Keto Pot Roast: No Potatoes, No Flavor Packet, No Problem

Keto pot roast from this recipe with plated on cauliflower puree with roast vegetables in the background

Ingredients

Pot roast seasoning:

1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp celery seed
½ tsp ground mustard

Roast:

2½ lbs beef chuck roast
1 tbsp olive oil

For the pot:

1 large onion cut into thick wedges
4 cloves garlic smashed
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp dried onions
2 cups stock
1 tbsp soy sauce or worcestershire
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 sprig fresh rosemary

Added in the last 60 minutes:

2 medium turnips peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

Instructions

Heat the oven to 325°F and mix the seasoning. Combine the ten blend ingredients in a small bowl. Set two tablespoons aside for the roast.
Pat the roast dry and coat it. Press the two tablespoons of blend over every surface. Dry meat browns, wet meat steams, and the blend needs a dry surface to hold onto.
Sear it in a hot Dutch oven, 4 to 5 minutes a side. Oil shimmering, roast down, hands off. Lift a corner to check before turning. Every brown surface here turns into flavor in the gravy.
Take the roast out and cook the onion wedges 3 minutes. They pull up the browned bits stuck to the bottom.
Stir in the tomato paste and garlic, cook 1 minute. Wait for the paste to darken. This minute does more for the gravy than anything else in the recipe.
Add the stock, soy sauce or worcestershire, and the rest of the seasoning blend. Scrape the bottom of the pot clean. Return the roast and tuck the thyme and rosemary alongside it.
Cover and braise 2 hours. The liquid should come partway up the roast, not cover it. A pot roast is a braise, not a boil.
Add the turnip, cabbage wedges, and mushrooms, cover, and braise 1 more hour. Three hours total. Tuck the turnip down into the liquid around the roast and set the cabbage wedges on top. Start checking a two and a half pound roast here. The roast is done when a fork twists out a piece with no resistance, and the turnip should give to a knife tip without falling apart.
Reduce the liquid into gravy. Strain it into a pan, skim the fat, and boil hard 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in the bloomed gelatin off the heat, or the xanthan and oil, for a thicker pour.
Pull the roast into large pieces and spoon the gravy over. Finish with parsley.

Notes

The chuck. Look for the word chuck on the label. Shoulder roast, blade roast, and 7-bone roast are the same thing. Pick the one with the most white seams running through it, since those seams turn into gelatin and become the gravy. Bottom round will be dry after three hours no matter what you do to it. Two and a half to three pounds feeds six and fits a standard Dutch oven without crowding, which matters for the sear.

The rutabaga and turnip. Cut both into one inch chunks. Buy rutabaga firm and heavy, turnips small or medium sized. Large turnips go woody in the middle and turn bitter. Four cups sounds like a lot next to four potatoes. It is roughly the same volume in the bowl at a third of the carbohydrate.

The seasoning blend. This makes about a quarter cup, the same volume as one packet.

The cabbage. Leave the core attached to each wedge. It holds the leaves together through an hour of braising. Cut it loose and you get boiled cabbage floating in the gravy.

The beef stock. Boxed beef broth often carries sugar, yeast extract, or "natural flavor" doing the work the beef should do. A short ingredient list is the one to buy. Homemade stock is better, and chicken stock works fine here once the tomato paste and the sear are in.

Nutrition