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Cider Braised Pot Roast with Crispy Sage Butter Potatoes. Slow-cooked beef pot roast with caramelized onions, shallots, apple butter, wine, and fresh thyme. If there’s one comforting fall and winter meal you need to be making, it’s this pot roast. Serve it alongside extra crispy sage brown butter smashed potatoes. This is a one-pot roast and potato dinner that’s the easiest dish you’ll make all week. And also one of the most delicious. A quintessential family dinner for a cold night in. Time to cozy up!
Believe it or not, this is only the second pot roast recipe I’ve shared on this site. Cranberry pot roast is the other. Shockingly, this is my favorite recipe I’ve shared in a while. I’ll share why below, but I really can’t wait to dive into more roast recipes over the next couple of months. Family-style dinners like this one-pot, pot roast are perfect for this busy time of year. Not to mention, they’re great for entertaining.
As a lot of you know, I love to cook the most for the people around me. When my oldest brother suggested a pot roast, I turned my head far away from the idea. But after some begging on his end, I caved and I’m the one who is most happy about it.
This recipe is not only mouth-watering, comforting, and delicious, it makes getting a slow-cooked dinner on the table almost effortless.
Once I decided I was committed to making a pot roast recipe, I also committed to making it the simplest recipe it could be.
I didn’t want to mess with anything fussy. The beauty of a pot roast is, of course, its simplicity. My goal was no fuss yet crazy delicious.
What started out as a recipe I wasn’t sure I wanted to do, ended up being one I’m most excited to share!
It wasn’t easy to capture all the deliciousness of this pot roast but I did my best. The recipe is so yummy!
Step 1: season the pot roast
Before you begin, season the roast well with salt and pepper. Then rub the roast all over with flour.
The flour will thicken the gravy over time so don’t skip it. If needed, feel free to use gluten-free flour.
Step 2: the onions
Now that you took care of the pot roast, start the onions. The key here is to slice them and use A LOT.
Toss the onions in a large Dutch oven that you can transfer to the oven. Let them cook along with the shallots in a little butter. You just want to get the cooking started but don’t fully cook the onions.
Step 3: roast the pot roast
The rest of this process is so easy. Put the roast on top of the onions and rub the top of the pot roast with apple butter.
You can use homemade or store-bought apple butter. The apple butter is important. It adds a sweet, spiced autumn touch that’s delicious with all the onions and shallots. The apple butter will also help the roast caramelize in the oven. It’s wonderful.
Pour over the apple cider, add the wine, or feel free to use bone or chicken broth. Then add fresh thyme.
I chose not to sear the pot roast. It cooks beautifully in the oven atop the onions and I found it to be perfect.
Step 4: the potatoes
Before you slide the pot roast into the oven, place 6 to 8 small to medium potatoes around the pot roast. I love to use buttery Yukon gold potatoes, but use your favorite, or what you have on hand.
Cover the pot roast, and start cooking. If you’re using the oven, this takes around three hours.
The potatoes cook at the very same time, and all in one pot! Woohoo!
Step 5: finish the potatoes
I will not deny it, these potatoes are reason enough to make this recipe. Because they’re slow-cooked in with the cider, their flavor and texture are most delicious.
Pull the potatoes off the roast and place them onto a baking sheet. Smash them down with a potato masher. Add pats of butter on and around the potatoes, then garlic powder and fresh sage.
Roast the smashed potatoes until they are very crispy. The butter naturally browns around each potato. It’s almost magical and most definitely the yummiest!!
Step 6: finish the roast
While the potatoes cook, cook the pot roast. This time leave uncovered until the roast is deeply caramelized on top. The potatoes and pot roast will both be ready around the same time!
Step 7: serve and enjoy
Finally, serve the roast, which should be tender and falling apart into the gravy and onions in the pot.
Serve up those crispy salty potatoes on the side.
The most perfect family dinner, so hands off too.
Of course, I served this with beer bread and a big salad! Great for Sunday nights all fall and winter long.
I know I already said this, but this really is my favorite recipe right now. It’s so effortless and the potatoes really make the recipe perfect. I’m so excited for you all to make this soon!!
Lastly, if you make this Cider Braised Pot Roast with Crispy Sage Butter Potatoes, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Dumb question.. should the potatoes be peeled? Thanks!
This recipe made me feel like I could cook again. Been in survival mode too long, and I really thought I couldn’t cook anymore (other than boring go-to’s). This was the best pot roast I’ve ever had, and the family agreed!
Taking the lid off in the end to crisp it up is a brilliant move, and the potatoes are a wee bit more work in the end, but totally worth it.
Onions don’t love me back, so next time I may try using root vegetables and leeks instead of the sliced onions (which is a shame bc they caramelize and melt into the beef, which is absolutely delicious)!
This will become a new family (non-boring) staple!
Wow! Thank you SO much! this is such a sweet comment! I really appreciate it! xT
I did this recipe for the first time today and it was amazing! I used my husbands homemade apple pie moonshine instead of apple cider and it turned out really great. The store was out of regular apple butter so I used pecan apple butter and it tasted just fine: Made gravy from the drippings. Thank you for the recipe!
Hi Abbie! Thank you so much for trying out the recipe and leaving a comment! Have a wonderful week! xT
If you wanted to add veggies like cauliflower or carrots when would be the best time to add to the roast pot?
Hi there! I would probably add with about 40 mins left in the cook time! xT
Has anyone made this using crockpot recipe? Still just as good as using the Dutch oven? Could I take the meat out of the crockpot and put in the oven on 425 at the end to still get the caramelized effect?
I also wondered this! I’m currently making mine in the crockpot. the “gravy” is not thickening and it has a very strong apple cider flavor at the moment. Not sure how to remedy that or if the recipe should mostly taste like apple cider.
Let me know how it turns out! 🙂
Thanks!
Best pot roast I’ve made! My husband and I loved this.
Thank you so much Katie! xT
Great rich flavor! Loved this recipe!
Thanks so much for trying out the recipe! Love to hear you enjoyed it! xT
Delicious! Had fig butter, so that’s what I used. 1/2 cup red wine with 1.5 cups Chicken broth. Potatoes were slightly sweet and salty. Onions added another layer of flavor. So, so good. Hubby loved this! Sent the recipe to all my kids! 🙂
Thanks so much for trying out the recipe! Love to hear you enjoyed it! xT
Absolutely delicious !! I’ve never made a roast before but was blown away by all the flavours in this roast. The onions are wonderful on their own, they hold so much flavour and the meat turned out so tender with a sweetness. the potatoes surpirsed me, they turned out sweet yet savory and crunchy. This is defenitely something I would make if I have company coming over!
Hey Ashley! Thanks so much for trying out the recipe! Love to hear you enjoyed it! xT
Excellent! This got rave reviews. My daughter who rarely eats meat had seconds. I made a few mistakes. I didn’t flour the roast. It didn’t matter. I didn’t have apple butter. I made a little of my own using some of the apple cider, brown sugar, cinnamon. This was a huge hit with no leftovers.
Hi! I’m so so glad you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for trying it out! xT
This was delicious.
We try to keep our consumption of beef to a minimum, so when I do cook beef, I want it to be very tasty. I loved the apple cider idea. I made my own cider (first for me) because I had so many apples from my tree this year and I used applesauce instead of apple butter to coat the beef.
I would definitely make this again.
Hey Lisa! Thank you so much for trying the recipe out! Love to hear that it was enjoyed! 🙂 xT
I don’t have a Dutch oven- would an iron skillet or a deep oven safe sauce pan work?
Excited to try this!!
Hi! I’m hoping to try this tonight but I accidentally only bought a two pound roast. Should I make any adjustments? Thanks in advance!
Hi Sara! I would just cut down the cooking time a bit and keep an eye on the roast so it doesn’t overcook! xT
Could I make this in a crockpot? If so, how long?
there are crockpot instructions! 🙂
Hey Megan! There are crockpot directions included with the recipe! 🙂 xT
Hi, love your site & have your cookbook. I too add apple cider to MANY recipes…. such as soups [Butternut squash and Lentil for 2 examples.]
I have to ask why you don’t brown the meat first? It adds so much flavor to the recipe, I think. My best, Nancy
Hi Nancy! Yes, you can absolutely brown the meat first if you’d like! xT