Pot Roast: For Beginners!

Pot Roast. Could there be anything more comforting, more delicious… more Gluten Free?

You heard me right: Pot Roast is a naturally gluten free dish! It’s my husband’s favorite home-cooked meal. It’s the dish my 5 year old Never fusses about eating. It’s Easy. It’s Delicious and now, I’m gonna tell you how I make it!

This recipe is great for beginners who want to impress! Pot Roast is one of those recipes that turns out so delicious, I feel like a champion each time I make it! Learning this, for me, was a right of passage; a way of adulting and Succeeding. And y’all, it is so simple!

You will need a beef roast (I like the boston butt or a shoulder roast. Read your label. If you find a piece of meat labeled “roast” you should be good). Look for something that’s got a bit of fat throughout the meat (we adults call that “marbling”). I feed a family of 4 (my husband, me +2 small kids), so I aim for somewhere between 1 and 2 lbs of meat. That feeds us, plus gives us leftovers the next day!

You also need a bag of Carrots, 4 yellow Onions, and a bag of small Red Potatoes (choose about 8 of those). I season my pot roast with lawry’s seasoning salt, pepper, and a little garlic powder. If you don’t have those things, I encourage you to at least use a bit of salt and pepper!

Wash your veggies. Chop up your veggies. I chop the carrots small- in rough 1 inch pieces. The potatoes I cut in 1/2 to 1 inch cubes. The potatoes take the longest to cook so I cut them smaller, so they will become tender more quickly.

I slice the fuzzy ends off each onion. Then I peel the outer layers and slice it right down the middle. I didn’t have an image of that at the ready, so I borrowed this one to show you how those onions should look (ignore the purple)

You’ll need a frying pan to precook the veggies on the stove. You’ll need a Roasting pan with a lid to roast the meal in the oven! Go ahead and set the oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat a frying pan to high and drizzle about a tablespoon of Olive Oil. When it’s good and hot, Place the sliced onions, face-down in the oil.

Let the onions sizzle for 1-2 min (flat side down in the pan). Flip them over and let the round side sizzle for 1-2 min. This gives the onion a nice brown cooked mark and it helps the flavor explode!

Pull your onions out of the pan and set them on a plate to the side.

Next, gently place the chopped carrots into the pan. There should still be some oil (and a little extra yummy onion resonance) in the pan. If it seems a little dry, you can add a tiny bit more oil (about 1/2 teaspoon).

Cook the carrots the same way you did the onions. Let them sizzle for about 1-2 minutes. Using a spatula, roll them around in the pan a bit. Let them sizzle another 1-2 min and then remove them and place to the side.

Finally, it’s time to work on that beef roast!

When you take the meat out of the package, take a washcloth or a handtowel and dab the top of it dry. All you’re doing here is taking off the excess moisture. This won’t dry out the roast. When you cook red meat, often it turns more grey than brown. soaking up the moisture on the top (and bottom) of the meat, and then sizzling it, gives it a beautiful brown color and helps release the really delicious flavor! That’s what we’re gonna do!

Once you’ve dried one side of the meat, season it! I use seasoning salt, a little garlic power and pepper. Then flip it over, dry that side and season it as well!

I like to do this step in between (while the onions are cooking, or while the carrots are sizzling)

While your at it, you’ve already chopped up the potatoes. Sprinkle some seasoning salt over them.

Keep the stove on high. Once the meat is seasoned, put it right into the pan! Let it cook (you guessed it!) 1-2 min (until it’s got a nice brown side). Then flip it over and cook it another 2 min.

Remove the meat from the heat and immediately place it into the middle of the roasting pan.

All this time, we’ve used that frying pan to cook some flavor-filled things. Don’t let that tastiness go to waste! Take about 2 cups of water and pour it in the pan. Using a spatula, gently scrape the bottom of the pan. (We’ll use this in a moment) (this step is sort of “deglazing” the pan!

Surround the roast with onions, then carrots, then potatoes. Take the water from the pan and carefully pour it over your masterpiece.

Add a little more water. You want enough water that the veggies will be soaking, but not enough that everything is floating. I fill water a cup at a time until i start to see the water rise just under the highest level of veggies. Aim to have about 2/3 of the meat submerged in water.

Put the lid on and roast that sucker!

I bake mine for 30 min at 350. Ater 30 minutes, turn the oven temp down to 275F and cook it for another 90 min. The general rule is to cook the roast for 1 hour per pound.

Check your meat at the end of the second cooking time. If it’s so tender that you can spread the meat apart using just a fork, then it’s ready to be served and eaten. If it gives you some resistance, give it another 20-30 minutes.

Your potatoes should also be light and soft when you try to push a fork through them. I’ve tried this recipe with other potatoes. Red potatoes are truly the most delicious!

And… that is literally all there is to it!

RECIPE:

Cook Time: 2 – 2 1/2 hours

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Set oven to 350.

Wash and chop carrots and potatoes. Peel then Slice onions in half. Heat olive oil on high in a frying pan. Cook onions face-down 2 min, flip over and cook 2 min. Remove onions from heat. Cook carrots 2 min, turn them over and cook 2 more minutes. Remove carrots from heat.

Dry off meat and season it. Place in pan that same pan. Sizzle meat on high 2 min. Flip over and sizzle 2 min.

Deglaze the pan.

Place roast, followed by the onions, carrots and potatoes into the pan. Add water until the meat is about 2/3 submerged.

Cover roast and bake at 350F for 30 minutes.

Without removing roast from the oven, turn the heat down to 275F and cook an additional 90 min to 120 min, until roast and veggies are irresistibly tender.

*Don’t have a lid? Cover it in tin foil and remove foil for the last 30 min in the oven.

**This recipe is designed to be low maintenance. The prep is the most time consuming. If you’re looking for a way to shorten your prep time, I can help with that!

Chop your veggies, dry off and season your meat/potatoes. Skip all of the steps with the frying pan! Place the raw roast, followed by the veggies, into the pan, pour in the water and roast it! I’ve done it both ways and had delicious results regardless. The sizzling just makes it extra incredible!

Finally: tell me what you think! I can’t wait to hear how Your Pot Roast turned out!