This weekend, while we were up at the cabin, we had another great make ahead main dish for dinner on Saturday night.  My mother-in-law, Aneita, offered to bring dinner for that night and she brought her delicious Beef Au Jus.  This recipe is truly simple, you put a beef roast in your crockpot, sprinkle it with a packet of Lipton Onion soup mix, add about a cup of water and let it cook for about 8 hours on low until it’s ready to fall apart.  Then you shred it up and pour the juices over it.  When you’re ready to use it, just reheat it in the oven.  How simple is that?  You can feed a crowd with very little effort!

You could experiment with this basic method and try adding some different flavors.  Try adding some beef stock instead of water, or add some red wine to the mix. You could also experiment with some different seasonings, like fresh herbs.  Just be careful about adding anything salty.  The soup mix has plenty of salt in it, and you don’t want it to get too salty.

Beef Au Jus
Tender, moist and tasty!
  • 3 lbs chuck roast
  • 1 packet Lipton onion soup mix
  • 1 cup water
Place roast in the bottom of a crock pot.  Sprinkle onion soup mix over the top of the roast.  Pour one cup of water over the roast.  Cook on low for about 8 hours, until very tender.
Remove roast from crock pot, reserving liquid.  With two forks, shred the roast.  If serving right away, put meat in a serving dish and pour  juices over the top.  If serving later, place meat in a storage container or zip-loc bag and add juices.  Freeze or refriderate until ready to use.  When ready to use, place in a baking dish and cover with foil.  Bake at 350 degrees until warmed through.
We served the meat on whole grain buns.
Try it yourself and see how easy and delicious it is!

ENJOY!

Shared at Gooseberry Patch on 12/21/11.

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