Perfect Fall Apart Roast With Carrots (Oven Baked)

Delicious and tender pot roast that falls apart and just melts in your mouth is a favorite for our whole family. This comfort food is a lot easier to make than you might think. With just a little bit of work you will fill your home with a scrumptious aroma and fill your tummy with the best roast you have ever tasted.

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Juicy Pot Roast

You have a few different options when deciding what cut of meat to choose when you are making roast beef. Let’s start by breaking down the most common cuts that you would find at a grocery store.

Shoulder Roast

Should roast is a lean cut of meat that is best used if you are wanting to cut slices rather than shred the meat.

Round Roast

Also known as rump roast, top round roast is cut from the rear leg and is a more lean cut of meat than a chuck roast.

Chuck Roast

Chuck roast, similar to the shoulder, is a cut of meat that comes from the shoulder area of the cow. The chuck roast contains more fat, collagen, and connective tissue than either the shoulder or round roast. Because of this the chuck roast is the ideal cut of meat for a fall apart tender beef roast. As the beef is cooked low and slow the fats and collagen will melt down resulting in the most delicious and tender meat.

Dutch Oven Pot Roast Ingredients

These are the ingredients and supplies you will need if you want to learn how to cook a chuck roast so it falls apart.

• 4 pound beef chuck roast (boneless chuck roast)
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 pound of carrots
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 32 oz beef broth, unsalted
• 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 6-Quart Dutch Oven
• metal whisk

How To Cook A Chuck Roast So It Falls Apart

First, you will need to prepare your ingredients. This takes very little time at all because as you can see you do not need a lot of extra seasonings or ingredients in order to make the best pot roast. That is because the meat is the star of the show and when you cook it correctly it will shine on its own without needing a lot of fancy sidekicks.

Chop your carrots and onions into fairly large pieces. I keep the carrots about 2 inches long. If you cut the carrots too small they will turn to mush during the cooking process so make sure to leave them in big hearty chunks. I quarter my onion after removing the skin. The onion is a wonderful aromatic in this meal but I leave it in large pieces because we do not eat the cooked onion. You can eat yours if you like but my family is not a huge fan so I just keep it in large pieces that are easy to manage and remove.

While I am preparing my vegetables I like to have my oil heating up in my large dutch oven at medium high heat on the stove. Once the oil is hot I put the chunks of onion into the oil and allow them to sear for about 2 to 3 minutes. While the onion is searing in the dutch oven I will only stir them around once. For the rest of the time I leave them undisturbed in the pot.

Next, I remove the onion from the dutch oven and put in the carrots. Just like I did with the onion I will allow the carrots to sear for 2 to 3 minutes and only stir them around one time while they are in the pan. After the time is up I remove the carrots and put the chuck roast into the hot dutch oven to sear. Let the meat sear for 5 minutes on each side before removing it from the pan.

Can You Roast Beef Without Searing?

Searing your meat over a high heat will caramelize the surface of the meat and will create a lot of flavor with many complex layers. Searing your chuck roast is an important step in preparing the dish. Without searing your roast you will be left with meat that is flat and flavorless. Searing your beef chuck roast is the secret to a pot roast recipe with simple ingredients that equal a savory and tender roast. Trust me, this one extra step is totally worth it.

One-Pot Meal: Sunday Roast

The best way to ensure you take advantage of all the flavor is to remove your chuck roast from the dutch oven after searing and add just enough liquid to coat the bottom of the pan. For the liquid you will want to use beef broth or you can substitute chicken broth. If you are getting store bought beef broth or stock make sure that it is low sodium or unsalted so that you have more control over how much salt is in your meal. If I have some homemade bone broth on hand I like to use that instead. When I am feeling extra fancy I have used red wine for this step but personally I find the beef broth to be perfect.

Once you have added the broth use a whisk to scrap up all the brown bits from the bottom of the pot. This will give you the best results in regards to the flavor of your chuck roast. After you have pulled up all those yummy bits add in your Worcestershire sauce, give a little mix, and then start putting everything back into your dutch oven. First, add the chuck roast, then the carrots and onion. Finally, pour in your beef broth until everything in the dutch oven is covered with the liquid.

Why Is My Chuck Roast Not Falling Apart?

The last step is to put the lid on your dutch oven and transfer it to a 275°F oven. We are going to cook this roast at a low temperature for a long time. A low and slow cooking time is important if you want to know how to cook a chuck roast so it falls apart. The meat needs plenty of time to cook in order to achieve that fork tender, fall apart, melt in your mouth goodness.

A roast will only get more tender the longer that you cook it. I aim to cook my roast for 4 to 5 hours. This gives me a chuck roast that is falling apart and tasty tender carrots. The internal temperature of your roast should be 190-195°F.

There are two ways to truly mess up this easy recipe. The first would be by not cooking the roast long enough. The second is to cook your roast at a high temperature. Chuck roast has lots of connective tissue and if you expose that to a high temperature those muscle fibers will get tough, stringy, and frankly pretty gross. A low temperature here is very important. This is why using a slow cooker or instant pot can sometimes result in a tough pot roast.

Tender Fall Apart Chuck Roast

One of the best things about making pot roast for dinner, aside from it being a delicious comfort food, is that it is a very affordable meal to make. I am always looking for new ways to save money on groceries and this recipe has become a regular in our dinner rotation. Anytime that I see chuck roast on sale at the grocery store I will purchase one or two of them. Chuck roast freezes really well so it’s a great meat to stock up on if you have the extra freezer space when it goes on sale.

You can really make this meal stretch by adding in some biscuits, a side salad, or potato. I typically will wash a few russet or sweet potatoes, use a fork to poke some holes, and then pop them in the oven with the roast. By dinner time you will have some baked potatoes to go along with your fall apart chuck roast and tender carrots. I recently found some purple sweet potatoes at my local grocery store and that made for a super fun, and healthy, side dish.

Another benefit of cooking a big pot roast is that it makes wonderful left overs. My favorite is to have a roast sandwich at lunch the next day. My husband likes to heat up the roast and eat it on its own and our youngest family members are of the opinion that mom never makes enough root vegetables. I am not complaining though because like most mama’s I’m just thrilled to death when they eat any kind of veggie.

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