Meet my favorite slow cooker recipe! The beef melts in your mouth and the carrots are oh-so-flavorful. And, with only five ingredients, it’s so easy to make!
Wait, let me back up a minute and say that this might not be my favorite slow cooker recipe. I’m kind of obsessed with these other slow cooker recipes:
I’ve been making this recipe once a week for a couple of months though, so I think it’s safe to say that it’s one of my favorites. It’s quickly become my go-to recipe when I give freezer meals as gifts. When you taste how delicious it is, you’ll know why.
I think what I love most about this slow cooker beef roast and carrots is how flavorful the beef and carrots become. My husband and I could easily eat a pound of the carrots between the two of us, and our three-year-old and baby love them. (Our four-year-old prefers raw carrots. She doesn’t know what she’s missing!)
Slow Cooker Beef Roast and Carrots
Yield: 6 servings 1x
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
Cook fresh or freeze to cook later. Serve with rice, biscuits, or a big side salad.
Ingredients
- 2-pound boneless beef chuck shoulder roast (No substitutions! This is the best cut of meat for the slow cooker!)
- 1–2 pounds carrots, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- one seasoning packet (We love the McCormick mesquite and chipotle seasonings) or 3 tablespoons of your favorite homemade seasoning mix (Like homemade taco seasoning. Yum!)
Directions
- Combine all ingredients in your slow cooker.
- Add lid, and cook on “low” setting for 8 hours until beef shreds easily with a fork.
To Freeze and Cook Later
Combine all ingredients in a gallon-sized plastic freezer bag. Remove as much air as possible and freeze for up to three months. When ready to eat, thaw overnight in refrigerator. Cook on “low” setting for 8 hours, or until meat easily pulls apart with a fork. Shred meat and serve.
This is a great recipe! I love your suggestions for freezing. I don’t do that often enough.
Freezing crockpot meals is THE BEST. Such a time-saver! 🙂
Do I coat the roast in the seasoning and oil…or just combine all ingredients and put roast on top? Thanks!
If you make it fresh, I would put the roast in the slow cooker first and then add everything else. If you freeze it first, I would add the carrots and everything else to the bag before the meat (so it’s the first ingredient dumped into the slow cooker). No need to coat the roast either way.
Are you supposed to use both mesquite and chipotle seasonings together?
I couldn’t find both of them in a packet, only the mesquite.
Really looking forward to trying this recipe!
Colleen, no you only need one packet so the mesquite will work perfectly! Let me know what you think.
Do you have the nutritional information for this recipe? Thanks!
Sorry, at this time I’m only able to provide nutritional info in my cookbook and freezer meal pro membership site.
This recipe reminds me of my mother, as she used to make this all the time when I was a child. Makes me feel at home!
Do you think that I can add potatoes to this without changing anything?
I don’t have a lot of luck with freezing raw potatoes or cooking them in the crockpot. If I were you, I’d cook them separately or add cooked rice to the crockpot while cooking.
What you can do is peel or leave peelings on and put them in the fridge overnight in cold water and threw them in the crock pot in the morning when you add the other ingredients…. I usually do this and they are fine….. 🙂
I think you could add potatoes when you put in the crock pot to cook.
I have made kind of this recipe forever. This is what I asked for my birthday dinner when I was small. But, you coat the roast in flour and sear all sides of it in the hot olive oil to hold in the juices. Add a little bit of water. Cover and simmer for an hour. Put carrots, potatoes, onions and seasonings in. Cook until meat falls apart.
I have found that the canned potatoes work best no fuss just drop them in
No always use fresh peeled potatoes and I have never had a problem
I’m about to throw this into the crockpot for the first time tomorrow morning. This is new to me, so I’m a little thrown by there not being any more liquid and want to make sure there wasn’t a mistake in the recipe. There is no need to add additional broth before cooking, like with the balsamic beef and carrots recipe?? Thanks!
No additional liquid needed. Hope you love the recipe, Lisa!
We had it for dinner tonight. Everyone loved it! I served it over frozen Quinoa/Kale mix we get at Costco. Thanks!
Yum. We buy the same mix and love it.
Lisa O Neal…surely it has to have some broth or water in it, I would read on the packet of seasoning she is saying to use, it should say on it how much to add to it to use it….I put about a cup in mine when I use the it for this roast.
Sue & Lisa – No additional liquid is needed!
I just made this recipe this evening. I also wondered about it going in so “dry.” However, you will end up with a lot of liquid as the fat cooks out of the meat.
My daughter made a crock pot freezer meal over the weekend and it had potatoes in it. She sliced them like scalloped potatoes and it came out delish! Just remember if you add potatoes is adding quite a bit of carbs, so if you’re trying to keep it healthier, you might want to consider using brown rice. But I’m with you, I love the potatoes!!
I add fresh potatoes the morning I put it in the crock pot. If you are worried about them cooking through you can use canned potatoes.
When you re-heat it for 8 hours, is this in the crock-pot again?
I’m not sure what you mean by “re-heat.” Whether I cook it immediately or freeze it for later, I only cook it once.
I think ilona read it as you cook it in the crock pot and then freeze it….then “re-heat” it again in the crock pot. I’m assuming this is what she meant because that is exactly how I read it the first time. When I went back over your instructions I realized you put all of this in the freezer and then when ready to cook that’s when it’s all done within 8 hours.
After freezing you aren’t adding any additional liquid to this to cook? Seems like it will be too dry to be in crock pot for 8-12 hours?
I’m sure it will depend on the size and strength of your crockpot, but I’ve made this recipe at least 20 times and it always turns out perfectly. Just cook it until the carrots are soft and the beef shreds easily with a fork.
Just pulled this out of freezer and made today……OH. MY. GOODNESS! YUMMY does not even begin to describe this! And there was plenty of liquid to cook in!
Yay! Thanks so much for letting me know. This is one of our faves too. 🙂
Your recipes sound so delicious. Here in germany the crockpot is not well known, so i’m searching for recipes on the internet. For how many persons are the recipes designed?
Typically 4-6. 🙂