Bone Broth Beef Pot Roast

The Braise That Makes Its Own Gravy

A pot roast braised in bone broth rather than stock produces a sauce that thickens on its own as the collagen reduces — no flour, no cornflour, nothing added. Chuck is the right cut because its connective tissue is exactly what breaks down into that silky texture. Sear it hard, keep the oven low, and resist the urge to lift the lid.

Ingredients

Serves 4  |  Cost: $8.25 per serving  |  Total: $33.00  |  Ready in 60 min

• 1.2 kg (2¾ lb) grass-fed beef chuck roast
• 2 tablespoons beef tallow
• 750 ml (3 cups) beef bone broth
• 4 carrots, cut into large chunks
• 3 celery stalks, cut into large chunks
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• Sea salt and black pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Season and sear. Preheat the oven to 160°C (325°F). Pat the chuck completely dry and season heavily on all sides. Heat the tallow in a heavy casserole over high heat and sear the roast for 4 minutes per side until deeply browned all over.
2. Build the braising liquid. Lift out the meat. Add the tomato paste to the pot and cook for 1 minute, then pour in the bone broth and vinegar, scraping up every browned bit from the base with a wooden spoon.
3. Assemble the braise. Return the roast to the pot, tuck the carrots and celery around it, and add the thyme sprigs and bay leaves. The liquid should come roughly halfway up the meat.
4. Braise low. Cover tightly and transfer to the oven for 3 hours, turning the roast once at the halfway point. It is ready when a fork twists in the meat with no resistance at all.
5. Rest and finish. Rest the roast for 15 minutes before pulling it into large pieces. Skim any excess fat from the surface of the braising liquid, taste for salt, and spoon it generously over the meat and vegetables.

Nutritional & Dietary Notes

Dairy-Free

There is no milk, cream, butter or cheese in this recipe. Richness comes from the meat, the cooking fat and the aromatics rather than from dairy, which makes it a comfortable choice for anyone who is lactose intolerant or avoiding dairy altogether.

Gluten-Free

Every ingredient in this recipe is naturally free from wheat, barley and rye. If you are cooking for someone with coeliac disease, double-check any stock, sauce or spice blend you buy in, as gluten-containing thickeners and malt derivatives are common hidden additions in commercial products.

Paleo

This recipe sticks to whole, unprocessed ingredients: quality meat, vegetables, herbs, natural fats and spices. There are no grains, legumes, refined sugars or industrial seed oils, so it fits cleanly within a paleo framework.

Featured HOTRO.ca Product

This recipe is built around Grass-Fed Chuck Roast from HOTRO.ca. We source premium BC-raised and ethically farmed meats and slow-simmered bone broth, so the quality of the core ingredient does most of the work for you. Substituting a lesser product will change the result more than any other single change you could make to this recipe.

Grass-fed chuck braised in beef bone broth with carrots, celery and thyme until fork-tender.