This Braised Chuck Roast is a great recipe for a weekend meal or a special occasion. It’s very hands-off, with most of the cooking time taking place unattended in the oven. The end result is a tender piece of meat and a luscious gravy that everyone will love. I serve it with steamed vegetables, a refreshing and tangy salad, or one of my seasoned rice recipes.
If you’re a fan of braised meats, do try some of my other recipes like my Short Rib Ragu, Beer-Braised Short Ribs, and Middle Eastern Pulled Lamb.
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Ingredients
This recipe is quite straightforward and uses standard braising ingredients. The key here is to source a good-quality well-marbled chuck roast.
- Meat: This recipe calls for a 3lb boneless chuck roast. Chuck roast is cooked whole and then sliced (or shredded). You can also follow this exact recipe with other tough cuts of meat like short ribs (or try my beer braised short rib recipe or my short rib ragu).
- Aromatics: A classic recipe calls for classic Mirepoix (celery, carrots and onions). Garlic is also key in this recipe (use as much or as little as you like, but I say more is better)!
- Tomato Paste: A little tomato paste goes a very long way in adding depth of flavor to the sauce. Don’t skip this!
- Fresh Herbs: Because the meat is going to braise for a long time, woody herbs like fresh rosemary, fresh thyme, bay leaves and fresh sage work really well here. I also like to add a small bunch of parsley to the braise for added freshness.
- Wine: The red wine gives this recipe a rich and deep flavor. The alcohol content burns off in the cooking process but you can omit the wine entirely if you prefer. Just replace it with more beef stock.
- Stock: As this is a beef recipe, beef stock or beef broth is ideal. However, you can use chicken stock if that’s what you have. I like using boxed ready-to-use stock, but you can use concentrate or powdered stock. The choice is yours.
- Potatoes: It’s not necessary to cook the potatoes in the braise, but I find they take on so much of the gorgeous flavor from the broth. I like throwing in small new potatoes about an hour before the meat is cooked. But feel free to not include the potatoes and prepare other sides to go along with your braised chuck roast.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Prepare this Braised Chuck Roast Recipe
This is not a complicated braised beef roast recipe, and best of all, most of the cooking time is hands-off. A perfect set-it-and-forget-it recipe.
Step 1. Season the meat and preheat oven. Liberally season the meat with kosher salt and cracked black pepper on all sides (Image 1). Preheat your oven to 325F (160C).
Step 2. Prepare the vegetables. Cut the onions, carrots, and celery into large chunks. Peel the garlic cloves (Image 2). You can also use a whole garlic head cut in half horizontally.
Step 3. Sear the meat. Place a large oven-safe pot on your burner set on medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and sear the meat on all sides until you have a lovely golden brown crust on the meat (Image 3). Once seared, take the meat out and place it on a plate or tray.
Step 4. Fry the aromatics. To the same pot, add the chopped carrots, celery, onions and garlic. Fry on medium heat, for 2-3 minutes, until the aromatics take on some color (Image 4).
Step 5. Add tomato paste. Add the tomato paste to your pot, and stir to coat. Continue to sauté for 2-3 minutes so that the tomato paste gets a little caramelized (Image 5).
Step 6. Deglaze. Pour the wine and deglaze by scraping all the browned bits on the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon (Image 6).
Step 7. Place meat back. Nestle the seared chuck roast back into the pot (Image 7).
Step 8. Add stock and aromatics. Pour the beef stock into the pot and add the herbs (Image 8). Cover the pot and place it into the oven to braise for 3 hours.
Step 9. Add potatoes. Carefully remove the covered pot from the oven and take off the lid. Place the potatoes around the chuck roast, cover the pot, and place back in the oven to braise for another hour (Image 9).
Step 10. Serve. The chuck roast is ready when it is fork tender and the potatoes are cooked through (Image 10).
Expert Tips
- Use an instant pot. If you are short on time, you can prepare this recipe in an Instant Pot or pressure cooker. Simply follow all the steps for searing the meat and sautéing the vegetables. Set the Instant Pot to high pressure and cook for 1 hour. If using an Instant Pot to cook the meat, I would recommend leaving out the potatoes or cooking them separately.
- Use a crock pot or slow cooker. On the other hand, you can also prepare this recipe in a crock pot and cook it for 8 hours on low. If this is your plan, I would recommend cutting the roast into large chunks and searing them on the side in a frying pan before adding everything to the crock pot.
- Shred the meat. I like serving this recipe for braised chuck roast sliced, but the meat is so tender it can also be shredded and used in sandwiches, bowls, and wraps. If you like shredded or pulled meat, try my Pulled Lamb recipe.
- Use a good quality oven-safe braiser. Using a good quality large Dutch oven makes all the difference. It helps keep the moisture in and keeps the temperature even.
- Don’t forget the gravy! The braising juice is liquid gold! After 4 hours of braising, it will be thickened and ready to use as is. You can strain it out and use it as gravy. You can also let it rest and spoon away any fat that rises to the top if you prefer. If by any chance the liquid is still not thickened, you can thicken it by cooking it down further in a pot or saucepan or use a corn starch slurry (mixture of 1 tablespoon of corn starch with 1 tablespoon of cold water). The slurry will thicken the braising liquid right away. Make sure to bring the gravy to a boil once you add the slurry to activate the starch.
- Serve with your favorite sides: I like serving this recipe with green beans to help counteract the richness of the chuck roast. See below for a list of sides that can work well with this recipe.
Sides and Salads
This braised chuck roast can be a little rich, so make sure to serve it with sides that will balance it out. Here are some of my faves:
- Steamed vegetables (example: green beans, broccoli)
- Garlic confit mashed potatoes
- Saffron rice
- Lemony and tangy Fattoush salad
- Chopped Tomato and Cucumber Salad
- Refreshing bruschetta (burrata bruschetta, goat cheese bruschetta or eggplant bruschetta)
- Tangy coleslaw
Recipe FAQs
Certainly, you can make this recipe 1 day before you want to serve it. You can let the pot cool completely and then store it in the fridge. An hour before you want to serve it, take it out of the fridge and warm it up on the stove on medium heat until the meat is fully warmed through.
Sliced chuck roast can be stored in a glass airtight container with its gravy in the fridge for up to 3 days. The longer it sits in the fridge the more likely it is to dry out. So do try to use the leftovers up the next day if you can.
A chuck roast is a tough cut of beef with a lot of connective tissue that needs a long cooking time to break down and yield a tender and juicy finished product. The cut comes from the shoulder area of the cow. Though not necessarily the most inexpensive cuts of beef, it is still quite affordable compared to other leaner cuts like the tenderloin or ribeye.
If you make this Braised Chuck Roast or any other main dishes on Urban Farm and Kitchen, please take a moment to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’s such a help to others who want to try the recipe.
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Recipe Card
Braised Chuck Roast
Equipment
- Large Dutch Oven
Ingredients
- 3 lbs Chuck Roast
- Kosher salt and Pepper
- 1 tablespoon Olive oil - or vegetable oil
- 2 Carrots - Roughly chopped
- 2 Celery stalks - Roughly chopped
- 1 Yellow onion - Roughly chopped
- 1-2 Heads of garlic - Peeled
- 2 tablespoon Tomato Paste
- 1 cup Red wine
- 2 cups Beef stock
- Fresh Herbs - Rosemary, thyme, sage, bay and parsley
- 1 lb New potatoes
Instructions
- Season the meat and preheat oven. Liberally season the meat with kosher salt and cracked black pepper on all sides. Preheat your oven to 325F (160C).
- Prepare the vegetables. Cut the onions, carrots and celery into large chunks. Peel the garlic cloves You can also use a whole garlic head cut in half horizontally.
- Sear the meat. Place a large oven-safe pot on your burner set on medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and sear the meat on all sides until you have a lovely golden brown crust on the meat. Once seared, take the meat out and place it on a plate or tray.
- Fry the aromatics. To the same pot, add the chopped carrots, celery, onions and garlic. Fry on medium heat, for 2-3 minutes, until the aromatics take on some color.
- Add tomato paste. Add the tomato paste to your pot, and stir to coat. Continue to sauté for 2-3 minutes so that the tomato paste gets a little caramelized.
- Deglaze. Pour the wine and deglaze by scraping all the browned bits on the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. This is where a lot of the flavor is!
- Place meat back. Nestle the seared chuck roast back into the pot.
- Add stock and aromatics. Pour the beef stock into the pot and add the herbs. Cover the pot and place it into the oven to braise for 3 hours.
- Add potatoes. Carefully remove the covered pot from the oven and take off the lid. Place the potatoes around the chuck roast, cover the pot, and place back in the oven to braise for another hour.
- Serve. The chuck roast is ready when it is fork tender and the potatoes are cooked through. You should be able to easily insert a knife into the meat. Slice or shred the meat and serve it with the potatoes. You can also serve it with the carrots which should still be intact.
Notes
- Meat: This recipe calls for a 3lb boneless chuck roast. Chuck roast is cooked whole and then sliced (or shredded). You can also follow this exact recipe with other tough cuts of meat like short ribs.
- Tomato Paste: A little tomato paste goes a very long way in adding depth of flavor to the sauce. Don’t skip this!
- Fresh Herbs: Because the meat is going to braise for a long time, woody herbs like fresh rosemary, fresh thyme, bay leaves and fresh sage work really well here. I also like to add a small bunch of parsley to the braise for added freshness.
- Stock: As this is a beef recipe, beef stock or beef broth is ideal. However, you can use chicken stock if that’s what you have. I like using boxed ready-to-use stock, but you can use concentrate or powdered stock. The choice is yours.
- Potatoes: It’s not necessary to cook the potatoes in the braise, but I find they take on so much of the gorgeous flavor from the broth. I like throwing in small new potatoes about an hour before the meat is cooked. But feel free to not include the potatoes and prepare other sides to go along with your braised chuck roast.
- Use a good quality oven-safe braiser. Using a good quality large Dutch oven makes all the difference. It helps keep the moisture in and keeps the temperature even.
- Don’t forget the gravy! The braising juice is liquid gold! After 4 hours of braising, it should be thickened and ready to use as is. You can strain it out and use it as gravy. You can also let it rest and spoon away any fat that rises to the top if you prefer. If by any chance the liquid is still not thickened, you can thicken it by cooking it down further in a pot or saucepan or using a cornstarch slurry (mixture of 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 1 tablespoon of cold water). The slurry will thicken the braising liquid right away. Make sure to bring the gravy to a boil once you add the slurry to activate the starch.
- Steamed vegetables (example: green beans, broccoli)
- Garlic confit mashed potatoes
- Saffron rice
- Lemony and tangy Fattoush salad
- Chopped Tomato and Cucumber Salad
- Refreshing bruschetta (burrata bruschetta, goat cheese bruschetta or eggplant bruschetta)
- Tangy coleslaw
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