Best Slow Cooker Pot Roast Recipe - Only 5 Ingredients! (+ Video) (2024)

This easy slow cooker pot roast takes less than 10 minutes to load into your crockpot, and dinner practically cooks itself. Make this melt-in-your-mouth tender beef roast for a special family dinner, or any time! Serve with a simple salad and dinner is DONE!

Does your family have a big Sunday dinner?

Maybe you all gather around the table, have a meat-and-potatoes kind of meal, and just enjoy each other’s company.

I love extra time with the family, but do you want to know a secret? I don’t always want to spend a ton of time cooking a big meal for the family on a Sunday evening.

That’s why I love this slow cooker pot roast recipe – it only looks and tastes like it took a lot of effort! But it’s actually super easy to make.

SLOW COOKER POT ROAST RECIPE

This is the BEST crock pot roast recipe and it keeps showing up on our weekly meal plan. Here’s why:

• Hands-off. You dump everything in one pot and cook it.
• Cheap. Chuck roast, potatoes, and carrots are some of the cheapest real foods at the store.
• Great as leftovers.
• 10 minutes of hands-on prep (i.e. dumping everything in the pot).
• Really, really good.
• Tastes like Mom’s cooking. There’s nothing like a classic pot roast!
• Comfort food made easy.
• Perfect for serving to company!
• Freezer-friendly (both for a future freezer meal or as leftovers)

INGREDIENTS FOR POT ROAST SLOW COOKER

• Beef. Boneless chuck roast works the best, but a round roast will work as well. (Brisket is a tougher cut and not ideal for this recipe.)
• Carrots. You can use baby carrots or make this with large carrots cut into 1” pieces.
• Potatoes. Use baby red potatoes or quartered russet potatoes. Yukon gold potatoes are also good.
• Cream of Mushroom Soup. I highly recommend Homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup, which takes LITERALLY 5 MINUTES and tastes a million times better than any canned soup ever will. If you’re pressed for time, make it the night before.
• Dry Onion Soup Mix. Again, I highly recommend making the Dry Onion Soup Mix yourself. It takes 2 minutes and it’s WAY healthier than the store-bought packets.

Notice that you DON’T need beef broth, black pepper, flour, olive oil, or garlic cloves (or garlic powder) in this recipe for a roast in the crock pot. All of these ingredients are already in the dry onion soup mix and the mushroom soup!

Psst! Want to kick this recipe for a roast in a crock pot up a notch? Try finishing this recipe with a pinch of finishing salt! I love Ava Jane’s Kitchen because it doesn’t have microplastics (gross, right?) and it’s SO GOOD! Plus, you can get a free 8oz. bag of sea salt (just pay shipping and handling!). Add a pinch before serving or incorporate it into your dry spice mix to bring out the drool-worthy savory flavor of your roast!

EASY POT ROAST SLOW COOKER SUBSTITUTIONS

• Don’t like carrots? Try different veggies like parsnips, turnips, daikon radish, rutabaga, yams, or sweet potatoes. Cut whichever veggies you choose into 1-inch pieces.
• Don’t like cream of mushroom soup? Make Cream of Celery Soup instead OR make Cream of Beef (substituting beef stock for chicken stock). If you’re going store-bought, you need one can.
• Don’t want to make dry onion soup mix? Store-bought is fine. You need one packet.

THE BEST BEEF FOR YOUR SLOW COOKER POT ROAST

Grass-fed beef is very important to my family, so we joined Butcher Box a few years ago and LOVE having quality meat shipped to our front door every month.

They offer subscriptions of grass-fed beef, organic chicken, heritage-breed pork, and wild-caught seafood, and you can choose what cuts you want AND how often you want your box delivered. Obviously, you’ll want to choose beef for this slow cooker pot roast!

If you’ve never heard of Butcher Box, read my honest review here and how to make Butcher Box worth the cost here! I love to get large cuts like pork roast and chuck roast!

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RECIPE FOR POT ROAST IN THE CROCK POT

Step 1. Place half the potatoes and carrots in the bottom of the slow cooker. (If you’re in the market for a slow cooker, this one is highly recommended.)

Step 2. Next, place the chuck roast on top of the vegetables. (There is no need to sear the meat first!)

Step 3. Place the remaining vegetables on top of and around the chuck roast.

Step 4. Pour the dry onion soup mix and cream of mushroom soup over the top. (There’s no need to add any water to the slow cooker.)

Step 5. Cover with a lid and cook on low for at least 8 hours, preferably 10, until fork-tender.

Note: I strongly recommend NOT reducing the cook time. In my testing, I made this recipe for pot roast in the crock pot both ways – at a high temperature for fewer hours, and a low temperature for more hours – and the longer cooking time was significantly more meltingly tender and flavorful.

Step 6. Shred meat slightly with two forks and serve hot.

Store leftovers from this slow cooker pot roast recipe in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months. You may want to put the vegetables in separate storage, as they may soften more when reheating.

RECIPE FOR POT ROAST SLOW COOKER TIPS

• If you cut the pot roast slow cooker recipe in half, keep the SAME cooking time.
• If you want to use a larger, 6 lb roast, make sure your slow cooker is large enough to handle that size roast (like this 8.5 qt slow cooker, or an 8 qt Instant Pot with a slow cooker function). Double everything else and cook for 10 hours!
• Don’t add any milk or water – it’s not needed.
• Make this crock-pot pot roast in the Instant Pot using my slow cooker to Instant Pot conversion guide.
• If you don’t want to make cream of mushroom soup or dry onion soup mix, store-bought is fine. You need one can of soup and one packet of seasoning.

MAKE A SLOW COOKER POT ROAST WITH GRAVY

You can take the liquid in the slow cooker and turn it into a brown gravy on the stovetop:

• Pour the gravy into a saucepan or Dutch oven and bring to a low boil over medium-high heat.
• Combine 3 Tablespoons of cornstarch and 3 Tablespoons of water in a mug and stir together.
• Pour the cornstarch slurry into the saucepan, and whisk constantly.
• The sauce will thicken to a gravy to pour over your slow cooker pot roast.
• If you like, you can substitute red wine for some of the water if you want a richer gravy.

TO SERVE SLOW COOKER POT ROAST

• This recipe for pot roast in the slow cooker feeds my family of 4 and makes at least 2 lunches with the leftovers! We usually pair it with an Easy Dinner Salad.
• Try garnishing with fresh herbs like thyme or rosemary. (If you have extra herbs after you garnish your crockpot chuck pot roast, freeze the herbs for another time – here’s how!)
• Use your Instant Pot for Steamed Broccoli on the side and dinner practically cooked itself! (I know you love your slow cooker, but curious if the Instant Pot is right for you? Read my review.)
• If you don’t have an Instant Pot, Sautéed Green Beans would go great with this slow cooker pot roast!
• Try my Easy Dinner Rolls or serve with a loaf of Simple Sourdough Bread. What a feast!
• If you happen to have two crockpots, I definitely recommend this Slow Cooker Peach Cobbler for dessert.

SLOW COOKER POT ROAST FAQS

MORE DELICIOUS SLOW COOKER RECIPES

• The Best Slow Cooker Carnitas
• Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken
• White Chicken Chili
• Slow Cooker Mexican Potato Soup
• Easy Slow Cooker Brisket

Freezer Cooking: Dump Dinner Recipes

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WATCH HOW TO MAKE CLASSIC SLOW COOKER POT ROAST

Slow Cooker Pot Roast Recipe

Print Recipe

★★★★★4.7 from 24 reviews

This easy slow cooker pot roast takes less than 10 minutes to load into your crockpot, and dinner practically cooks itself. Make this melt-in-your-mouth tender beef roast for a special family dinner, or any time! Serve with a simple salad and dinner is DONE!

• Author: Tiffany
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 10 hours
• Total Time: 10 hours 15 minutes
• Yield: Serves 4
• Category: Main meals
• Method: Slow cooker
• Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Scale

• 1 chuck roast (3–4 lbs)
• 1 lb baby carrots (or carrots, cut into about 1″ pieces)
• 1 ½ lbs potatoes (any variety, cut into about 1″ pieces if necessary)
• 4 Tbsp homemade dry onion soup mix
• 1 batch homemade cream of mushroom soup

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

1. Place half the potatoes and carrots on the bottom of the slow cooker.
2. Next, place the chuck roast on top of the vegetables.
3. Place remaining vegetables on top and around the chuck roast.
4. Pour homemade dry onion soup mix and homemade cream of mushroom soup over the top.
5. Cover with a lid and cook on low for at least 8 hours, preferably 10.
6. Shred meat slightly with two forks, serve hot.

Notes

• Don’t add any additional liquid – it’s not needed.
• A longer cooking time is best – aim for 10 hours on low.
• Chuck roast tastes best for this recipe, but a shoulder roast will work in a pinch.
• If you don’t have time to make dry onion soup mix or cream of mushroom soup, you need one packet of dry onion soup mix and one can of cream of mushroom soup.

Nutrition

• Calories: 1137

Keywords: slow cooker pot roast