Italian Pot Roast (Stracotto) Recipe (2024)

Very tasty dish! I used a rump roast (less fat to deal with in the end compared to chuck), which turned out exceedingly succulent and tender. I also cooked this in a 250-degree oven after step 3 for about 3 1/2 hours (less worry about burning the sauce on the bottom). The pureed sauce is a nice gravy, without having to use flour, and was great on garlic mashed potatoes which I served as an accompaniment.

What oven temp did you use?

She's cooking it on the stovetop on very low heat. Step 4 in her recipe. I have cooked mine in the oven at 300 degrees. The article this recipe was featured in suggests a 350 oven

I use dry leaves of laurel instead of basil and grate in some nutmeg. We use that a lot in my area in Italy.
This dish is a family favourite and so simple that it's my 13yo son's signature dish.

This has far less liquid than a typical pot roast so you would have to be careful with the temperature. I suggest that you could stay within the timing of the stove-top instructions if you cooked it in a 275 oven for 3 hours. The only hassle with the oven will be turning the meat every 1/2 hour (which is necessary because of the low liquid volume) to ensure even cooking.
If you used a pork shoulder instead this would be very similar to a Neapolitan Ragu.

It looks as though this is cooked on top of the stove, long and slow, not in the oven. Probably a slow cooker/crock pot would work as well.

Tomato paste needs cooking, to remove the "canned" taste, so I'll add it to the pot just before the vegetables have finished browning (Step 2), and stir it in for 2-3 minutes before continuing to Step 3.

The chuck pot roast I used was rolled by the butcher. I skipped step 1 and added a few cloves of garlic (smashed) to the vegetables in step 2. I added a cup of veal and wine gravy that I had frozen previously and a half cup of co*ke (rather than more wine).

I believe this is totally done on your stove top.

Been there, done this time and again, except not with basal but dried oregano. Tip - this works well with lamb shoulder roast as well. It's truly very authentically Italian. Love it.

I cooked it for 6 hours on low in my slow cooker. It was fabulous! I found that it served especially well with a cheesy polenta!

3 hours at 275 degrees F for a 3 pound boneless Chuck roast was perfect. Very tender but still holds together so you can slice it

Since the onions, carrots, celery and tomatoes are all chopped, not sliced, it appears that they are all part of the sauce and therefore you would puree the whole pot minus the roast itself.

I did this in the slow cooker. Pretty much followed the recipe; cooked the tomato paste, let the wine cook away, used a can of drained diced tomatoes, used fresh rosemary instead of basil, threw in a few anchovies, used crushed garlic cloves in the mix. Low heat for 8 hrs. Sliced meat, pureed sauce, let the meat sit in the sauce in the fridge for a couple of days. Wow.

I've done this recipe with steps 1-3 on the stove top in a heavy cast iron pan, then step 4 and on in the slow cooker on low for 4 hours, works perfectly. I did find that you will need about 3 TBSP Kosher salt to give it good flavour, that's a good sized cut of beef...

Great success! Used a wagyu shoulder roast, fresh basil and rosemary, threw in a couple of anchovies, a primitivo wine, and used leftover tomato sauce I had instead of tomato paste/tomatoes. Seemed to be very little liquid so I added a little less than a cup of beef broth. Simmered for three hours, and used immersion blender to puree sauce. Consistency was just right, no need to reduce. Meat was perfectly cooked and sauce was delightful over egg noodles.

Just fantastic. Great the next day. Freezes well.I added more liquids . The sauce is wonderful.

This was really good. Followed the recipe to a T. The chuck roast was very tender. It was almost better as leftovers. Lots of potential for modification in the future as well.

1. This is similar to “Grandpa Joe’s Pot Roast.” He was a chef/cook at the Blackhawk Restaurant in Chicago in late 40’s through early 60’s when he retired. He and my grandmother were from Northern Italy (neither were fans of olive oil or garlic… just a wee bit garlic... no EVOO. Just butter for cooking or plain vegetable oil for salads). At the end of his career, he was fish and sauce chef - always tasting the cooking liquid and sauce to be sure it was perfect – reduction was his magic.

2. Grandpa Joe’s: Braise a 2 ½ - 3-lbs chuck or rump roast with a little salt and pepper in oil (Note: I use a bit of bacon and EVOO). Remove it from the pot, add sliced onions and sauté until soft. Then add a little chopped garlic. Next place roast back in and add c. ¼-1/2 c red wine… cover for a little and then remove and let it almost evaporate.Next, add beef broth, stock, cover and let it simmer. Next add1 – 28 oz can of whole tomatoes with juice. Starton stove.

Per a commenter, I did this using a 3lb bottom roast in the instant pot for 50 minutes then natural release, then sliced it paper thin while reducing the sauce (I ended up with like 6 cups of liquid!). So delicious it ran out quickly at a potluck! I have another smaller roast and will try ~10 minutes high pressure to get a medium doneness.

This was fabulous! Didn’t have any fresh basil so used a bunch of dry herbs, and they worked great. Next time I might add a couple anchovies and a bay leaf (to be removed before using an immersion blender to make the sauce). May just be my new go-to pot roast recipe!

I’ve made this several times with exc results. Cook in a large Dutch oven w tight fitting lid. I usually get a somewhat larger tied boneless chuck, about 4# & adjust up other ingredients accordingly. ALWAYS refrigerate overnight then purée the liquid and veggies in a food processor and serve with meat and mashed potatoes. Used a Gigondas which certainly qualifies as a dry robust red!

This had really been excellent flavor and sauce worth saving. Christmas time 2022.

A lot of work for such a small yield. Nice flavor though.

I made it with a 2.6 pound chuck roast and after browning transferred to a slow cooker on high for 3:45 hours. The meat was perfect. However, we found the sauce to be bland. While it smelled great cooking, overall probably won’t make it again. I used half a cup of basil and even added a teaspoon of red pepper flakes.

We found that 3 tsp of kosher salt was the right amount for us in this recipe. We had it with cheesy polenta as another commenter suggested and it was very tasty!

I found this recipe to be WAY to general and lacking in specific direction. Like “cook for 3 hours on low heat”. WHAT? I’ve done this dish successfully before but I couldn’t find my old recipe. This one doesn’t stand up.

I've cooked this roast in a slow cooker many times. It's always a crowd pleaser and the house smells great!

This has become my go-to recipe for cooking beef roast. It is also adaptable and forgiving. Last night I didn't have celery or basil in the house, so I swapped in the tops (or darker green parts) of leeks and parsley. Worked wonderfully. Overall: Delish!