Easy, Melt-in-Your-Mouth Dutch Oven Pot Roast
This shortcut pot roast is almost entirely hands-off, and makes lots of leftovers for a hearty winter soup.
Serves4 to 6
Prep25 minutes
Cook3 hours
Welcome to Rollover Dinners, a series to help you make smart use of leftovers. In this post, we’re using leftovers from this shortcut pot roast to make a fast beef and farro soup. Read the intro here.
Pot roast is, hands-down, one of my favorite braised dishes for winter, and I’m leaning on this super-flexible and hands-off technique even more this year. Braising beef, or gently cooking it in a bit of liquid and fat, makes cheap cuts incredibly tender with very little hands-on work. Plus, it perfumes the house on cold winter days.
For this month’s Rollover Dinner, I really wanted a pot roast that fell somewhere between the ease of Mississippi Pot Roast but with the deep, rich flavors of a classic pot roast. This recipe nails it. While you’ll still sear your roast for maximum flavor, this recipe uses one of our favorite kitchen shortcuts — onion soup and dip mix — to make a braising liquid that tastes like you spent the day caramelizing onions.
Here’s how to get melt-in-your-mouth pot roast that’s easier than you can imagine, plus how to turn the leftovers into a hearty winter soup.
The Easiest Way to Make Dutch Oven Pot Roast
Most Dutch oven pot roasts, including Kitchn’s classic version, require a fair bit of hands-on cooking — searing beef, sautéing onions, deglazing with wine, etc. This version skips all of that, only asking you to brown the beef and then add the other ingredients in two stages. The braising time is long, however, so I suggest cooking this on a lazy Sunday afternoon or starting it on your lunch break so it has at least three hours to cook. The resulting beef will be so tender that you can shred it with two forks, and you’ll want to serve the tender vegetables with the the rich pan juices and plenty of bread to sop up it all up.
Roll Over These Leftovers into Another Easy Meal
When you’re cleaning up the leftovers, be sure to reserve two cups each of the shredded beef and the cooked vegetables. You’ll turn those leftovers into a hearty Beef, Mushroom, and Farro Soup.
Easy, Melt-in-Your-Mouth Dutch Oven Pot Roast
This shortcut pot roast is almost entirely hands-off, and makes lots of leftovers for a hearty winter soup.
Prep time 25 minutes
Cook time 3 hours
Serves 4 to 6
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons
olive oil
- 1
(3 to 4-pound) boneless beef chuck roast
- 1 (1-ounce) packet
onion soup and dip seasoning mix, such as Lipton’s
- 3 cups
low-sodium beef broth
- 4 tablespoons
(1/2 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 pound
Yukon gold potatoes
- 1 pound
carrots (4 to 5 medium)
- 1 teaspoon
red wine vinegar
Instructions
Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and heat the oven to 325°F.
Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add 1 (3 to 4-pound) chuck roast and sear until deep golden-brown on all sides, including the ends, about 5 minutes per side.
Sprinkle the chuck roast with 1 onion soup packet, then pour 2 cups beef broth over the roast. Cut 4 tablespoons unsalted butter into 6 pieces and place on top of the roast. Bring to a simmer.
Cover and braise in the oven for 1 hour and 45 minutes. At this point, the meat should be tender but not falling apart yet. Meanwhile, cut 1 pound Yukon gold potatoes into 2-inch chunks and peel and cut 1 pound carrots crosswise into 2-inch pieces.
Uncover and nestle the carrots and potatoes into the braising liquid around the roast. Cover and braise in the oven until the roast pulls apart easily and the vegetables are tender but not mushy, 1 1/2 to 2 hours more.
Using a slotted spoon, transfer the vegetables to a serving platter. Slice the beef into bite-sized pieces, then sprinkle the beef with 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar. Reserve 2 cups each of the shredded beef and the cooked vegetables for the soup before serving the remainder.
Recipe Notes
Storage: Leftovers can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to 4 days.