Paleo Pot Roast with Gravy

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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More Paleo Beef Dinners

Moroccan Braised Short Ribs

Skirt Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

New York Steak with Cilantro Onion Dredge