French Onion Pot Roast
There are few things better than a pot roast cooking low and slow on a Sunday afternoon, but this French Onion Pot Roast might have ruined regular pot roast for me.
We’re taking a classic chuck roast and braising it with a ridiculous amount of deeply caramelized onions, bone broth, tomato paste, garlic, thyme and rosemary until the beef is fall-apart tender. Then we’re adding carrots, potatoes and kale to make it a true one-pot meal.
And because it's French Onion Pot Roast, obviously there needs to be crusty sourdough covered in bubbly, golden cheese for dipping into all of that rich, oniony broth.
Even better, this recipe kicks off a new collaboration I’m really excited about with Home Grown, my favorite local grocery store here in Dripping Springs. I’ll be developing recipes using ingredients you can find right in the store, with the same emphasis I always have around here: real food, quality ingredients and meals you’ll actually want to feed your family.
For this one, I picked up the chuck roast, carrots, potatoes, garlic, tomato paste and bone broth at Homegrown. It started as a classic pot roast situation, but somewhere along the way I decided we needed approximately four pounds of caramelized onions and cheesy toast, and yes you can get amazing local sourdough and cheese at Homegrown, too!
A More Nourishing Take on Classic Pot Roast
One of the reasons I love meals like this is that real-food doesn't have to be complicated.
As a functional medicine dietitian, I'm always looking for ways to build meals around nutrient-dense protein, plenty of plants, quality fats and enough carbohydrates to actually make a meal satisfying. This one checks all of those boxes without feeling remotely like a “healthy recipe.”
Chuck roast
Beef is obviously the star here, and it brings much more to the table than protein.
Beef is a rich source of highly bioavailable iron, zinc, vitamin B12 and protein, along with nutrients like selenium and choline. These are nutrients I pay a lot of attention to in my practice, particularly for women, growing kids and anyone working on rebuilding nutrient stores.
Chuck roast is also perfect for low-and-slow cooking. It's a tougher cut with plenty of connective tissue, which breaks down during a long braise and gives you that fall-apart texture we're after. Short ribs would also be great in this same preparation.
Onions + garlic
There are a LOT of onions in this recipe. If you take one thing away from this recipe, let it be this: six onions is not too many onions. You could add more.
Onions and garlic are members of the allium family and provide sulfur-containing compounds along with prebiotic fibers that help feed beneficial gut bacteria.
As the onions slowly caramelize, their sharpness mellows and their natural sugars concentrate, creating that deep, savory-sweet flavor that eventually melts into the broth.
Bone broth
I use bone broth for all of my braises as a way to infuse more flavor into my dishes and to provide even more collagen and gelatin for connective tissue, gut, and skin support.
I intentionally don't completely submerge the roast, I used about 32 oz of a local bone broth from Bali Farms. The beef, onions and vegetables release more liquid as they cook, and we're going for concentrated and rich rather than watery.
Carrots + potatoes
Potatoes are a whole-food source of carbohydrate and provide potassium, vitamin C and vitamin B6. Pairing them with a protein- and fat-rich meal like this also makes for a much more satisfying dinner than trying to turn pot roast into some sort of low-carb situation.
Carrots bring additional potassium and fiber along with carotenoids, including beta-carotene, which the body can convert to vitamin A.
I add these in the last couple hours of cooking rather than all at once so that they don't get mushy.
Kale
Kale isn't traditional in pot roast, but I love sneaking a leafy green into a meal whenever possible.
Kale is a source of vitamin K, vitamin C, carotenoids and folate, and you get another serving of vegetables without having to make a separate side.
The key is adding it at the end. It only needs a short time to wilt into the hot broth. Please do not cook your kale for four hours.
Beef tallow
I use beef tallow to sear the chuck roast. It's a heat-stable cooking fat that works beautifully for getting a really good crust on beef, and I love the flavor here.
You could certainly use another cooking fat, but if you keep tallow in your kitchen, this is exactly the kind of recipe where it shines.
French Onion Pot Roast
Serves: 6–8
Prep time: About 45 minutes
Cook time: 4–4½ hours in the oven
Oven: 325°F
Ingredients
For the French Onion Pot Roast
- 3–4 lb chuck roast
- 1½ teaspoons sea salt, plus more to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons beef tallow
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 6 large yellow onions, thinly sliced into half moons
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 4 cups beef bone broth
- 1 tablespoon tamari, optional
- 6–8 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1–2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 2 bay leaves
- 4–5 large carrots, cut into large pieces
- 1–1½ lbs Yukon Gold or baby potatoes, halved or quartered if large
- 4 packed cups chopped kale
For the Sourdough Toast
- Thick slices sourdough bread
- Butter
- Freshly grated cheese, I used a combo of a mild parmesan and cheddar, but Gruyère would also be amazing
Directions
1. Sear the roast
Pat the chuck roast dry and season generously with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Heat 2 tablespoons beef tallow in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the chuck roast and sear for about 4–5 minutes per side, until deeply browned.
Don't rush the sear. All those browned bits left behind in the Dutch oven are flavor we're going to pick back up in the broth.
Transfer the roast to a plate.
2. Caramelize the onions
Reduce heat to medium-low. Add another tablespoon or two of tallow if needed, followed by all six sliced onions and a generous pinch of salt.
Cook for 35–45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions have cooked way down and are deeply golden, soft and jammy.
If they're browning too quickly, turn down the heat. If the bottom of the pot gets too dry, you can add a small splash of broth.
About 10 minutes before the onions are caramelized, you can go ahead and preheat your oven to 325°F.
3. Build the braising liquid
Add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute.
Stir in the tomato paste and cook for another 1–2 minutes.
Pour in a splash of bone broth and use a wooden spoon to scrape all the browned bits from the bottom of the Dutch oven.
Add the remaining bone broth and the optional tamari.
4. Braise
Nestle the chuck roast back into the caramelized onions and broth. Tuck in the thyme and rosemary as well as the bay leaves.
Cover and transfer to the oven for 2 hours.
5. Add the vegetables
After 2 hours, arrange the carrots and potatoes around the roast.
Cover and return to the oven for another 1½–2 hours, or until the beef is fork tender and pulls apart easily.
Adding the vegetables later keeps them tender without turning them into mush.
6. Finish with kale
Transfer the roast to a plate and discard the herb stems and bay leaves.
Stir the chopped kale into the hot broth and onions and let it wilt for about 10 minutes.
Pull the beef into large pieces and return it to the pot. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.
7. Make the cheesy sourdough toast
Turn the oven to broil.
Lightly butter thick slices of sourdough. Top generously with freshly grated cheese and broil until the cheese is melted, bubbling and golden.
Watch it closely. This happens quickly! In my oven it was about 2-3 minutes.
8. Serve
Spoon the French Onion Pot Roast into shallow bowls, making sure everyone gets plenty of beef, carrots, potatoes, kale and caramelized onions.
Ladle the rich broth over the top and serve with cheesy sourdough toast for dipping.
A Cozy Meal Worth Sharing
This is very much a Sunday dinner that makes your house smell amazing all afternoon, but it's also a great meal to make when you're feeding a crowd or want leftovers for the week.
And yes, it would be an excellent meal to drop on the doorstep of a newly postpartum mom, a friend who is sick, or anyone going through a season when dinner is one less thing they should have to think about.
Make the pot roast, package the bread and cheese separately, and tell them exactly how to finish the toast.
Sometimes the best way to take care of someone really is just to bring them dinner.
Can I Make French Onion Pot Roast in the Slow Cooker?
Absolutely. I made this version in a Dutch oven because I love the flavor and texture you get from a long oven braise, but the slow cooker is perfect when you need more of a set-it-and-forget-it meal.
I would still sear the chuck roast and caramelize the onions on the stovetop first. Those two steps create so much of the flavor in this recipe that I wouldn't skip them.
From there, transfer the caramelized onions and seared roast to your slow cooker along with the garlic, tomato paste, bone broth, tamari, thyme, rosemary and bay leaves.
Cook on LOW for about 8 hours, adding the carrots and potatoes during the last 3–4 hours if you're able. If you truly need to set it and walk away, you can add them from the beginning—just expect them to be softer.
Stir in the kale at the very end, cover, and let it wilt in the hot broth for about 10 minutes before serving.
One caveat: I'd consider reducing the broth for the Crock-Pot version to 3 cups because you'll get less evaporation than you do in the Dutch oven. Otherwise you may end up with much more of a soup.
More Real Food From My Kitchen
I'm excited to share more recipes in partnership with Homegrown using ingredients you can pick up right here in Dripping Springs.
My goal with these recipes is the same as always: real food, quality ingredients and meals that nourish your family without making your life harder.
You can learn more about Homegrown here, and stay tuned for the next recipe by hopping on my email list in the link below.