So apparently The Pioneer Woman has upped the ante on being awesome and landed herself a show on the Food Network. And yes, she is just as adorably quirky on TV as she is on her blog, her cowboy husband is a hunk, and her kids are frickin’ angels. I want to be her when I grow up.
Anyway, when I came across her show last weekend, she was making pot roast for her family’s post-church lunch. I’m not normally a fan of pot roast, and am generally far too impatient to slowly cookanything for multiple hours. But, watching her slice into that massive slab of tender, juicy, melt-in-your-mouth roast really got my stomach rumbling and my mouth watering. Get in my belly, pot roast!
Now, even though the total cooking time for this dish is over three hours, it’s actually a remarkably straightforward and simple recipe. All you have to do is brown some onions in olive oil…
Sautee a handful of chopped carrots…
(Look at that steaming pile of meat!)
Sear your beef, add some liquid to the pot, cover, and stick the whole thing in the oven for 3 hours. The best part is, you don’t have to check on the meat, baste it, or flip it — you can just walk away and take care of some of the other things on your to-do list. I fed the cats, watched three episodes of How I Met Your Mother, and even squeezed in 45 minutes of Sculpt/Tone Zumba. Who says you can’t multi-task when you cook?
Guys, this pot roast is amazing. It’s incredibly juicy, tender enough to fall apart at the touch of a fork, and full of rich, beefy flavor. Take my word for it, folks — this is what you want to have for dinner tonight…and lunch tomorrow…and pretty any time, ever.
The recipe can be found here, courtesy of The Pioneer Woman.
** Notes from Tina:
(1) The recipe says a 3 lb chuck roast should be cooked for 3 hours, and a 4-5 lb roast should get 4 hours of oven time. This time probably varies depending on how powerful your oven is. The roast I got was about 2.87lbs, and after 3 hours my meat still wasn’t falling apart the way it should. I popped it back in the oven for another 15 minutes, and that helped a lot, but I probably actually should have kept it in for even longer. I think with this dish, the longer roasting time, the better, since you’re cooking at relatively low heat, and there’s plenty of liquid in the pan/pot to keep your meat moist.
(2) I didn’t have a dutch oven or oven-proof pot, so I just roasted my roast in a regular deep-sided baking dish with the top tightly sealed by multiple sheets of aluminum foil. The meat turned out just fine.
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I am new here and wanted that perfect pot roast recipe; thanks.
Rita
Well, I cannot take credit for the Pioneer Woman’s cooking genius, but I hope you enjoy the recipe 🙂 Let me know how it goes!