Slow Cooker Pot Roast

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Perfect for busy days, this slow cooker pot roast is a simple meal that’s full of so much flavor! Tender meat, carrots, potatoes, and onions cook together for a dish everyone loves.

A pot roast with shredded beef, carrots, potatoes, and onions in a slow cooker, garnished with fresh herbs, with two forks resting in the meat.

Even though I work from home, I use our slow cooker for dinner a lot, letting soups and stews simmer away while taking care of all the other tasks on my list.

Is there anything else that brings such a comforting feeling as the aroma of a dish like slow cooker pot roast wafting from the kitchen to you? Not for my money!

This pot roast is a dinner we love to make often. It’s dead simple with minimal ingredients, but thanks to cooking it low and slow, it’s full of incredible flavor.

Tender vegetables, juicy meat, and savory broth… What’s not to love?

Ingredients for slow cooker pot roast

Full list of ingredients including quantities is located in the recipe card.

Ingredients for a beef stew recipe arranged on a white surface, including chuck roast, broth, carrots, potatoes, onion, garlic, parsley, dried thyme, olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, and cornstarch.

You’ll need:

Chuck roast
Onion
Carrots
Potatoes
Fresh garlic
Dried thyme
Beef broth
Worcestershire sauce
Cornstarch
Salt and pepper
Fresh parsley

Beef chuck roast might be sold at your store as chuck roast, shoulder roast, or shoulder steak. You can substitute rump roast or bottom round roast (make sure it is bottom, not top), which is a bit leaner and usually cheaper.

I recommend using Yukon gold potatoes, which are creamier than russets and have a mild sweetness that goes really well with the beef.

A bowl of pot roast with shredded beef, carrots, and potatoes, garnished with chopped parsley, next to a fork and a blue striped cloth.

How to make this recipe

Make sure your slow cooker will fit all of the ingredients and especially your roast! Wider slow cookers should work just fine, but if you have a round slow cooker, you might need to cut the roast in half to fit better.

Season the chuck roast all over with salt and pepper.

Heat olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven set over medium heat. If your slow cooker has a Sauté button, you can do it right in the cooker pot.

A browned piece of meat sits in a large, round, white Dutch oven with a dark rim. A striped cloth is partially visible in the upper right corner.

Chopped potatoes, carrots, and onions in a black slow cooker, ready to be cooked, with a dark cloth on the side.

Sear the chuck roast on all sides, forming a nice brown crust. Don’t skip this step! It adds a lot of flavor to the pot roast and in my opinion it just isn’t as good when you don’t sear.

Pile the onions, carrots, potatoes, and garlic into the slow cooker.

If you seared the roast in the slow cooker, remove the roast to a plate and use a splash of the beef broth to deglaze the bottom before adding the vegetables.

Press the dried thyme onto both sides of the roast, and set it on top of the vegetables. Pour in the beef broth and Worcestershire sauce.

Set the slow cooker to cook for 8 hours on LOW, or 5 hours on HIGH.

A ceramic bowl with a small amount of milk and a spoon inside, placed next to a dark, striped cloth on a white surface.

A cooked pot roast with carrots, potatoes, and onions in a black roasting pan, garnished with chopped parsley.

When there is 1 hour left of cooking whisk together the cornstarch and 2 tablespoons water to make a slurry, then mix into the broth in the slow cooker. This step is optional, but it will make a thicker gravy for serving.

The roast is done when it easily pulls apart with two forks. You can pull it apart and serve right from the pot, or transfer to a large platter with the gravy on the side.

A cooked pot roast with carrots, potatoes, and onions in a black roasting pan. A fork and serving spoon are beside the shredded meat.

Storage and reheating

Depending on the size of your roast (and your family), you’ll likely have some leftovers, which is one of the reasons I love making pot roast!

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge and use within 3 days. Dividing into individual portions makes reheating easy for quick lunches, but if you have extra time and want to make the leftovers for dinner, you can store it all together. I do recommend keeping the gravy separate.

Heat in the microwave with a bit gravy on top of the meat. Place a paper towel or silicone microwave shield on top and heat at 50% until warmed through. Heating on high power can toughen the meat.

You can also pile the ingredients into a saucepan and heat over medium-low until heated through.

If freezing, make sure to thaw overnight in the refrigerator before heating.

FAQ

Either setting will work for this recipe, though I prefer using the Low heat setting for a more tender roast and flavorful broth.

The important thing is that your roast is cooked through and tender. It should easily shred apart with minimal effort.

If you have fresh rosemary on hand, add a sprig, then remove it before serving.

A bit of red wine can add a great depth to the dish. Use Cabernet Sauvignon for chuck roast or Pinot Noir for a rump roast.

Swap half of the carrots for parsnips, or use small pearl onions in place of the regular onion.

This slow cooker pot roast is a hearty dish we make whenever the temps dip down. Add some whole wheat rolls or French bread and you’ve got a meal everyone looks forward to!

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