OK, I just want to warn you that this recipe includes two of the Midwestern housewife’s pantry staples that most foodies seem to abhor: cream of ___ soup and dry onion soup mix. So if you are against such things, go ahead and just close this now before I get you too riled up. Because I’m going to use them, and I’m not going to apologize for it.
Now that I’ve got that out of the way! This is yet another homestyle meal that Teri taught me to make, and it’s so simple and easy! You may be scratching your head, wondering why I’m bothering sharing this recipe with you, because you’ve been making something similar since you lost your first tooth, but I’m hoping there are others out there who never learned how to make a delicious and tender roast. This is for you! And for those who know how to make a delicious and tender, yet complicated roast, and need a backup recipe for busy days.
Growing up, my mother never made a single pot roast. Which is weird, because it’s something her own mother made almost every time we visited. You how you grow up watching your Mother and thinking, “I’m never going to do that when I grow up?” Well, I think my Mom did that with her mother’s cooking. Because Grandma was all about the homestyle cookin’ and Mom was all about the weird healthy food. Bowls of lentils. Fish stew. Salad sprinkled with Spike in lieu of dressing, which was forbidden. Some of her food was delicious, like her chicken chili, but most of it I couldn’t tolerate, and that was probably the only reason I was thin as a child. I refused to eat most everything she served us for dinner. I think the school lunch program saved me from starvation. It’s so sad, because if I ate all those foods now, I know I’d love them. The stubborn ignorance of childhood!
Wow. Talk about getting off-subject. Let’s get back to the roast, shall we? As with anything cooked in a crockpot, the meat is rendered extremely tender during the slow-cooking process and the broth from the roast combines with the soup to make a nice gravy to coat everything. Teri recommends serving the roast with fresh bread and I chose to make rolls out of my favorite honey oatmeal bread, but would have gone with my favorite rolls of all time if I’d had milk. Any fresh bread will do the trick, though–you just need something to sop up the gravy! :)
Basic Crockpot Beef Roast
Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture
1 (3-5 lb) roast (Teri recommends one with fat marbled throughout for moisture)
Meat seasoning/butt rubb/seasoned salt to taste
1 (10.5 oz) can cream of mushroom soup
1 (10.5 oz) can cream of golden mushroom soup
1 (1 oz) envelope dry onion soup mix
2 lbs potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
1 lb bag baby carrots
8+ stalks of celery, trimmed and cut into thirds
Sprinkle meat with seasoning of choice and sear in a non-stick skillet over high heat on all sides. Meanwhile, place vegetables in bottom of crockpot. Once meat is seared, place on top of the vegetables. Spoon the soup over the top over the meat and veggies, then sprinkle the soup mix over that. Cover and set on low all day (about 8 hours).
Check it out yo! Remember the Fairy Hobmother who gave me a $50 gift card to buy a blender? Well, I decided I needed a new crockpot much worse than a new blender (my old one didn’t even have a knob and took two days to cook anything), and this roast was the first thing I made in it. I got the Hamilton Beach Set ‘n Forget 6-quart Programmable Slow Cooker. I’m in love! You can program it by setting it for a certain amount of time, or you can stick the thermometer probe through the top into the meat and program it to turn off once the meat comes to the right temperature, or you can put in on manual mode and just let it heat/warm until you turn it off. It even has a snap-tight lid, making it perfect for mess-free travelling, which would have come in handy when Teri put one of the roasts we made in her trunk and it fell over during transit onto her brand new Bible! She says she now has an official “preacher’s wife” Bible because it’s stained with pot roast juice. haha!
Did the Fairy Hobmother visit any of you guys? Do tell what you got!
Veronica's Cornucopia 
Funny, I used to use cream of __ soup and onion mix all the time and then I started blogging and all of a sudden I feel GUILTY posting a recipe with them! Same with velvetta. It’s like there is a “code” or something. Well, real people eat these things all the time and they make delicious meals so I’m perfectly fine with it!! I still keep a can of cream of mushroom and chicken in my cupboard but I admit, they’ve been up there for a long time. :-)
The roast looks awesome! Bet it smelled awesome cooking all day!
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Same here. I had this dread feeling of posting this recipe since it calls for those ingredients and I was like, “Whatever! People can love it or hate it but this is how I cook sometimes!” lol
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Yes! Pantry staples for sure…although I will admit to now stocking the reduced fat and cal varieties…but what would tuna noodle casserole be without the cream of _____ soup? lol I got a cookbook from my mom…a few weeks ago she visited Amish country, and it’s a recipe collection of ppl who work at a restaurant in Sugarcreek OH ( very amish!) Most of the names are Troyer or Yoder, so you get the picture. They use Cream of ____ soup and velvetta cheese in MOST of the recipes! So no need to feel guilty…hell, if the amish can use these midwest pantry staples…we all can!
The roast looks awesome. For me…it’s all about the gravy. Chuck Pot Roast is my youngest son’s most fav meal. What a great Crockpot! Mine is very old too! :)
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The Amish certainly keep things real! They aren’t ashamed of their processed ingredients so I won’t be either. :)
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Love your new crockpot! Nothing wrong with those ingredients to me either, I use them too. Heck, if it’s makes it easier and it tastes good, I see nothing wrong with it :) Your pot roast looks fantastic! This is one of J’s favorite meals too, I bet Dennis is all smiles while eating this!
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Dennis has been in HEAVEN lately with me cooking all these comfort foods. I like them but after one serving I’m done and he has to eat all the leftovers but he’s not complaining!
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What a great meal…I used to make sherry beef all the time with onion soup mix and cream of mushroom soup! So I know this must be delicious! And I’ve even more excited to try your oatmeal bread!!! It will be the next bread I bake :)
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I’ve never heard of sherry beef! I’ll check your blog for it.
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I agree. These are staples to many of my recipes, especially pot roast and stew/soup. Otherwise, it just isn’t pot roast without the wonderful flavors.
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Thanks Gerry, it’s nice to see that others are OK with these ingredients. I was worried! lol
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Hah! I’m glad you’re not apologizing. Sometimes easy recipes with a can of this and a can of that are just necessary in a woman’s life . . . though I’m all for fish stew and lentils as well, as you know. =) In fact, tomorrow I’m whipping up something with my “cheese product” friend Velveeta (I’m making PW’s Queso for our Bible study, along with 2 chess pies).
Viva la MidWestern Pot Roast!
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I wish I lived closer b/c I would totally invite myself over for queso and a Bible study!
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I make crock-pot roast all the time, but have never tried using the cream soup or dry onion soup mix! I feel like an idiot for not knowing people do that! I always use beef broth and fresh onions, but I’m definitely giving this a try next week. It looks awesome.
Also….I love your new crock pot! I have a bit of an obsession with them and have 4 of them in 3 different sizes. Shh. Don’t tell. :D
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Clearly you’re not from the Midwest-LOL! Let me know what you think of this as opposed to your usual roast. Girl, I have 4 now too, but two of them I really need to retire b/c they’re 20 years old and hardly working!
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Made this roast today and it was awesome! Everyone liked it. Thanks so much for posting it. I had several cans of cream of whatever soup in the cupboard and didn’t know what to use it on except to simmer pork chops in (which is wicked good, btw).
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Thanks for the feedback, glad it was family-approved! I never knew you could simmer pork chops in it. That stuff is pretty all-purpose!
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Love those ingredients… to tell you the truth, i use them alot. Theres something about the comfortness ( is that a word) of cream soups… this would go good with the Rosemary No Knead Bread.. ;)
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I know what you mean. Pretty much every recipe I’ve ever made that calls for creamed soup has been a winner and definitely comfort food. You make that bread, I’ll stick with a sweeter bread! :)
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What’s wrong with those ingredients? I guess I’m lost lol. I grew up eating that stuff and still use it. Can someone fill me in?
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I think they are frowned upon for a couple reasons. One, there are scary ingredients in prepared foods like this and some people don’t like to use foods that have ingredients in them that they can’t pronounce. Second, as food bloggers, we usually feel pressure to make everything completely from scratch because it’s kind of like cheating to make food with pre-packaged ingredients. But you know, that’s how I cook sometimes!
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Oh ho ho! No you didn’t! Haha! Since I’m really into “Mad Men” these days, I’ve been craving 1960s style pot roast and all those jell-o and new invention mixes recently. Strange what TV can do to you. But I love cream of mushroom soup! In Korea we have mixed packages of cream of corn soup which I absolutely loved as a kid.
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I can’t wait to make this tomorrow! :)
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First off…LOVE the recipe and can’t wait to try it…and like many others who have posted, I now have SERIOUS crock pot envy. But a question…I don’t think I’ve ever seen or heard of “cream of golden mushroom soup”. What’s the difference between that and the regular cream of mushroom soup? And am I just blind/ignorant and should expect to find it at any grocery story that carries those “cream of __ soups”?
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It is Campbells brand and should be right there by the cream of mushroom. It’s just a fancier soup and I haven’t tried it on its own so I don’t know if it tastes any different, but honestly, I only made it that way once, and then used two regular cream of mushroom on this one. It was still great! It’s not a requirement.
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This sounds great – I am in the process of making crockpot freezer meals and am wondering if I can do that with this – premix the soups and even the vegetables and throw it all in a freezer bag for another day ?
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Well I haven’t tried it so I really have no idea but it seems like it would work, right? Might be better to cut the roast up a bit before freezing bc it would take longer to cook frozen.
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do you put any water in this recipe? Just the canned soup and dry soup mix?
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Yes that’s right, no water at all. If you add water you won’t have the nice “gravy” it will be very watery.
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Do you have to sear it first?
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No, you can skip that if you like, but it does seem to make it overall a bit better!
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