Easy Beef Pot Roast With Gravy

This is a super easy and straightforward recipe for making beef pot roast. This recipe is ideal for busy families or college students as it's easy to make, nutritious, economical, and delicious! I estimate that the cost per serving of this recipe is about $2.80. Serve this recipe with a side of veggies and you have a complete meal!

Required Equipment

• slow cooker
• tongs
• spoon
• sieve

Optional Equipment

• frying pan
• slow cooker liner (for easy cleanup)

Required Ingredients

• 2 lbs of carrots (preferably baby carrots; but normal carrots work great too)
• a package of onion soup mix containing two packets
• a regularly sized onion
• 4-5 lbs of chuck roast (found in the meat section of any grocery store; using closer to 4 lbs than 5 lbs is better)
• salt
• pepper
• 3 cloves of garlic
• flour
• butter

Optional Ingredients

• 1 cup of beef broth
• 1 lb of potatoes
• cilantro

Step 1: Gather the Ingredients

If you prefer, you can use water instead of beef broth. However, using beef broth will yield the best results.

Fresh cilantro is best, but dried cilantro would work just fine as well.

While I left it out in the the pot roast I made, a lot of people (including you!) like having potatoes in pot roast. If so, you'll need to buy a pound of it and then cube it.

Step 2: (optional) for Easy Cleanup, Use a Slow Cooker Liner

While this isn't necessary in any way, using a slow cooker liner makes cleanup a lot. You won't have to scrub for hours to remove the grease and burnt on food after making this recipe.

Step 3: Chop the Onion and Mince the Garlic

You'll need to dice one, regularly sized onion and mince the three cloves of garlic for this recipe (what you buy at the store is a bulb of garlic; what's shown in this picture is three cloves of garlic).

Once you're done cutting the onion and garlic, just leave it on a plate for now.

Caution: knives are sharp; please be careful when cutting these ingredients

Step 4: Remove the Meat From the Packaging and Cut It in Half

Most packages of meat contain substantial amounts of liquid blood. So, you might want to cut open the package in a sink so you don't leave a bloody mess all over your countertops. Once you have the chuck roast removed from the package, chop it in half as shown.

Note: I only show myself preparing 1 of the 2 packages of chuck roast I bought. But, doing the other package was the exact same process.

Step 5: Sear the Meat on a Frying Pan (optional)

While you don't have to do this, browning the meat in a pan makes it taste significantly better.

To brown the meat: just place your meat, that was cut in half, onto a frying pan on high heat and just let it be for about two minutes per side. Be sure to brown the sides for about 30 seconds! Once that's done, place it into the slow cooker.

Optional: you can also season your meat prior to searing it. This will improve the taste.

Step 6: Place Onion and Garlic Into the Slow Cooker

Be sure to put the onion and garlic on top of the meat!

Step 7: Add a Packet of Dry Onion Soup Mix

As shown, just pour one packet of onion soup mix directly on top of the onions and garlic.

Step 8: Put Veggies In

At this point, you'll need to put in all of the veggies you might have. I'm using baby carrots so that I don't have to peel and cut carrots. However, you prefer to use normal carrots, just peel the carrot, chop off the end, and chop the entire carrot into small, circular pieces. Then, add it to the slow cooker.

If you also want to potatoes in your pot roast, cube them and then add it on top of the carrots. Why should the potatoes be on top? Potatoes get somewhat mushy otherwise, if not disintegrate into the broth.

Step 9: Add Liquid

Now, you need to add in a cup of beef broth. Alternatively, if you prefer, use a cup of water instead. Beef broth makes it taste better, but water works well as well.

Step 10: (optional) Add Cilantro

I personally love cilantro. If you do too, just add in a couple sprigs of cilantro on top.

Step 11: Turn Slow Cooker on and Relax!

Just turn the slow cooker onto low, sit back, and relax. You're basically done with the pot roast now!

You'll need to cook it for about 8-10 hours on low. Ideally, you should stir the pot roast every two hours or so to ensure even cooking, but don't worry if you can't do that. It'll still come out great!

Caution: do not taste anything in the slow cooker until a temperature of at least 145 degrees has been sustained for at least three minutes

Step 12: (optional) Periodically Stir the Carrots on Top to Ensure Even Cooking

You do not want some of your carrots to still be raw while the rest are mushy.

Step 13: (optional) Tear the Beef Apart Around the 8th Hour

Around the 8th hour, I like the shred the beef to let the inner parts of the chuck roast soak in all of the flavor. It's not required, but I think it makes the pot roast taste better.

To do so, just take two forks and tear the chuck roast into small-ish chunks.

Step 14: Season the Pot Roast and Remove From the Pot

The ingredients added, regardless of whether or not the beef broth was used, do not contribute enough flavor to this dish. So, you'll need to season it with some salt and pepper to taste.

Once you've done that, remove all of the meat and veggies from the slow cooker and place it into a large bowl and set aside. Be sure to leave as much broth in the slow cooker as possible.

Step 15: Get the Broth

If you used a liner, you should be able to just lift the entire liner up and take the broth with you. If you didn't use a liner, you'll need to spoon or ladle the broth out of the slow cooker.

Either way, you should pour the broth into a sieve to filter out the impurities as shown. Don't worry too much if you spill some broth. You really only need about a cup to make gravy.

Step 16: Heat Up Butter in a Sauce Pot and Stir in Flour

Note: I'm using 1.5 Tbsp of butter and flour (each) because I had 1.5 cups of broth. Adjust for however much broth you have.

On medium heat, melt 1.5 Tbsp of butter in a sauce pot on medium heat. Once that's done, add in 1.5 Tbsp of flour and stir until dissolved.

Step 17: Stir in Broth

Pour all of the broth you collected into the pan and vigorously stir until the butter and flour mixture is dissolved.

Step 18: Stir in Onion Soup Mix and Thicken

At this point, you'll need to stir in half of a pack of onion soup mix. Stir vigorously for thirty seconds.

After that, stir until the gravy is gently bubbling and thick.

Step 19: Serve!

If you're cooking for eating right then and there, place the meat and veggies into plates. Otherwise, place them into containers to store away. Then, drizzle a spoonful of gravy on top. After that, add in a sprig of cilantro into each serving.

If you're storing the pot roast away, you can now put the container lid on and put it into the fridge. Otherwise, serve to your dinner guests!