The Perfect Crock Pot Roast really is my Momma’s recipe that I grew up on. I have tried TONS of roast recipes, and even though I have tried some pretty fantastic recipes, this has always been my favorite.
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How to Make the Perfect Pot Roast in a Slow Cooker
UPDATED with a video from Mikey from our cooking show.
Aunt Lou here.
As I have said before, I grew up in a meat and potatoes family. One of my favorite recipes that momma would make is The Perfect Crock Pot Roast. I am not much on carrots, but Michael loves them, so it works well. He fights me for the potatoes but usually lets me win.
When I first went to college, I did alright. I didn’t get too homesick… Until I came home that is. Then it was SO hard to leave! On many occasions, Momma would send her famous (at least to me) The Perfect Crock Pot Roast back with me to college. An entire roast just for me! I was the envy of everyone on my floor!
Fast forward to when I am trying to learn to cook to feed my family. I knew I wanted to make this amazing roast for my loves and was pleasantly surprised to find out that it is crazy easy!
What Kind of Roast Makes the Perfect Pot Roast in a Slow Cooker?
While you can use most any kind of beef roast to make pot roast, our favorite cut to use is a nice marbled chuck roast. They key to getting roasts tender in a slow cooker is to cook them on low over a long period of time. Our rule of thumb anytime a roast is still tough, cook it another hour and check it again. The Perfect Crock Pot Roast should be full of flavor and fall a part tender.
Notes on the Perfect Crock Pot Roast Recipe
- We used brown gravy mix in this recipe.
- I made up The Perfect Crock Pot Roast in good ol’ Sir Hamilton (my Hamilton Beach Programmable Insulated Slow Cooker). Your favorite 5-6 quart slow cooker will work great as well.
- Check out our favorite Slow Cookers, Pressure Cookers, Multi-Cookers and Air Fryers in our Amazon Influencer Shop.
- We now have an Instant Pot (Electric Pressure Cooker) and oven version of this recipe too! Check it out here: Perfect Instant Pot Roast and here: Perfect Pot Roast
- As with any of our recipes, calorie counts and nutritional information varies greatly depending on which products you choose to use when cooking this dish. The auto-calculation is just an automated estimate and should NOT be used for specific dietary needs.
- All slow cookers cook differently, so cooking times are always a basic guideline and should always be tested first in your own slow cooker and time adjusted as needed.
Readers Love This Recipe
“This is a great recipe for Pot Roast! Just like my Mom used to make!”
– Connie
“This recipe makes the most flavorful roast I’ve ever had.”
-Marissa
“It really is perfect. My family loves it and super easy!”
-Kim
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The Perfect Crock Pot Roast
Ingredients
- 2.5 lb beef roast
- 5 potatoes peeled and sliced into wedges
- 1 bag of baby carrots
- 2 medium onions halved
- 2 pkgs brown gravy mix
- 2 cups water
Instructions
- Spray your crock pot with cooking spray
- Place your roast in your 6- quart crock pot (I used my Hamilton Beach Programmable Insulated Slow Cooker.)
- Surround your roast with your potato wedges, onion halves and carrots
- Mix together one of your brown gravy mixes with 1 c cold water
- Pour over your roast and veggies
- Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours (total)
- An hour before serving, mix together your remaining brown gravy mix and 1 c cold water
- Pour over roast and veggies
- Cover again for the last hour of cooking.
Video
Notes
- We used brown gravy mix in this recipe.
- I made up The Perfect Crock Pot Roast in good ol’ Sir Hamilton (my Hamilton Beach Programmable Insulated Slow Cooker). Your favorite 5-6 quart slow cooker will work great as well.
- Check out our favorite Slow Cookers, Pressure Cookers, Multi-Cookers and Air Fryers in our Amazon Influencer Shop.
- We now have an Instant Pot (Electric Pressure Cooker) version of this recipe too! Check it out here: Perfect Instant Pot Roast
- As with any of our recipes, calorie counts and nutritional information varies greatly depending on which products you choose to use when cooking this dish. The auto-calculation is just an automated estimate and should NOT be used for specific dietary needs.
- All slow cookers cook differently, so cooking times are always a basic guideline and should always be tested first in your own slow cooker and time adjusted as needed.
Nutrition
We recommend serving this dish we these recipes:
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Do I just pour the gravy powder package in the slow cooker or so I make the gravy first??
Hi Ashley!
You mix the gravy packet with water, but don’t cook it before adding it to the crock pot. Enjoy!
Aunt Lou
Hi Aunt Lou! Do you think this recipe be cooked on high 4-6 hours instead? Just for those busy days/evenings! Thanks!
Hi Elaine!
If you do need to cook it on high, I would recommend using a tender cut of meat. Cooking on low for a longer period of time takes even a tougher cut of meat and makes it super tender. However, cooking on high for a shorter time doesn’t do that as well. Hope this helps!
Aunt Lou
absolutely amazing❤️❤️ My husband couldn’t stop raving about the flavor followed your recipe . Ahhh the last hour added the 2nd mix and fresh mushrooms all over the top Yummy ❤️❤️
Yay! I’m so glad to hear it Cyndi!
I used a 3# chuck and this is THE BEST recipe I’ve ever used for a great pot roast. Veggies were perfectly done and meat was so tender!!!
Yay Laura! I’m so glad you loved it! Thank you for taking the time to leave such a kind comment! It really makes our day to hear that our reader’s enjoy a recipe!
~Aunt Lou
So so good. Had doubts about dry gravy mix but I’ve made this twice and each time it was very good. Only way I will do my roast now!
I’m so glad to heart it Lyn! I love this roast! I am so glad you do too!
~Aunt Lou
Haven’t made yet. I have a chuck roast AND a sirloin tip toast that need to be used. I wondered to this recipe would be ok for beef and noodles (minus vegetables), shredded and additional liquid added to cook noodles. (Frozen Reames noodles). Thoughts? Anyone?
Hi Martha!
We actually have a variety of beef and noodles recipes. You can find them at the link below. Enjoy!
https://www.recipesthatcrock.com/recipe-index/?fwp_search=beef+noodles
Aunt Lou
This is a solid recipe. It turned out tender and everything cooked thoroughly. However, it definitely lacked seasoning and flavor. I added quite a bit of salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder several times throughout cooking and still wasn’t to our liking. I added more after it was cooked.
I’m so sorry you didn’t enjoy this recipe Teresa. We understand that every recipe won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. I hope you find a recipe you love in our over 1,000 recipes!
Aunt Lou
Would this work with a beef round siloin tip roast? Cant wait to try it!
Hi Jaime!
I have’t tried this with a beef round sirloin tip roast, but it should work just fine! I hope you enjoy this as much as we do!!
Aunt Lou
Hello going to make but the roast is 4.3lbs how long should i cook it?
Hi Bev!
I haven’t cooked a roast that large, but would cook it for 10-12 hours if I did. You want to make sure it has long enough to get tender all the way through. Enjoy!
Aunt Lou
Not sure what happened but I cooked on LOW for 10 hours and the roast was mostly tender BUT the veggies were not. I was shocked that the veggies were not soft after 10 hours. The only difference from your recipe was our roast was just a little over 3 pounds. Other than the veggies it tasted great – any idea on why the veggies wouldn’t be soft after 10 hours???
Hi Tricia,
I am not sure. After 10 hours, the veggies should have been tender. Does your slow cooker usually cook cooler?
Aunt Lou
I have made this many times with excellent results! Sometimes I use beef cubes, it makes a very good base for stew as well. Thanks so much
I’m so glad you enjoy it Jon! That’s a great idea with the beef cubes. Thanks for taking the time to leave such a nice comment!
Aunt Lou
I will be making this tomorrow. The one thing I have found that I do not care for when adding carrots to the crock pot is the end result, to me, always has an overpowering flavor of carrots. It just cancels out the savory goodness of the pot roast itself. So I will be doing my carrots on the side 🙂
Hi Sherri!
We always encourage our readers to adjust our recipes to their personal preferences. Sounds like you are doing just that! Enjoy!
Aunt Lou
Sorry to say it, but something went wrong. All the correct ingredients, old six-quart crock-pot. Was supposed to be my and my 98-year ild grandmother’s Christmas dinner. After ten hours, on LOW, the potatoes went not cooked, nor the carrots. And the roast was quite rare, yet somewhat cooked in the outside. So I sliced some roast and threw it in a cast-iron skillet, and into the oven. Very disappointed, but will try it again, in HIGH.
Hi Eric,
I’m sorry your Christmas dinner wasn’t done in time. With the potatoes not being cooked after 10 hours on low, I would try again with a different crock pot. It sounds like the one you used might have malfunctioned.
Aunt Lou
You may want to blanche carrots & potatoes. It breaks down the pectin in them, meaning they will be tender. Slow cookers do not get to a hot enough right away break down pectin in vegetables.
Anything I put in a crock pot is thoroughly cooked after five hours on LOW. It’s falling apart tender.
This is the absolute best recipe! The ONLY thing I do different is sear the meat with Montreal steak seasoning. I seriously could eat this every week it’s so good.
I’m so glad to hear it Sandy! I love this recipe too! Thanks for taking the time to leave such kind words!
Aunt Lou
I have been using this recipe for quite some time! When I was newly married it was the first recipe I had tried that actually got my husband to eat vegetables! Today I decided to try something different with it! I am using deer roast I marinated myself! I have no clue about marinades so this will be interesting! I love this recipe though! It goes great with homemade drop biscuits too!
I’m so glad you and your husband enjoy this recipe Choral! Let me know how it goes with the deer roast. Sounds yummy!
Aunt Lou
HI! Could I cook this on high for a shorter time? If, so what would you recommend?
Hi Abby!
If you need to cook it on high, make sure you use a roast that is already a tender since it won’t be cooking low and slow to make it tender. I haven’t cooked this on high, but would recommend trying 4-5 hours. Enjoy!
Aunt Lou
The roast I bought is 1.5 pounds which is a lot less then you have recommended in this recipe. Would I decrease the cooking time or should I leave it the same?
Hi Sash!
I would watch it closely this time with the difference in size of roast or use a smaller crock pot. Let me know how it goes!
Aunt Lou
I went thru a lot of recipes and this one was my favorite. Tried it out, works perfectly, easy and very delicious. Only thing I would add is a splash of red wine to deglaze the pan. Thanks for the recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoy it Abby! It really is the perfect crock pot roast!
~Aunt Lou
I added 2 tablespoons of steak spice and 1 tablespoon of Italian spice to this recipe!! Cooking now can’t wait to try it!!
Sounds delicious Kayla! I hope you enjoyed it!
Made this for a friend who was dying for a pot roast dinner. As we live in a boarding house I needed a crock pot recipe. I had an 18oz jar of Heinz beef gravy on hand so used it as you did instead of the brown gravy. I also seasoned with Monterey seasoning too. It was fabulous! Shared with some friends and we all loved it. Even had enough left over for 2 of us to have some over egg noodles last night. Thanks so much! After going through your site ands vids have found quite a few easy recipes for all of us to try here. Thank you so much!
I’m so glad you and your friends enjoyed it Bella! Way to use what you have on hand too! I hope you find tons of recipes to enjoy and share here!
~Aunt Lou
I made this roast in my slow cooker and it was really good. My husband and I both enjoyed it and will be having it again. Next week I’m going to try the peach cobbler in the slow cooker. Thank you for a great recipe.
I’m so glad you and your husband enjoyed it Dorothy! Thank you for letting me know! I hope you enjoy the peach cobbler just as much!
~Aunt Lou
Hi we are trying this recipe as we speak . But are you sure I shouldn’t add any extra water to the roast ? I’m trying to debate .
Hi Amy!
I was skeptical too when Momma told me this, but it works! I hope you enjoy this as much as I do! One of my childhood favorites!
~Aunt Lou
The whole family loved this! I took the advice of one of the reviewers added whole mushrooms in the last hour. Tons of flavor! I will double the recipe next time because it was a hit. And SO EASY and quick!
Hi Heather!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! It is one of my all-time favorite recipes, so I love hearing when readers enjoy it too!
~Aunt Lou
Hi, I watched your video this morning, went to the store. Absolutely love this. It is such a simple no miss recipe. I had to cook it on high CSU’s I got started kind of late, and still came out great. You right when you said add a lot of salt, I kept adding, lol. I will definitely go back to this recipe. Oh yes, I added whole mushrooms the last hour. 😋
Hi Angelika!
I’m so glad you loved this recipe as much as I do! I love hearing when readers enjoy a recipe, especially one that is a favorite of mine!
~Aunt Lou
I made this following the recipe to a tee. It was horrible. NO FLAVOR AT ALL! COMPLETELY BLAND! A waste of a roast which was expensive and was supposed to be a treat since we can’t afford to buy them very often. My whole family hated it, except for our dog who ended up with the whole thing.
Hi Jeannie!
We hate to hear this recipe didn’t work out for you. I’m kind of stumped at what could have went wrong for you. This recipe is one of my favorites and has been a family favorite for generations. Unfortunately not every recipe can be everyone’s cup of tea. Hope you can find something else on the site to enjoy.
~Aunt Lou