Mom's Pot Roast

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Pot roast is the ultimate comfort food. My mom made it many times when I was growing up, it was probably on the menu a couple of times a month. Making a pot roast meal is pretty simple:, potatoes and carrots, perhaps. And, leftovers are always a hit too, whether they be pot roast sandwiches or just heated up the next day.

Most Amish cooks have access to their own home-butchered beef, and a cut of meat that can be used as a pot roast is prized. There are almost as many different ways for preparing a pot roast as there are for making meatloaf or a breakfast casserole. They are just so many different ways you can do it. Yet at their core, they are basically the same. This is about the best pot roast recipe.

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• 🍖 Mom's Pot Roast
• 📋 Instructions
• 🍖 More Amish Pot Roast Recipes
• 🖨️ Full Recipe

The key is you want to cook it long enough to make it nice and tender so it is melt-in-your-mouth fork tender.  Most Amish cooks will just make their pot roast in the oven, of course, because they don’t have electricity. There are some Amish groups, though, that do have electricity, and slow cookers are catching on. So it’s not a completely foreign concept. Also, different Mennonite and German Baptist groups and Hutterites use slow cookers (Crock Pots). So, my point is you can, if you want, use an electric slow cooker on a recipe like this and still remain on the periphery of the Plain traditions!

This recipe comes to us from Marlene Petersheim, an Amish woman in Ohio who has 8 children and she is always trying to make easy, tasty recipes for her family and this is one of her favorites. Her children just call it "Mom's Pot Roast." So, enjoy!

First, you rub in the flour and salt and pepper well.

Brown or the sear the meat and onions over medium-high or medium heat. You can add other vegetables to this meal. Garlic, fresh thyme, other herbs, like rosemary and bay leaves, and black pepper adds a good flavor too. Onion salt and garlic powder are also old favorites to add some zing to a pot roast. Just depends on the tastes of people eating the meal. Of course, you can never go wrong with a pour or a splash of red wine to let it simmer in either.

Then stick it in the oven for a good 3 hours at 350, pair it with a dinner roll, like in the photo below. Cover it foil to keep from splattering. A large dutch oven can be used for cooking too. My Grandma would always eat bread with butter and use it to soak up the liquid, beef broth, and gravy around the roast.. But a nice salad or corn on the cob this time of year would also be a nice accompaniment.

And after 3 hours you get a juicy, tender, fall-off-your-fork mish-mash of potatoes and carrots. Some diced celery adds some crunch. My Mom would use a rump roast or a beef chuck roast for this. Drizzle a little a olive oil on the potatoes. The prep time for this recipe is minimal, making for a lower total time to make the meal. Of course, you can use whatever substitutions or additions you want in the below beef roast recipe. This recipe is a great source of protein and will give you the calories for the day.

🍖 Mom's Pot Roast

• 3 ½ pounds rump or chuck
• 1 onion
• 1 ½ teaspoon salt
• ⅛ teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons fat
• ½ cup hot tomato juice or water

📋 Instructions

1. Rub Salt and pepper into meat and dip in flour.
2. Brown meat and onion in 2 tablespoons fat until seared on all side
3. Place meat in casserole, Dutch Oven, or electric skillet.
4. Add hot tomato juice or water.
5. Cover and bake at 350 for 3 hours.

🍖 More Amish Pot Roast Recipes

Best-Ever Amish Pot Roast - This recipe has a little bit more in it, but, again, just another variation of many.

Mouth-Watering Sunday Pot Roast - Another variation!

Pot Roast Meat Loaf - A combination of two favorites!

🖨️ Full Recipe