Name: Beer Braised Pot Roast
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 240 min
Total time: 260 min
Ingredients: 3 pounds beef roast (chuck, eye, or round); 2 tablespoons kosher salt; 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper; 2 teaspoons garlic powder; 2 teaspoons onion powder; 2 tablespoons canola oil; 2 tablespoons salted butter; 1 large white onion (thinly sliced); 1 head of garlic (top sliced off); 3 Thyme Sprigs; 3 Rosemary Sprigs; 3 Oregano Sprigs; 12 ounces brown ale; 32 ounces beef stock

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This beer braised pot roast recipe is the ultimate in reimagined comfort food. Perfectly seared beef roast is cooked low and slow with beer, onions, garlic, and fresh herbs. The result is a fall-apart tender, melt-in-your mouth dinner recipe that is impressively flavorful and delightfully simple!

A white china plate is filled with beer braised beef roast, mashed potatoes, and green beans. The plate sits on a textured grey backdrop.

There’s nothing quite like a dinner of pot roast. So classic, so comforting. Serve with a side of buttery mashed potatoes and garlicky green beans for the perfect Sunday supper!

An overhead shot of a white plate filled with beer braised beef roast, buttery mashed potatoes, and sautéed green beans. The beef is covered in a pan sauce. There is a white and blue checkered napkin next to the plate.

How do you make beef roast tender?

Braising a roast is one of my favorite ways to prepare beef. It’s a gentle cooking method that is mostly hands off and leads to a tender, moist, and flavorful piece of beef. The trick to tender pot roast is two-fold.

First, it’s important to cook the roast with enough liquid.

Too little liquid means there’s a risk of it evaporating during the cooking process. If this were to happen the roast would dry out and become tough.

Second, it’s imperative that the pot roast be cooked slowly at a low temperature.

Low and slow is the name of the game. This allows the connective tissues and fat in the roast enough time to relax and fall apart, leading to an incredibly tender and succulent piece of beef.

A large pot roast is in an enamel pan with fresh herbs, onion, and a head of garlic. A bottle of brown ale beer is being poured into the pan.

How to braise pot roast in the oven

This is just a brief overview, find detailed instructions in the recipe card below!

An overhead shot of a white plate filled with beer braised beef roast, buttery mashed potatoes, and sautéed green beans. There is a white and blue checkered napkin next to the plate.

How to make a pan sauce

Say hello to the easiest way to make gravy ever!

Unlike a lot of recipes for roast, this one doesn’t require any sort of flour or cornstarch slurry. Because the flavors of this dish are so wonderful as is, there’s no need to add anything else to dilute it.

Simply skim off the fat and reduce the cooking liquid by half. The garlic and onions break down in the sauce even more as the gravy cooks and the flavors get so concentrated and so succulent. My mouth is watering just typing this!

Using fresh herbs

Whenever a slow cooking recipe calls for a large number of herbs, I take the easy way out. Instead of doing all the slicing and dicing of processing fresh herbs, I make an herb bundle!

To do this: gather all the fresh herbs into a bunch and tie together with baker’s twine. Throw the bundle into the pot and when finished cooking simply remove the whole lot from the liquid.

The herbs will still imbue all their flavor into the dish, with a fraction of the prep time. (If fresh herbs aren't available to you, simply use half of the amount of dried herbs in place.)

Roasted Garlic in Braised Pot Roast

Much like with the herbs, there’s minimal prep to the garlic in this recipe. Take the whole head, skin and all, slicing off a small portion of the top to expose the cloves and place cut side up in the pan.

To use the cloves (which should be perfectly roasted) simply squeeze the roasted head cut side down, into the pot and discard the skin. When doing this, be sure to use caution as the garlic will be quite hot!

A shot of two white dinner plates filled with a roast beef dinner, mashed potatoes, and green beans. There is a white checkered napkin in the bottom right corner and a large serving dish full of mashed potatoes in the upper right corner.

Print Recipe

4.34 from 6 votes

Beer Braised Pot Roast

This beer braised pot roast recipe is the ultimate in reimagined comfort food. Perfectly seared beef roast is cooked low and slow with beer, onions, garlic, and fresh herbs. It’s a simple dinner that is impressively flavorful!

Prep Time20

Cook Time4

Total Time4 20

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Beef Roast, Beer Braised Pot Roast, Tender Pot Roast

Servings: servings

Calories: 553kcal

Author: Amanda Gajdosik

Equipment

Dutch Oven

Ingredients

3 pounds beef roast chuck, eye, or round
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons salted butter
1 large white onion thinly sliced
1 head of garlic top sliced off
3 Thyme Sprigs
3 Rosemary Sprigs
3 Oregano Sprigs
12 ounces brown ale
32 ounces beef stock

Instructions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Place a large Dutch oven over medium high heat. While it’s heating, season all sides of the roast with salt, pepper, garlic and onion powders. Add the canola oil and butter to the hot pot. Sear the meat on all sides until a good crust forms, about 2 – 3 minutes per side.
When roast is seared, add onion, garlic, and fresh herbs (tied into a bundle, if desired). Pour in beer and enough beef stock to come ¾ of the way up the roast. (Refrigerate any leftover beef stock.)
Place in center rack of oven and cook, covered, for 3 – 3.5 hours, until liquid is reduced by half and the roast is fork tender.
Remove roast from the pot and allow to rest while you make the pan sauce.
Remove the herb bundle and discard. Gently skim the fat off the liquid in the pan and discard. Squeeze the cloves out of the garlic head and discard the skin. Place the Dutch oven over medium high heat and bring the liquid to a rolling boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced by half. Spoon over roast to serve.

Notes

Roast can be made a day or two in advance. This is actually sometimes better! Remove roast from oven and discard the herbs and garlic skin. Allow to cool to room temperature before placing in the refrigerator overnight. When ready to reheat, remove the roast from the refrigerator. There should be a solidified layer of fat on the top of the pan. Remove this and discard. Place roast in a 300 degree oven for 20 minutes, or until warmed through, and then proceed with the pan sauce preparation as above.

Nutrition

The top image shows a plate of beer braised pot roast with green beans and mashed potatoes. The bottom shows a piece of seared beef.

Comments

4.34 from 6 votes (5 ratings without comment)