Basic Pot Roast Recipe (2024)

Question: Should this be cooked to the point of falling-apart tender or just tender enough to slice easily? I've never cooked a top round before (in the past, I've used a chuck eye roast for pot roast that I pull apart into tender chunks), so I don't know the degree of tenderness to aim for with a top round. I'm in the process of cooking this now, and my 4-lb. roast has been in the oven for about three hours. Help!

Added 1 cup red wine, reduced beef broth to 2.5 cups. After removing cooked beef, laid paper towels on top of pan juices to remove layer of fat. Then used immersion blender to puree veggies, added tomato paste and finally reduced gravy by simmering while beef rested. Delicious and easily made dish, well-received by whole family.

I made a mistake and stopped cooking the roast in the oven after 1 hour. I used a 2 lb. roast, so I halved the time. The meat was not tender, with the fat and gristle still evident. This is not meat to be cooked to a correct internal temperature, it is a roast, to be cooked into submission.

This sounds lovely, but why finely chop the vegetables if they're going to be pureed in the end, and if they'll have more than enough time to cook while the meat roasts? Or does the extra surface area make a real difference to browning and flavor development?

Just perfect as written. Gravy made by puréed veggies was wonderful. Don't skip this step!

for the caramelization precess. smaller pieces are going to get to that point faster.

Just perfect the way it states. Gravy was fantastic. Do not skip this important step!

I agree about cooking longer rather than shorter, but (sadly, via experience) you can roast it too long and end up with dry meat, even though cooked in moisture. I prefer chuck to round and because the roast is falling apart, let it all sit for a time, then skim off the fat.

I'd highly recommend adding a potato. I added a single potato, diced, into the mix of the vegetables because having a roast without potatoes just didn't seem right to me. I didn't realize it was going to be made into a gravy, but wow.. With the potato, the gravy turned out nice and thick. It was the best gravy I've every made. 5 stars.

PS. Made this with 4.5 lb chuck roast. Perfect.

If you're cooking one of the cuts specified in the recipe (rump or top round), tying is not really necessary as these cuts are solid pieces of muscle.

This was my first attempt at pot roast and it was great. Didn’t want to use my wife’s recipe and we were both glad I didn’t. I followed the recipe, but also threw some red potatoes into the pot. It was so good. I’ll be making it again and my wife may toss her old recipe.

Made this pot roast and it was amazing. Served it over polenta. Instead of straining the veggies out at the end for the sauce I just used a immersion blender, worked beautifully. I will make this again for sure.

I halved the recipe, cooked the meat, and then refrigerated it overnight, removing the fat from the top before reheating it to serve. The meat was perfectly tender having rested overnight. Very nice comfort food.

I'd highly recommend adding a potato. I added a single potato, diced, into the mix of the vegetables because having a roast without potatoes just didn't seem right to me. I didn't realize it was going to be made into a gravy, but wow.. With the potato, the gravy turned out nice and thick. It was the best gravy I've every made. 5 stars.

If you follow the alternate route…how do you heat the roast on Day 2?

The pureed mirepoix truly made this dish. As others have said, don't skip it. I cooked a 3-3/4 lb sirloin tip roast in a manual pressure cooker for a little over an hour. I think an extra 15 min. would have been even better for a more tender result, though. To thicken the mirepoix/stock liquid, I made a slurry of 3 T. of cornstarch in a small amount of water. Heated for about 3 minutes until gravy thickened nicely. This roast, mashed potatoes and gravy = comfort food heaven.

Excellent! Used 4# chuck roast, but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. I felt the sauce lacked flavor so added a little Worcestershire sauce, additional fresh ground black pepper and a little salt before serving. Cooked roast and veggies early in the day, separated the sauce from the meat. Refrigerated both, skimmed fat from sauce when cool and removed fat from the roast and sliced on the diagonal. Reheated meat in oven in some sauce for 20m. Boiled potatoes and carrots to serve in sauc

1/27/21: Forgot to note that I used an entire bulb of peeled, chopped garlic also.

Excellent! We worked with a 2-pound bottom round rump roast. Halved the ingredients, but stuck to the time, at 325 degrees, two hours. Did half wine, half beef stock. Sigh.

Followed the recipe almost to the letter and was very happy! I made the following changes: I used a 3 pound roast because that's what I had, but didn't adjust down any other ingredients, and also kept the overall cooking time roughly the same (another NYT pot roast recipe called for 2:30 for a 3 pound roast, so I tried it for 2:15 and was happy with the texture). I followed roasted veggies's advice and threw in baby potatoes and chunk-cut carrots after 1 hour and was glad I did. Delish.

Add half bottle red, added along with the beef stock at the beginning

I added a couple more garlic cloves to the mix and then also sauteed some onions and mushrooms to add after the sauce has been pureed.

This is delicious! The vegetable purée makes it. I was worried the sauce would be greasy when I put the purée back into the veg water, but it was lovely. As someone said, don’t skip the purée step! And the tomato paste adds depth.

We made this as written but as we have always done with pot roast we added chunks of whole carrots and potatoes about 1 hour from the end. Then took those out with the meat and finished with immersion blender to make that amazing sauce. Everyone loved it.

Made this the night before serving it and it was excellent. I used Herbes de Provence since I didn't have thyme and was generous with it and the garlic - added excellent flavor to the sauce. It didn't say to but I seasoned the meat out of the refrigerator and let it come to room temp before browning.