The Mississippi Pot Roast has recently taken the foodie social media world by a storm, mostly because it is so easy and versatile. We’ve upped the ante and made it Colorado-style with the subtle heat of green chilis and cooked on the Traeger, making the Colorado Pot Roast an ideal make-ahead protein for a variety of delicious applications.
A New Riff on Mississippi Pot Roast
Some of the signature features of this dish are that it is beyond simple to make, makes a lot of it (great for meal prepping), and could be cooked in a variety of ways. We, of course, scoffed at the idea of using a crock pot for this recipe, and have adapted it to be cooked in the Traeger. Cooking low-and-slow is a key feature of a Traeger, and cooking outdoors is something we live for. So combine a simple recipe, delicious outcome and wood-fired flavor, and to us you have a winning dish.
When we make this pot roast on the Traeger, it produces a good amount of food that we adapt to different dishes throughout the week. Like tacos on the night it’s cooked, topping for a baked potato bar later in the week, filling for a sandwich on a hamburger bun for lunch one day or maybe a topping for nachos during gameday. Heck, you could even adapt the leftovers into a meaty pasta sauce for an easy weeknight meal.
Primary Ingredients
- Chuck roast
- Green chilis
- Ranch dressing seasoning packet
- Gravy base seasoning packet
- Beef broth
- Butter
- Garlic Junkie or your favorite steak seasoning
Why Cooking Pot Roast On the Traeger Works
Like with all recipes we share, we find that cooking this dish on the Traeger results in the most flavorful and delicious food. It keeps the kitchen pretty clean and cool, wows our dinner guests and keeps with our life theme of backyard Traeger cooking on weeknights. The Traeger is perfect for this cook because of the 6 different cooking modes that are possible on a Traeger. So instead of having to dirty a pan to sear in the house and then dirty a crock pot for slow cooking, we can smoke, sear and slow cook all on the Trager with just the adjustment of a dial.
By starting this pot roast recipe with the meat smoking in the Traeger grill, you impart some amazing wood-fired flavor in the meat before it cooks until tender. We went for a two-hour smoke, but if you are short on time, you could do a shorter time. With the grill heated up to a searing temperature, we then seared off the smoked meat and put it in a bath of broth, butter, chilis and seasonings and let it slow cook (ala crock pot) for several more hours.
And suddenly dinner is ready and you haven’t even turned on the stove. For good measure, we heated up the tortillas on the grill and ended up with a one-pot stoveless dinner!
Step-by-Step
- Preheat your Traeger to 225*.
- Season the chuck roast with the garlic junkie or your favorite steak rub on all sides.
- Place the meat in the smoker for two hours.
- After two hours, remove the chuck roast from the Traeger and cover it with foil.
- Increase the heat of the Traeger to 350* and place your Dutch oven in the grill to heat up.
- Allow the grill and Dutch oven to get very hot– it should heat up for at least 15 minutes.
- When the Dutch oven is hot, add your chuck roast to the pan and sear each side for 90 seconds.
- Leave the roast in the pan and add the remaining ingredients– the beef broth, ranch seasoning, gravy seasoning, can of green chilis and pats of butter on top.
- Cover the Dutch oven and cook in the closed Traeger until the pot roast reaches an internal temperature of 203* or is probe tender.
- Pull the pan from the grill and allow it to rest, closed, for at least 15 minutes.
- Shred the chuck roast, drizzle with pan sauce and serve.
Similar Recipes & Things You Need
Chuck roast is a fairly inexpensive cut of meat that does really well when cooked low and slow in a vessel of moisture. A couple of other recipes I have that include chuck roast are:
- Birria style tacos
- Homemade tamales (use this meat as a filling)
- I also have an awesome recipe for Poor Man’s Burnt Ends in my cookbook
Products used in this cook this Traegered pot roast:
Give this recipe a try and maybe even adapt it to your neck of the woods. With a simple but predictable base like this– an inexpensive chuck roast cooked until shredded and tender– you can give yourself some flexibility to play with flavor combinations!
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Colorado Pot Roast on the Traeger
Equipment
- Traeger grill
- Smithey Ironware dutch oven
- Meater thermometer
- Spiceology Garlic Junkie seasoning
Ingredients
- 3 pounds Chuck Roast
- 4 tbsp Garlic Junkie seasoning
- 1 can diced green chilis
- 1/2 packet Ranch dressing powder
- 1/2 packet Beef gravy powder or au jus mix
- 4 tbsp butter
- 1/4 cup beef broth
Instructions
- Preheat the Traeger grill to 225* and use SuperSmoke if you have the feature
- Season your chuck roast with Garlic Junkie seasoning on all sides and allow to sit at room temperature while the grill heats
- Place the roast in the center of the preheated grill and smoke for about 2 hours
- Once the meat has smoked for 2 hours, remove it from the grill and tent it with foil
- Increase the grill temperature to 350* and place your cast iron Dutch Oven in the grill while it heats up. Allow both to heat for at least 15 minutes
- Once the pan is very hot, sear the smoked steak for about 90 seconds per side, until some color and a crust has developed
- Carefully add the remaining ingredients to the hot pan in the grill– the broth, seasonings, peppers and butter
- Cover the pan with the lid and allow to cook in the Traeger for at least 3 hours
- After 3 hours, check the internal temperature of the meat and continue cooking until probe tender and beginning to fall apart
- Carefully remove the pan from the grill and allow to sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes
- Pull steak from the liquid, shred with two forks and then add some of the pan sauce to the meat before serving
Thanks for sharing!