9 Crockpot Chuck Roast Dinners

These crockpot chuck roast dinners are my favorite thing to do with the cheapest cut at the meat counter.

From a Sunday pot roast with potatoes and carrots to French dip sandwiches and shredded beef tacos, one roast turns into a different dinner every time.

Here’s how I cook it!

Chuck roast is tough, marbled, and full of connective tissue, and eight hours on low turns all of that into the reason it tastes so good.

I buy two whenever they’re on sale, cook one, and freeze the other, because there’s always a week that needs it.

1. Mississippi Pot Roast

If you only make one thing on this list, make this one!

A chuck roast, a packet of ranch seasoning, a packet of au jus mix, a stick of butter, and a handful of pepperoncini, and that’s the entire recipe.

It sounds like it shouldn’t work.

It works every single time.

I shred it into the juices and serve it over mashed potatoes, and the leftovers go on rolls the next day with a little of the liquid for dipping.

2. Classic Pot Roast with Potatoes and Carrots

The Sunday dinner version, and the one my mother made, so I’m not objective about it.

Chuck roast goes on a bed of carrots, potatoes, and onion with beef broth, garlic, and thyme, and it cooks until a fork twists through it.

I sear it first in a cast iron skillet, and that’s the only recipe here where I always bother.

The gravy comes from the cooking liquid thickened with a little cornstarch, and it’s the part everyone fights over.

3. French Onion Pot Roast

Pot roast and French onion soup in one pot, and it’s richer than either one on its own.

Sliced onions go under the roast with beef broth, a splash of Worcestershire, and thyme, and they melt into a sweet, dark gravy over the day.

Some versions finish it with gruyere melted over the top, and I’m one of those people.

Mashed potatoes, or a piece of crusty bread to soak up the onions.

4. French Dip Sandwiches

My favorite way to feed a crowd from one roast.

The chuck cooks in beef broth with onion, garlic, and a little soy sauce, then gets shredded and piled on toasted hoagie rolls with provolone.

The cooking liquid is the au jus, so strain it and serve it in little bowls for dipping, plus a run under the broiler to melt the cheese.

I’ve made these for game days, birthdays, and one very good Tuesday.

5. Italian Beef Sandwiches

Chicago’s answer to the French dip, and between the two of them, this is mine.

The roast cooks with Italian seasoning, garlic, and a jar of pepperoncini with its brine, and the brine is what makes it.

Shred it, pile it on rolls, top with giardiniera or more peppers, and dip the whole thing in the juice.

It’s messy and that’s the point.

6. Barbacoa Tacos

Chipotle-style barbacoa at home, for a fraction of what the bowl costs!

Chuck roast cooks with chipotles in adobo, cumin, oregano, lime, and a little vinegar until it shreds, then gets tossed back in the juices.

I make a big batch on Sunday, and it turns into tacos, burrito bowls, and quesadillas across the week without anyone noticing it’s the same meat.

Corn tortillas, cilantro, onion, and lime, and nothing else.

7. Shredded Beef Tacos

The milder cousin of barbacoa, and the one my kids will eat.

A chuck roast with taco seasoning, salsa, and onion, cooked until it falls apart and shredded right in the crock.

It’s less smoky than barbacoa, so it takes cheese and sour cream well, and flour tortillas suit it better than corn.

8. Beef Ragu with Pappardelle

The fanciest thing a chuck roast can become, and it’s still a dump-and-go recipe.

The roast simmers all day in crushed tomatoes, red wine, garlic, and herbs, then gets shredded into the sauce.

Toss it with wide pappardelle and a lot of parmesan, and nobody has ever guessed it cost less than a pound of ground beef.

It freezes well.

Make the whole recipe even if you’re two people.

9. Horseradish Pot Roast

A little different, and the one to make when you’ve had pot roast every way there is.

Prepared horseradish goes into the braising liquid with the broth and onions, and it mellows over the day into something warm and peppery rather than sharp.

It cuts the richness of the beef in a way the classic version doesn’t.

Roasted carrots or a pile of green beans, and the gravy goes over all of it.

Notes on Cooking Chuck Roast in a Slow Cooker

A three-pound chuck roast needs eight hours on low, and it’s not done until a fork twists through it with no resistance.

If it’s still tough at eight hours, it needs more time, not less.

Undercooked chuck is chewy and overcooked chuck is mush, and the window between them is a couple of hours wide, so don’t panic.

Searing first is optional for the shredded recipes and worth it for the sliced ones.

I use a fat separator on the cooking liquid before I make gravy, because a chuck roast gives up a lot.

A 7-quart oval slow cooker fits a whole roast with the vegetables around it, which a round 4-quart won’t.

Leftover shredded beef keeps four days in the fridge and three months in the freezer, in its juices, in freezer-safe containers.

More Crockpot Beef on the Site

My hearty crockpot beef stew with root vegetables uses chuck too, cubed instead of whole.

The quick crockpot dinners with ten minutes of prep post has more beef in it, for the nights you don’t want to think.

And if you’re after chicken instead, the crockpot meals with chicken breast that don’t dry out post is the one I’d start with.