This Hard Cider Pot Roast with Mushrooms, Carrots, and Onions is fall-apart-tender and ultra delicious!
With no real plans to share this recipe here, I almost didn’t take a picture of our “big red pot” (what we call our beloved oval French oven from Le Creuset) prior to setting it on the supper table for my family. But then, at the last minute, I decided to snap a shot. Because maybe this would be the greatest meal ever…right?!
And you wouldn’t believe what a conversation piece this magnificent pot of beef turned out to be. Our youngest daughter couldn’t stop gushing about it. After nearly every other bite, Tessa would say, “This is the best thing you’ve ever made, Mom”. And then she’d ask for another helping. I know for a fact that that small-framed 5-year-old girl ate more than my 6′-7″ Blake did that evening.
This Hard Cider Pot Roast with Mushrooms, Carrots, and Onions is so incredibly tender, after braising away in the oven for a few hours, that all you need to do to serve it is simply break up the roast with the back of a wooden spoon. No cutting required. It just falls apart, all loose and juicy and tender. That silky texture is the stuff my supper table dreams are made of.
I have experimented a bit with cooking with hard cider, and this is far and away my favorite meal so far. When the cider is slow cooked with the beef and earthy mushrooms, plus carrots and onions, a most spectacular gravy results. It’s full of rich flavor…slightly creamy and just a bit tangy, with a little touch of warm cloves…utterly delicious. When a 5-year-old says it’s even better than her favorite mac and cheese, you just have to believe it’s one special meal.
Another pot roast recipe I’m dying to try? This Mississippi Pot Roast from Today’s Creative Life!
Hard Cider Pot Roast with Mushrooms, Carrots, and Onions
Ingredients
- 3 to 3.5 lb. boneless beef chuck roast
- kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- olive oil
- 8 oz. medium-sized whole button mushrooms halved
- 2 large onions chopped
- 4 large carrots peeled and cut into 1” to 2” pieces
- 1 tsp. dried thyme
- ⅛ tsp. ground cloves
- 1 bottle 12 oz. hard cider (I really like “Crisp Apple” by Angry Orchard
- 1.5 c. low sodium beef broth
- 1 bay leaf
Instructions
- An hour before starting to cook, remove the roast from the refrigerator. Rinse it and pat it dry with paper towels. Place on a plate and sprinkle fairly generously all over with kosher salt and pepper. Let stand at room temperature.
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Coat the bottom of a 5 to 7-quart French oven with a thin film of olive oil and set the pot over medium-high heat. When the oil is shimmering, put meat in the pot and let it cook, without moving it, until it is deeply browned on the bottom and lifts easily from the pot when turned. This should take about 8 minutes or so. Continue to brown all sides of the meat, turning as needed. Transfer meat to a plate and set aside.
- Add mushrooms, onions, and carrots to the pot and cook, stirring, until softened. This should take about 5 minutes. Stir in thyme and cloves. Then pour in hard cider and beef broth. Stir to release browned bits on the pan bottom. Add bay leaf. Let mixture come to a boil, then return meat and any accumulated juices to pot. Cover pot and transfer to the oven. Cook, turning meat over once about halfway through cooking, until meat is tender and pulls apart easily when prodded with a fork, about 2-1/2 to 3 hours.
There are a couple of different ways you can finish up this beautiful pot roast:
- For an easy weeknight meal, I will simply break apart the meat with a wooden spoon while it sits in the juices in the pot. The meat should be extremely tender, and not even need to be cut with a knife This is personally my favorite way to eat the roast, all loose and juicy and tender.
- To achieve a more sliced look, I remove the meat from the pot after it has been in the oven for about 2 hours. Then I slice it against the grain and return it to the pot with slices intact as much as possible, along with any accumulated juices, nestling it back into the veggies and juices. Return the pot to the oven and cook for another 30 to 60 minutes.
- My family prefers this served over/alongside creamy mashed potatoes, but herbed wide noodles are good, too.
ooo I want a dutch oven! This pot roast would be perfect for these cold days we’re having!
I’m so hungry now! But close to midnight is too late to be whipping up a roast! However, I know what I’m doing tomorrow… :)
This looks so yummy!! We discovered hard cider two years ago in Wales and now there is always some in the house. My family is going to love this roast!! Funny, I found your site trying to find a scone recipe just like the ones we had in Wales. That was a success too!!
Oh man this looks so delicious! And I bet it was tender :)
Yummo, looks delicious! And my Le Creuset French Oven is hands down my most used piece of cookware — so versatile.
“Better than mac and cheese” is high praise indeed from a 5-year-old! The hard cider and cloves in the recipe sound really intriguing. Definitely on my to-try list.
It sure is! ;) Hope you like this too, Lana.
So glad that you decided to share this!
Brenda – that must be the greatest thing to hear from your kids! It’s a tough competition to beat out mac and cheese! Really does sound fantastic, especially with the flavor of that hard cider.
This looks absolutely wonderful!
This recipe is akin to the traditional Beef Bourguignon that we make here in California wine country or when in Paris. We simply use 1 (750 ml.) bottle good dry red wine such as Cote du Rhone or Pinot Noir rather than the hard cider which is not common where we live.
Yum! Yum! Yum! I want some!
I’ve never cooked with hard cider but just looking at that beautiful roast, I am going to try it. I can see why your girls were bragging on it.
I keep trying to convince myself to invest in a big Dutch Oven but I can’t seem to justify the cost to my husband. I think maybe if I show him this recipe it might help with the convincing.
Invest is the key word Cat Davis. Many of my Le Creuset items were handed down to me. Some older than fifty years old. Does you husband buy cheap tools for what he uses around the house or on his vehicles? Again you are making an investment. And a Le Creuset Dutch oven can be used for so many many things.
I know exactly what you mean, Cat. It took me awhile to hand over the cash myself. But I’ve NEVER regretted it. We have had so many fantastic meals, I just can’t tell you. These meals convinced my mom and my sister to also buy a LC Dutch oven for themselves. There is nothing like a big roast braising away in our Big Red Pot on a chilly day!
This looks like some seriously fabulous comfort food!
I love pot roast, the hard cider sounds like a great addition!
I’m coming over for dinner. :) (I wish). Looks great!!
I wish, too!!!! xo
WOW. Just wow. OK and YUM. :)
I love that Tessa ate more than your hubby! :) What a cutie patootie.
I just love it when the pot gets all dark like that = flavor!
So yummy and perfect for a Sunday Supper! :)
It looks like it’s ready to just fall apart. What great flavors, Brenda! I’m so glad you snapped a photo of this!