Smoked Chuck Roast / Pot Roast - suggestions wanted

[BKYDBBQ]

Chuck Roasts are on sale this week so I am planning to get one to smoke Sunday...

I am looking at the following recipes with a couple of minor changes...

https://howtobbqright.com/2013/11/07/not-your-mommas-pot-roast/

https://grillinwithdad.com/2025/02/easy-smoked-pot-roast-dinner/

https://www.smokedmeatsunday.com/smoked-pot-roast/

I am planning to use the Searwood and put the roast on the top rack with the pan under it to catch some of the drippings to add to the flavor, might also add the carrots and some broth at this point, since they always seem to take way longer than everything else to cook, in a crock-pot they are usually way to al dente even after the roast is done. I am leaving out the potatoes.

I am debating how to finish the roast, my three ideas are:

- place in the pan with the veggies and liquids, cover and leave on the smoker. Will use a bunch of pellets.
- place in Dutch Oven and place in oven at desired cooking temp, saves pellets.
- place in crock-pot, not much different than cooking in oven but may take longer to get to finished temp.

Any thoughts???

[LegoMySearwood]

I used a lot of pellets to finish my first pot roast on my Searwood. I should have wrapped the roast like the Texas crutch to speed up the cook. I would recommend outside the Searwood to finish. However, I am a newbie and would welcome more seasoned pitmasters to give their opinion.

[Oak Smoke]

I thought a chuck roast would be no different than smoking a brisket until I started smoking them. The chuck, for me is a different cook. I was taking chucks to 203 F then wrapping and resting for 2 hours at first. I was amazed that a roast that was tender 2 hours before was now tighter and tougher. The first time it happened I was sure I had made a mistake or gotten a bad roast. That was not the case as my next cook went the same way. Huskee gave me a clue some time back when he mentioned taking chucks roast to 209 F then holding them at that temp a while before resting, if I remember right. Any way for me I have to take a chuck roast to a higher temp and hold it there for an hour then take it in to rest. Even when I wrap them at 180 F i still have to take them to 209 or 210 for an hour before resting. This may be completely foreign to you and is only my experiences. It works for me.

[Skip]

What Oak Smoke just said. I wrap and take to that 210* range. It must be Probe Tender.

[DavidNorcross]

Spot on. I had to find out the hard way myself

[fzxdoc]

This^^^

[LegoMySearwood]

How do you hold a temp without going higher for an hour? Am I understanding this wrong?

[Steve R.]

You want to wrap it and take it up to the boiling point of water at your elevation. That will keep it from continuing to get hotter. Doing this for an additional hour after reaching the target IT makes all the difference, I my experience. And I have done a lot them this way.

[Johnny Booth]

I cook until about 160F, then wrap in foil. I take it off the smoker, and put it in the oven. When it hits 210, I just turn the oven off and open the door for a bit to stop the cooking. Seems to work out.

[Hulagn1971]

I read the first 2 recipes and I like the Grillin with Dad one. I'd smoke it for 3 hours max. Then transfer to a Dutch oven with enough liquid to go halfway up the meat. Make sure a cup of red wine is included. Slice up a yellow onion and put that in with the meat. Add chopped garlic, a couple bay leaves and a few sprigs of rosemary and thyme. Cover it and back in the smoker or oven at 300° for about 3 hours. At the 2 hour mark add your rough chopped carrots (about 1 1/2"). At the 3 hour mark you should be able to put a fork in and twist it. I do a lot of oven pot roast in the fall and winter. I like to make mashed potatoes with Yukon golds for the side. Cooking them in the pot results in mushy, fall apart potatoes. Not appealing. Just made one on Sunday.

[BKYDBBQ]

Hulagn1971 do the carrots get done in about an hour? I know when I do a pot roast in the crock-pot it seems like after being in the crock-pot for 6 or 7 hours the chuck roast is done but the carrots still have quite a bit of crunch to them.

[Hulagn1971]

BKYDBBQ yes they are done after an hour. Not mushy but done, no crunch. The crockpot doesn't braise like a Dutch oven placed in an oven which might be why the results are different. You can always add them after an hour of cooking in the oven which will give them 2 hours cooking time.

[captainlee]

I just did one today, will be serving in a few. I took mine to 195 because of altitude here I would enter a second stall zone. I rested for two hours in the holding oven mode at 170. This meat stalled at 145 then i.put it in a pan sealed with AL foil with beef broth and reduced wine to 195. It is pretty tender, better than the last one I did. It's not pull apart shredding but tender. This was my second attempt. I have to think about what to change next time around.

[captainlee]

Just got a call from my lifelong best friend that actually lives just a few properties down from us. A Vietnam Vet who is fighting cancer now because of his exposure to agent orange. I took down a good portion of my chuck roast for him for dinner. He just called me raving about it. They want to buy one and have me smoke it for them. I have to admit that tonight's cook was spot on tender with tons of flavor.

[RichieB]

captainlee for me, please thank him for his service. Nam Veterans didn't get their recognition. I'll leave it there. Please wish him the best heath wise.

[RichieB]

Can't help with cooking on a pellet. I do chucks and brisket on the Pit Barrel. Pretty straight forward. When the Barrel get to 275ish, on. Pull at 203. In oven with oven light on not covered (90°). Let the rest get an additional 4 to 5 degrees. Never had a complaint. Just finished the last of the burnt ends. I've got a chuck roast in freezer. This coming week, it will be done. A different end process.

[Huskee]

Huskee gave me a clue some time back when he mentioned taking chucks roast to 209 F then holding them at that temp a while before resting, if I remember right. Any way for me I have to take a chuck roast to a higher temp and hold it there for an hour then take it in to rest. Even when I wrap them at 180 F i still have to take them to 209 or 210 for an hour before resting. This may be completely foreign to you and is only my experiences. It works for me.

Yep! In my personal experience, treating them like a pork butt works great, but I also learned that holding them an extra hour or so up at your high point (205, 209, whatever it may be), then doing the 1-2 regular hold as you would a pork butt, works wonderfully. If you want pulled beef. Personally I've never been a fan of sliced chuck so I haven't perfected that, there are better roasts for slicing, IMO.

I've even begun wrapping my chucks earlier, nearer to the start of the stall, than I would my pork butts or even briskets. For me that seems to make the finished product a bit softer and more delectable.

If you cook covered, or once you cover your roast, why waste the pellets? Heat your home, use your oven, that's my vote.

[Finster]

Not sure what you mean by " holding them an extra hour or so up at your high point".
How do you hold it at that high point? lower the heat of the cooker (or oven) to that specific temp? Or, do you keep it at the temp that you were cooking at for na extra hour?
New concept for me, so not fully understanding>
My chucks usually turn out pretty "pullable", but certainly there could be room for some improvement...

[Steve R.]

Finster , not Huskee, but I take it all the way to 210° IT and keep my foot on the gas pedal for that extra hour. No need to adjust the ambient temp, just keep cooking.

[Huskee]

Finster What Steve R said, instead of reaching that target IT of 203 or 210, whatever yours may be, then doing the 1-2 hold phase right away, I keep it up there, on the cooker for another hour or so, then do that hold phase after. Gives it an extra hour up at high temp to further soften the tougher stuff in beef.

[captainlee]

As Huskee mentioned about pulling early in the stall, I did that yesterday because my first one was on the dry side when sliced. Mine stalled at 145 and was on long enough for a nice bark and color. For the first time ever I used a water pan in the Yoder while smoking. At this altitude and low humidity food can dry out. I never thought that to be an issue until my first chuck was dry. I assume this helped as I got great results yesterday for a sliced chuck. Pulled at 145, placed in a sealed pan with beef broth and reduced wine to 195 then in the 170 degree holding oven sealed for 2 hours.

[Johnny Booth]

Never had to cook at higher altitudes, or dryer climates. Sounds like unique challenges. In FL (lots of humidity) I wrap at the stall. When I open the foil, there seems to be just enough liquid and fat to soak back into the meat while it’s pulled. 🤤

[Redwng]

When I do a chuck roast, we have been doing it as pulled beef and really enjoy that. One thing I have found that seems to make a difference in my LSG pellet smoker is to start with a thicker roast, thin ones do not seem to turn out as well although I have tooth-picked two thin ones together and that worked too. Thin ones might work if I stopped smoking when it hits 155ish although I haven't tried this.

I take the roast to an internal of 165-170 then put it into a pan with beef broth, Worcestershire and a good splash of red wine. I'll put it in my inside oven at 270 and cook the roast until it hits 210 (a good pulling temp, thanks Huskee ). I let it rest for about 2 hours and it is ready to pull.

The pulled meat is pretty versatile for us as we make sandwiches (with a little horseradish of course), quesadillas, chili, a type of nachos but we use tater tots, frittatas and as a topping over a baked potato.....we do enjoy the pulled beef.

[BKYDBBQ]

Going with the Grilling With Dad recipe, except I switched up the seasoning and dry brined overnight and then rubbed it wig Big Bad Beef Rub...

Just went on the Searwood at 225...

[ssandy_561]

A great thing to do with left over smoked shredded chuck roast is to heat it up in a pan with a ladle of French Onion soup and serve it on a Kaiser roll with prepared horseradish.

[BKYDBBQ]

The final results...I tweaked the recipe and added a few extra ingredients / seasonings...came out really good but maybe a little too salty...

[cruiseplanner1]

I am probably not the best smoker of meats but when I hit the stall on anything on my stick burner it gets wrapped and finished in the house oven. Cannot figure out why one would wrap it and have to tend the wood when it is very controlled in the oven with my probes babysitting it and it is not going to get any more smoke flavor at this point. And once wrapped the bark will soften regardless of how it is finished.

[Spinaker]

I do the same thing once I wrap. No need to waste the fuel.