Beef Pot Roast in Red Wine

Not your everyday pot roast! Braise chuck roast in red wine with pancetta for an elegant pot roast recipe.

By
Elise Bauer
Elise Bauer
Elise Bauer
Elise founded Simply Recipes in 2003 and led the site until 2019. She has an MA in Food Research from Stanford University.
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Updated June 15, 2022
Elise Bauer
Beef Roast Braised in Red Wine
Elise Bauer

"This isn't your everyday pot roast," my father declared as we sat down for dinner to enjoy the roast that he had been cooking all afternoon. No, indeed it isn't.

The sauce includes an entire bottle of bold red zinfandel wine. The vegetables in the sauce are cooked until every ounce of flavor is extracted from them, and then the sauce is pressed through a sieve and reduced even further.

The beef, braised for hours is fork tender. Enjoy!

Beef Pot Roast in Red Wine

Prep Time 15 mins
Cook Time 3 hrs 30 mins
Total Time 3 hrs 45 mins
Servings 6 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 (3 1/2-pound) chuck roast, boneless

  • Salt and ground black pepper

  • 4 ounces pancetta, cut into 1/4-inch cubes

  • 2 medium onions, chopped medium (about 2 cups)

  • 2 medium carrots, chopped medium (about 1 cup)

  • 2 ribs celery, chopped medium (1 cup)

  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste

  • 3 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)

  • 1 (750-ml) bottle zinfandel wine (can substitute cabernet sauvignon, or other full bodied red wine)

  • 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained

  • 1 tablespoon fresh oregano, chopped

  • 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced

Method

  1. Salt the roast and let sit at room temp while you prep the vegetables:

    If your roast is very fatty, trim some of the fat. But it is important to keep some fat, as this will keep the roast moist while braising. In many supermarkets chuck roasts will already be properly trimmed.

    Salt the roast well and set aside at room temperature while you prepare all the other vegetables.

  2. Render fat and crisp the pancetta:

    Pour a little water into a Dutch oven or other heavy, lidded pot. Set the pot over medium heat and add the diced pancetta. As soon as the water begins to simmer, lower the heat to medium-low and slowly crisp up the pancetta; the water allows some of the fat in the pork to render out without charring the pancetta.

    When the pancetta is crispy and brown, remove it with a slotted spoon and set aside.

    cook pancetta for braised beef roast
    Elise Bauer
    brown pancetta in pot
    Elise Bauer
  3. Brown the roast on all sides:

    Preheat the oven to 300°F. Pat the beef roast dry with a paper towel, increase the heat to medium and brown all sides in the pot.

    sear beef roast for braised beef roast with red wine dish
    Elise Bauer
  4. Sauté the chopped vegetables:

    Once the meat has browned remove it to a bowl and add the onions, carrot and celery. Sprinkle salt over the vegetables while they cook. Increase the heat to medium-high and sauté for 2-3 minutes.

    Add the tomato paste and stir well, sauté for another 1-2 minutes. Add the garlic and cook a minute more.

    cook vegetables in pot for braised beef roast
    Elise Bauer
  5. Add tomatoes, pancetta, herbs, wine, and the roast. Cover and cook:

    Increase the heat to high and add the tomatoes, the pancetta, herbs and red wine. Nestle the beef roast into the pot, cover, place in the 300°F oven and cook for 3 hours. At the halfway point, use tongs to turn the beef roast over.

    braise roast beef in pot
    Elise Bauer
  6. Strain and reduce the sauce:

    Remove the pot from oven and transfer beef to a large bowl; tent with foil to keep warm. Allow the liquid to settle in the pot for a few minutes, if you'd like, skim off some of the fat with a wide shallow spoon. If you have an immersion blender, use it to blend the contents of the pot. If you don't, use a whisk to help break down the vegetables.

    strain and reduce sauce for braised beef roast with red wine
    Elise Bauer

    Boil the sauce until it is reduced to about 3 1/2 cups. Strain liquid through large fine-mesh strainer, pressing on solids with spatula to extract as much liquid as possible; you should have a couple cups strained sauce.

    Add any accumulated juices from the bowl you have the beef in. Boil the sauce again until it has reduced to 1 1/2 cups. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper.

  7. Slice the meat and serve with the sauce:

    Cut the meat into roughly 1/2-inch-thick slices and pour the sauce over them. Serve with a bold red wine and crusty bread or mashed potatoes.

Beef Roast Braised in Red Wine
Elise Bauer
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
891 Calories
51g Fat
19g Carbs
70g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 6
Amount per serving
Calories 891
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 51g 65%
Saturated Fat 21g 103%
Cholesterol 233mg 78%
Sodium 384mg 17%
Total Carbohydrate 19g 7%
Dietary Fiber 4g 13%
Total Sugars 12g
Protein 70g
Vitamin C 17mg 84%
Calcium 125mg 10%
Iron 7mg 40%
Potassium 1350mg 29%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. In cases where multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.