The Only 3 Ingredients You Need For An Easy Slow Cooker Pot Roast

After a long day at work or a fun Saturday spent apple picking and enjoying fall foliage, nothing hits the spot like a warm, comforting pot roast. While some tips for making delicious pot roast involve obscure spices and extra effort, the only three ingredients you need for this easy, pared-down version are a beef roast, a can of cream of mushroom soup, and an envelope of onion soup mix. The secret to this recipe's simplicity and tenderness is the slow cooker. Using low heat over several hours, the slow cooker transforms the beef into a fall-apart tender meal without requiring your attention, making it easy to prepare this dish in the morning, forget about it, and enjoy it for dinner.

To keep the process even more fuss-free, skip making your own traditional gravy. Instead, use the cream of mushroom soup and onion soup mix to coat the roast with savory, salty flavors that mingle beautifully with the meat's natural juices to create a rich, flavorful sauce.

Apart from being incredibly easy, this three-ingredient recipe is far more flavorful than the sum of its parts. It's also an affordable way to feed a crowd, and you can impress guests by pairing your pot roast with tasty sides like fresh arugula salad and cheesy garlic bread. Leftovers are ideal for making succulent sandwiches and hearty pasta dishes if you're cooking for the week ahead. 

While this simple three-ingredient recipe makes a beautifully tender beef roast, it leaves out the traditional pot roast vegetables. Because they create a hot, moist environment over a long period, slow cookers make perfect caramelized onions. But adding potatoes and carrots to a slow cooker pot roast can cause them to fall apart and turn to mush. Roasting the vegetables separately is an option, but that takes away from the appeal of an effortless, comforting one-pot meal.

A better approach is to pile the vegetables on top of the meat so they soak up flavor from the mushroom and onion soup mix without absorbing too much moisture. Choose medium or small carrots and potatoes and leave them whole, and cut celery ribs in half instead of dicing them. This helps the vegetables hold their shape and keeps the recipe simple. Just be sure to scrub everything well before arranging it evenly over the roast.

For added flavor, drizzle the vegetables with a bit of fat (olive oil or melted butter both work) and season with salt and pepper. You can also reserve some onion soup mix to sprinkle over them, which ties the flavors together and ensures the vegetables taste as rich as the roast itself.