Here are the hottest pot roast with cream of mushroom soup and red wine articles edited and compiled by Family Cuisine

A hearty comfort meal the whole family can enjoy, this Pot Roast is an easy crowd-pleaser on a cold winter night.

Originally Posted: Jan. 19, 2022

Plated pot roast and sides — Some Pot Roast and Mushroom Gravy served with/over Yukon Gold mashed potatoes and a simple spinach salad.

Total Time: 4 hours

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Table of Contents

Intro

This recipe for Pot Roast with Mushroom Gravy is a family favorite; my mom has been making it this way for at least 40 years, changing and improving upon it over time. Perfect for when you find chuck roast or similar roast cuts on sale.

This version came from my mom and I combining some pot roast braising techniques I’ve experimented with over the years with her (already very tasty) tried and true method. The main additions were red wine and beef broth.

I’ve also included multiple methods for cooking this pot roast. To start, there’s a basic Oven-Braising method using a skillet to sear and a baking dish to braise (so far, this produces our favorite results). There’s a Dutch Oven method that is almost identical, but cuts down on how many cooking implements you need to use. For ease of cooking on a weeknight, I’ve also included a Slow Cooker version and an Instant Pot version.

Note: You can easily use a can of premade cream of mushroom soup instead of making your own, but ever since my mom learned how easy it was to make her own, she’s never gone back. Either way, you add a packet of powdered onion soup mix to it.

Brief History of the Braising Technique

Braising has long been a cooking technique used to tenderize and break down tougher, cheaper cuts of meat. At its most basic, braising is a combination cooking technique where you sear the outside of meat at high temperatures and then simmer it low and slow for several hours in an amount of liquid. This slow cooking breaks down connective tissues in the meats such as collagen into softer compounds like gelatin.

Famous examples of braising include coq au vin, beef bourguignon, osso bucco, braised oxtail, and Asian-style braised pork belly.

Ingredients

For Meat

4 lb. – 7.5 lb. Chuck Roast or similar cut (the amount depends on how many people you’re cooking for, and I’d suggest ½ – 2/3 lb. minimum per person).
Cooking Oil
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 cup Red Wine
1 cup Beef Broth

Homemade wine used for deglazing — Any red wine will do for this recipe, but for fun we used some homemade merlot from a wine kit that my sister and her boyfriend got me for Christmas in 2020.

For Cream of Mushroom Gravy

12oz. Shiitake Mushrooms, sliced
12 oz. Mini Portabella Mushrooms, slices
Small Shallot, minced (can substitute 6 – 8 sliced Green Onions)
½ cup Butter
7-½ Tbsp. Flour
Salt & Pepper, to taste
1-½ cups Broth mixture from the meat (or your choice of broth)
1-½ cup Milk
2 cubes Chicken Bouillon
1 packet Lipton Powdered Onion Soup Mix

Equipment

Oven-Braised Method

Skillet
Baking Pan with walls
Secondary Baking Pan (optional, we used an oven-safe Pyrex one for the final 30 minutes and for serving)
Pot, for mushroom soup (if making from scratch; could just use the skillet if it’s big enough)

Dutch Oven Method

Note: Same as Oven-Braised method, except you’re using a single Dutch Oven in place of the skillet and baking pan above.

Large Dutch Oven
Pot, for mushroom soup

Slow Cooker Method

Skillet
Slow Cooker
Pot, for mushroom soup (if making from scratch; could just use the skillet if it’s big enough)

Instant Pot Method

Instant Pot (8 quart model)
Pot for mushroom soup (if making from scratch)
Glass Lid for Instant Pot (optional, but nice to have for the finishing touches)

Written Instructions

Oven Cooking Methods

Basic Oven-Braised Method

Total Time: 4 hours

Prepping Meat

Preheat oven to 325°F (163°C).

Sprinkle your meat generously with salt and pepper. With big cuts of meat, it’s a good idea to use more salt than you think you’ll need; it’s going to penetrate the meat through osmosis. Preheat a skillet to a good searing heat (400°F+/204°C+) and sear your meat on all sides to brown it, using tongs or forks to flip it around to get all the sides.

Searing chuck roast — We ended up chopping the thicker of our two chuck roasts in half to sear because we weren’t sure if it had thawed all the way through. The bonus to doing that is that more surface area gets browned, which increases the flavor of the finished meat.

Braising

Set meat aside, then add 1 cup of red wine to deglaze the pan: use a stiff spatula or wooden spoon to stir the bits of meat stuck to the pan into the wine. This mixture is called fond, and it’s full of flavor. Pour fond over the meat in the baking pan, then add 1 cup of beef broth. Cover baking pan with foil and place in oven. We’re going to keep it in there until the meat is fork-tender and easily shred-able, which in our case took between 3.5 and 4 hours.

Skillet before deglazing — The red wine allowed us to scrape off the brown bits stuck on the skillet, adding their flavor to the liquid. We then poured the mixture over the meat and added a cup of beef broth, then covered in foil and placed in the preheated oven.

Deglazing with red wine — The red wine allowed us to scrape off the brown bits stuck on the skillet, adding their flavor to the liquid. We then poured the mixture over the meat and added a cup of beef broth, then covered in foil and placed in the preheated oven.

Testing for fork-tenderness — This was our first time checking how tender the meat was getting. Look at how much the liquid has increased!

Cream of Mushroom Gravy

For most of this recipe’s ~40 years of existence, my mom just added a can of premade cream of mushroom soup and a packet of powdered onion soup mix to the pot roast after it’d been shredded. However, beginning a few years ago she began making her own from scratch, and she hasn’t looked back. You can use either method, depending on how much time and energy you have.

Prepping shiitake mushrooms for gravy — Take the stems off the shiitakes, then slice all the mushrooms. Mince your shallot (or slice your green onions, as is the case here).

Stemless shiitake mushrooms — Take the stems off the shiitakes, then slice all the mushrooms. Mince your shallot (or slice your green onions, as is the case here).

Sautéing green onions for gravy — Melt the butter, then sauté the shallot (or onions) and the mushrooms.

Sautéing mushrooms for gravy — Melt the butter, then sauté the shallot (or onions) and the mushrooms.

About 3 hours into the oven time, begin prepping your mushrooms. Take the stems off the shiitake mushrooms and then slice those and the “mini bella” mushrooms. Melt ½ cup of butter in a pot or large skillet, then add minced shallot (or sliced green onions) and sliced mushrooms. Sautee for a few minutes until veggies start to sweat and brown, then add 7-½ Tbsp. of flour and stir so that everything’s coated.

Taking broth from pot roast for gravy — Take the pot roast out of the oven and use a turkey baster to remove some of the broth/drippings. We used this fat separator thing (middle picture), but since we added more liquid than my mom usually does, she noted that there wasn’t as much fat to separate as usual.

Pot roast drippings in a separator — Take the pot roast out of the oven and use a turkey baster to remove some of the broth/drippings. We used this fat separator thing (middle picture), but since we added more liquid than my mom usually does, she noted that there wasn’t as much fat to separate as usual.

Coating mushrooms with flour — Add flour and stir to coat mushrooms. Add 1.5 cups of pot roast drippings (or just plain broth if you want), then 1.5 cups of milk. Stir to combine, then cook until it thickens. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Broth added to mushroom gravy — Add flour and stir to coat mushrooms. Add 1.5 cups of pot roast drippings (or just plain broth if you want), then 1.5 cups of milk. Stir to combine, then cook until it thickens. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Take pot roast out of oven and take 1-½ cups of the braising liquid; add this to the mushrooms followed by 1-½ cups of milk, then put the pot roast back in the oven. Add salt & pepper to taste, then a packet of Lipton’s powdered onion soup mix. Allow the mixture to cook down to a gravy consistency.

Lipton Powdered Onion Soup — You should add this to the mushroom gravy when you add the salt and pepper, but we initially forgot to. Instead, we added it during the finishing stages, and it still turned out great. You have some leeway here, really.

Final Steps

Slicing and shredding pot roast — At around the 3.5-hour mark we took the pot roast out and sliced/shredded it, then transferred it to an oven-safe Pyrex baking dish for final cooking and for serving.

Pot roast, shredded — At around the 3.5-hour mark we took the pot roast out and sliced/shredded it, then transferred it to an oven-safe Pyrex baking dish for final cooking and for serving.

Adding mushroom gravy to pot roast — Once the meat is shredded, it’s time to add the mushroom gravy. Like I said, we forgot to add the onion soup mix while making the gravy, so we added it here and mixed it into the gravy instead.

At the 3.5 hour mark, take pot roast out of the oven; it should be fork-tender at this point. Slice/shred it up, and then transfer to another oven-safe baking dish (or drain the braising liquid from your first baking dish). Optional: Reserve the braising liquid/pan drippings for other uses such as risotto, soups, Yorkshire pudding, whatever pan drippings are good in.

Pot roast, final time in the oven — After adding the gravy, cover with foil and put in the oven for 30 more minutes. Look at all those pan-drippings that we can save to use in other dishes!

Leftover pot roast drippings — After adding the gravy, cover with foil and put in the oven for 30 more minutes. Look at all those pan-drippings that we can save to use in other dishes!

Add the mushroom soup gravy, mix everything around a little, then stick it back in the oven to cook for 20 – 30 minutes longer. Serve with your choice of sides, such as mashed potatoes and vegetables.