Dutch Oven Pot Roast

A delicious chuck roast in a nest of delicious juices in a dutch oven ready to roast

This Dutch Oven Pot Roast recipe slowly braises a chuck roast in flavorful spices, genovese sauce, vegetables and luscious liquids resulting in a tender, fall apart comfort meal that’s served with a gremolata topping.

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Keyword beef roast, chuck roast, pesto, pot roast

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 3 hours 30 minutes

Total Time 3 hours 50 minutes

Servings servings

Calories 421kcal

Author Jocelyn Delk Adams of Grandbaby Cakes

Ingredients

For the Pot Roast

4 lbs chuck roast
9 garlic cloves
6.2 oz Barilly Creamy Genovese Pesto
1 tbsp kosher salt
2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3 tbsp oil
4 carrots peeled and sliced
1 large red onion chopped
2 bay leaves
2 cups low sodium beef stock
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
8 oz fingerling potatoes halved

For the Gremolata Topping

zest of 2 medium lemons
1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley
4 garlic cloves chopped fine

Instructions

For the Roast

Preheat the oven to 300°F. Take a small knife and make 9 1-inch deep pockets into the top of the roast, large enough to fit the garlic cloves in. Stuff the garlic cloves into each of the pockets and add ½ teaspoon of pesto to the top to cover the holes.
In a small bowl, whisk together salt, pepper, garlic powder, smoked paprika and Italian seasoning until combined. Liberally season roast evenly all over. Next, pour flour over roast and dredge both sides evenly.
Heat a dutch oven or medium sized pot with a lid over medium heat. Add the oil and sear the roast for 3 minutes on each side until brown. Remove the roast from the pot and spread ½ cup of Barilla Creamy Genovese pesto over the entire roast and set aside.
Add carrots and onion and cook for 2 minutes, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pot. Stir in the bay leaves, beef stock, Worcestershire sauce and add the covered roast back into the pot. Bring to a boil, cover and bake for 3 hours and 30 minutes, add potatoes with 1 hour remaining. Roast should be fork tender. If not, continue baking.

For the Gremolata

While the roast is in the oven, in a small bowl combine lemon zest, parsley and garlic. When ready to serve, garnish roast with gremolata and serve with vegetables.

Notes

HOW TO MAKE THE BEST POT ROAST
There are several steps to this recipe but most of the work is done by your oven. Follow this step-by-step guide and you cannot fail.

Tip 1:

Stuff garlic into pockets of the roast. This will change the game on your pot roast adding an abundance of flavor deep inside the roast.

Step 2:

Make a seasoning rub. You can combine your absolute favorite seasonings into one bowl and then liberally season roast evenly all over. A common mistake I see people make is not adding enough seasoning to the roast. When you have a large ample beef roast, you gotta add as much flavor as possible.

Step 3:

Adding the pesto rub. This really sets this roast apart from any other roast recipe on my website. Feel free to add a jarred one like I use here from Barilla or even a homemade one.

Step 4:

Slow roast the meat. This takes time. You can also do this in a slow cooker or even a pressure cooker if you are starved for time but here I use a dutch oven which also ensures even heating. This roast will go for about 2 1/2- 3 hours.

Step 5:

Add the veggies. Remove the pot after 2 1/2 hours, add the potatoes, carrots, quartered and onion around the roast into the liquid. Return the pot to the oven for another 1 hour and 45 minutes. Take it out of the oven when the roast is falling apart and the vegetables will be very tender. Discard the bay leaves. Remove the meat from the pot into a dish large enough to shred it. Shred the meat with two forks.

Nutrition