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A unique recipe for Meatball Pot Roast is what you need to try this week. It has amazing gravy, tender meatballs, and plenty of vegetables.
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I love the rich and savory flavors of this dish! It serves up such a perfect, quick-prep Sunday dinner for the whole family… fuss free with a whole meal in one pot! Plus, the leftovers are amazing!!
– Heidi
We love this frozen meatball pot roast. You may wonder why anyone would want meatballs instead of pot roast. Trust me, this recipe is one of the best meals I’ve had out of the crockpot. Here is why I want you to try it.
- This recipe uses budget-friendly meatballs instead of expensive chuck roast; they cook up super tender and soak up all the flavors.
- Tastes just like a pot roast dinner everyone loves, with a beefy gravy that pairs well with everything in the pot.
- Great for serving a crowd or a big family.
- Or makes plenty for leftovers – heats up great for lunches.
Key Ingredients
Meatballs: Find these in the freezer section of the store. One bag is all you need. I use homestyle, but you can use Italian style.
Gravy: All you’ll need is an au jus packet, onion soup mix and water. Just those three ingredients make a beefy sauce for the meatball pot roast.
Vegetables: Baby Carrots, potatoes, and celery.
How to Make Meatball Pot Roast
- Layer the potatoes, carrots, and celery into the slow cooker.
- Add the frozen meatballs, soup mixes, and broth.
- Cook until the vegetables are tender and the savory gravy has developed.
How to Serve Meatball Pot Roast
This is one of those magic one-pot meals that you can come home to and just spoon into bowls. If you want, add buttered sandwich bread or dinner rolls! The gravy is so good with the buttered bread.
Tips & Variations
Layer in flavor: Add a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, or A-1 steak sauce to jazz up this frozen meatball dinner.
More Veggies: Mushrooms, green beans, or diced white onion are good additions to this pot roast dinner.
Make it Rich: Add a 1/2 cup of sour cream; this will make the gravy taste similar to beef stroganoff.
Can Homemade Meatballs be Used?
If you have a homemade meatball recipe you like, you can use it with this recipe. The cooking time will remain the same, for the vegetables will take just as long as the meatballs.
Should I Thaw the Meatballs?
You do not need to thaw the frozen meatballs for this recipe. They thaw pretty quickly in the crockpot and are perfectly safe to cook from frozen.
Meatball Pot Roast Recipe
How to Video
Ingredients
- 26 oz. bag frozen meatballs, (a 32-oz. bag works fine too)
- 1.5 cups baby carrots
- 3 ribs celery, sliced
- 1.5 lbs. baby potatoes
- 1 oz. packet au jus mix, Knorr or McCormick are great choices
- 1 oz. packet Lipton onion soup mix
- 2 cups water, or beef broth
- Fresh parsley (optional) , for garnish
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Start by adding your baby potatoes, carrots, and celery to the bottom of the slow cooker.
- Add the frozen meatballs.
- Add the au jus mix, onion soup mix, and water. Stir gently
- Cover and cook on LOW for 5–7 hours or HIGH for 3-4 hours, until the vegetables are fork-tender and the meatballs are hot throughout.
- Give everything a gentle stir. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with parsley if desired.
Sarah’s Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
More Fun Beef Recipes to Make
Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff and Slow Cooker Beef Stew are hearty comfort food dinners perfect for cold nights and busy weekdays.
From classic Slow Cooker Pot Roast to homestyle Slow Cooker Meatloaf, these beef recipes are easy family dinners that always satisfy.
Crockpot Honey Garlic Steak Bites and Poor Man’s Steak Diane are packed with rich savory flavor and taste great served over mashed potatoes, noodles, or rice.
Made this for dinner. I didn’t have celery and I didn’t put salt or pepper in it because of the sodium that’s in the packets. Easy and delicious. I thicken the broth.
I made this for a group of friends and it turned out delicious! I used 1T low sodium BTB beef base and 3 cups of water and added a packet of brown gravy plus about a half bag of frozen pearl onions and brought a bag of rolls from Sam’s.
We loved this! I used my Instant Pot – tossed in all the ingredients and cooked for five minutes at high pressure. Natural release for ten minutes, quick release the rest of the pressure, and it was good to go. Next time I’ll add more celery, and I think I’ll saute some mushrooms to toss in at the end (not sure how those would fare in the Instant Pot). It had all the delicious flavors of pot roast without the high cost of a chuck roast. Thank you!
Thank you for the instant pot info! Glad you liked this!
excellent family meal s (x2) shared it with my sons family the bomb …added 1/4 c soy sauce at start
I love the soy sauce idea! Glad you liked it!
I love the rich and savory flavors of this dish! It serves up such a perfect, quick-prep Sunday dinner for the whole family… fuss free with a whole meal in one pot! Plus, the leftovers are amazing!!
Adding mushrooms, some onions, some fresh bread or a dinner roll and dinner is ready.
All great choices!
Could a dark beer be used
Yes, I would only use 1 cup – too much will be overpowering.
Could you use the pot roast seasoning mix instead? Thanks!
Yes! I love that mix too.
I remember one of your recipes that compared the salt content of gravy/au jus/onion soup mix. The Au Jus was the highest salt content. Is this an issue in this recipe, since it has Au Jus and onion soup mix? By the way, your recipes have rescued my meal planning for 5 – 6 years. When I was working to 8 p.m. and my grandson was off at 6 I used the crockpot M – F. Thank you for all your creativity and devotion to your followers!
I wonder if you could throw in a bag of frozen pearl onions if you happen to have them. I think my friend has a bag of those in her freezer somewhere.
Yes, I would add them at the beggining.