Whole30 and Paleo Pot Roast with Gravy, cooked in the oven low and slow in a dutch oven with carrots and onions. The most flavorful, tender, fall apart meat you don’t even need a knife to cut! Paleo, gluten free, dairy free, Whole30, low carb.
This is my absolute favorite part of winter.
Juicy, tender pot roast cooked low and slow all day long in my oven on a Sunday, while we have a cozy family day and smell the delicious dinner cooking away.
It is such an easy dinner to throw together, and one of the most flavorful and mouthwatering dinners I make.
My birthday is in February, and I would often request my moms famous pot roast as my birthday dinner. Served with her buttery mashed potatoes and thick gravy.
I’ve tweaked the recipe just a tad, and now it is completely diet friendly! Paleo, Whole30, gluten free, dairy free and low carb. But just as delicious as ever. All you taste is succulent beef cooked in carrots, onions, beef broth and fresh herbs low and slow for 5 hours.
There are a few tips I have found that really make a huge difference in the perfect paleo pot roast.
First, you want to pick out a chuck roast that is well marbled with fat. You don’t want just one, huge fat line down the center and the rest is just straight meat. Try and find one that has a lot of spidered off fat lines throughout the meat. This meat will turn out more juicy and flavorful after cooking.
I like to brown my pot roast really well so it gets a nice golden brown crust. Then when I add in the beef stock braising liquid, I stop pouring it in to leave the top 1/2″ of the pot roast out. This way, the top of the pot roast keeps it’s crust and doesn’t get completely “mushy”. The resulting pot roast is almost completely tender, with the top of it still crusty and seared off. The best texture combination.
I’ve tried making this pot roast in a slow cooker, but I don’t like it as much. It tastes much better cooked in the oven in my dutch oven. I think the dutch oven holds the heat much better, and the meat comes out more structured. When I make it in the slow cooker I find it is just a tad more “mushy”, as if it has been steamed more than braised. It’s still good in the slow cooker, but I really prefer it in the dutch oven. Plus, I use my dutch oven to sear it off anyway, so I might as well cook the whole thing in it!
A lot of pot roast recipes call for you to cook it for 4 hours, but I like cooking mine for 5 hours. I find that extra hour makes the pot roast even more tender, but not so tender it is falling apart. When I’ve cooked it for 4 hours, it still has a little more chew to it than I would like. But after 5 hours, the meat is so wonderfully tender I don’t even need a knife to cut it. It just melts in my mouth.
If your oven tends to run really hot, keep an eye on it starting at hour 4. If too much of the braising liquid has cooked away, add in another cup. By the time I have taken mine out at 5 hours, I usually am left with just about an inch or two of braising liquid, just 1.5 cups.
To add more depth of flavor to the beef and the resulting braising liquid, I add in 1 tablespoon of tomato paste. It makes all the difference! Between the garlic, tomato paste, fresh herbs, carrots and onions – the beef and the gravy made from its braising liquid is mouth watering.
And yes, you absolutely must make the gravy! I’m sure you recognized this pot roast from the Whole30 and Paleo Gravy post I just shared. After finally perfecting that gravy, I knew I could fully enjoy pot roast while eating Whole30 / Paleo. Because what good is pot roast without the gravy?
I serve the pot roast with the carrots and onions that cooked with it (the onions are my FAVORITE PART!), along with my paleo and Whole30 friendly dairy free mashed potatoes, all topped with the paleo gravy. It is the perfect healthy comfort meal for winter.
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Paleo Pot Roast with Gravy
Prep Time: 30 mins- Cook Time: 4 hours
- Total Time: 4 hours 30 mins
Yield: 4-6 people 1x
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Pin RecipeIngredients
Paleo Pot Roast
- 1 boneless 4 pound chuck roast, well marbled with fat (I get my beef from ButcherBox, which I highly recommend)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 whole onions, skins removed, cut in quarters
- 8 medium carrots, scrubbed, cut in 2″ slices
- 4 whole cloves of garlic
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 4 or 5 cups beef broth, plus more may be needed for gravy
- 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
- 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
Paleo Gravy
- 2 tablespoons ghee (or high quality grass fed butter if diet allows)
- 2 tablespoons tapioca flour (also called tapioca starch)
- 2 cups of the pot roast braising liquid, fat removed (add more beef broth to make it to cups if necessary)
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Paleo Pot Roast
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees with the oven rack in the bottom third. Heat a dutch oven over medium high heat.
- Pat the pot roast dry with a paper towel, then season all sides with salt. (I don’t season the meat with pepper because I find that browning it at this high heat gives the pepper a bitter taste.)
- Add the olive oil to the dutch oven, then brown the meat on all sides until it is golden brown, about 4 minutes per side.
- Remove the meat from the dutch oven and transfer to a plate. Add in half the carrots, the garlic, the tomato paste, pepper, and 1 cup of the beef broth. Scrape up all the brown bits from the bottom of the dutch oven. Add the meat back on top of the carrots, nestle the onion, remaining carrots, rosemary, thyme and bay leaf around the pot roast. Pour in enough beef broth to come up 1/2″ from the way up to the meat, 4 or 5 cups.
- Cover the dutch oven with its lid, and cook in the oven for 5 hours.
- Remove from the oven. With a large spatula, lift the pot roast out from the dutch oven and transfer to a cutting board to rest. Careful! It’s super tender and falls apart easily! With a slotted spoon, transfer the carrots and onions to a serving platter and tent with foil to keep warm.
- Strain the pot roast braising liquid in to a fat separator, discard any solids and the herbs. After the fat settles, separate the beef braising liquid from the fat. If there are not 2 cups, add more beef broth to make it 2 cups. (I’m usually left with about 1.5 cups)
Paleo Gravy
- Heat a medium size sauce pan over medium heat.
- Melt the ghee. Add in the tapioca flour and whisk vigorously until combined and there are no lumps. Cook for 30 seconds.
- While whisking constantly, slowly pour in the beef braising liquid. Cook for 1-2 minutes until thickened, whisking every few seconds.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serving
- Shred the pot roast with 2 forks in to large chunks.
- Serve the pot roast warm with the carrots and onions, topped with the gravy. Best served with my Paleo Dairy Free Mashed Potatoes.
- Leftovers will keep refrigerated in an airtight container for 5 days.
More Paleo Beef Dinners
Skirt Steak with Chimichurri Sauce
New York Steak with Cilantro Onion Dredge
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YESSS to pot roast! It is the ultimate comfort food for me! It reminds me of my Grandma, she made the best pot roasts! And I agree with you, I love making dishes like this on lazy Sundays, nothing better than that, especially in the winter! Your pot roast is making my mouth water…pinning this beauty!
This recipe is fantastic! Thank you for sharing it!
★★★★
Thank you Erika! So glad you liked it!
THIS POT ROAST WAS PERFECT! I love how mnay other WHole30 recipes you have.
★★★★★
This was the best pot roast I have ever made! So easy but came out so good I usually use the pressure cooker or crock pot but the Dutch oven for the win!! Never going back thank you for this wonderful recipe can’t wait to try more!!!
★★★★★
I am so happy to hear that Kayla! Thank you so so so much! It’s one of my absolute favorite dinners. Thanks for taking the time to let me know you liked my recipe, you made my day!