Slow cooker Tex-Mex pot roast recipe
What goes around, really does come around. Pot roast went around almost every weekend when I was growing up in the 1950s. It was inexpensive and easy to cook, and working moms like mine had time on the weekends to do the long cooking a good pot roast requires. Today the chuck roast I used for this Tex-Mex pot roast remains an economical cut of beef. Instead of spending hours tending a pot in the oven, I spend ten minutes prepping ingredients that go into my slow cooker, which makes it easy to have pot roast on a workday or weekend. Traditional flavorings for pot roast often include tomato and onions, with Italian herbs and spices; this version starts with tomato and onions, too, and then goes Southwest with cumin, chili powder, and canned green chile peppers. (Don't be afraid of the chile peppers. They mellow with the long cooking time.) Serve this with rice or noodles, or shred the meat and fill a taco or burrito. I promise this will become a family favorite that goes around for years to come.
Slow cooker Tex-Mex pot roast
From the pantry, you'll need: onion, Ro*Tel, canned green chiles, ground cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper.
Serves 6-8.
Ingredients
4 lb chuck roast
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp mild chili powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp fresh black pepper
1 medium onion, peeled and quartered
1 14-oz can Ro*Tel (or diced tomatoes with green chiles)
4-oz can diced green chiles (use half for a milder sauce)
Directions
Trim the roast to remove the largest pieces of fat. You'll end up with several big chunks of meat, a total of 3-1/2 pounds or so. Place the meat in a large mixing bowl.
In a small bowl, combine the cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper. Rub this mixture on all sides of the meat.
Heat a large, deep, nonstick frying pan. Over medium heat, brown the pieces of beef on all sides (in batches, if necessary).
Place the onion in the base of a 4-quart slow cooker. Top with the browned beef. Pour the can of Ro*Tel into the frying pan, and with a rubber spatula, scrape up the brown bits from the pan (using the liquid from the Ro*Tel to deglaze the pan). Pour the Ro*Tel into the slow cooker, along with the can of green chiles.
Cook on LOW for 7 hours. The meat will be falling-apart tender. Remove it to a casserole or deep-sided platter, along with enough of the cooking liquid to almost cover. Serve hot, over noodles or shredded in a taco or burrito, or allow to cool completely and refrigerate or freeze.
More recipes in The Perfect Pantry:
Slow-cooked beef and green chile stew
Beef, ale and onion stew
Grandma's beef brisket in the slow cooker
Oven-braised apple cider brisket
Beef stew
Other recipes that use these pantry ingredients:
Balsamic and onion pot roast, from Kalyn's Kitchen
Roasted Hatch chile stew with sweet potato, corn and lime, from Gluten-free Goddess
Italian pot roast, from Simply Recipes
Green chile steak melt panini, from Panini Happy
Sweet and savory CrockPot pot roast, from A Year of Slow Cooking
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I think Ro-Tel tomatoes are magic in a can and I've never added them to a pot roast before. What a great recipe. Pot roast used to be a Sunday fave in our house. I need to make this!
This is already making my mouth water! I love this kicked up Texas version of a classic!
Oh yes, this does sound like a definite repeater!
Kelly, Ro-Tel only made it to Rhode Island a few years ago (can you believe it?), so to me they are still a revelation!
TW, what I love about this is that it freezes so well. We got several meals out of it.
Kalyn, oh yes oh yes!
I do this with tri-tip. So good!
I had never heard of Ro-Tel tomatoes until I was in New Orleans a while back and a host family used it in their gumbo. This pot roast looks like pure comfort food, love the simplicity of the recipe.
Stacey, I wish we could get tri-tip here in the Northeast. It's not a very common cut here, and I don't really know why.
Jeanette, our local New England company, Pastene, sells tomatoes with diced green chiles, and that's what I used to use before Ro-Tel came to town. I'm glad to be able to get the real thing, and my supermarket now carries the hot pepper variety, too.
OH my what a great idea!!! served over rice and black beans...wonderful! Ro-Tel is genius!
Thanks for the tex mex slow cooker pot roast recipe. This seems like a great delicious and easy meal idea.
Lydia, if I don't use a slow cooker, how long would you cook it in a dutch oven in the oven? I would guess about three to four hours at 300 degrees? Thoughts?
Carol, isn't it nice that Ro-Tel has come to the Northeast?!
Nicholas, enjoy!
Ileen, I've never made this exact recipe in the oven, but as a rule, I'd say 3-1/2 to 4 hours (depending on the quantity of meat), at even lower temperature, 275 or even 250F, in a Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid.
Made this for dinner and it was SO good! I served it as tacos with refried beans, guac and a really tasty salsa! My son, who is not a beef eater, really enjoyed the flavor and told me I can make it again. My crockpot needed at least 8 hours on low to cook up. Thanks Lydia,
Can the entire recipe be made in advance (the night before) and just turned on in the morning? I have limited time in the morning but want to make sure I can still brown the meat and deglaze ahead of time.
Kathleen, you can prep the recipe in advance, but do not leave the food in the slow cooker overnight! You can prep all of the ingredients and transfer them to a container in the refrigerator overnight (let the browned meat cool before chilling it), then dump everything in the slow cooker in the morning. BUT it is much safer to assemble the dish in the morning, even if it means skipping the step of browning the meat and deglazing the pan. Just place all of the ingredients in the slow cooker at once; the taste won't quite be the same, but it should be good.