Mom’s Best Beef Pot Roast
My Mom’s Best Beef Pot Roast Recipe is tender, juicy, and packed with flavor. The perfect Sunday dinner to bring the family together, this classic comfort food recipe can be made in the oven or slow cooker!
The BEST Beef Pot Roast
My mom makes the most amazing pot roast.
It’s hard to pin-point exactly why it’s so darn good. The wow-factor doesn’t come from fancy ingredients or cooking methods. Mom’s Best Beef Pot Roast is a humble classic-American roast with carrots, onions, and potatoes, that blow everyone else’s pot roast out of the water… In my opinion.
Personally, I think it’s just years (and years) of practice.
Mom made her pot roast at least a couple times a month, throughout my entire childhood. She would prep the roast before church on Sunday mornings, then place it in the oven as we walked out the door. Later, we would come home to a house filled with the aroma of pure comfort.
Now, I love filling my own home with the same warm, delicious smell of Mom’s Best Beef Pot Roast!
What You’ll Need to Make My Mom’s Best Beef Pot Roast
I believe one of the reasons that beef pot roast is such a classic meal is that it’s made with wonderfully simple ingredients, usually all right in season just as you’re wanting to curl up with a hot and hearty dish. By cooking low and slow, either in the oven for 4 hours or in the crock pot for 6-12 hours, your hearty veggies and tender beef get a chance to really come together to create flavorful pot roast magic.
Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make Mom’s Best Beef Pot Roast:
- Beef roast
- Thick-cut bacon
- Sweet onions
- Garlic – whole cloves
- Fresh thyme
- Fresh rosemary
- Carrots
- Mini new potatoes
- Worcestershire sauce
- Water
- Beef base
- Salt and pepper
TIP: Select a large beef roast that will shred well when cooked over time. It’s best to find one with some fat marbling, like a chuck roast, rump roast, or some top round roasts. Even lean roasts will cook down and shred. Yet the marbled fat provides rich flavor and gives the slow cooked meat a more luxurious texture.
How To Make Mom’s Best Beef Pot Roast
1. You’ll first want to create a base layer of flavor in the pot. I do this by sautéing bacon in the pot, then adding onions wedges, garlic, and fresh rosemary and thyme sprigs.
2. Then and only then, brown the beef roast. Once you’ve got a coating of herb-infused bacon fat in the bottom of the pot, give that flavor the opportunity to sizzle into the roast on all sides.
This seals in the flavor, and creates a foundation for all the other flavors of the pot roast to build upon. Make sure to salt and pepper the beef thoroughly before searing. If you are using a slow cooker to make your beef pot roast, you definitely still want to properly sear the bacon, onions, herbs, and beef prior to placing in the crock pot!
The Secrets To Mom’s Best Beef Pot Roast Recipe
3. Add a couple secret ingredients to your beef pot roast… That aren’t so secret. Make sure to add a generous amount of Worcestershire sauce to the pot before placing the roast in the oven. This gives the beef and all the veggies additional depth while slow roasting.
Next, instead of adding beef broth, use beef base. Beef base is concentrated beef stock. Therefore if you add it to the pot roast with a smaller portion of water, the roast will absorb the concentrated flavor and give the roast an extremely beefy essence. You can keep beef base in the refrigerator for a long time and use it for gravy and soups.
Carrots: Beef Pot Roast’s Best Friend
The more carrots, the merrier. In mom’s recipe, you’ll notice there are more carrots than potatoes. Yes, this is intentional, and yes, if you have room in your dutch oven you should always add more carrots than listed. The carrots offer a touch of rustic sweetness to Mom’s Best Beef Pot Roast Dinner, that seasons the entire meal. They are so soft, silky, and sweet, the carrots are always the first thing to disappear. When in doubt, add more carrots!
4. Finally, slow cook for tender beef. Cover the pot with a heavy lid and place it in a 300 degree oven. Roast the beef and vegetables one hour, for every pound of beef. When you open the pot, you’ll find a succulent piece of meat, begging to be shredded.
How To Make Mom’s Best Pot Roast in a Crock Pot
I know what’s coming next… You read the words “slow cook” and now you want to know if you can make this recipe in your crock pot. Am I right?
Yes, you can turn this into a slow cooker recipe. However, remember that you must sear the bacon, onions, herbs, and beef prior to placing in the crock pot. If you put the ingredients in the crock pot raw, you will end up with a shallow mediocre version of Mom’s Best Beef Pot Roast Dinner. What a travesty.
However, prep Mom’s Best Beef Pot Roast as listed in the recipe, and you will have a meal your family begs for again and again!
SEE THE RECIPE CARD BELOW FOR HOW TO MAKE MOM’S BEST BEEF POT ROAST
Looking for More Slow Cooker Comfort Food Recipes?
- Chicken Broccoli Slow Cooker Lasagna
- Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup
- Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff Recipe
- Slow Cooker Shepherds Pie Recipe
- Slow Cooker Garlic Butter Chicken and Potatoes
- Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Beef Tenderloin Recipe
- Crock Pot Pork Loin with Vegetables
Mom's Best Beef Pot Roast
Ingredients
- 4 pounds beef roast (top round, rump roast, or chuck roast are best)
- 4 strips thick-cut bacon, chopped
- 2 large sweet onions, peeled and cut into large wedges
- 4 cloves garlic smashed
- 4-5 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 2 pounds carrots, trimmed and halved
- 1 1/2 pounds mini new potatoes
- 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 1 1/4 cups water
- 2 tablespoons beef base
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Move the oven racks up or down to accommodate a large pot. Salt and pepper the beef roast generously on all sides.
- Place the chopped bacon in a 6-8 quart dutch oven (or oven safe pot with lid.) Set the pot over medium heat and cook the bacon, stirring occasionally. Once the bacon is mostly cooked, add the onion wedges, garlic, and fresh herbs. Let the onions sauté on both sides, then move the onions and bacon to the side and add the beef roast. Brown the roast on all sides, flipping every 2-3 minutes.
- Move the beef roast to the center of the pot. Move the onions and bacon to one side. Pour the Worcestershire sauce, water, and beef base to the pot. Arrange the carrots and potatoes around the beef. Cover the pot with a heavy lid and place it in the oven for 4 hours, or until the meat is fork tender.
- Shred the beef and serve warm with potatoes, carrots, onions, and pan juices.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Making this recipe? Follow us on Instagram and tag @ASpicyPerspective so we can share what you’re cooking!
Best pot roast I’ve ever made and I’ve made plenty in my life. Husband gave it a thumbs up as well as our neighbors that I shared with. Followed directions exactly. This recipe is a keeper!!!
I’m making it for the second time. It is, by far, the best beef roast I’ve ever eaten. This time I didn’t realize that I was out of bacon (I know, the shame I feel!); however, I always save the bacon grease for other recipes. Melted about a tbsp or so in the pot and went from there. Other than biting into the bacon itself, I couldn’t tell the difference.
I just want to verify because I’m not a very good cook on my own, I have to follow the recipe and instructions. I’ve got everything in the slow cooker right now. Do I leave it on low heat for the 10-12 hours or high? Also, if it is a low setting, can I put it at high for the last 3 or 4 just to speed things up?
Hi Mason,
You can cook it on high for 6-8 hours, or on low for 10-12 hours. In the slow cooker, the extra time is needed to cook the beef down to a soft shredded texture. Happy Cooking!
I’ve made this twice in a month. My husband of 28 years says this is the best meal he’s ever had in his life. Both times I used rump roasts, dried herbs and I also thickened the juices into a gravy. Amazing recipe and pretty easy, too! Thanks a bunch!
A question on this recipe. Does the fresh thyme, rosemary, and the bacon stay in the pot when this goes in the oven?
Hi Bob,
Yep, you got it! The longer they cook with the beef, the better. :)
Pingback: Best Roast Recipe Ever - Perfect Pot Roast Recipe | Ree Drummond | Food Network
I’m making right now😂😂it smell delicious I dont have pot that goes to the oven so I’m cooking it on top the stove. Meat it look tender wish me luck I want my kids and grandkids to enjoy it 😍❤thank you so much for sharing your dear mom recipe I appreciate it🙏❤
The sauce created by this recipe is amazing. I have followed many recipes for pot roast and this recipe has the been juice/sauce by far. Amazing sauce – a 10! I did deviate from the recipe in two areas – I didn’t have raw bacon so I substituted a bit over a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. The only other change occurred at the end – I wanted to thicken the sauce a bit so I mixed some corn starch with cold water. Added the slurry and then boiled the sauce for about 2-3 minutes. Sauce thickened just a bit. Our meat was a top round from Sam’s Club weighing 3.27lbs and it cooked to 200F in 3hrs 40min. Also, I browned the roast a good amount more than the video. Sliced the top round with a brisket knife and it was fall apart tender. Again – amazing flavor in the sauce.
This recipe is incredibly tasty. After the pot roast was done, I took the meat, carrots and potatoes out of the pot and pureed everything that was left in the pot (juices, bacon, herbs) with my vitamix. It made an incredibly amazing brown gravy. This is one to save!
Wow…one of the best roasts Ive ever had♡♡♡ I didnt have Worchestercire…so i used red wine vinegar soy sauce and a dash of brown gravy…
Made this for Sunday lunch and it was delicious. I had a 6 lb roast and cooked it 5 hrs and let it rest about 20 min. Wonderful recipe
I am going to make this tonight. I think it sounds wonderful and you have written perfect instructions. Thank you!
My family loved this. I followed this to the letter, it was perfect.
Smelling the succulent roast baking now for my boyfriend who lost his job today. I asked him what i could make for dinner and he exclaimed pot roast like my mom used to make!! ….this recipe should fit the bill. Thank you!!
This is now the only way my wife and I prepare pot roast. The only changes I’ve made is that I use 3/4 cup of red wine and 3/4 cup of beef stock rather than water. My wife and sons really seem to like this much better than the way I used to make it. Thanks for the great recipe.
Please note, the pop up advertising makes this site EXTREMELY frustrating to use!
I made this pot roast and everyone loved it. I reduced the water by 1/2 cup and added red wine. And also because I’m lazy, salt pepper and flour on the meat prior to searing to make more of a gravy. The meat was tender , the veggies were delish and the plates were licked clean. Stop talking about it and make it!
Pingback: Mom’s Best Beef Pot Roast Dinner By A Spicy Perspective – beautifulyou583
I love pot roast!! This looks incredible!!
Could really go for a comfy meal like this right now!
Pot Roast always has a comforting feeling for me. Reminds me of home.
Pingback: Mom’s Best Beef Pot Roast Dinner - Quackers Club
I love old fashioned pot roast! This looks awesome!
One of our favorite Sunday Dinners!
Comfort food at its finest!
I love cozy Sunday meals like this!