Recipe for Upgraded Barbecued Pot Roast

By: Andrea Alden

A pot roast is comfort food at its finest when it comes to the cold and dark winter months. Whether it was Grandma’s pot roast or your Mom’s pot roast, it was always warm, inviting and delicious. Even if the potatoes were kind of weirdly bland and mushy. (Or was that just me?) It’s time to revive this delicious family staple and give it the upgrade that it deserves. Bring back cozy meals that comfort on cold days with this recipe for Upgraded Barbecued Pot Roast.

One of the first things you can do for your barbecued pot roast is give the meat an upgrade. What meat can you use for a pot roast? While chuck is the cut of choice in most recipes, using an eye of round roast will provide a sliceable roast beef meal, a sirloin roast (fancier) or beef short ribs (fanciest) can certainly add something sumptuous to the entire meal. Although, like chuck, they will fall apart or shred instead of slice.

Another way to add something a little more provocative is to caramelize the onions and mushrooms before closing everything in together. Finally, because we are using the infrared sear station to create the crust on the meat instead of creating a fond in the bottom of the dish, add the ultimate umami bomb to the beginnings of this pot roast with a little bit of anchovy paste.

A word about the internal temperature of a pot roast. Long and slow cooking is much like smoking in that it will help relax the collagen and melt the fat to make the meat more tender. You can look at this like a brisket where the meat (depending on the cut) will cook to a certain point of doneness however, you may benefit from actually cooking beyond that point to a temperature of around 205°F. This will likely leave the cut more shred-able than sliceable. Again it depends on the cut you use.

Prep Time

60 min

Cook Time

240 min

Yield

Difficulty

Easy

Recipe for Upgraded Barbecued Pot Roast

Ingredients

Method

Photos

Ingredients

4 lb.

chuck roast, sirloin roast or beef short ribs

Salt and pepper to taste

4 tbsp.

butter+ (you may need/want more)

2 large

yellow onions, thinly sliced

1 lb.

cremini, button or shitake mushrooms, sliced

2 heads

garlic

1 tbsp.

anchovy paste

8 to 10

carrots, peeled and cut

1½ cups

beef broth

1½ cups

cabernet sauvignon like Gnarly Head Cabernet Sauvignon

Fresh rosemary and thyme

Method

Before you begin, generously salt and pepper the meat you have chosen for this recipe. Set this aside for at least 45 minutes. You can rest it in the refrigerator or on the counter. For an even better crust on the meat when you sear it, salt and pepper the night before and rest the meat on a rack over a baking sheet or plate.
Learn more about how salt works here.
Place a dutch oven onto the grill and preheat to 325°F.
Prepare the onions, mushrooms and garlic. Slice the onions and mushrooms thinly. Cut off the top of the heads of garlic like you would if roasting it. Working in batches, caramelize the onions and mushrooms, removing them to a bowl so they don’t become crowded. Place the garlic, ¼ of the cut carrots and the anchovy paste into the bottom of the dutch oven and sear until the garlic is golden. Flip the garlic over and add the mushrooms and onions back in. Move the dutch oven off of direct heat – over unlit burners.
Preheat the infrared sear station side burner to high while doing the second-last batch of mushrooms/onions. Once hot, sear the meat on all sides until a deep crust forms.
Place the meat into the dutch oven, on top of the vegetables. Add the beef broth and cabernet. There should be enough liquid to cover 2/3 of the meat, leaving about 1/3 exposed. Insert a meat thermometer that can be left in the grill, put on the lid, close the barbecue and relax. The hard part is over.
Cook the roast between 2 and 3 hours. If you are cooking the eye of round or sirloin, you are aiming for a minimum internal temperature of 135°F when it is done. This would be equivalent of a medium roast. However, you can continue to cook for a temperature of up to 205°F which will give you a shredded/fall-apart texture. This also depends on the meat used, please review the notes at the top.
After cooking for a while, at least 2 hours, open things up and add in the carrots. Continue cooking for another 45 to 60 minutes or until the meat has reached your desired finished temperature.
Once you have added the carrots to the roast, it’s time to make the potatoes. Wash, peel and chop some potatoes, then boil them until they are fork-tender. Drain and mash with butter, cream, salt and pepper to taste. Mix in the sour cream and garnish with your favorite fresh herbs. Keep warm until you are ready to serve.
When it’s time, remove the dutch oven from the grill, carefully remove the meat to a board to rest for at least 10 minutes before slicing or shredding. Remove the carrots to a serving plate or bowl and cover.
You can use the braising liquid as an au jus or you can create a roux in a saucepan using equal parts butter and flour. Run the braising liquid through a sieve to separate out the onions and mushrooms. Remove and discard the carrots from the beginning of the recipe, reserving to serve the carrots that were put in later. Cook the butter and flour for a minute before whisking in small amounts of the braising liquid until you have a gravy of the perfect consistency.
Serve the meat, caramelized onions and mushrooms, and carrots over mashed potatoes with the gravy or jus.

Can you just imagine a calm and cozy night? Sitting down to eat a hearty and homecooked meal with your family as snow falls softly outside? Perhaps it’s after a day of tobogganing or after a movie marathon. Either way, this Upgraded Barbecue Pot Roast recipe will become a family dinner staple. What other home-cooked recipes have become family favorites? Share your recipes, photos and stories on our social pages like Facebook and Instagram, using the hashtags #NapoleonEats and #NapoleonGrills.

Happy Grilling!

Andrea Alden

I used to be the Sultana of Sizzle, but you can call me Andrea. I have always been passionate about food. Even though I was majoring in Art and Graphic Design, I would frequently be found cooking for my friends and family.