Should You Use A Top Or Bottom Round For Pot Roast?
Pot roasts are testaments to the magical power of slow cooking. Give even the most tough and inedible parts of a cow a multi-hour steam in a closed pot in the oven, and watch it emerge tender and flavorful with its own premade gravy ready to be spooned over the whole dish. As an economical way to make a delicious dinner for a group, you can't beat its crowd-pleasing appeal. But despite its use of the more unappealing, cheap cuts of beef, not every option is going to be a good cut for pot roast. Chuck roast is usually a good option, and so is brisket, but if you want the most affordable pot roast, you are looking at a cut from the round, and they can be pretty difficult to tell apart from each other. So we asked chef Jesse Moore, a corporate chef at Cargill Protein, for his expert opinion on whether top round or bottom round roasts are better for your favorite pot roast recipe.
Both the bottom and top round come from the back end of the cow, which gets a lot of work and makes the area more lean and tough, but when forced to choose, Moore says, "I like the bottom round if I'm looking for a budget friendly cut for pot roast. It's lean and does well from wet slow cooking." Top round, on the other hand, is better suited to other recipes, like thinly sliced roast beef.
Bottom round brings a little more flavor to slow cooked pot roast
While round roasts are appealing for pot roast because of their budget pricing, both top and bottom round usually aren't that different in price, so why do Moore and other experts recommend bottom round for pot roast? Top round is actually a little more tender than bottom round, as it comes from the inside area of the round, which isn't as worked as the outside part of the cut where the bottom comes from — but both are still tougher and will get tender from the slow cooking. While both are very lean cuts, the bottom round does have a bit more fat and marbling than the top round does, which is almost completely devoid of those tasty white streaks.
Bottom round won't give you the richness of chuck roast, but that extra fat makes a difference when it comes to the juiciness and flavor of your pot roast. Even when braising in a slow-cooking environment, pot roast can dry out if overcooked, and any extra fat is insurance against that. It also helps add a luscious sheen and decadent texture to your braising liquid. Bottom and top round roasts are pretty similar when it comes to many recipes, and both will need a gentle, steady hand to avoid being overcooked, but bottom round gives your pot roast recipe the best chance at perfection.