French Onion Pot Roast

A bowl of creamy mashed potatoes topped with braised meat, pearl onions, and a rich brown sauce, garnished with fresh herbs, on a light-colored table.

French Onion Pot Roast

This delicious French Onion Pot Roast is the ultimate comfort food for the fall or winter. It looks fancy but it's so easy to make as your oven or slow cooker does most of the work.

Course Main Course

Cuisine American-Inspired

Keyword pot roast, french onion

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 4

Total Time 4 20

Servings

Calories 677kcal

Author Maria Koutsogiannis

Ingredients

For the french onion pot roast

2.5-3 lbs boneless beef chuck roast
kosher salt and ground pepper
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
4 large yellow onions, halved and thinly sliced
2 cups pearl onions
2 tsp brown sugar
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp dried thyme or 3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1 cup white wine
1 tbsp worcestershire
1 tbsp soy sauce
3 cups beef broth

For the mashed potatoes

2.5-3 lbs Russet potatoes, peeled & chopped into 1 inch cubes
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
3/4 cup Shamrock Farms Heavy Whipping Cream

Instructions

For the french onion pot roast

Pat the beef chuck roast dry with a paper towel. Season generously with kosher salt and ground pepper on all sides.
To an oven-safe dutch oven, add 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, sear the beef until golden brown on all sides, about 3-4 minutes per side. Remove the beef to a plate and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 325F.
Reduce the heat to medium and leave any oils in the pan (do not wipe clean). Add the thinly sliced onions, pearl onions and brown sugar. Stir to combine. Turn to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally until the onions are caramelized and golden, this can take about 20-30 minutes.
Add the minced garlic, dried thyme or fresh thyme sprigs and bay leaf and cook for 1 minute, stirring often.
Deglaze the pan with the white wine and cook until it’s almost all evaporated.
Add the worcestershire, soy sauce and beef broth and then bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.
Once simmering, return the seared beef chuck roast to the pot and turn off the heat. Cover the pot with a lid.
Roast in the oven for 3-3.5 hours or until the meat is fall-apart tender. Baste the beef with the juices in the pot at the 1 hour and 2 hour mark.
Remove the lid for the last 30 minutes of cooking time, around the 2.5-3 hour mark.
Remove the bay leaf (and thyme sprigs if using) before pulling the beef into smaller pieces.
Serve over top of the creamy mashed potatoes.

For the mashed potatoes

With about 1 hour left in the pot roast cooking time, bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook your potatoes until soft and fork-tender.
Once potatoes are cooked, remove from the heat and drain the water. Set the cooked potatoes aside in a bowl.
Add the butter, kosher salt, ground pepper and heavy cream to the large pot over low heat. As the butter melts, stir to combine all of the ingredients together until the butter has fully melted. Turn the heat off and add the potatoes back to the pot, using a potato masher to mash until fully mashed and combined OR put the potatoes through a ricer and add to the pot, stirring to fully combine.
Taste and season with more salt and pepper if desired.

Notes

This recipe is lovely for a cozy weekend or a showstopper for a holiday gathering.
Serve with your favourite vegetable side dish or a salad like our Shaved Apple Salad

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