pot roast with bacon and bok choy
I love a good comfort meal—especially in these colder months. And, to me, pot roast is just that—comfort in the form of tender meat and vegetables, covered in gravy.
The meat I use in the recipe—eye of round—is leaner than the typical chuck roast used in most recipes—but when it’s cooked slowly, I think it’s absolutely delicious. Add that with bacon and the refreshing texture of the cabbage/bok choy (in addition to the heartiness of the potatoes and carrots) makes for a winning plate of food. This is not a quick recipe—it definitely takes time. You’d need about 5 hours out of your day to make this—however, I think it’s well worth the effort. If you cook this for family, friends, loved ones—they’ll love you even more :)
Ingredients:
For 8-9 servings
3 pounds of beef eye of round (in a lot of recipes you’ll see people use chuck roast—this has more fat weaved/marbled in, and yes you can use it for this recipe)
4 cups of low sodium beef broth—this is IMPORTANT—if it’s regular sodium, this will turn into a salt bomb
2 white onions, roughly chopped (I cut mine into eighths)
8 baby potatoes (I used the white kind, but red and yellow/gold work too), quartered
4 carrots, cut into 2½ inch pieces (if you use the bunch carrots, they tend to be smaller/slimmer, so you’ll need a couple more)
4-5 bunches of mini bok choy, or the larger version (cut into smaller pieces), cut at the bottom, so the leaves are separated
4-5 slices of bacon, chopped (this depends on the thickness of the bacon—if it’s regular (thin sliced), then 5 slices
A dozen sprigs of thyme
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar
½ teaspoon of celery salt
¼ teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of corn starch
To cook everything, you will need a dutch oven or a very large pot with a lid
My dutch oven that I use to make pot roast. These things can be pricy, e.g. Staub brand for $400 all the way to $800 if it has copper, but the one I purchased/use is the Amazon brand—it’s at a much lower price point ($50)—and I think it’s a solid piece of cookware. I’ve made some great meals with it.
The beef.
Potatoes. For this recipe I used eight mini/baby potatoes and quartered them—if you want dimensions if you’re cutting up full-size potatoes: (length. width. height.) about 1 ½“ x 1 ½“ x 1”
Directions:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees
If there is an excess layer of fat on the outside of the meat—trim and cut this
Mix the celery salt and salt together; coat the outside of the meat with this mixture, ensuring you’ve covered all of the sides with it
The salt mixture. I use celery salt to give the celery flavor without having to include actual stalks of celery—let’s be real—do you ever see anyone digging into the celery from pot roast? Exactly.
Place your dutch oven on the stove on medium high heat
Cook bacon in the dutch oven for about a minute and half to 2 minutes, until the fat is released
Sear the meat on the top and bottom for about three minutes on both sides (don’t worry about clearing the bacon away during this process—keep it wherever it lands)
Next in, this order, add the onions, thyme, garlic powder, vinegar and beef broth; make sure the to distribute everything as evenly as possible
Cover with the lid of the dutch oven for 3-4 minutes
Lift the lid (be careful it’s hot_—you should see the broth bubbling
Turn off the heat on the stove top and place you dutch oven, with the lid on, in the oven; cook like this for about 2 hours and 45 minutes at 300 degrees
While the meat is in the oven, cut your potatoes, carrots and bok choy
In a large plastic bag, add the cornstarch and the potatoes. Shake until the corn starch has evenly coated the potatoes
Coat the potatoes—this is what will help thicken the sauce and make a gravy for the pot roast
After the 2 hours and 45 minutes of cooking—add the potatoes and carrots; make sure you take a spoon or ladle and dunk all of the potatoes into the broth
Cook, with the lid on, in the oven, for another 1 hour
Add the bok choy; then cook, with the lid on for an additional ten minutes
With a fork, shred the meat into smaller pieces before serving
Plate with your vegetables, and gravy. Enjoy!
