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Beef Coca Cola Pot Roast AKA “Pop” Roast! It’s a crazy concept for sure, but using soda or pop ( coke) with your roast beef is actually one of the most delicious ways to make a pot roast! Serve this with my mashed potato casserole for a treat!
Who on earth puts Coke into a gravy and then onto a roast?
This delicious concoction took a lot of trust for me to attempt.After searching the internet and realizing that every single recipe I came across had rave reviews about using a cola soda on roast beef, I had to try it. And it was meant to be; I actually had full-sugared Coke in the fridge, which is a rarity, usually if there is pop, its diet.
- I was told once that the term “pop” can be a uniquely regional term for soda, so for those who aren’t familiar with it, if I talk pop, I mean soda or soft drink. By regional I also mean that every Canadian I know refers to it as so.
- For this recipe I used a large, long blade or chuck roast, and this meal would safely feed 6-8 adults. I love the fact that its a one-roaster meal, is amazing to serve to guests and is incredibly easy!
Now for the usual pretty pictures of food. The Coke beside the veggies is the very definition of incongruous, which means not harmonious in character or lacking harmony of parts. Or, simply put:
Good vs Evil
Oh my carrots, my bountiful, gorgeous carrots that we have been eating daily. We are going to sprout whiskers and start hopping. Which, coincidentally, as a rabbit owner, I know is a fallacy; they are NOT the best food for rabbits. But for the sake of a cliche, we’ll go with it.
Get a big dang roaster. Biggest you have. The one I use was a wedding gift, and one of my favorites still. It fits a turkey, it will cook this roast and enough veggies for 8 adults, the possibilities are endless. It’s a son-of-a-gun to find the space to store, but so worth it!
Tips and Tricks for making Beef Coca Cola Pot Roast
- Chop up all the veggies you need, go big or go home! Fill it up! You’re feeding a horde!
- Leftovers are very, very good.
- Throw in a few cloves of garlic as well, as many as you like.
- The beauty of this recipe is that you can make it small, or you can make it large, there is so much sauce, plus water from the veggies that you don’t have to worry about anything drying out. Rarely is there a one roaster meal that you can serve at a dinner get-together.
- This can be cooked lower and slower in the oven if wanted. You might have to cook larger roasts an hour or two longer, plan for longer as it’s okay if Chuck roasts “over” cook. That just helps the fat break down and the meat is more tender.
Make this in the slow cooker!
You can easily make this in the slow cooker, if you don’t mind the vegetables being softer and not roasted! Simply follow the instructions as is and place into a slow cooker instead and cook for 7-8 hours on low!
Serve and enjoy! It has the traditional flavor of roast beef with a slight sweet flavor, just the right amount.
Check back to see what I made with the leftovers, I love when a meal stretches over two meals!
Happy Cooking!
Love,
Karlynn
Beef Coca Cola Pot Roast AKA “Pop” Roast!
Ingredients
- 5 pounds blade or chuck roast
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 10 garlic cloves
- 7-10 cups of assorted chopped vegetables potatoes, onions, carrots and celery
- 1 1/3 cups of full sugar Cola
- 14 ounces mushroom soup
- 1.25 ounces package of onion soup mix
- 1 ounce package of gravy mix
Instructions
Oven Method
- Preheat your oven to 350 ° F.
- In a large frying pan, sear the roast on both sides. Salt and pepper, then place into a very large roasting pan.
- Place the garlic and the chopped vegetables around the roast.
- Whisk together the remaining ingredients and pour over the roast.
- Place the roaster lid on and place in the oven.
- Cook for 4-5 hours until the roast pulls apart nicely.
- Serve with vegetables.
Slow Cooker Method
- In a large frying pan, sear the roast on both sides. Salt and pepper, then place into a slow cooker.
- Place the garlic and the chopped vegetables around the roast. You can put in whole potatoes to make sure they don’t fall apart, and very large chunks of carrots!
- Whisk together the remaining ingredients and pour over the roast.
- Cook for 7-8 hours on low until the roast pulls apart nicely.
RICHARD S. BRADBERRY says
I cooked this in the slow cooker so I left out the celery. I substituted the cream of mushroom with cream of celery. it was wonderful!
Karlynn Johnston says
Glad you enjoyed it!
Robin Dinsmore says
Robin Dinsmore – Your ingredient for the canned mushroom soup does NOT say “cream” OR “golden”. Which one is to be included. Or, does it matter?
Thank you.
re***********@ve*****.net
P.S. Please answer ASAP. Would like to make this for dinner ASAP.
Mr. Kitchen Magpie says
It would be cream of mushroom soup, I was not familiar with any other types but I’ve updated the recipe ingredients to specify this. Thanks for flagging it!
Bonnie says
BEST ROAST I’ve EVER HAD and in 61. My mom had some great roast recipes but this surpassed them.
Susan michaleski says
Very good but would make these minor adjustments before making again. I should note I used a Dutch oven. I would lower the temp. to 250 – 275 F and cook the meat for 1 1/2 – 2 hrs before adding veggies. For a sm. roast ( 2 -3 lb) I would guess it would take approx 4+ hrs to come out nice & tender. So plan accordingly to the weight of your meat. I think some chopped fresh rosemary would be a nice addition.
Jackie says
First, let me say I so enjoy your recipes!! I need to know if I purchase a 2 1/2 -3 lb. roast, would I need to cut back roasting time?
Thanks!
Duffy Ruffin says
Why is full sugar cola important? Can Diet Coke be used? Recipe looks great, I plan to prepare this very soon.
Karlynn says
Diet pop can really add a fake taste to this. It cooks so long, not sure I’d exposure fake sugars to heat in food for that long… most recipes warn you against it for the taste reason!
Denise Sheehan says
I have been making slow cooker pot roast with cola for years and always like to try one that’s slightly different. This was just a but too sweet for us. I fixed it to our preference by correcting the gravy on the stove top. I cheated with a little of my homemade beef stock and (shhh…gravy master). Otherwise its very good. Just not our ball of wax with the sweetness. If you dont like sweet just cut back on the cola.
Cara Berman says
I plan to make this on Thursday. My roast is frozen, but I plan to defrost it. When you say tenderize the beef for two days in the fridge – do you marinate it anything?
Stephanie says
Lovely roast. Only thing I did was put pepper on the toast and veggies.
Colleen says
I have a package of powdered turkey gravy mix, will that work for the 1 ounce package of gravy mix?
Thank you !
Karlynn says
I don’t see why not, it would just taste different but I can’t see that it would taste bad!
monica knox says
i didnt marida it i just put all in the slow cooker will it turn out ok?
Shuma says
I was planning to make it over weekend but could not find any Mushroom soup. Can I use Cream of Mushroom soup? Thanks
Betty Crytes says
Well I wasn’t sure about this recipe, but now I will make it again, delicious and you don’t need to make gravy it is all in the pot. The only thing, roast was not tough but maybe I cooked it too long. It was a 3.5 roast so maybe cooking time depends on alot of things. Delicious.
Betty Crytes says
Going to make this recipe, but I do not have cream of mushroom soup, can I substitute for cream of celery. Made my own onion soup mix since I never have dry soup or beef cubes in my pantry. With my onion soup mix should I dilute with beef broth?
Karlynn Johnston says
You use dry onion soup mix so just add to the cola and mix in!
Betty Crytes says
thxs for you reply, will add cola with my dry soup mix. Cream of Celery okay since I don’t have cream of mushroom.
Patty says
Delicious! Thanks again for the recipe
Karen says
Loved it! This was the best pot-roast I’ve ever made, and I can cook. Followed the recipe and it’s all gone! I’m ready to cook this again. I usually share and take co-workers food, but not this time! Was so delicious!
pattyf says
Worked great, thanks for the recipe.
Jamie says
surpisingly good! The whole family loved it and you can’t taste the cola in it!
Charmaine Lovell says
pretty fun recipe, tbh, so I gave it a whirl. Definitely going on the once in a while list, the kids thought that the cola in it was hilarious!
Jennifer Lop says
Easy and I made it in the crcokpot like you suggested. THe whole potatoes worked great and you can’t even tell that there is soda in the gravy! Thanks again for a great recipe.
The Kitchen Magpie says
I highly doubt it LOL! It also has mushroom soup in it! I love it anyways. I’ve also heard RIBS are amazing in root beer…I need to try that recipe too!
Ida Pence Waterous says
I wonder if cooking gets the bad stuff out of Coke.