This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
The perfect warming pot roast recipe for the chilly months! My French onion pot roast is a mashup of winter favorites. It’s seriously full of flavor and you can even make it in the slow cooker for a stress-free dinner!
I’ve got a crazy simple french onion pot roast recipe to share with you today.
It really sounds a lot more difficult than it is. And the best part? You can make it in the slow cooker or the stovetop. Melt-in-your-mouth tender beef drizzled with a caramelized onion sauce over a bed of cheddar mashed potatoes – have mercyyy!
It’s family-friendly. Simple but fancy enough for entertaining.
I made this simple french onion pot roast for dinner one rainy evening. And it was a huge hit! It also doesn’t hurt that there aren’t many dishes to wash afterwards.
Plus this pot roast recipe definitely makes tons of leftovers. Just think about that for a second: french onion pot roast over buttered egg noodles, warm sandwiches with melty roast beef, gooey gruyere cheese on hot rolls.
Also, this is one of those dinners where the leftovers actually taste even better. So don’t be afraid of ’em.
This was fantastic!!! I’m not a huge lover of traditional roast flavor but love the pull apart meat. Now I can have both delicious flavor and perfect pull apart meat when I cook roast! Definitely a keeper 🙂
Ingredients for French onion pot roast:
- Beef Chuck roast: Use a two pound roast for a family of 4-6 people. Keep in mind that the roast will shrink a bit and it cooks so you’ll need more meat than you would think.
- Butter and oil: we’ll sear the meat in the butter and oil before adding everything to our slow cooker.
- Minced garlic: how can you make any good recipe without garlic?
- Onions, onions, onions: I like to use two large yellow onions for this recipe. Thinly slice the onions so that the become fall-apart tender in the crock pot while they slow cook.
- Beef broth: we’ll let the meat become fall apart tender in the slow cooker in the liquid as it simmers.
- Sauces: you’ll need Worcestershire sauce and apple cider the vinegar. The Worcestershire sauce adds umami to the dish and the vinegar helps tenderize the meat.
- Seasonings and Herbs: you’ll need onion powder, fresh thyme leaves or dried thyme, a bay leaf, celery seeds, some cornstarch and if you’re thinking that all of these ingredients sound like the content of a French onion soup mix, you would be correct. We’ll use cornstarch to make a slurry to thicken the au jus at the end.
Instructions for the best french onion pot roast:
- Sear the meat. pat down the chuck roast, then season generously with kosher salt and black pepper. Heat a skillet or a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add butter and oil and allow the butter to melt and start to cracker. Sear the roast on each side for a few minutes or until it develops nice crust on the outside. Remove the roast to a plate.
- Slice your onions really thin. The onions release all that natural flavor which then tenderizes the meat as it slow cooks. You can also sauté the onions for a few minutes in a tablespoon of butter over medium heat if you want to really build your flavors even more because they’ll pick up all the brown bits left behind by the meat. Do much depth of flavor there.
- Let it slow cook. Add half of the onions to the slow cooker, followed by the garlic, beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, onion powder, dried thyme, bay leaf, celery seeds, sugar and the chuck roast. Top with the remaining onions. Cover the slow cooker with a lid and let it go low and slow. Test the meat for doneness using two forks. It should shred easily.
- Make a gravy. Remove the meat from the slow cooker. Cover and keep warm. Combine the cornstarch with water in a small bowl to make a slurry. You can pull out the aromatics, like the bay leaves. Pour this into the slow cooker and whisk to combine. Let it cook for several minutes. if the gravy is still thin, you can use additional cornstarch and water to thicken it to your liking.
- Storage. Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator. You can also freeze the leftovers. Just allow to defrost in the fridge overnight before reheating.
Tips for the best onion pot roast:
Make sure to pat down the surface of your chuck roast and sprinkle generously with salt and black pepper.
Also, use the right size. Don’t overcrowd your pan. I like to use a stainless steel pan or a cast iron skillet or dutch oven because both of these retain the heat really well.
The milk solids will burn with the high heat that we need to sear the roast. So always, always use a little oil to prevent this from happening.
Make sure to allow the meat to sear for at least 3-4 minutes/side without trying to lift it. It’s hard but avoid it. Step away for a minute or two if you have to. Once it’s seared you’re ready to transfer everything into an oven-safe pot or a slow cooker and continue with the recipe.
If you like this recipe, you might also like:
- French Onion Chicken Meatballs
- Jammy Hot Caramelized Onion Dip with Gruyere
- Braised Cider Pot Roast with Onions
- Gruyere Mac and Cheese with French Onion Crust
- Best Ever Pot Roast with Carrots and Potatoes
Soul Warming French Onion Pot Roast
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 pounds chuck roast see notes for larger
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil
- 3 garlic cloves pressed or minced
- 2 yellow onions thinly sliced
- 2 cups beef stock
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- ⅛ teaspoon celery seeds crushed between fingers
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons cornstarch
- ⅓ cup water
Instructions
- SEAR: Pat down your chuck roast and season generously with salt and pepper on all sides. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. If you're making the pot roast in the oven, you can do this directly in the dutch oven. Add the butter and a splash of oil. When the butter melts and starts to crackle, add the chuck roast to the skillet and sear on all sides for about 2-3 minutes per side. You want the meat to brown as this will make a more tender and flavorful roast. Remove to a plate.
- OPTIONAL: Add a little more oil to the pan and sauté the onions for 3-4 minutes or until they sweat down just a tad bit.
Slow Cooker:
- Add half the onions to the slow cooker, followed by all the garlic, beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, apple cider vinegar, onion powder, dried thyme, bay leaf, celery seeds, sugar, and the chuck roast. Top with the other half of the onions. Allow the roast to cook on the low setting for 6-8 hours. I let mine go for 8 and it was fall-apart tender.
- Remove the meat from the slow cooker. Cover, keep warm. Combine 2 tablespoons of the cornstarch and water in a small bowl or mason jar. Add to the slow cooker, stir and let cook for an additional 5-7 minutes. If the gravy is still thin, use the remaining tablespoon of cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons of water, let cook an additional 5 minutes.
Oven Directions:
- Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 275ºF. Once you sauté the onions (step 2), add the chuck roast back in to the dutch oven along with the garlic, 2 cups of beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, apple cider vinegar, onion powder, dried thyme, bay leaf, celery seeds, and sugar. The liquid should come half way up the chuck roast, if it doesn't add additional broth until half of the chuck roast is submerged. Stir to combine.
- Cover the dutch oven with a lid and let braise in the oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Remove the pot from the oven, check for doneness and continue braising for an additional 1 to 1 ½ hours. Your roast it done when it easily pierces with a fork.
- Remove the meat from the dutch oven. Cover, keep warm. Combine 2 tablespoons of the cornstarch and water in a small bowl or mason jar. Heat the dutch oven over the stove on medium-high heat on the stove until the liquid reaches a simmer.
- Add the cornstarch mixture to the pot while stirring. Let the gravy regain a simmer. If the gravy is still thin, use the remaining tablespoon of cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons of water, let cook an additional 1-2 minutes.
Serving:
- Serve the pot roast over a bed of fluffy cheddar mashed potatoes or even with some no knead crusty bread on the side with a house salad!
Notes
- If you double or triple the recipe, you’ll need 6-8 quart slow cooker.
- Here’s the 3 quart slow cooker I have and love for a 2 pound roast.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like This? Leave a comment & rating below!
I’m so excited to try this! But I don’t have Apple Cider Vinegar on hand. Could I substitute any of the following? White wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, distilled white vinegar, or rice vinegar? Or anything else if you have a good suggestion! Thanks for the recipe and I’ll let you know how it turns out!
Hi Diana! I’m glad you’ll be giving this recipe a try. I’d do 1/2 white wine vinegar and 1/2 red wine vinegar and that should work out well! Hope you enjoy the roast 🙂
This sounds so good! I plan to make it soon now that fall is here 🙂
Just a quick question though… You mentioned that sometimes you prep it the night before and just put the crock in the slow cooker in the morning. So this sounds like you sear the meat the night before as well? I don’t know why, but it just sounds like an odd concept to me to sear the meat and then put it in the fridge overnight, so I just want to clarify.
Hi Mary! That’s correct. So I just chop and prep everything and I also sear the meat. I do this late at night, right before bed so that it sits in the fridge for no more than 7-10 hours and then just pop everything into the slow cooker in the morning. If you don’t feel comfortable searing the meat in advance, you can always just do it the day of 🙂
Look up the recipe for a Mississippi pot roast. It consists of au jus sauce packet ranch packet a stick of butter and the banana peppers sliced. It is soooo yummy!
I made this yesterday and we loved it. So tender and moist. I’ll be making this for a larger group this Easter Sunday, and I’m curious if a 5-6 lb roast would require more time in the slow cooker. For reference, yesterday I cooked a 2 lb roast for 8 hours, just as your original recipe indicates.
Glad to hear you guys enjoyed the roast! For a 5-6lb. roast I think it’ll take in the ballpark of 8-10 hours. But from a quick google search, most pot roast recipes with that amount of meat are saying it cooks up nice and tender in 8 hours. I suggest checking at the 8 hour mark and then letting it go for another 1-2 hours if necessary. Hope that helps!
Hi, I made this recipe today. Huge success. Thank you for sharing your recipe. I used my cast iron Dutch oven. Oven method. However, when I took it out of the oven, the aroma reminded me of French onion soup. I am saving that broth for my favorite soup?. It’s going to be the best .
What kind of onions do you use?
Just regular yellow onions is what I used as they have a stronger onion flavor. White onions can also be used if you prefer a milder onion flavor.
It’s currently in my slow cooker and 45 minutes in. Do I just leave it for the 8 hours or do you stir it once in a while? This is my first slow cooker recipe .. sorry if it’s a silly question lol
My apologies Maria, your comment somehow got filtered into spam! Either way would work, I usually do give it a stir if i’m around, if i’m out of the house I let it just hang out, so definitely no right or wrong answer here 🙂
Hey Marzia, are celery seeds called dhania seeds in Urdu?
They’re called ‘ajwain’, Samia! 🙂
This was really good! I made it in my instant Pot. Seared the meat first in my cast iron skillet and did the onions on Sauté in the Instant Pot. Then Cooked on high pressure for 35 minutes, then natural release for about 10 minutes. The gravy was delicious! All 3 of my young kids loved it too (even the onions!) which is always a nice bonus. Thanks!
I also used my instant pot for this recipe but with a different method. Seared a 2.3 lb (3″ thick) roast in a cast iron pan, set it aside and sauteed onions in the cast iron, then did high pressure for 45 minutes with a 25 minute natural release. I might try 50 minutes next time. This came out so wonderfully. I will definitely be making this again.
Im going to make this tonight for dinner after work tomorrow. Do you recommend thickening the sauce in the morning or while reheating tomorrow night? Im just going to stick the whole thing in the fridge in the am and reheat in the slow cooker when I get home.
I’d say the day you plan to serving it. The gravy tends to get quite thick as it sits so best to do it just before serving!
Would you be able to just dice and add the carrots to the pot an hour or so before? Or will that take away from the flavor?
You could Jenn, but it would of course change the flavor as the original recipe doesn’t call for carrots. I’d suggest adding them in a little sooner or you run the risk of the carrots not cooking all the way through.
Lovely recipe. Tasted amazing, everyone loved it. I didn’t have thyme so I used a spice mix with thyme in it. I doubled the sauce, so we would have plenty. Great fresh, great as leftovers. Served with home made mashed potatoes, several different kinds of veggies and a salad. It was a big hit even with my brother who is a decorated chef. Will definitely make it again!
This recipe came out great in our slow cooker. 6 hours on low was very soft. We had roasted brussell sprouts on the side. Great dinner tonight, glad I found this one. Btw, do you generally save the gravy? If so, how and what do you use it on?
Happy New Year!
Sheri
Glad to hear it Sheri! I store the leftover gravy separately from the pot roast to use while the pot roast is around. We usually use it on mashed potatoes or roasted green beans!
I am going to try this in my Instant Pot. With the Instant Pot you can sear it right in the same pan and avoid washing another pot. Looks and sounds delicious.
Yes! Just one of the reasons I love the Instant Pot so much! Hope you enjoyed it 🙂
What is the green herb sprinkled on top in the picture? I don’t see any thing in the recipe that calls for fresh herbs!
It’s just parsley for pictures. Not really part of the recipe.
Can you use bone in chuck roast?
Yes, I think that should be fine. The cooking time may vary slightly though (maybe an additional 30 minutes to an hour). I wouldn’t be able to say for sure though as i’ve only tested it with boneless.
This might be a dumb question…BUT I have a larger slow cooker, do you HAVE to double the recipe for that? Or can I make your original recipe with a smaller roast in a bigger slow cooker?
A smaller (2 pound roast) in a larger slow cooker is just fine! You just don’t wanna do it the other way around 🙂
How would you recommend reheating this? Thinking about making it the night before and reheating for dinner.
We just reheat it in the microwave. You could also just let it heat back up in the slow cooker on the warm setting if you’d like. This will take a bit of time though.
This is currently in my slow cooker, it’s snowing outside and the neighbors are coming over to indulge in the deliciousness that is coming from my kitchen! I think it calls for a nice red! Thanks for the great recipe <3
Love how that sounds! Hope you and the neighbors enjoy it fully!
Hi
Can I make this recipe in my 6 quart slow cooker, I do not have a 3 quart one.
Absolutely! 3 quart slow cooker or larger works just fine! 🙂