My little Siamese cat, Seamus, sat in the kitchen the entire while this pot roast was cooking, which is why I call it my “famous Seamus” pot roast. This recipe, which I’ve been using for more than 40 years, is quite forgiving and I just toss the ingredients together. It is rated as the best meal my son-in-law has ever had. It can’t be awful when boys gather around the oven.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 4 hrs 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 4 hrs 30 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 1 (3 pound) roast |
Ingredients
- 3 pounds boneless beef chuck roast
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup red wine
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon dried marjoram
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 onion, sliced
- 6 red potatoes, washed and halved
- 6 carrot, peeled and cut into 2-inch lengths
- 8 pearl onions, peeled and halved
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Sprinkle the roast evenly with the flour and set aside. Heat the canola oil in an oven-proof Dutch oven with lid over medium-high heat. Brown the roast on all sides, about 10 minutes total; remove from the heat. Pour in the water and wine. Sprinkle with the basil, marjoram, thyme, salt, and pepper. Arrange the onion slices on the roast.
- Replace the cover and bake in the preheated oven for 3 hours. Add the potatoes, carrots, and pearl onions. Pour in additional water if the roast looks dry. Continue baking covered until the roast pulls apart easily with a fork, about 1 hour longer.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 243 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 10 g |
| Cholesterol | 52 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 14 g |
| Saturated Fat | 5 g |
| Sodium | 254 mg |
| Sugars | 3 g |
| Fat | 15 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I followed the recipe fairly closely (with appropriate adjustments for the smaller roast I had). But instead of wine and water, I used homemade beef bone broth and a little red wine and Worchester sauce. When the cooking was done, I removed the meat and vegetables and added a slurry of cornstarch and left over flour to the liquid, and cooked it into a delicious gravy to ladle over the meat and vegetables. My food critic (wife) loved it!
I make the recipe almost exactly however my cast iron pot cooks very hot and I have to cut down cooking time and also add more liquid. My husband loves the roast and Ihis is probably the 5th time making it. Thanks You. P.S. Cooks have to know their own equipment.
I added more wine and water to the recipe after the roast cooked for 3 hours. This was the best pot roast we have ever had. I will make this again.
This recipe is AH-MAZING!! I only added more water, 1cup of wine instead of ½cup and I added Worcestershire sauce. Didn’t measure the W sauce. That’s the only changes I did. It was the best roast I’ve ever had. I’m 35 and roast is my favorite meal. This was great. Cooked for 3hr45min.
I made this the first time because I have a nice cast iron pot and I had the ingredients on hand. Have made it multiple times since then. I use baby carrots out of laziness but otherwise changed nothing. Everyone I’ve cooked this for has loved it.
I made two giant roasts in a roasting pan with this recipe, for a Christmas party. The only thing I did different, was season the flower before searing. This pot roast was a giant hit. I’m definitely saving this recipe!
A big hit with my husband and made for great leftovers. I added a bit more wine and substituted beef broth for the water.
This is a wonderful recipe and it turns out very good every time I make it.
Great recipe
So, this is a good base recipe but I made a few changes to my liking. I seasoned the chuck roast and dredged it in flour- then pan seared it. I added it to the crockpot with about 3 cups of Beef Stock, 1 cup of red wine, a heaping tbsp of Better than Bouillon, 1/2 of an onion- quartered, a few sprigs of fresh rosemary and fresh thyme, about 10 gloves of garlic. I cooked it on high for about 2.5 hours, then reduced to low. At that time, I removed the onions. I put in some baby carrots and baby potatoes. I cooked it about 4-5 more hours and put in some additional quartered onions in the last 45 min. I made a crazy out of the liquid. It was delicious!!!
I substituted turmeric for salt, 1/8 tsp cayenne for black pepper, and added 1 tsp poultry seasoning.
I made this recipe for dinner tonight. It was delicicious. I made it in a cast iron durch oven and was so tender it just fell apart. I used extra liquid in the form of beef broth. It was actually done in 3 hours, but that’s when I put the veggies in and cooked until they were done. It’s a keeper.
Flavorful! I also used beef broth instead of water. This is a well rounded & easy to follow recipe. Thank you.
This pot roast was super tender, everyone loved it. I didn’t have pearl onions so just used regular onions and swapped the water for beef broth. It was excellent.
It’s a nice feature of the recipe to have a button that lets you select the number of people that you are preparing the dish for and then adjusts the ingredients, BUT two thirds of the way through my cooking time in the oven it didn’t smell right. I was cooking for 5, not 12 as the recipe was written for. I adjusted the ingredients, but suddenly realized that the much smaller recipe did not need to cook the full time the recipe called for. The cooking time WAS NOT ADJUSTED AS WERE THE INGREDIENTS! I have never made a pot roast before or used a dutch oven so I had no guidance from the recipe for the proper cooking time. The meat was charcoal by the time it dawned on me that the recipe led me astray. Thanks alot.
I have made this several times, and make it as close as I can, but do substitute when I need to. Love it every time! Very good flavor.
I ruined a $15.00 roast. Whoever made up this recipe has not cook it as described. At 350 degrees for 4 hours it was a mess. Dry almost all the liquid was gone, had to add another cup. The flavor was good so I will cook it again. Probably 300 or 250 degrees for 4 or 5 hours is more like it.
I really like this pot roast. It is simple, flavorful, easy, and is great reheated the next day, and wonderful for hot beef sandwiches the 3rd day. I would not change anything! Two things though. Do not use cheap cooking wine. If it’s not good enough to drink, it’s not good enough to use for cooking. The other thing is to use really good herbs and spices. My favorite online spice dealers are The Spice House and Penzies Spices. This pot roast recipe is worthy of good spices. For a variation, and if I don’t have any red wine, I will use additional beef stock. The wine makes a difference, but the roast is very good without it. Lastly, to add just a bit of East European flavor, I will add a small (very small) pinch of caraway seeds only because I like the flavor. Great recipe! Thanks Karen!
Used beef broth instead of water and baked at 300 rather than 350; turned off oven after 3 1/2 hours and left sit for 1 hour.
Loved it. Easy to make. I used some fresh ingredients since I had it.
This was just delicious! So tender. Read other reviews and doubled the liquids. Used 1 c. beef BTB and 1 c. red wine so only used 1/2 t. salt. Used 1# baby carrots to make it easier and 6 oz. package sliced Baby Bella mushrooms. Perfect and it smelled wonderful cooking for 4 hours.