Crockpot Yankee Pot Roast
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This Crockpot Pot Roast Recipe is a super simple, very hands-off dish that rewards you with an amazingly tender and delicious meal every time. This old-fashioned pot roast is a New England staple and makes the perfect cozy dinner on chilly days.
This Crockpot pot roast with potatoes and vegetables is my family’s new favorite recipe! It’s cozy, hearty, and perfect for cold Maine weather.
With the help of the slow cooker, everything cooks in one pot for easy cleanup, and I love going about my day knowing dinner is done and that there’s a delicious meal waiting for me at the end!
You can easily adjust this slow cooker pot roast recipe to suit your preferences by adding your favorite root vegetables, swapping out herbs, or adjusting spices and seasonings to create a dish that’s uniquely yours. And the leftovers are even better the next day.
Why You’ll Love This Pot Roast Recipe
- The slow cooker makes the pot roast melt-in-your-mouth-tender as it cooks low and slow, while soaking up all the rich flavors of the broth, herbs, and seasonings.
- Chuck roast, potatoes, carrots, and vegetables all cook together in one pot, making cleanup a breeze. It’s a hearty, complete meal with minimal effort.
- This Yankee Pot Roast recipe is the ultimate comfort food and and adored by both kids and adults. This New England staple is perfect for cozy family dinners, especially on chilly days, and it makes the house smell AMAZING.
- You can easily adjust the recipe to suit your preferences by adding your favorite root vegetables, swapping out herbs, or adjusting seasonings to create a dish that’s uniquely yours.
- The leftovers are even better the next day. Three words: Pot Roast Sandwiches.
New England Pot Roast Ingredients
This old fashioned pot roast combines fresh ingredients for maximum flavor.
- Boneless Beef Chuck Roast
- Kosher Salt and Ground Black Pepper
- Vegetable Oil – for searing the roast.
- Beef Broth or Stock – either works great, I use low sodium.
- Yellow Onion – diced
- Potatoes – Yukon Gold potatoes or red potatoes. Scrubbed, unpeeled, and diced into big chunks.
- Carrots – Scrubbed and chopped. These can be unpeeled.
- Fresh Garlic Cloves – minced
- Tomato Paste
- Dried or Fresh Thyme Leaves – if you use fresh thyme, run a knife through the thyme leaves to mince them.
- Dried Bay Leaves
- Cornstarch – helps thicken the gravy at the end of cooking.
FYI: Some chuck roasts come tied or with a string around the outside, that’s ok to leave on during cooking. Remember to remove it before serving.
How to Make Yankee Pot Roast In The Slow Cooker
Full ingredient amounts and step-by-step instructions are located on the recipe card.
Step 1
Cut the carrots into big 1-inch chunks.
Cut the potatoes into chunks about 1” to 1 1/4” in size, but no bigger than 1 1/2″.
Step 2
Pat the beef dry with paper towels and season both sides with salt and pepper.
Heat oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Brown one side of the roast for 3 to 5 minutes.
Next, flip and brown the other side of the roast for another 3-5 minutes until brown and crusty. For the outer rim of the roast, sear for 30 seconds just to cook off the pink.
Transfer the roast to a plate and turn off the skillet.
Pour the beef broth into the hot skillet and scrape up any bits of the roast cooked onto the bottom of the pan. Set aside.
Step 3
Add the diced onions, potatoes, carrots, tomato paste, garlic, thyme, and bay leaves to the Crockpot. Sprinkle on 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Step 4
Nestle the roast into the Crockpot on top of the potatoes and carrots. Pour the juices from the plate into the Crockpot as well.
Pour the hot broth from the skillet over the roast and veggies.
Put the lid on the Crockpot and cook on LOW 8-10 hours or on HIGH 4-6 hours.
The roast is done when tender, pulls apart with little resistance, and reaches an internal temperature of 210°F.
Step 5
After the pot roast is done cooking, remove the bay leaves and transfer the roast to a cutting board, covering it loosely with foil. Let the meat rest for 20 minutes while you make the gravy.
Step 6
To make the gravy, whisk 1 cup of the cooking liquid with 3 tablespoons of cornstarch in a small bowl. Add the cornstarch slurry mixture back into the Crockpot and give it a stir. Cover and cook on high heat for 15-20 minutes until thickened.
Give the gravy a taste, and add the final ½ teaspoon of salt (if necessary) and more pepper to taste.
Tip: Prefer a thinner gravy? Use 2 tablespoons of cornstarch instead. You can always thin out the gravy by adding more beef broth too.
Step 7
Shred the meat with two forks, or if you want to cut slices, cut it against the grain.
Serve the pot roast on a platter with the potatoes and carrots and pour a little gravy over the top. Serve extra sauce on the side.
The Best Beef For Pot Roast
My top choice for a pot roast is a boneless chuck roast. Depending on your grocery store, this cut of meat can be labeled as Chuck Roast, Chuck Eye Roast, or my local store calls it “Beef Chuck Pot Roast”.
Chuck roast comes from the front of the cow and has delicious marbling (fat) throughout the meat, making it super flavorful and tender. It can be pricey sometimes, so a more inexpensive alternative would be a bottom round roast.
A bottom round (or a “rump roast”) is a very lean cut of meat with minimal fat. To prevent it from drying out, it’s essential to cook it slowly at a low temperature. If you’re using a bottom round for your pot roast, make sure to set your Crockpot to the “LOW” setting and allow plenty of time for it to cook properly.
Pro Tips & Tricks
- Make sure the meat cooks long enough. Rushing the cooking process will give you tough meat. If using, a meat thermometer, the pot roast will be fall-apart tender at 210°F.
- If you end up with a bone-in roast, the cooking time will take longer
- Don’t skip searing the meat. I know, it’s an extra step, but it adds a lot of flavor to the roast, and it keeps the meat from looking weird and gray (trust me).
- Cut the veggies into 1” to 1 1/4” chunks. Any smaller, and they’ll overcook in the Crockpot. I’ll cut big potatoes into 12 big chunks and medium potatoes into quarters. Baby potatoes can go in whole as long as they’re less than 2″.
- Make ahead: Sear the chuck roast and prep veggies ahead, then assemble in the Crockpot insert and refrigerate. The next day, cook as planned, adding 30 extra minutes to the cooking time to account for the cold ingredients.
Substitutions & Variations
- Make this Crockpot pot roast with mushrooms by adding baby bellas with the carrots and potatoes.
- Stir in peas at the end of cooking for a touch of green.
- Any root vegetable can be swapped in or added to the current list of ingredients.
- Add a few sprigs of rosemary with the thyme and bay leaves for bigger flavor
- For a classic old fashioned pot roast, omit the diced onion and toss in a bag of pearl onions and ½ cup of dry red wine.
How to Serve Pot Roast
Serve this classic pot roast with a fresh green salad and some Parker House Rolls to sop up all the glorious gravy.
Pot roast also goes great over egg noodles or mashed potatoes (if you don’t want to cook potatoes with the meat).
Repurposing Pot Roast Leftovers
Reheat leftovers by baking in a 350°F oven for 30-45 minutes until warmed through, and serve as you did the night before. But half the fun is repurposing leftover pot roast into other dishes:
- Make a homemade pie crust and spoon meat, veggies, and some frozen peas or green beans into the crust. Top with more pie crust and bake for a pot roast pot pie.
- Chop up leftover potatoes, carrots, and meat into bite-sized chunks and fry in a cast iron skillet for a pot roast hash (my husband’s favorite).
- Add pot roast to a baking dish, top with canned biscuits, and bake until golden for a quick little pot roast casserole.
How to Store Leftover Roast
Allow the cooked pot roast to cool completely before storing. Once cooled, store pot roast in an airtight container in the fridge for 5 days
Freezing instructions: Leftover meat and gravy will freeze well, but the vegetables will not hold up when it’s time to thaw and reheat. I suggest removing as much of the veg if you plan on freezing leftovers.
How to Reheat
I recommend reheating leftover pot roast in a 350°F oven for 30-45 minutes or until warmed through.
You can also microwave leftovers for 2-4 minutes until heated.
FAQs
Red potatoes or Yukon gold. A russet potato would just fall apart and get mealy.
Cook the pot roast for 4 to 6 hours on HIGH, or 8-10 hours on LOW. A chuck roast is tender when it reaches an internal temperature of 200-210°F on a meat thermometer.
Yes. The cuts of beef used with pot roasts require low and slow cooking or “braising” in order to cook evenly without drying out. You can get away with less liquid with a slow cooker vs a Dutch oven because there’s not a ton of evaporation, but liquid is still necessary – especially for gravy!
Yes. BUT, you’ll lose out on extra flavor in the gravy, and the meat won’t look as appetizing when it’s finished cooking.
Easy Pot Roast Side Dishes
More Classic New England Recipes
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Yankee Pot Roast (Crockpot Recipe)
Ingredients
- 1 3-4pound boneless beef chuck roast
- 2 teaspoons coarse Kosher salt divided
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup low sodium beef broth or stock either is fine
- 2 cups 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 1 to 1 1/2 lbs Yukon gold potatoes or red potatoes scrubbed and unpeeled.
- 4 large carrots scrubbed and unpeeled.
- 2 large garlic cloves minced
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
Instructions
- Prep the potatoes and carrots by cutting them into chunks about 1” to 1 1/4” in size. See notes.
- Combine 1 teaspoon of salt and the ground pepper in a small dish and set aside. Pat the beef dry with paper towels and season both sides with the salt and pepper.
- Heat olive oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Brown one side of the roast for 3 to 5 minutes. Flip and brown the other side for 3-5 minutes until brown and crusty. For the outer edges of the roast, sear for 30 seconds to cook off the pink. Transfer the roast to a plate and turn off the skillet.
- Pour the beef broth into the hot skillet and scrape up any bits of the roast cooked onto the bottom of the pan. Set aside.
- Add the diced onions, potato chunks, carrot chunks, tomato paste, garlic, thyme, and bay leaves to the Crockpot. Sprinkle on 1/2 teaspoon salt.
- Nestle the roast into the Crockpot on top of the potatoes and carrots. Pour the juices from the plate into the Crockpot as well.
- Next, pour the hot broth from the skillet over the roast and veggies.
- Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on LOW for 8-10 hours or on HIGH for 4-6 hours. The roast is done when it pulls apart with very little resistance and reaches an internal temperature of 210°F.
- Once the meat is cooked, fish out the bay leaves and transfer the pot roast to a cutting board. Cover loosely with foil, and let the meat rest for 20 minutes.
- To make the gravy, combine 1 cup of the cooking liquid and 3 tablespoons of cornstarch in a small bowl and whisk until smooth. Some lumps are ok. Add the cornstarch back to the Crockpot, cover, and cook on HIGH heat for 15-20 minutes until thickened.
- Shred the meat with two forks, or if you want to cut slices, cut it against the grain. Give the gravy a taste before serving, and add the final ½ teaspoon of salt (if necessary) and more pepper to taste. Serve the meat on a platter with the veggies and pour a little gravy over the top. Serve extra sauce on the side.
Notes
- Cut medium-sized potatoes into quarters, large potatoes cut into 12 chunks, and small potatoes cut in half. Baby potatoes can be left whole if they’re tiny.
- Prefer a thinner gravy? Use only 2 tablespoons of cornstarch, or add some extra beef broth to the slow cooker before serving.
