roast and vegetables in a slow cooker
beef, Mains
by madeline2020

Slow Cooker Pot Roast – Smells Like Home

Coronavirus is taking on the meat processing facilities in our country, and they’re feeling the impact. We keep hearing there will be a meat shortage, and to be honest, during the first few weeks of the stay-at-home order there WAS a meat shortage at the grocery store. Beef and chicken were limited to two items per person. Turkey, pork, sausages, fish, none of that seemed to be limited. Lucky us, we only eat beef 2 – 3 times a year, and we’re happy swapping out the chicken for turkey or pork. No big deal.

Keeping meat in our Freezer! We’re prepared but not hoarding.

To be honest, we usually have at least two turkeys and a ham in our big freezer. Around the holidays and throughout the year I take advantage of the sales, and stock up for a rainy day. I must say this pandemic has been a rainy day if I ever saw one. Every couple weeks during our regular shopping excursion (we only go every couple weeks) we check the meat department and grab more of whatever is on sale. We leave the ground beef, chicken, and other standards alone since there are families out there with kids who will not eat anything else. Now is a tough time to start new habits. You get the picture.

Recently we bought some roasts and a couple steaks just to have on hand. We only eat beef a couple times a year, so it’d be a change for us, but we do love a good steak once in a while. We figured it may be a while before we get the chance again, and that day there was no limit on what we bought. Wednesday I decided to thaw a roast out and cook it this weekend. We’ll have roast beef all week long since there’s just two of us, but I”m okay with that.

This is my crockpot recipe for pot roast complete with potatoes, carrots, parsnips, the whole deal! I hope you enjoy it. BTW – It came out amazing, and the gravy is perfect! I used flour instead of cornstarch, which seemed to have run away and hid somewhere, but still it was perfect.


Ingredients for Pot Roast

  • 2 1/2 – 3 lb bottom round roast
  • 2 TB oil (I used olive oil and set off the smoke detectors. Try canola, peanut, or sesame oil to avoid that)
  • ½ small bag of baby carrots, chopped roughly
  • 3 medium-sized potatoes, washed, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
  • 1 medium kohlrabi, peeled and sliced
  • 3 small parsnips, peeled and sliced
  • 2 ½ cups beef broth (plus a ½ cup for later)
  • 1/3 cup fig balsamic vinegar (you can substitute wine or another flavor of vinegar)
  • ¾ tsp salt
  • 1 – 2 large bay leaves
  • 1 TB fresh chives (chopped)
  • 1 tsp fresh thyme
  • baby carrots – coarse chop
  • sliced kohlrabi
  • peeled, sliced parsnips
Preparing my veggies ahead of time. You can do this then refrigerate to get a head start on the prep work

Make your own spice rub!

  • 2 TB smoked paprika
  • 1 TB garlic powder
  • 1 tsp garlic salt
  • 1 ½ tsp salt
  • ¾ tsp ground black pepper
  • ¼ tsp dried rosemary
  • ¼ tsp dried oregano
  • ¼ tsp dried basil

For the gravy

  • 5 – 8 TB corn starch
  • 1/2 cup beef broth
bay leaves
Bay leaves like this are hard to find!
  • smoked paprika
  • salt and garlic powder
    salt and garlic powder
  • herbs for roast
    dried herbs, fresh chives and fresh thyme

Instructions for Pot Roast:

  • Wash the roast and pat dry. If there was any juice left from the roast, pour into the bowl with the broth.
  • Prepare all your vegetables as indicated.
  • Put the spice rub mixture into a bowl and mix it well with a fork.
  • Add oil to a dutch oven on high heat, allow to get hot
  • While dutch oven is heating, place your roast into a shallow bowl or pan and pour the spice rub over it. Rub in well, making sure to cover all sides.

Bottom Round Roast covered with Spice Rub mix

bottom round roast
Bottom round roast with spice rub
  • Place the spiced roast into the dutch oven and brown it well. Make sure to turn it so every side gets a nice dark brown color. Remember, roasts don’t brown well in a crockpot. This gives you that head start and really helps to build the flavor.
  • Place the roast in the crockpot.
  • Add 2 ½ cups of broth, vinegar to the dutch oven to deglaze.
  • Add the fresh chives and thyme to the broth and heat/stir for 2 – 3 minutes, making sure to scrape up all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan.
  • Add chopped vegetables to the roast in your crockpot, making sure they’re evenly placed on all sides.
  • Pour the broth and vinegar mix over the top.
  • Add the two bay leaves
roast with vegetables in the crock pot
Make sure to spread the vegetables around
  • Cook on low for 6-8 hours depending on how big your roast is (or high for 4 although your meat may not be as tender).
  • Beef should be fork tender when done.
  • When done, remove the roast and vegetables (discard the bay leaves) and keep warm
  • Pour the pot liquid into a saucepan and bring to a boil.
  • Whisk the ½ cup of broth with 5 TB of cornstarch then whisk it into your pot liquid until it thickens. Add more corn starch if it doesn’t seem to be thickening up.
  • Add salt and pepper to taste

You’ve got a complete dinner ready to eat! Serve with warm dinner rolls and a chive compound butter. Yum! There will be plenty of leftovers and gravy, so be prepared! The meat, veggies, and even the gravy can be frozen to eat later.

Make my lemon chive compound butter now!

Nothing like pot roast to make a home smell like you’re expecting company!

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