These Are The Best Cuts Of Meat For A Pot Roast, According To Alex Guarnaschelli

If you are worried about making the perfect pot roast, there aren't too many questions about meat (or any other ingredient) that can't be answered by Alex Guarnaschelli. The chef, restauranteur, and Food Network host has spent her entire career immersed in the culinary world, from having a cookbook editor mother to working at a three-Michelin-star restaurant. But above all else, what she really loves is classic comfort food, the subject of one of her best-selling cookbooks. So, that makes Guarnaschelli the ideal person to ask for tips on making pot roast.

Cooking on "Live With Kelly And Ryan" a couple years back, Guarnaschelli dished about her preferred cuts of beef for pot roast. She had a chuck roast ready to go for the recipe, and when asked by host Ryan Seacrest why that was her choice, she said the "load-bearing" cuts of beef like chuck are both affordable and full of beefy flavor. While she was using chuck that day, Guarnaschelli also noted that brisket and top round are great choices for pot roast for the same reason.

That load-bearing comment isn't just talk either, it's the reason those three unique cuts all work in the same recipe. The chuck is from the cow's shoulder, the brisket is from the chest, and the round is from the rear above the cow's hind legs. These are all flavorful because areas of the cow that do a lot of work carrying weight end up developing a lot of connective tissue and muscle fibers.

There is another great reason for using the cuts of beef that Guarnaschelli recommends for your next pot roast recipe. All the connective tissue in chuck, brisket, and top round makes them quite tough — that's a big reason why they're affordable. But that tissue is also made up of collagen, which rapidly breaks down at temperatures above 160 degrees Fahrenheit. It can take hours to fully break down; however, over time the collagen melts into moist gelatin. That not only makes these cuts fork-tender, but it's part of what gives braised dishes like pot roast a luscious sauce and rich flavor. More expensive beef roasts like tenderloin might be more tender to start, but won't produce nearly as flavorful of a pot roast.

Chuck, brisket, and top round also each have unique advantages for pot roast. Chuck has the most fat marbling, and produces the most classic, shreddable pot roast — probably why Guarnaschelli is a fan. Brisket will also get tender, but will remain more intact, which is great if you like slices of meat instead. Top round is the most lean and tough, so it won't be as complexly flavorful as the others, but it's also one of the cheapest cuts of beef you can buy, so round is best for making pot roast on a budget. But, when it's slow cooked with a nice sauce, it will still be plenty delicious.