This slow cooker beef roast is a wonderful comfort dish the whole family can enjoy. Made with beef roast, potatoes, and carrots, it's a full meal that's ready to eat in just a few hours.
We love easy crock pot roast with potatoes and carrots, but it's not one of our cheaper meals to make, which means it doesn't happen too often. That said, it's a comforting slow cooker meal that can feed a small crowd, which is perfect for when we have family coming over.
This is a slow cooker recipe that is definitely worth keeping handy. Perfect for serving with our Jiffy Cornbread With Cake Mix or 2 Hour No Knead White Bread.
Why This Recipe Works
- It's convenient. One of the best reasons to bring out the crock pot is when you want to let something simmer all day while you do whatever you want (or need) to do. I love it when I plan to work long hours. Convenience is everything.
- It's comforting. Meat, potatoes, carrots, and gravy/broth, what's not to love? This dish is full of flavor and warmth and is truly heartwarming. Perfect for cold nights and homestyle cooking.
- Simple ingredients. This recipe uses very simple pantry staple seasonings, cornstarch, broth, veggies, and meat. You may have some of the ingredients on hand already, and if not, the ones you're missing should be easy to locate in your local grocery store.
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🥘 Ingredients
Beef roast- You will need a beef eye of round roast that is about 3.5 pounds in size. Other beef roasts will work too, but Eye of Round is great for shredding and slow cooked meals.
Seasonings- For delicious flavor, you'll want a blend of Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder.
Broth- Use beef broth to help hydrate the food as it cooks and to give a great start to the gravy it will create.
Carrots- You'll want to use a pound of baby carrots, but if desired, you can use peeled and chopped larger carrots.
Potatoes- Red potatoes and yellow potatoes hold up better to the long cook times in the slow cooker as russets usually fall apart and become grainy. That said, you can use your potato of preference.
Onion- Adding in onion will give us a nicer and fuller flavor profile.
Celery- Use some chopped celery for added freshness and a little color too.
For the Gravy, you will need:
Water- You'll need a little bit of water to create a cornstarch slurry.
Cornstarch- Using cornstarch will help to thicken the cooked broth into a gravy without using any gluten.
For specific quantities, see the recipe card below.
🍽 Equipment Needed
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🔪 Instructions
Check out how to make Slow Cooker Beef Roast with these simple step-by-step instructions:
Add your Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder to a small bowl.
Stir together to combine.
Add the seasonings to your roast.
Rub the seasoning well to coat the roast evenly.
Place the roast at the bottom of your slow cooker.
Add in the chopped potatoes. They should be quartered or 1.5 inches in size (whichever is smaller).
Add in the baby carrots.
Add in chopped onion and celery.
Pour in the beef broth.
Cover and cook on low for 9 hours or on high for 6 hours.
An hour before serving, you can mix the cornstarch slurry together in a small bowl and add it to the slow cooker. The juices in the crock pot will thicken as it continues to cook.
Alternatively, you can drain all of the juices from the crockpot into a pot with your cornstarch slurry and cook on the stove on medium-high until bubbling (about 3-5 minutes).
Place your roast on a large cutting board and shred it apart with two forks.
Serve with cooked veggies and gravy.
🍴 Recipe Tips
After cooking on high for 6 hours or cooking on low heat for 9 hours, your meat should be fairly easy to shred apart. If you find that your roast is tough, that means it hasn't cooked long enough.
Roast is one of those meats that have to cook past the safe-to-eat temperature in order to become tender. So turn the heat up to high, add an extra hour if needed, and check on it again.
I often like to cook my roast on low heat for about 7 hours and then finish the last 2-3 hours on high heat.
👩🏻🍳 Storage
When storing your leftovers, you'll want to keep your roast and veggies separate from the gravy if at all possible. This will make it easier to scoop and use what you want later instead of sifting through the solidified gravy.
Store the gravy in its own airtight container and store the meat and veggies in another. They can last about 3-4 da in the fridge. Note that you will want to add some juices to the meat to keep it from drying out.
Alternatively, you can freeze them in freezer-safe containers for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.
🍳 Reheating
It's not recommended to reheat your leftovers in a slow cooker so instead, use the microwave for smaller portions. About 1.5-2 minutes for a single serving should be sufficient for most microwaves.
For larger portions, add the roast and veggies to a 9x13 baking dish and add in any juices, beef broth, or gravy to the pan to help keep everything hydrated. Cover in foil and bake at 325 degrees F for about 30 minutes or until heated through.
🥗 Side Dishes
Because this dish already includes starches and veggies, you can easily consider it a full meal on its own. That said, some great side dishes to serve with your roast can include Instant Pot Au Gratin Potatoes, Bacon Ranch Brussel Sprouts, and Easy Yeast Rolls for Beginners.
⏲️ Make Ahead Instructions
Prepare the seasoned roast the night before and chop your veggies too. You can keep them in the covered crockpot liner (assuming it's not ceramic) or in gallon-sized baggies in the fridge. In the morning, just pull everything out of the fridge and place it into the slow cooker.
💭 FAQs
The best type of roast to use is actually a top round roast. This is because it doesn't have as much fat and it's cheaper too.
Yes and no. You'll want enough liquid to create a base in the slow cooker, but you don't need enough to submerge anything as the meat and veggies will release their own juices as they cook. Adding liquid to the crock pot will help to develop flavors and prevent food from sticking to the liner.
Yes, the longer it cooks, the more the collagen breaks down and melts, making the meat more tender as a result. When collagen breaks down, it turns into gelatin (picture unsolid jello), and this coats the meat making it juicy and silky in texture. Then when cold, it solidifies, only to melt when reheated again.
More great slow cooker recipes to check out soon
- Slow Cooker Cabbage with Bacon
- 3 Ingredient Crock Pot Pork Chops
- Crockpot Chicken with Enchilada Sauce
- Chocolate Crockpot Lava Cake
📖 Recipe
Slow Cooker Beef Roast
Ingredients
- 3.5 pounds Beef eye of round roast ($13.77)
- 1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning ($0.30)
- 2 teaspoons Salt ($0.20)
- 1 teaspoon Black pepper ($0.10)
- 2 teaspoons Garlic powder ($0.20)
- 1 teaspoon Onion powder ($0.10)
- 2 pounds Red potatoes (yellow and russet okay too!) ($2.88)
- 1 large Onion, chopped ($0.70)
- 1 pound Baby carrots ($1.24)
- 2 stalks Celery, chopped ($0.24)
- 2 cups Beef broth ($0.67)
Cornstarch Slurry (for gravy)
- ¼ cup Cold water ($0.00)
- ¼ cup Cornstarch ($0.08)
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine your seasonings.
- Rub the seasoning mixture over the roast to fully coat.
- Place the roast at the bottom of your slow cooker.
- Add in chopped potatoes, chopped onions, baby carrots and chopped celery stalks.
- Pour in the beef broth.
- Cover and cook on low for 9 hours or on high for 6 hours.
- An hour before serving you can mix the cornstarch slurry together in a small bowl and add it to the slow cooker. The juices in the crock pot will thicken as it continues to cook.
- Alternatively you can drain all of the juices from the crockpot into a pot with your cornstarch slurry and cook on the stove on medium-high until bubbling (about 3-5 minutes).
- Place your roast on a large cutting board and shred apart with two forks. Serve with cooked veggies and gravy.
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