As I mentioned in my post about cooking a turkey breast on the grill, we have found it is less expensive to cook up meat and then slice it for sandwiches rather than buy it at the deli. Here’s my easy roast recipe.

The cooked roast. I let it rest before slicing.

Many cookbooks say to use a rack, don’t cover the meat and don’t trim the fat. My methods don’t follow this, but it is up to you how you want to cook your roast.

Easy Roast beef

  • 2 to 3 pound roast
  • Red wine or red cooking wine
  • Onion, minced
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Thyme

I trim some of the fat before I start. Brown the roast on the stove top. I used this larger pot, and then cooked up some beef for other dinners using this method.

I brown my roast in a skillet before transferring to the oven.

If you are going to cook the roast in a the skillet (oven safe or cast iron), set the roast on a plate. Otherwise, just put in the pan you are going to roast it in. You then want to use the wine to deglaze the pan. This lets all of the caramelized bits to break loose from the skillet.

Putting the wine in the hot skillet gets all the cooked down bits loose.

I pour the wine over the roast, then add the salt, pepper, a sprinkle of thyme and the onions to the pot.

Now the roast is ready to go in the oven.

I do cover my roasts, either with the lid of the pot or a bit of foil if cooking in the skillet. Cook the roast at 325 degrees for about 1 and a half hours or until the desired doneness. I use a meat thermometer to test the roast. We like it just medium. Any broth that has gathered in the pan is strained and used in other recipes like soup or gravy. Broth can be frozen for a couple of months with no issues.

I slice the meat for sandwiches and use a vacuum sealer to freeze about a weeks worth of meat in packages. It will stay good for about 3 months that way.