness that most don’t enjoy!
Be sure to add the drippings from the pan into the crockpot – those drippings are FULL of flavor!
Ingredients
- 2.75 lb bottom round roast beef
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 lb red potatoes, cleaned and quartered
- 3 cloves garlic, sliced into quarters or thirds
- 8 oz baby carrots
- 1 yellow onion
- 18.5 oz can of Progresso French Onion Soup
- 1 cup beef broth, 50% less sodium preferred
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1/3 cups red wine vinegar
Directions
- First, you will want to clean and chop all of your veggies. Cut baby red potatoes into quarters, peel and slice your garlic into quarters or thirds, and chop your onion into slices about the same width as your potato wedges.
- Into your crockpot, pour the can of French onion soup and cup of beef broth. The crockpot should still be off at this point.
- Add the butter to a cast iron skillet, or a large frying pan, and turn on the heat to medium-high. Once the butter has melted, be sure it has greased the entire surface of the pan.
- Lightly season your beef with salt and pepper, then place it in the skillet, keeping the heat on medium-high. You want each side of the beef to cook for about a minute. Don’t move the beef until you are ready to flip to the next side. You want the beef to brown, not cook through, which is why the temperature of the skillet needs to stay hot and the cook time on each side needs to stay short.
- Once all sides are browned, transfer the beef to the crockpot, then pour all of the drippings from the skillet over the beef in the crockpot [don’t let those flavorful drippings go to waste!].
- Add the remainder of your ingredients, except for the red wine vinegar, into the crockpot.
- Turn the crockpot on low and cook for about 3.5 to 4 hours.
- Transfer only the beef to a cutting board, and allow to rest for about 10 minutes before slicing.
- Add beef slices back into the crockpot, then pour in the red wine vinegar [which gives the stew the little bit of acidity it needs] and stir gently – you want to avoid breaking up the tender potatoes.
- Serve on a bed of rice or mixed greens.
