The Only Way To Cook Pot Roast When It's Frozen Solid

Pot roast is a universal crowd pleaser, and one of the best parts about making one at home is that it's super hands-off. You only need three simple ingredients, which you can chuck into your slow cooker, Dutch oven, or InstantPot and forget about. But while it might sound easy, there are several common mistakes you can make when cooking a pot roast, and many involve how you use the beef. In the same way you'd never add fatty, tender steaks to a pot roast, another big no-no is using frozen beef. To unpack why this becomes an issue, Food Republic spoke with Tara Bench, cookbook author and founder of Tara Teaspoon.

Freezing meat is a great way to extend its shelf life for several months. But while you can cook a frozen steak on the grill, it's best to avoid pairing it with your chosen pot roast vessel. For starters, Bench explained that the best recipes usually start with searing the beef, which allows caramelization to develop, building a strong flavor base. But as Bench noted, "Frozen meat just can't be seared! It ends up steaming as the meat cooks." So instead of a crispy, caramelized sear, you're looking at a sad, slimy mess, which isn't the best omen for the rest of your pot roast.

"Starting a pot roast from frozen also results in uneven cooking where the outside starts to braise and cook while the center is still thawing," Bench added. With frozen meat, heat moves much more slowly toward the middle, which creates a big problem as the roast cooks. "By the time the center is cooked through and tender, the outside of the roast can be overcooked and stringy," she warned.

If we're being honest, it's hard to recommend starting a pot roast with frozen beef. The best move is to thaw it overnight in the refrigerator, so it cooks evenly (and safely) from edge to center. There are also plenty of ways to make a pot roast, whether that's in a Dutch oven, a slow cooker, or a high-tech pressure cooker. But according to Tara Bench, the pressure cooker is the only logical option if you're working with frozen beef. 

"It's my choice because the pressure-cooking moves heat quickly around and evenly through the meat, and the sealed environment keeps the outside from drying out before the center is done," she told us. "I don't recommend a slow cooker because it would take too long to heat to a hot, safe temperature with a frozen roast." By the time the meat finally catches up, the vegetables and aromatics would have spent far too long cooking, leaving the flavor of the beef flat and the texture mushy. The same basic issue also applies to the Dutch oven. In these cases, we recommend using larger veggies as they will take longer to break down. 

That said, even when using a pressure cooker, you still need to account for the extra chill. "A thawed roast might take about 45 minutes in a pressure cooker or Instant Pot, but a frozen roast will take at least 1 hour 15 minutes, to 1 hour 30 minutes at high pressure," Bench told us.