Pot Roast In Foil

Pot roast and veggies cook in the same foil pouch and the gravy makes itself! Nothing could be easier!

Retro Pot Roast Recipe

You can’t get more retro than this pot roast recipe.

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This originally came out of one of those golden-oldie Betty Crocker specialty cookbooks called “Dinner Dishes.” I inherited a whole bunch of those–I think almost the complete set–from my mother. Those books came from my aunt who got them from one of my uncle’s patients who worked for Golden Press. Aunt Lil didn’t want them so she gave them to my mother.

I was always glad I ended up with these books, not only because they are now collector’s items, but they had many down-to-earth family recipes. This quickie pot roast was one of those recipes. My husband and I loved the flavors.

Foil Pouch Cooking

Foil pouch cooking has become very popular lately, but it’s nothing new.

Cooking food in a foil pouch has been done by campers for ages.  Basically you don’t need any pans to cook, nor plates to eat food off of with this method.

In recent years, foil pouch cooking has become popular in the home. The biggest boon is that there is virtually no clean up. An added benefit for those watching their fat intake is that this method doesn’t require much, if any fat.

There’s virtually no clean up involved with this roast either, but that isn’t the only plus to this meal. Everything cooks in the same pouch and it makes it’s own gravy. The roast cooks at a relatively high heat so it done very quickly. If your roast is thicker than about one inch, then you do need to add to the cooking time, but not by that much. My roast was about 1.5-inches thick so I cooked it 90 minutes. The original recipe called for a chuck steak about one inch thick.

The Recipe

Pot Roast In Foil

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

90 mins

Total time

1 hour 40 mins

 

Author: Judith Hannemann

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 1-3-5 lb chuck roast either bone-in or boneless (about 1-inch thick) see NOTES
• 2 cups baby carrots
• 1 cup whole button mushrooms (optional)
• 3 stalks celery, cut into 3-4-inch pieces
• 1 can (10.75 oz) cream of mushroom soup, low-sodium preferred
• 4 medium potatoes, cut in half
• 1 envelope dry mushroom gravy mix (see NOTES)
• 2 tbs water

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Tear off a large piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil (about 30-inches) and place it on a large baking sheet (a 15- or 18-inch cookie sheet/jellyroll pan) so that equal amounts of the foil overhang the sides of the baking sheet.
2. In a small bowl, mix the soup and gravy mix; set aside.
3. Place the chuck roast in the center of the foil on prepared baking sheet. Spread soup mixture over the top of the roast.
4. Place the celery, potatoes, carrots and mushrooms (if using) on top of the roast. Sprinkle with the water.
5. Make foil pouch by bringing up the overhanging sides and sealing top and sides well. I always leave about an inch or two "cushion" on the top for steam expansion.
6. Roast for 60 minutes if the steak/roast is 1-inch or slightly less; 90 minutes if the roast/steak is thicker than 1-inch.
7. Open pouch CAREFULLY as there will be a lot of steam.

Notes

If the meat is thick, it will require a longer cooking time. Mine was about 1.5-inches thick and took 90 minutes, but plan on 2 hours if you have a thick roast.

The original recipe called for an envelope of onion soup/dip mix. Since I'm not crazy about that flavor, I substituted dry gravy mix. I used mushroom, but brown, onion or au jus would be good too.

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