How Long to Cook a Slow Roast Joint of Beef

Beef For Pot Roast Slow Cooker will teach you different ways of cooking beef, lamb and pork in your slow cooker.The name pretty much says it all! This particular beef for pot roast slow cooker is definitely a crowd pleaser! It makes for a hearty meal that the whole family will love.

Slow-cooker beef pot roast

• Preparation and cooking time
  • Prep:15 mins
  • Cook:7 hrs and 30 mins
• Easy
• Serves 6 – 8

Get this beef brisket in the slow cooker first thing in the morning, so that come evening-time your Sunday dinner is an absolute breeze. Perfect for busy family weekends

• Easily halved

Nutrient	Unit
kcal	470
fat	25g
saturates	9g
carbs	12g
sugars	5g
fibre	4g
protein	36g
salt	0.42g

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• 1½ kg rolled beef brisket
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 3 sticks of celery, chopped
• 2 parsnips, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 80g button mushrooms
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tsp English mustard
• 500ml red wine
• 250ml beef stock

Method

• STEP 1Heat 2 tbsp sunflower oil in a large pan. Dust 1½ kg rolled beef brisket with 2 tbsp plain flour and season well with salt and pepper.
• STEP 2Put 3 chopped carrots, 3 chopped celery sticks, 2 chopped parsnips, 1 chopped onion and 80g button mushrooms in the bottom of your slow cooker and turn it to Low.
• STEP 3Sear the beef all over in the hot pan then place it on top of the vegetables in the slow cooker.
• STEP 4Add the 2 bay leaves, 2 crushed garlic cloves and 2 tsp English mustard then pour over 500ml red wine and 250ml beef stock. Cover with the lid and cook for 7 hours.
• STEP 5Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Carefully take the beef out of the slow cooker and place it on a baking tray then roast it in the oven for 20 mins.
• STEP 6While the beef is in the oven, carefully ladle the cooking liquid out of the slow cooker into a shallow pan. Boil rapidly on a high heat to reduce to a rich gravy.
• STEP 7Serve the beef sliced with roast potatoes, the softened vegetables, gravy and wilted greens, if you like.

SLOW COOKER ROAST BEEF

There are two dishes that us Brits do better than anyone else on the planet – fish and chips, and a roast dinner. Anyone that tries to argue otherwise – well, they're wrong. This Slow Cooker Roast Beef can't be beaten for convenience or taste!

If you do some research you'll find many "one pot roast" recipes for the slow cooker that involve throwing everything (potatoes included) into the crockpot and leaving it to cook. Boiled potatoes in gravy? No thanks. It should be illegal to eat a roast without proper oven-baked roast potatoes! Also, they usually use a brisket cut of beef – which works better for pulled beef style recipes (like our Slow Cooker Spicy Beef Tacos), and doesn't slice too well.

Bec and I have spent a long time refining this recipe. We've tried different cuts of beef, different gravy, different ways of serving the veg with it. When we had that "OH MY GOD THIS IS AMAZING" moment, we knew we'd nailed it!

Slow Cooker Roast Beef

WHAT CUT OF MEAT SHOULD I USE FOR SLOW COOKER ROAST BEEF?

After much experimentation, we can confirm thatthe best cut to use for a Slow Cooker Sunday Roast Beef – is topside of beef. Topside is a lean cut that comes from the top of the cow's rear-end. It works so well slow cooked as the long cooking times break down the meat, and it literally melts in your mouth as you eat it.

Topside also cuts really nicely. Rather than falling apart once cooked (brisket – I'm looking at you) it's possible to cut beautiful slices (as you can see from our pictures!) – but it's still really tender and flavoursome.

In terms of price you'll find topside is at the cheaper end of the roasting joints that you can find in supermarkets, so it makes for an excellent thrifty Sunday roast. Brilliant if you have a lot of mouths to feed!

Note for our US and Canadian friends: Over on your side of the pond cows are butchered and named slightly differently. Look for a "top round".

TOP TIPS FOR SLOW COOKER ROAST BEEF

• Searing the meat well before you start cooking is probably the single most important thing you can do to ensure an amazing flavour. You're not sealing the meat to "lock in moisture" as many believe! By searing the outside of the meat on a high heat you're initiating the "Mailliard Reaction", which adds to the beautiful meaty flavour.
• Whilst we add vegetables to the crockpot to add flavour to the gravy and meat, no roast beef is complete without a good selection of vegetables freshly cooked and served with the beef. Nobody wants carrots that taste exactly the same as everything else!
• No Roast Beef is complete without Yorkshire Puddings. If another Brit tells you otherwise, they're a – wrong, or b – lying about being British 😉

WHAT'S THE BEST GRAVY FOR ROAST BEEF?

The most flavoursome gravy is made with the meat juices produced whilst cooking the meat. This recipe cooks the beef in red wine and beef stock, which is then reduced, seasoned and tweaked at the end – so literally nothing goes to waste. I can't explain to you how good the red wine gravy in this recipe is!

It's important that the gravy is the right thickness, too watery and it won't have much taste, and too thick it won't pour – so ensure you reduce it adequately after the meat is cooked. If you go too far either way you can either add some boiling water, or reduce further till you reach a consistency you're happy with.

It's really not necessary to use an expensive bottle of wine – don't be fooled into thinking that using a more expensive bottle will make the gravy taste better. Any bottle of red you have in the cupboard will be absolutely fine.

WHAT VEGETABLES SHOULD I SERVE WITH ROAST BEEF?

You can serve whatever vegetables you like with roast beef – the list is pretty much endless. When we ate the beef you can see in the pictures (yes, we do eat everything we make!), we served it with roast potatoes, winter greens, and carrot and swede mash.

You could also serve roast beef with:

• Carrots
• Broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• Cauliflower (or cauliflower cheese!)

Vegetables aside, don't forget your Yorkshire Puddings!

TOPSIDE BEEF IN RED WINE COOKING TIMES

The cooking times stated in the recipe card are for a 1kg rolled topside joint, cooked from room temperature. Whilst this is a good starting point, the best way to determine if your beef is cooked to your liking is by checking the internal temperature of the meat using a meat thermometer.

The following temperatures are a good guide. Don't worry if you go slightly over, and bear in mind the temperature of the beef will continue to rise as it rests.

Rare:50C
Medium: 60C
Well done: 70C

Slow Cooker Pot Roast

Slow Cooker Pot Roast with potatoes and mushrooms is comfort food at its finest. Let it cook all day in the slow cooker or Crockpot. Dinner is ready when you are!

Knowing dinner is basically done before I even go to work makes me feel like a superhero. No matter what the day brings, I know we'll walk into a house smelling of roast long simmered in herbs, wine, and garlic. Now, that's not a bad way to end a workday.

Slow Cooker Pot Roast

What's the Best Cut of Meat for Pot Roast?

Leaner cuts of beef are best for the slow cooker or Crockpot. The long, slow cooking method helps the connective tissue and fat breakdown slowly over many hours, which yields fork-tender bites of beef.

TIP: If you've ever made a tough roast it's usually because it was either cooked at too high heat, for not enough time, or both.Cooking tough cuts all day in the slow cooker takes care of both problems.

I prefer one of two cuts for the slow cooker:

• Chuck roast, also called arm roast, is lean and comes from the shoulder of the cow.
• Rump roast, also called a bottom round roast, is even leaner than a chuck roast and is cut from the cow's hindquarter.

Can I Put a Frozen Roast Into a Slow Cooker?

It's best not to. The USDA recommends always thawing meat before adding it to the slow cooker or Crockpot. It also says the best way to thaw meat is in the refrigerator, in cold water, or in the microwave.

• Thaw in the fridge: You will need 24 hours to thaw a 3lb roast in the refrigerator.
• Thaw in water:2 to 3 hours, while changing the water every 30 minutes to thaw a 3-pound roast using the water method.
• Thaw in the microwave:All microwaves have different wattages and power levels. How long it takes to thaw a roast in the microwave depends on your microwave. However, the USDA recommends cooking the roast immediately upon thawing it using this method.

Do You Have to Sear It?

No, no you don't. You can totally skip the searing step and dump everything into the slow cooker or Crockpot, then be on your way and save yourself 10 minutes in the morning. But if you have the extra time, searing adds an extra layer of flavor.

What Can Be Done Ahead of Time?

I often prep elements for the next day's dinner before I clean up tonight's dinner. I figure the kitchen is already messy, so I might as well cut a few more vegetables and measure a few more spices.

If you know you aren't a morning person, then, by all means, prepare 90 percent of this slow cooker pot roast the night before: make the spice rub, and peel and cut the vegetables. You can even sear the roast, and deglaze the skillet. Just make sure you save the deglazing liquid. Keep it all in the fridge overnight. In the morning all you have to do is put it in the slow cooker.

How Long to Cook Pot Roast in the Slow Cooker?

If you are making this roast on the weekend, when you're likely to be around, feel free to cook it on high for about four to five hours. If you need it to cook all day while you're at work, set your slow cooker or Crockpot to low, and let it braise until you get home – about eight to 10 hours.

How to Make Pot Roast Gravy

I LOOOVVVVVEEEEEEE gravy. I mean I LOVE it! I think it needs to be on everything all the time.

When I first wrote this recipe, I wanted the gravy to be thick, and made perfectly in the slow cooker without any extra work, but as lovely as that idea was, my gravy didn't get as thick as I wanted it to.

In the end, I decided transferring some already-hot slow cooker liquid into a saucepan on the stove, bringing it to a boil, and adding cornstarch to make a proper gravy wasn't too much to ask.

I wouldn't skip this step. It takes less than five minutes, and thick flavorful gravy makes this dinner even more delicious!

What to Do With Leftovers?

Pot roast leftovers are almost (almost) unheard of in this house. BUT, when I do have leftovers, I love sautéing some onions and celery in a pot, giving the leftovers a rough chop so they are spoonful-size pieces, adding it to the pot (including any cooking liquid and gravy), then thinning it if necessary. Voila! You have beef stew.

If you've eaten all the vegetables and you only have some roast remaining, you can also cook extra potatoes and onions in buttermilk, puree them, so they are the consistency of soup, shred leftover pot roast and add it the pureed potato soup. Top with freshly cut chives.

Finally, there's nothing wrong with a grilled roast beef sandwich. Add some marinated peppers and bit of cheese. Butter that bread and slap it on a griddle. You just won lunch.

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Source: https://thesuperhealthyfood.com/beef-for-pot-roast-slow-cooker/

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