Friday, February 5, 2016

Tina’s No Fail Pot Roast

Missy The Belle here. If you've dropped by after visiting the Seekerville post yesterday, we're so glad to have you! Today we have a special guest blogger. Take it away, Tina...

No Fail Pot Roast with Tina Radcliffe




I learned to make a GOOD pot roast AFTER the nest emptied. This version makes enough for four adults, or two meals for empty nesters.

Large Crock Pot

2 pounds Chuck Roast (butchers recommend Chuck but this cooks slow and long so even a lesser cut will be tasty.)


Lipton Beefy Onion Instant Soup Mix (one packet only!)

All veggies are optional. We go heavy on the carrots and light on the potatoes.

6-8 carrots peeled and sliced (Don’t use baby carrots. Real ones are tastier for this recipe.)

2-3 large potatoes peeled and cut into chunky cubes

1 large yellow onion cut into four chunks

Two or three cloves of garlic

1-2 cans cut green beans drained

Sliced fresh mushrooms  (no canned!)

Garlic powder (check yours-how old is it?)

Salt & Pepper

Mix one envelope of soup mix in two cups of warm water. Add to crock pot. Add meat. Make a few slices on the meat where it naturally pulls apart and slip in half of a garlic clove. Around the outside of the meat place your onion and potatoes. Put carrot sticks in the center. Salt and paper and add garlic powder.

Put lid on roast. You want it to cook for ten hours. So adjust according to your crock pot. Mine lets me set it to ten hours. Do not open the lid to check on it.

Three hours before done add green beans and mushrooms and season lightly. Take a ladle and scoop up some juice to pour on your beens and carrots.

I promise this will be tender, fall apart deliciousness. I like mine in the bowl with lots of au jus. Hubby likes his in a dish, dry with ewww…ketchup.



Picture of crock pot is after two servings. Still a lot of food left.

What’s your success rate with pot roast?? Am I the only epic fail until 2016, around here?




Tina Radcliffe writes humorous inspirational romance for Love Inspired. You can find her at www.tinaradcliffe.com. Her latest release is Rocky Mountain Reunion!

40 comments:

  1. My husband loves ketchup and that's what he'd use here. You know how fast food places have little white paper cups for ketchup? My husband and son grab a lid for the largest drink and pile ketchup on the lid. And sometimes they go back for seconds. I had to give up being embarrassed because I was outnumbered.

    Thanks for sharing this recipe.

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    1. LOL. Oh, my gosh. I am so sorry. Welcome to my world.

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  2. Tina! Hi! Looks yummy! I'm going to have to try this! Always love an easy crackpot meal! Thanks!

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    1. Easy peasy and good for two meals. I love that part.

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  3. Never made a pot roast but that's because I'm vegetarian. I do use my crock pot a lot for stews and soups though. Love tossing ingredients in and walking away while the crock pot does its magic.

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    1. My son is a vegetarian out of respect for his miniature pig Missy. Yes really. Missy. He uses some protein stuff in his recipes. And he's six feet tall and doesn't look like he's missing any calories or nutrients.

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    2. LOL!!!! Oh my goodness. Should I be honored?? ;)

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    3. Missy, snort! I didn't know they had miniature pigs -- another animal to add to my dream miniature farm.

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  4. TINA! So good to see you again.

    I love pot roast. One of the ultimate comfort foods. Yet, until recent years, I never could get it quite right. Sometimes it would be dry, others tough. Once I finally got it through my brain that low and slow were the way to go, I never had a problem. I rarely do it in the crock pot, though. Probably because I never had good results. Now I stick to my trusty enameled cast iron Dutch oven and a 275 oven.

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  5. Well Missy, that's what made me perfect this recipe. I remember the pastor's wife tossing in the roast early am in her Dutch oven at a low temp and then serving lunch at 1 pm after three serves.. DEEELISH. So I thought I'd try it in a crockpot. Perfection!

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    1. Mindy! Not Missy. Got my son's pig Missy on the brain still and I stayed up until one am so slept in and have not have coffee yet. I HAVE A DEFENSE!!!

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    2. Mindy, I've had one dried out before. I think I cooked it too long. I don't have a Dutch oven so still use a slow cooker. But I don't cook them overnight anymore.

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    3. Nothing worse than feeling like you wasted a perfectly good cut of meat, right Missy?

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  6. Hi Tina! Crockpots are the only way to go for pot roast, my recipe is fairly similar to yours, although I've never put mushrooms or green beans in it, just the potatoes, onions and carrots. Never used the soup mix with the water either, I've always made it the way my mom did using a can of beef broth with, wait for it.... about a third a cup of ketchup mixed in it. It tastes completely different than when used as a condiment when simmered all day. I'm sorry, it's a generational thing, LOL. I love the way the smell fills the house all day and not having to worry about what's for dinner. I'm going to try your variation, I think I can smell it all ready, yum.

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    1. I like the idea of beef broth and ketchup, Tracey. Love all the different ideas!

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    2. It really doesn't taste like ketchup after it "marries" with all the other ingredients all day, just gives an added layer of flavor.

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    3. Okay, beef broth is similar to the soup mix. Ketchup, cannot do. Yes. The house smells amazing and I don't have to do a thing!

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    4. Okay, no ketchup for Tina, could you go with a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste? Tomatoes make everything taste good, if not I surrender, haha, must be a southern thing, everyone I know makes pot roast with some form of tomato sauce product :)

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  7. Btw: after talking about your Parmesan Crusted Chicken yesterday, I made it last night for dinner, just as good as ever. It's what's for lunch today too. We empty nesters are blessed to be able to get two meals out of one recipe.

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    1. I'm glad, Tracey! I love leftovers. And definitely easy to have them with only 2 at home now. We sometimes get sick of things before they're gone. :)

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    2. Hey Missy, we get tired of leftover stuff before it's gone too. I'm trying to adjust my cooking so leftovers don't go on and on, but most recipes are for at least four and casseroles can last all week unless yo invite people over :)

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  8. Tina, I can't wait to make this! I love all the additions you use. I tend to plop a roast in by itself and then maybe add potatoes and carrots later. This sounds yummy!

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    1. All the ingredients together, with the garlic cloves is what makes it amazing.

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  9. Tina this sounds delicious. I'm a long time crock pot roast woman HOWEVER My Husband doesn't like the taste of the potatoes and carrots cooked for hours and hours with the roast. (I LOVE THEM!). So we don't do it much anymore, or I cook the carrots and potatoes in a separate pan. :)

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    1. Mary, I add the potatoes and carrots for the last 30-45 minutes (if they're cut small enough to cook that quickly).

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    2. Mary, the key is a crockpot that has a ten hour setting. GET ONE. The potatoes and carrots turn out perfect. With a regular crockpot it cooks on high for ten hours. With a ten hour setting it cooks on low for ten hours.

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  10. I keep trying to comment, but for some reason my post never shows up. Maybe the fourth time is a charm...

    Tina, this recipe looks yummy. I love a slow-cooked crockpot roast, especially in the winter. I've never had a roast that had green beans in it. I'll definitely have to try this recipe.

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    1. This is odd, all you Southern Girls who haven't had green beans in your roast? Hmmmm.

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    2. Tina, I grew up in Michigan and I've never heard of green beans in roast. Maybe on the side, but not cooked with.

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    3. I've never had green beans in a roast either. But I have considered it before! Now I'll definitely do it. :)

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  11. Put me on the side with no green beans in the pot roast! And I'm from Michigan, too. Maybe it's a western New York thing?

    We love pot roast around here. But I've never failed at it - my husband LOVES his meat dry and tough. (A new cook's dream!). I just make sure there's plenty of rich broth to pour on mine. :)

    My biggest problem right now is convincing the butcher to give me large enough roasts. I usually need to fix two (they're small enough to fit side by side in my crock pot), but with more people being added to our family, I might have to start fitting three roasts into the pot.

    More people? I can hear you asking. :) Yes, two sons have girl friends and our daughter has a swoon-worthy fiance. So sometimes we have nine for Sunday dinner. Love it!

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    1. Jan, you've waited so long for this. Before you know it, you'll not only need a bigger crock pot, but a bigger table to accommodate all those high chairs. ;)

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    2. Too many for dinner. Now there is a problem. Maybe green beans is an Italian thing.

      We also had peas to goulash. I guess we are trying to get all our food groups on one pot.

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  12. Okay, if anybody can fail this No Fail Pot Roast, it's me ... I? I've had so many fails. So very, very many. But Tina would not lie. So I will cook this. Well ... I will let the CrockPot cook this. I can close my eyes and imagine the aroma. Ahhh.

    Have I mentioned how much I like these quick and easy recipes? :-)

    Nancy C

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  13. Julie Lessman said the same thing, Nancy C. She told me she's made it TWICE successfully since I shared the recipe with her.

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    1. Excellent! By the way, I never thought about adding garlic. But don't tell the Sicilian side of the family that.

      Nancy C

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  14. I'm laughing about the garlic powder. My daughter went through my spices the other day, and one of the few that hadn't expired was my garlic powder.

    I rarely make pot roast, but I have used that Beefy Onion Soup with beef stew.

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  15. That's why I mention it, Cate. I recently started checking and replacing all my spices a little at a time. Fresh jar of basil. AMAZING!!!! Garlic Powder fresh. POTENT!!

    I typically like to make this on a Saturday so I really do not cook all weekend.

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  16. I haven't made a pot roast in years because it always seems too much for just the two of us. But this winter we have our son's family living with us (during renovations in their house), and an easy pot roast dinner one night would be heavenly. I'll be trying your recipe next week, for sure!

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