Comforting Pot Roast

The chilly winter has definitely made itself known and that means it's the perfect time for hearty meals to keep us warm. One dish I tend to make during the fall and winter months is pot roast. It's easy to prep with little effort and it usually hits the spot. I recently tried this recipe for a Comforting Pot Roast which was extremely flavorful, leaving my beef so juicy and even better the next day. A beef chuck roast slowly braises in a savory bath of red wine, beef broth and aromatics until tender enough to forego using a knife. It's a melt in your mouth kind of pot roast. Seriously....

This was a home run recipe and we really enjoyed it. It's the perfect meal to prepare on a lazy Sunday so that the aroma of the beef cooking in the oven can fill up the kitchen. If you wanted to convert this into a slow cooker/crockpot recipe, follow steps 1-4 below only transfer the beef roast and sauteed onions instead of the same pan. Once you've deglazed the pan, transfer the wine mixture along with the aromatics into the slow cooker over the roast. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-6 hours.

Comforting Pot Roast
recipe adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 (3-pound) boneless chuck roast, trimmed
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups coarsely chopped onion
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 4 thyme sprigs
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 (14-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium beef broth
• 1 bay leaf

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Season both sides of chuck roast with salt and pepper. Add roast to pan; cook 5 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Remove roast from pan.
3. Add onion to pan; saute 8 minutes or until tender.
4. Return browned roast to pan. Add the red wine, thyme sprigs, chopped garlic, beef broth, and bay leaf to pan; scrape up bottom of pot to deglaze and bring to a simmer.
5. Cover pan and bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 2 1/2 hours or until the roast is almost tender.
6. Remove thyme sprigs and bay leaf from pan; discard. Transfer roast carefully into serving dish.
7. Heat liquid in the pot over the stovetop and cook until slightly reduced. Pour over roast and serve.