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This recipe for Slow Cooker Seasoned Roast is made with a homemade spice blend with a secret ingredient.
I used to throw some veggies and meat in my slow cooker, turn it on for about 8 hours, and return to find some veggies and somewhat bland meat. I was inspired to make a rub after reading through America’s Test Kitchen’s Best-Ever Recipes
and saw a recipe for Chuck Roast in Foil (page 6 in case you want to check it out).
The original recipe has celery seed, dried thyme, and cornstarch plus the ingredients I have listed, though the quantities in my recipe differ from America’s Test Kitchen. After I mixed it all of my ingredients together, I sampled a small amount on the tip of my finger and knew that this was a winning recipe.
Slow Cooker Seasoned Roast Recipe
Slow Cooker Seasoned Roast
Ingredients
- 1½ tsp pepper
- 1½ tsp onion powder
- 1½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp parsley flakes
- ½ tsp espresso powder
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- 2 bay leaves
- 2-3 large baking potatoes
- 1 package baby carrots
- 1 large onion
- 1½ - 2 pound chuck roast
- 1 1/2 cups water or beef broth
Instructions
- Mix spices together (excluding bay leaf) and set aside.
- Place carrots in the bottom of a slow cooker that has been sprayed with non-stick spray (or use a disposable slow cooker liner). Cut potatoes into 1 inch cubes and place on top of carrots. Cut onion into large chunks and add to the slow cooker. Top with bay leaves.
- Generously rub roast with the spice mixture on both sides. Place on top of vegetables, pour water or broth over the meat, and cook for 6-8 hours on low.
- Remove from slow cooker and discard bay leaves.
Video
Nutrition
How To Cook Roast, Potatoes, and Carrots
This is how I cook the best roast dinner. I take a bag of carrots and layer them in the bottom of my slow cooker (aka Crock Pot).
Then I add a layer of potatoes that have been cut into cubes. This is a good way to use up some of your supply of russet potatoes.
Adding onion is a good way to add flavor. Cutting it into large chunks makes it easy for picky eaters to pick it out. (Though when it becomes cooked and golden – it’s quite delicious on its own!)
Notice the two bay leaves on top. You want to be sure to remove them after cooking. Why? Because, according to eHow, “because the bay leaf has a bitter flavor when eaten and is difficult to chew.”
Grass-fed beef is the best. “Why is grass-fed beef better?” you may be wondering.
Cows that are grass-fed (and grass-fed) eat the diet that was naturally intended for them. As calves, they start out with their mother’s milk. As they grow, their diet progresses to grass. Cows are ruminants – animals that four chambers in their stomach that are able to digest plant matter that would be relatively indigestible for most other types of mammals.
Cows were never designed to eat corn, which is what cows are typically fed when they go to confined animal feedlots to fatten them up for slaughter.
For humans, the benefit of consuming grass-fed beef aside from knowing that the cow was more apt to have been raised the way nature intended, is that grass-fed beef has been found to be higher in vitamins A, E, and other antioxidants compared to grain-fed beef.
Grass-fed beef also tends to be lower in saturated fat and has as much as five times the amount of omega-3 fatty acids as regular grain-fed beef.
Depending on the size of your roast, it usually takes 8 – 10 hours for it to cook. The roast pictured was relatively small and cooked perfectly in 6.5 hours.
Don’t have 8 – 10 hours? You can cook a roast on HIGH in your slow cooker in 4 – 5 hours.
If you like this delicious Slow Cooker Seasoned Roast recipe, then you should check out these delicious recipes, too:
- Brownie Sheet Cake
- Southern Buttermilk Biscuits
- Quick and Easy Chicken and Dumplings
- Easy Peanut Butter Pie
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Deborah
Tuesday 29th of December 2020
They say u should brown ur meat before slow cooking it, yes or no for this recipe and why?
Lynda
Tuesday 29th of December 2020
I don't. Why? No particular reason.
John
Tuesday 20th of October 2020
I'm not trying to ask a stupid question and I don't want to assume so this is why I'm asking. I have always been toughy to add water to the slow cooker after everything is put in, but I've seen in your instructions there is no mention of water at all, Do I add water or not so much ?
Liz
Saturday 14th of November 2020
@John, add broth instead of water tastier
John
Tuesday 20th of October 2020
@Lynda, thanks for the answer, I'm going to cook this this Saturday for dinner, will let you know how it goes. Thanks again
Lynda
Tuesday 20th of October 2020
That's a great question and I am glad you asked. I have updated the recipe - you can add 1 1/2 cups of water or beef broth to help keep the meat nice and moist.
Bill the cook
Sunday 23rd of August 2020
Nothing in this recipe is in proportion. Espresso powder? Really? Too many amateurs are posting COVID recipes and none of them have been kitchen tested. And, like all internet-posted blog recipes, there is always a couple of omitted ingredients and steps. But at least people are trying now. But would-bes: never take short cuts. Betty Crocker never invented any recipe that didn’t use its products as short-cuts to which you’d serve your grandmother (or perhaps by now, your great grandmother).
Tiffany M
Thursday 24th of October 2019
any alternative to the espresso powder? very interested in trying it and was hoping to find something similar that would bring the flavors out. thank you
Lynda
Friday 25th of October 2019
I imagine you could use instant coffee. If I was going to substitute it, I would pound the instant coffee (with a mortar and pestle) into a powder and swap it out 1:1.
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