Slow Cooker Pot Roast Beef with Lashings of Luscious Gravy

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Cooked for 8 hours in a rich red wine gravy, loaded with vegetables, this fall apart beef, will melt in your mouth, excite your tastebuds and delight your lazy side! A quick 15 minutes prep in the morning, leave it to do its thing in the slow cooker, and after 8 hours, you will have a mouth-watering, pot roast beef and gravy. All you need to do later is reduce the gravy a little, cook a few vegetables, and of course, make some Yorkshire puddings!

This is a wonderful option for Easter Sunday, or indeed any Sunday, if you are looking for a seriously good, hands off Sunday roast, with a wonderful depth of flavour and lashing of luscious gravy. I’m slightly obsessed with sauces and gravies, custards and sweet sauces too; I love them a lot and I love a lot of them!

Which Beef to Use:

I made this with a fabulous Wagyu joint I had from Ifor’s Welsh Wagyu and it was a particularly delicious meal. However, I normally use topside, silverside, brisket or chuck beef from my local butcher, and it always works superbly well.

Vegetables:

I don’t like chunks of carrot and celery which, after 8 hours cooking, are far too soft and taste like the beef. I finely chop them instead and in doing so, you still get all the flavour and goodness plus they help to thicken the sauce. I prefer to serve additional vegetables, freshly cooked, alongside the beef

Potatoes:

Adding potatoes is entirely optional. Whilst I don’t like carrots and celery after a few hours cooking with the beef, I LOVE potatoes which have absorbed all the flavours. You want them soft but not disintegrated, so if using, add them 2 – 3 hours before the end of cooking. Your sauce/gravy will look more rustic, but the potatoes will be delicious. My slow cooker is too small to be able to add enough potatoes for everybody, so I also like to serve additional potatoes alongside as well – some mash and/or roast potatoes work well or here I served Welsh Potato and Onion Cake. I think I must have some Irish blood in me – I adore potatoes!

To cook in the oven:

You can also cook this in your oven. I like to use a cast iron casserole dish. Preheat your oven to Fan Oven 130°C /150°C/300°F/Gas 2.  Prepare in exactly the same way and then transfer everything to your casserole dish rather than a slow cooker.  Cook in the preheated oven for 3½ hours. If using potatoes, add for the final hour of cooking. 

How to make Slow Cooker Pot Roast Beef with Lashings of Luscious Gravy

Collect all the ingredients together:

• joint of beef suitable for slow cooking such as topside, brisket, silverside, chuck
• olive oil
• onion, peeled and roughly chopped
• carrots, trimmed, peeled, if necessary, and roughly chopped
• celery, trimmed, washed and roughly chopped
• garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
• red wine
• plain/all-purpose flour
• beef stock
• Worcestershire sauce
• brown sugar
• fresh thyme
• bay leaves
• tomato puree
• fine salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Optional –

• floury potatoes, such as Maris Piper or King Edwards, peeled and chopped into medium sized cubes

You need to start making this around 8 – 8½ hours before you want to eat it:

1. Season the joint of beef well with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
2. Heat half the oil in a cast iron skillet or frying pan, over a high heat. Brown the beef on all sides. This should only take 2 – 3 minutes per side. Set aside.
3. Whilst the beef is browning, prepare the vegetables. You can either finely chop them by hand, or, if you have a food processor, roughly chop and blitz them, all together, until finely chopped.
4. Once the beef is browned and removed from the pan, add the remaining oil and the chopped vegetables and cook for 5 minutes over a moderate heat until soft and lightly caramelised. Scrape up any sticky bits, left over from the beef, on the bottom of the pan. These are delicious and full of flavour.
5. Add the wine and reduce, continuing to scrape up any remaining sticky bits on the bottom of the pan.
6. When the wine has nearly evaporated, add the flour. Stir continuously, and continue to cook, for 2 minutes.
7. Now add the stock, Worcestershire Sauce, sugar, thyme, bay leaves, tomato puree and remaining salt and pepper. Bring to a gentle simmer, stirring and cook until thickened – another 2 – 3 minutes.
8. Ladle around ⅓ of the sauce into the slow cooker and then add the joint of beef.
9. Pour in the remaining sauce.
10. Cover with a lid and turn the slow cooker on low. Cook for 8 hours – up to 10 hours will not hurt though, if that is more convenient.
11. 2 – 3 hours before the end of cooking: if adding potatoes, peel and chop them into medium sized chunks. Add to the slow cooker, ensuring they are covered in the gravy, 2 – 3 hours before you want to serve the meal.
12. This is also a good time to taste and adjust the seasoning. You will more than likely need to add a little extra salt.

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Finishing the gravy:

1. When the beef is cooked, remove it from the slow cooker.
2. Spoon out much of the gravy into a saucepan. (Leave the potatoes in the slow cooker.) Bring the gravy to a rapid boil to reduce. When you are happy, add the remaining gravy and potatoes.
3. Serve the beef in chunks with the gravy, vegetables of your choice and, of course, the Yorkshire Puddings.

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Serve:

Serve with your choice of vegetables, potatoes, Yorkshires and lashings of luscious gravy!

Leftovers:

1. Any leftover meat is wonderful stirred into left over gravy and gently warmed the following day for another delicious meal.

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Made this recipe?

If you make this recipe, do please tag me on instagram @daffodil_kitchen. You could also leave a comment in the box directly below the recipe.