Pomegranate juice, honey, and molasses flavor this fall-apart tender pot roast.
Hi folks,
How is your week going?
Tuesday night last week, my mom, my grandma, and my sister drove up from New York to our house in Massachusetts. On Wednesday, the four of us went shopping for my wedding dress. We had three appointments, and we found the dress at the third one! It was good shopping on a weekday when the stores weren’t busy and we had very good service at all three stores.
That Tuesday that they came up, I made this pot roast and took photos. The house smelled heavenly and they all commented on it when they came in. Jonathan and I have been eating the leftovers, and it’s just as good leftover as when I first made it.
In this recipe, I used pomegranate juice, honey, and molasses to flavor the meat. I like sweet sauces on meat, like teriyaki sauce or fruit sauces, but this pot roast is not overly sweet. If you didn’t know it had pomegranate juice, I don’t think you would guess. It’s just a subtle sweet flavor, very similar to my Apple Cider Braised Short Ribs.
Here are the main ingredients. That’s a 3 ¾ pound chuck roast, a large sweet onion, a pound of carrots, pomegranate juice, honey, minced garlic, molasses, thyme, and a bay leaf.
The first step is browning the roast.
Here it is ready to go into the oven. The carrots don’t get added until the last hour of cooking, so they don’t get mushy.
For serving options, you could make the pureed celery root included in my short rib recipe (photo below), or mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, or cauliflower. I also recommend egg noodles, orzo, and rice. I talked about how much rice we eat in this post. We both love it spooning some of the braising liquid over the rice. It is so good!
The recipe for the mashed celery root, if you’d like to try it, is included in this recipe.
I took the roast out of the liquid to get a clearer photo (below), but when you actually eat it, you want to pour that braising liquid all over your plate. It is key to keeping the meat from drying out and keeping that rich flavor.
The long cook time for this recipe is mostly inactive. Next time you’re working from home or have a weekend afternoon free at home, I highly suggest getting this roast into the oven. Your house will smell amazing. The hardest part is waiting to eat!
Pomegranate Pot Roast
Ingredients
- 1 (3-4 pound) chuck roast
- salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 1/2 teaspoons molasses
- 2 cups pomegranate juice
- 2 cups beef broth
- 1 bay leaf
- 6 sprigs fresh thyme, plus more for garnish
- 1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 2 inch pieces
- optional garnish: pomegranate arils
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
- Season beef with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Brown meat on both sides, about 2 minutes per side. Remove meat to a plate.
- Add remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil to the pot. Add onion and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion begins to soften, about 8 minutes. Add garlic and cook 2 more minutes, stirring often, until fragrant. Add honey and molasses and stir to combine. Pour in pomegranate juice and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Put the meat back in the pot. Pour in beef broth. Add bay leaf and thyme sprigs. Cover and bring to a simmer. Then turn off heat and transfer (covered) pot to the oven.
- Roast for 2 ½ hours. Remove from oven and add carrots, nestling them in around the beef. Roast 1 additional hour, or until meat is tender.
- Remove roast from oven and let rest for 10 minutes. Skim excess fat off the top. (If you are making ahead, refrigerate and then skim the solidified fat off the top before reheating.) Remove bay leaf, if you can find it. Garnish with fresh thyme or pomegranate arils if desired.
Bon Appétit!
Delicious! I lowered the heat to 275. Super tender. Great flavor.