Printable recipe is at the bottom of this post. Cook along and visit with me by reading below or click here. to jump right to the printable recipe.
Y’all, I love me some pot roast. It’s one of my family’s favorite meals, too. For the most tender roast, I always use a slow cooker (known as crock pot to some) and a jar of my favorite store bought beef gravy. But there are a few additional tricks you can take advantage of to make that roast even MORE tender and add an extra little boost of flavor as well. Enter my Tuscany Pot Roast and Veggies.
The great thing? You don’t have to buy anything weird. Most of y’all reading this know exactly what I mean when I say that, too! 🙂
You’ll start with your traditional roast and veggie ingredients: Chuck Roast, Russet Potatoes, Carrots, Beef Gravy. Add in a packet of Italian Dressing Mix and some White Vinegar and we’ve just taken this up a notch.
What does the vinegar do? It helps to further tenderize the meat. Don’t worry, you won’t taste it in the roast.
A funny story about carrots: My sweet dog, Zoey, is part lab (I am assuming that may make a difference) and carrots are one of her favorite things IN THE WORLD. She gets so excited when I am in there peeling carrots because she knows I’m going to peel one just for her.
The funny part is that I have two little dogs (Sweetie and Pick) who absolutely hate carrots. But every time Zoey goes into the kitchen all excited, they get excited, too. Just watching her, they figure it must be something good. So Zoey sits there wagging her tail while she waits on her carrot and Sweetie and Pick sit right beside her, waiting just as anxiously for their mystery treat.
I hand Zoey a carrot, she snatches it an runs off, then I give each of the little dogs a piece of a carrot and they grab it up, then quickly spit it out, look at me like I am crazy, and lower their heads in disappointment as they leave the kitchen. I know they must be thinking “Again with the stupid carrots.”
On another note, my teenage son also loves carrots and cooked carrots are one of his favorite things so I usually double the amount I put in this roast because he will eat an entire plate of carrots alone. I find that kind of odd that a teenage boy loves cooked carrots so much, but I’m sure not questioning it!
Peel your carrots and potatoes and cut them up into bite sized chunks.
Place roast in bottom of slow cooker and put veggies on top.
Place gravy, vinegar, and dressing mix in small bowl and stir until mixed well.
Pour sauce over roast and veggies.
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
Printable recipe below!
I hope you get to make this soon. Keep me posted!
Ingredients
- 1 chuck roast 3.5-5 pounds
- 5-6 carrots cut into chunks
- 5-6 medium sized russet potatoes peeled and cubed
- 12 ounce jar beef gravy
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- 1 Packet Italian Dressing Mix
Instructions
- Place roast in 6 quart slow cooker. Add carrots and potatoes.
- In medium sized bowl, mix together beef gravy, white vinegar, and Italian dressing mix. Pour over roast. Cook for 8 hours on low.
- Remove roast and veggies to platter to serve.
Nutrition
Be sure and check out the motivational quote at the bottom of this post…. 😉 
Our two dogs love vegetables. Their teeth are a bit too bad to have them raw any more, though. I am going to qualify by saying our Dachshund will eat anything….he snagged a tiny piece of a Thai pepper that I dropped and that is basically the only thing I’ve ever seen him spit back out. They will go crazy for cauliflower, and they are pretty happy with broccoli, cucumber, apples are a fave, carrots, sweet potato, squash, banana -although our cockapoo sometimes needs the Dash to have his piece first as a motivator. We try to limit fruit because of the sugar, but veggies are fair game. When we feed our rabbits, the dogs are there mooching….when we feed the fish, the cat shows up (he’s a big, big fan of fish food).
Oh my goodness, I bet I would have spit the pepper out as well :-). Those things are HOT!
I love God’s timing of things and how we can see him even in the little things! I was fixin’ to make a pot roast for my dad and brother’s birthday this Friday and was going to use the typical cream of mushroom soup and French onion soup mix recipe that we have used for 40+ years. However, last night as I was mentally compiling my shopping list in lieu of counting sheep, I thought how nice it would be to have a special, fresh, & new recipe for a rather ordinary meal. Then I came to my e-mail and opened up your newsletter to find your recipe awaiting me!! I was so tickled, also, to see that particular gravy brand you use as this is the only one my dad likes, it reminds him of the gravy his mother used to make back in the 40’s!! Thanks, Christy, for being part of a “God Wink” for me! He makes us feel so special when he does little things like this, both for the recipient and for the one he works through! Blessings to you and thanks again!!
Oh my goodness, this just made my day!! I love God Winks and am now looking forward to Friday and hearing how y’alls celebration goes!!!
Hey Christy, could this be done in a pressure cooker. I treated myself to an 8qt. Instant Pot pressure cooker and really love it. I think I can use this in it but, may need to add abit more liquid.
Thanks, Bill
It sure could!
Throw in some fresh or frozen green peas or green beans for a few minutes at the end- looks pretty with the green and tastes great. We love some of those little tiny pearl onions (Birds Eye frozen) for the last half hour or so, too. Seems kind of fancy!
Thanks for sharing Jenny, great ideas!
My guide dog, who is an English lab, loves carrots and knows just what your zoe dog knows. She also loves apple too.
Oh my goodness, I had to look up what an English Lab looks like. Gorgeous dogs!!!
I just made this recipe yesterday and it was delicious and so very easy. This will be my go to recipe for now on when I’m craving roast.
I am so glad to hear you liked it!!!
I made this recipe and it is wonderful. Even the carrots ad potatoes have the best flavor. My husband loved it, too and I shared some with my brother and he said it was yummy and so tender. He said that is a keeper recipe and I agree.
I am so glad to hear it was a hit!! Thank you so much for giving it a try!!
Just threw this in the crock pot with pork and pork gravy I will let you know tonight how it is.
We made this a month ago but couldnt try it since our old crock pot decided to die with this meal in it.