French Onion Pot Roast

Ingredients you will need

Here is a quick snapshot of the ingredients you'll need. Scroll down to the recipe card where you'll find exact measurements.

Ingredient notes

• Chuck roast - your roast should be a deep red color with marbling or fat throughout the meat. I prefer to use a boneless but, but if you do have a bone it should be bright white in color. Meat that is grayish-brown in color tends to be older, and may have been sitting on your butchers shelf for a while.
• Onions - I like to use either Vidalia or red onions for this French onion pot roast recipe for better flavor.
• Red wine - choose your favorite! I use a pinot noir or cabernet sauvignon usually. If you don't want to use the wine that's just fine. It can be left out, and beef broth can be used to deglaze the pan.

How to make this

Step 1: Seasoning the meat

Pat your chuck roast dry, and then coat it in the Dijon mustard. Make sure you coat all sides really well with the mustard. The mustard will act as a binder for the soup mix, and will add an additional layer of flavor.

Next coat the chuck roast in the dry onion soup mix on all sides. Make sure to really pat it in, and then set aside.

Step 2: Prepping the pot roast for cooking

Preheat the Instant Dutch oven or Instant Pot on sear. Once preheated add a small amount of oil for frying. Add the seasoned chuck roast and sear all sides.

If the sear function gets to hot it can be toggled off and on. The cast iron in the Instant Dutch oven naturally retains heat really well so you may find yourself doing this.

Add the butter to the pot and scrape up the brown bits from the bottom. Since we used the dry onion soup mix for the seasoning there will be quite a bit of dried onion on the bottom. No worries since this will all come up as we continue to cook.

Once the butter has melted add the sliced onions. Cook for two minutes, and then cover with a lid or plate to "sweat" the onions. Once the 2-minutes are up remove the lid, and saute stirring until the onions have browned to your liking.

Add the celery and cook to soften slightly. Add in the garlic, and cook until fragrant or about 30 seconds. Add the red wine and reduce by half. Add in all the remaining seasonings.

Pour the beef broth in the pot or Dutch oven then add the meat back in.

Instant Dutch Oven - cook on manual mode 2 for three hours at 275-degrees. Flip halfway through cooking. You can add vegetables like baby potatoes or carrots at this stage. Throw in on the top, they do not need to be under the roast.

Instant Pot - Cook on high pressure for 90-minutes with a 15-minute natural pressure release. This will produce a roast that shreds easily. For a roast that is more sliceable cook on high pressure for 80-minutes then follow with a 15-minute natural pressure release. Once done, remove the roast to a platter. If you want to add vegetables add these into the broth and cook on high pressure for 10-minutes.

Slow cooker - cook for 8-10 hours in Instant Dutch oven. For a traditional slow cooker cooker for 8-10 hours on low. If adding vegetables be sure to put them in at the beginning of your cooking.