French onion pot roast over cheesy mashed potatoes is the cozy-weather dinner of your dreams. Taking all the rich flavors of french onion soup and slow cooking a flavorful roast in dry white wine, fresh herbs, aromatics, and beef stock for a delicious gravy.
For the past...about month, I've been taking life a lot slower. For those who don't know, food blogging is my full time job along with coaching other food bloggers.
So sometimes it's just nice to slow everything down and get back into 'housewife' mode, especially when I get to bust out the sweaters and decorate for the holidays. Our yard has never looked better, covered in Halloween inflatables, haha!
So with all this slowing down has come a lot of slow cooking and tons of baking. One of my favorite slow-down meals lately has been this french onion pot roast recipe poured over dreamy cheesy chive mashed potatoes.
An easy meal that is full of french onion flavor and the best thing to happen to tender pot roast since I turned it into french dip sandwiches (which are so yum, by the way. Definitely give it a try with any leftovers!).
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Key Ingredients
Boneless Beef Chuck Roast - classic pot roast must have, right? This has the fat and connective tissue we need to slow cook and have a juicy, tender piece of beef.
Sweet onions - caramelized onions are a huge part of a french onion soup, and sweet onions will give us that delicious flavor
Worcestershire Sauce - I always find that beef stews and pot roasts need a bit of umami, and worcestershire sauce does the trick here.
Tomato Paste - There's just something about tomato paste that brings that hearty depth of flavor that I find many pot roasts missing.
Fresh Herbs - definitely a must. Bay leaves cut through brighten up the rich flavors and thyme gives it a little bit of a woodsy, aromatic tone that's great this time of year.
White Wine - I used a nice dry sauvignon blanc a friend gave us, which really punched up the flavor, cutting through the fatty richness of the beef. Apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar also works but use way less, maybe a tablespoon or so. Taste and adjust as you need!
Mashed Potatoes Side Dish Ingredients
Cheddar Cheese - the sharper the better, in my opinion!
Butter Potatoes - These type of gold potatoes are super buttery on their own. They're perfect for this recipe, but use Yukon Golds if you can't find them.
Fresh Chives - they bring a bright, mildly scallion-like flavor that I love in such a rich, cozy dish.
Instructions
Full ingredients, measurements, and printable instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Stove Top
In your dutch oven pot, sear your beef roast (seasoned with salt and black pepper, of course) in a little oil on all sides to get a nice brown color.
Remove it, then add the sliced onions with a little brown sugar, salt, and pepper and sauté for 5-7 minutes until they get a little color. Then add in the garlic, tomato paste, and herbs.
Toss everything with some all-purpose flour, then add in your white wine, worcestershire, and beef stock. Stir and bring to a simmer, put the lid on and let cook for 3-4 hours, until the chuck roast is fork tender and easy to shred apart.
Slow Cooker Pot Roast Instructions
The slow cooker instructions are a bit different, but they're still easy. What you want to do is cut your beef roast in to large chunks so they'll cook faster in the slow cooker.
Toss the beef chunks in flour and sear them over medium-high heat in a cast iron skillet. Once all sides of the beef are seared, put them into the bottom of your slow cooker, and splash some beef broth into the skillet to scrape up those brown bits (they're great flavor!) and put them into the slow cooker as well.
Put the onion slices on top of the roast hunks, and add all of the other ingredients for the pot roast into the slow cooker. Cook on the low setting for 6-8 hours or the high setting for 4 hours.
Instructions for the Mashed Potatoes
I love mashed potatoes because they are super simple! These are creamy, flavorful, and go
Peel and quarter the potatoes, put them in a large pot of COLD water with some chicken bouillon base (seriously, SO much flavor!), bring to a boil until they are fork-tender.
Rice the hot potatoes with a potato ricer into a large bowl, then add shredded cheddar, garlic powder, butter, and chives, stir until the butter is melted and incorporated into the potatoes.
Sprinkle with a little more chopped chives, and you're done!
Serve with a Side Dish
If you're southern, you know your mama would not allow you to eat this without something green on the plate! I really love green beans with this or even some sautéed asparagus on the side.
Don't care for potatoes? Try serving the pot roast over egg noodles. Ladle on a little extra gravy, it's so good.
I love garlic butter rolls that just sop up all that gravy goodness. They're covered in plenty of flavor so they're definitely a level up from your average rolls.
My zesty, crispy, herby red potatoes are also a great side if you're not feeling mash-y. They literally get fought over whenever I make them!
Storage and Reheating
Keep the pot roast and gravy in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
Reheating is really easy: put in a microwaveable dish and heat until warm.
Pro Tips
If you feel your gravy isn't thick enough, make a cornstarch slurry of 2 tablespoon cornstarch and 2 tablespoon water. Whisk it up in a small bowl and mix it into the gravy while it's simmering at the end of the cook time. It'll thicken right up.
I like adding onion powder and garlic powder when I'm making this recipe in the slow cooker since I don't really feel like sauteing the onions and garlic in the skillet after searing the beef.
Looking for more cozy comfort food?
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French Onion Pot Roast with Cheesy Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
French Onion Pot Roast
- 4 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 3 pound chuck roast
- 4 large sweet onions, thinly sliced
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, or 1 teaspoon dried
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- ¼ cup all purpose flour
- ¼ cup dry white wine
- 2 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
- 4 cups beef broth
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Cheesy Mashed Potatoes
- 2 tablespoon chicken bouillon base
- 6 medium butter potatoes, scrubbed
- 4 tablespoon butter
- 2-3 tablespoon milk
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1 tablespoon chopped chives
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Make the French Onion Pot Roast
- In a large dutch oven over medium-high heat, warm oil until shimmering hot.
- Season chuck roast generously with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, then gently place it into the hot oil to sear each side until deeply golden brown, which will take 3-5 minutes on each side.
- Remove the chuck roast from the dutch oven and place it on a separate plate. Set aside.
- Turn the heat down to medium, then add the thinly sliced onions, bay leaves, and thyme and sauté until the onions turn translucent and tinged golden brown, 5-7 minutes.
- Stir in tomato paste and garlic then add the flour and coat all the ingredients in it, stirring and cooking for a minute to cook out the raw flour.
- Turn the heat off and quickly whisk in the white wine (for safety!), turn the heat back on to medium and whisk in the worcestershire sauce and beef broth.
- Add the chuck roast back to the pot, top it with the lid, and simmer for 3-4 hours, until the beef is fork-tender and shreddable.
- Taste the gravy and season with salt and pepper as needed.
- Serve over mashed potatoes.
- Make the Cheesy Mashed Potatoes
- Peel and quarter the potatoes, then place them in a large pot filled with cold water and chicken base. Bring the pot to a boil and boil the potatoes until they are easily pierced with a fork.
- Drain the pot and put the potatoes through a potato ricer into a large mixing bowl.
- Stir in butter, shredded cheddar cheese, milk, garlic powder, and chives. Mix well, then season with salt and pepper to taste.
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