Want a cozy, lazy, delicious recipe to switch up your usual pot roast dinner? Sometimes the simplest little change can give a classic recipe a whole new flavor. There’s a simple key ingredient that’s going to do all the work for you in this Easy French Onion Pot Roast Recipe using a slow cooker. Let’s jump in!
Why I Love This Easy French Onion Pot Roast Recipe
Here are some reasons I love this recipe:
- Cozy: Whilst you can certainly make this recipe year-round, I find it exceptionally delicious on those cold rainy / snowy days where you want something warm and cozy. This is comfort food for sure!
- Feeds a Crowd or Meal Prep: This easily feeds a crowd, whether that’s for your family or friends or even a potluck you’re attending. Or if you’re single, it’s great for meal prep and leftovers.
- Host Perk: As a host, this is great because you do all the work up front and can have the kitchen clean before guests even arrive. This gives you time to mingle and hang out with your guests instead of being tied to the kitchen.
- Lazy Work-Night Dinner: If you’re a workaholic like me, this recipe is great because you can prep this in the morning and focus. on your work during the day. It’s so lovely to have dinner ready after a long work day.
- Simple: Since this only needs 6 ingredients, this makes grocery shopping and prep easy – perfect for my busy days.
If you’re sold, let’s get into how easy this is to make!
Prep Tips: Slow Cooker Style
As someone who is short on time, I’ve tried shortcutting pot roast recipes many times. So feel free to learn from my mistakes. Here are some tips to help you get the most tender, fall apart pot roast with ease:
- I love starting my slow cooker in the morning before work / after breakfast for max tenderness. I’ve tried starting it closer to lunch and cooking it on high to make up for time, but the end result isn’t typically as tender as I like.
- It’s common knowledge that you can reduce the cooking time, which is typically on low heat, by cooking on high. 1 hour on high is said to equal 2 hours on low. However, I’ve found this doesn’t always work the best with pot roast. I’ve been able to do maybe an hour on high, but I get the best results when most of the time is on low.
- Also, the size of your chuck roast matters too. It can take a bit more time to cook a larger piece. For this recipe, I recommend a chuck roast around 2-3 lbs give or take. So 8-10 hours on low is good for this size. If yo use a larger roast, you may need more time.
Feel free to share your tips in the comments below too!
Easy French Onion Pot Roast Recipe Ingredients
You only need 6 simple ingredients for this Easy French Onion Pot Roast Recipe for the Slow Cooker.
- Chuck Roast: No pot roast would be possible without your actual roast. Chuck roast is quite fatty, which helps get the meat super tender.
- French onion dip / soup mix: This single ingredient does a lot of heavy lifting to keep this recipe “easy”. All of your seasoning is in one simple packet. See more about this below.
- Beef broth: Of course you need some liquid to help the slow cooker do its thing. I like using beef broth to help keep the recipe flavorful.
- Onions: You can’t have this Easy French Onion Pot Roast Recipe without onions. I mean I guess you could, but why skip them? If you don’t like onions, you may like my Chianti Pot Roast Recipe better.
- Carrots: I added carrots to add extra vegetables to this recipe to make it healthier. I almost always eat vegetables with every meal for nutrition and balance. Adding carrots helps add flavor while also helping you avoid having to cook an additional side to get your veggie serving in. I used baby carrots so it was less prep work since these are ready to use straight from the bag.
- Potatoes: I also added potatoes to add another vegetable that can also serve as a starch / grain replacement if you don’t want to serve this pot roast with rice, pasta, etc. Potatoes also help balance the meal by adding carbs for energy and fiber for satiety (especially if you keep the skin on).
Note: See substitution ideas below. And I don’t count salt and pepper as ingredients. The rice in the picture is an optional base.
And I did go a little rogue by adding some additional vegetables to make this a touch healthier and more of a complete meal without needing to cook an additional side. Obviously french onion soup typically only has onions in it. But I love customizing recipes to fit my needs and preferences. And I hope you adjust this recipe to suit yours!
The “Secret” Ingredient to Keep This “Easy”
There are many ways to get an authentic french onion soup flavor with pot roast. This recipe does not feature those methods. On this recipe, I promised “easy”, and I’m going to deliver on that. Let me know if you’d like me to develop a more complex one as well.
To keep this recipe easy, the key is using a “secret” ingredient: a French Onion Dip / Soup packet.
This helps you avoid having to caramelize onions, which can take 30-45 minutes. And you also don’t have to pull together multiple spices and seasonings.
One packet = plenty of french onion flavor when you want to keep things easy.
And actually, my onions tasted very French-onion-soup-like after all that slow cooking. Yum!
Note: Check the ingredient list below for substitution idea for this.
French Onion Pot Roast Recipe Ingredient Substitutions
Here are some substitution ideas for this Easy French Onion Pot Roast Recipe:
- Chuck Roast -> Eye of Round: My family sometimes prefers to use Eye of Round instead of Chuck Roast in pot roast recipes. It is a much more lean cut, which helps reduce fat, is a little easier to serve (no navigating large amounts of excess fat), but tends to be less tender.
- French Onion Soup Mix -> Can of French Onion Soup: We grew up making this same recipe using a can of French onion soup. But I haven’t been able to find a clean version of the soup, so I switched to the packet. However the soup is delicious in this recipe too!
- Beef Broth -> Other Broth: You should be able to use almost any broth, though it may change the flavor profile. I have used vegetable broth in a pinch. As another option, I suspect water + bouillon would work okay, but I haven’t personally tried this yet.
- Carrots -> Other Root Vegetables: Carrots are my fave pot roast veggie because they’re so easy. But you could probably use something like parsnips or other root vegetable with similar flavor profiles.
Let me know if you try any of the substitutions and how they worked for you.
What to Serve with This Recipe
Here are some ideas of what to serve with this Easy French Onion Pot Roast Recipe:
- Rice: I personally love my pot roast over rice. Brown rice or white rice would work great.
- Pasta: You could also serve your pot roast over cooked pasta – use your favorite shape!
- Bread: We love a carb here at The Chic Life, so I think dinner rolls, cornbread, biscuits, crescent rolls, or buttered sourdough toast would be fabulous with this!
What else would you have with this?
Leftovers Strategy for One
I’m a little skittish on having leftovers for a long time, so I prefer to only eat my Easy French Onion Pot Roast Recipe for two days:
- the day it’s made
- the next day
Yes, it can store longer. No, I don’t like to do that (usually). But do you!
Soooometimes I’ll have one serving one more day out. But I usually prefer to eat it all or have minimal leftovers. Or to freeze leftovers I can’t eat quickly enough – a common problem for us single women, no?
Since I was doing my Eat in Month Challenge at the time of making this recipe, I opted to eat my pot roast for 3 meals in a row. I had one more portion left, which I froze. I used a slightly smaller chuck roast than the recipe recommends thanks to the grocery store availability, so I didn’t get a ton of servings like you would with a larger roast.
Easy French Onion Pot Roast Recipe (Slow Cooker)
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 hours
- Total Time: 8 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 1x
Description
Make this cozy, 6-ingredient dinner when you want a comforting meal on your busy days. This version is a little healthier and cleaner thanks to extra veggies and a clean-er flavor packet.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (or sub oil of choice), optional
- 2–3 lbs chuck roast
- 3 medium red potatoes, trimmed and cut into roughly 1 1/2 -2″ chunks
- 2 small onions, peeled and quartered
- 1 1/4 cup baby carrots
- 1 packet French onion soup / dip mix
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to season the meat and to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper, plus more to season the meat and to taste
- 2 cups beef broth, plus additional as needed
- Dried or chopped fresh parsley, optional for garnish
Instructions
- Pre-heat oil (if using) in a large pan (or your slow cooker pan insert if it has stovetop capabilities) for a couple minutes over medium heat. While the pan pre-heats, season your roast with salt and pepper on all sides. Add your roast to the pan and brown on all sides, about 3-5 minutes per side. Tip: Don’t move the roast while it browns for max yum factor. Basically, it browns best when you don’t move it. Also my slow cooker insert is stovetop friendly and non-stick, so between that and the fatty chuck roast, I don’t typically need cooking oil.
- If using a classic pan, transfer the pot roast to your slow cooker insert, including any liquids – try to scrape the flavorful brown bits into the slow cooker if you can.
- If using the slow cooker pan insert, move this section back into the slow cooker heating base.
- Layer in potatoes, then onions, then baby carrots. Sprinkle soup / dip packet, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper over the roast and vegetables evenly.
- Pour beef broth over the roast and vegetables until the liquid is just under or at the level of the roast. Note: You may need more than 2 cups, but you shouldn’t need more than 4.
- Cover and cook the pot roast over low heat for about 8-10 hours, or until tender to liking. If it’s not tender enough, keep cooking until it is. Serve and enjoy! Tip: Leave the pot roast alone – you don’t need to stir it. For this size, it should be done closer to 8 hours, but cook it to your preference.
Notes
- See recipe blog post for additional tips and substitutions.
- Since you need a good amount of beef broth, I like to get the 1-quart carton. You can use any leftover broth in other recipes, make a soup, cook a savory quinoa / rice side, etc.
- Different brands make different French Onion Soup / Dip mixes, so you may need more or less salt / pepper depending on how theirs is seasoned. Adjust to your personal preferences.
- If you’re short on time, you can cook the roast on high for one hour for every two on low – however I only recommend doing this for one hour on high. When I try to shortcut too much, the roast is not as tender.
- If you use a larger roast, you may need to adjust the other ingredients, possibly add some or all of an additional soup / dip mix packet, and potentially add more salt and pepper. Additionally, your roast may require longer to cook to really get nice and tender. For a 4 lb roast, it should take closer to 8-10 hours on low.
- The number of portions this recipe yields depends on how hungry you and your guests are and how much meat versus other ingredients you eat. I got 4 me-sized portions (smaller meat portions) from 1.5 lbs of chuck roast. You could probably get more than 6 portions if you aim for the larger size roast around 3 lbs and if each person doesn’t eat a huge plate.
- Time-saving tip: cut and prep your vegetables while the meat browns. You’ll probably be done cutting well before or just in time to add it to the browned meat.
More Slow Cooker Recipes to Love
- Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe
- Slow Cooker Beef & 3 Bean Chili Recipe (I make this ALL the time – keep it veg-friendly by leaving the meat out – the beans are super filling on their own!)
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Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out my Easy French Onion Pot Roast Recipe (Slow Cooker Version). I hope you love it if you try it!