Slow Cooker Pot Roast with Onion Soup Mix

Easy Slow Cooker Pot Roast with onion soup mix, potatoes and carrots cooks on low in the Crock Pot until fork tender and delicious. This easy slow cooker recipe makes the best pot roast!

This easy recipe for slow cooker beef roast with onions and potatoes and carrots is a complete meal made entirely in the crock pot.

It’s one of my favorite slow cooker recipes for busy days in the fall and winter because it’s so incredibly easy. We love if for Sunday dinner with the family, too!

You just add everything to the Crock-Pot in the morning and go about your day. Dinner is ready when you are, and it’s perfect when you’re craving easy comfort food.

Sometimes, I make a crock pot chuck roast with red wine and tomato paste. But the ingredients for this delicious pot roast are even simpler, and it’s made without wine. Try my Crock Pot Mississippi Roast and Crock Pot BBQ Beef and more delicious crock pot recipes if you like slow cooking as much as I do!

Onion Soup Mix Pot Roast Ingredients

You only need a few simple ingredients to make this easy pot roast recipe in the slow cooker. They can be found in your grocery store if they are not already in your fridge or pantry!

• Boneless beef chuck roast — the best cut of meat for pull apart roast beef. You can use a rump roast in this recipe.
• Onion soup mix — A packet of onion soup mix is a classic way to season beef roast. You can also use French onion soup mix or make homemade onion soup mix.
• Onion — small or medium onion cut into large chunks for extra onion flavor
• Carrots — use whole carrots or baby carrots
• Baby potatoes — or use Yukon potatoes or red potatoes and cut them
• Celery — Use the ribs and leaves for added flavor
• Garlic cloves — use garlic powder if you want
• Beef broth or beef stock — use low sodium broth if you can. Sub a cup of water for the broth if you like.

I usually let people add salt and black pepper if they want. The soup mix is salty enough, so use your judgment here.

How to Make Pot Roast with Onion Soup Mix in a Slow Cooker

First, spray the bottom of the crock pot with non stick spray or add olive oil or vegetable oil. Then, pat the roast dry with paper towels.

Next, place the chuck roast in the bottom of the slow cooker.

Sprinkle about half of the dry onion soup mix over the roast. I like to pat it into the meat, as well — kind of like an easy dry rub. Then, add your onion and garlic cloves.

No need to cut the garlic here. You’ll get delicious roasted garlic that you can mash into the meat for extra flavor before serving!

Next, add your medium carrots, potatoes and celery, plus celery leaves, over the roast. I always add potatoes and carrots when I add the meat. Since they’re on the top of the roast, they won’t get too soft or mushy!

Sprinkle the remaining onion soup mix over the vegetables. Then, pour one cup of beef broth into the slow cooker.

Finally, place the lid on the crock pot.

Cooking Time

Cook the pot roast with vegetables for 8-10 hours on Low setting. Or, cook the roast for 5-6 hours on High. If for any reason, the meat seems tough, you can always cook it longer.

Slow cooking on low helps break down the connective tissue in the meat until it’s completely fall apart fork tender.

When the roast is cooked, it will be fall apart tender and juicy. Seriously, this is the best pot roast. And it is completely out-of-this-world delicious!

What to Serve with Crock Pot Roast

I like to add fresh parsley for extra color and flavor. You can transfer this flavorful roast and veggies to a serving platter at dinner time and make a savory gravy with the cooking liquid and cornstarch or flour.

Or, just spoon the juices over the meat and potatoes. This is our favorite way to enjoy this classic pot roast. Easy peasy!

Green beans or a simple green salad pair well with this delicious roast. If you don’t want to cook the roast with carrots and potatoes, serve it over rice or mashed potatoes.

Storage and Leftovers

Store leftover pot roast and vegetables in an airtight container in your refrigerator. Food should be refrigerated within 2 hours of serving, according to the FDA. Leftovers will keep well for 3 to 4 days. You can easily skim any excess fat from the top before heating it up!

For longer storage, store pot roast leftovers in a freezer safe container. Both the pot roast and veggies reheat well in the microwave, in the oven or on the stove.

You can easily turn leftover roast beef into delicious beef sandwiches or beef tacos!

Oven and Instant Pot

Make this perfect pot roast even faster in your oven or electric pressure cooker. I make my mom’s pot roast in an oven bag using the same basic ingredients. It takes about 2 to 3 hours.

You can make an easy Instant Pot pot roast in about an hour. This is the fastest way to cook chuck roast!

Helpful Tips

Do you have to brown the roast before putting it in the crockpot? The short answer is no, you don’t!

You can definitely sear this if you want. But you don’t need to for this recipe since you’ll get tons of flavor from the soup mix and beef broth, as well as the cooking juices from the roast itself.

You can cook a chuck roast on High. But I have to tell you, low and slow works better if you want a truly tender pot roast!

Layer the vegetables on top of the roast so they don’t over cook.

If the roast isn’t fall-apart-tender, it needs to cook longer.

I hope you and your family enjoy this easy slow cooker pot roast recipe as much as my whole family does.

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Recipe published in 2021 and updated in 2023.