Beef pot roast – classic comfort food – offers that lovely warmth one needs most during the darkest days of winter. A good beef pot roast satisfies and nourishes on an almost primal level. The savory, fork-tender beef falls apart with gentle ease while winter root vegetables (carrots, parsnips and turnips) swim in a combination of cabernet sauvignon and homemade beef stock seasoned with bay, thyme and black peppercorns.
For this beef pot roast, take great care to use grass-fed beef as it is richer in nutrients than the grain-fed, CAFO-raised alternative. Grass-fed beef is rich in conjugated linoleic acid, a natural trans-fatty acid which seems to play a strong role in health; indeed, research indicates that natural conjugated linoleic acid offers strong anti-carcinogenic properties.1, 2, 3 Grass-fed beef is not only better for you; it is also better for the environment than the meat of conventionally raised animals as grass-based ranching operations see improved soil and native flora with holistic livestock management. In this way, one might say enjoying a delicious beef pot roast might very well be as good for the environment as it is for your health.
Beef Pot Roast with Winter Root Vegetables
Beef and root vegetables are slow-roasted in red wine and seasoned with fragrant thyme for a tender and richly flavored winter supper. This recipe is featured in January’s recipe cards by Nourished Kitchen.
Beef Pot Roast: Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon grass-fed butter (see sources)
- 2 ½ to 3 lb grass-fed beef rump roast (see sources)
- 5 medium carrots, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces
- 3 medium parsnips, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces
- 2 medium turnips, peeled and chopped into bit-sized pieces
- 2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns
- 2 bay leafs
- 1 bunch thyme
- 1 ½ cups red wine, preferably cabernet sauvignon
- 1 cup beef stock, preferably homemade (see this homemade beef stock recipe)
- 1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped fine
Beef Pot Roast: Method
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a heavy-bottomed, oven-proof Dutch oven or clay baker, heat butter until melted. Gently brown the roast on all sides in the butter and set aside.
- Add chopped carrots, parsnips and turnips to the Dutch oven or clay baker.
- Season the beef and vegetables with bay leafs, thyme and whole black peppercorns.
- Pour red wine and beef stock over the vegetables and meat, place in the oven and bake, covered, for three to four hours.
- Remove from oven and garnish with chopped fresh parsley.
YIELD: 4 to 6 servings
TIME: 5 minutes (preparation), 3 to 4 hours (cook time)
NOTE: If you do not have a Dutch oven or clay baker to prepare this dish, you may also cook this wintertime beef pot roast in a slow cooker by combining all ingredients and cooking on low for 8 to 10 hours.
1. Inhibition of carcinogenesis by conjugated linoleic acid: potential mechanisms of action. Belury. Journal of Nutrition. October 2002. 2. Conjugated linoleic acid: a powerful anticarcinogen from animal fat sources. Ip et al. Cancer. August 1994. 3. Anitmutagenic and some other effects of conjugated linoleic acid. Kritchevsky. British Journal of Nutrition. May 2000.
Thank you for this recipe. I was looking all over for one just like this. It looks delicious.
I just bought a grass-fed chuck roast…do you think it will work in this recipe? It’s my first time cooking grass-fed roast and I’m a little nervous about how it comes out, especially since it was pricey…$20.
Mmm… this looks delicious. We try to alternate between a pot roast and a roasted chicken every week – I’ll try this recipe next week. I’ve never used thyme with mine before, and we just picked up some turnips/beets at the Farmers Market – perfect timing!
Hey Jen,
I am going to give it a go.
I think I”ll try to slow cooker option, since I am
trying to make my evenings easier on myself
and I love the smell of home cooked food All Day!
Wish me luck, pot roasts are not my specialty.
~Annie C
Hi Annie -
I think you’ll really like it. I made this one from a Parker Pastures roast and it was so good. Definitely try it in the slow cooker. If you’re not a fan of turnips, I might omit them in the slow cooker as they can be very overpowering.
Take Care
- Jenny
Melissa -
The chuck roast would work very, very well in the recipe; however, I’d encourage you to cook it in a slow cooker instead of a clay baker or dutch oven. It’ll be much more tenderizing for that ct of meat. If you’re not a huge turnip fan, you might omit them from the slow cooker as they might overpower the flavor of the other vegetables since the cooking time is so long.
Hope that helps =
Jenny
Thx, Jenny. I’ll let you know how it turns out. Oh, should I brown the meat before putting into the crock pot?
Made this with a buffalo rump roast at 7200 feet above sea level. Wasnt sure if you should cook it to temperature or just cook it as long as you can to get it more tender….after 3 hours the inner temp was over 170 so I turned the oven off and left it in there another hour. Worked out well. I used potatoes, carrots, beets and a one turnip (that’s all I had
. It seems to be a very forgiving recipe if I could make it so well with most ingredients improvised 
.
Also, the roast was 7lbs so we split it into two and used a Le Creuset heavy iron pot for one and a Pampered Chef stone covered dish for the other. Both worked out to be equally yummy and cooked to the same temp at about the same time (I preheated the stone one in the oven first).
Thanks for the recipes – love checking them out.
This was fabulous! I used chuck roast, carrots, celery, and mushrooms. Didn’t have fresh thyme, but used a bit of dried. So tasty!
Seems to be delicious.
Thanks Jenny, i’ll give it a try
Made this the other night……SO delicious, SO tender….it was awesome, thanks for sharing.
Yummy! Just made a roast from local Chaffin Family Orchards and did the slow cooker method and it was delicious! Even for my husband who is not a fan of roasts!!!
Thank you for sharing your wonderful nourishing recipes!