A simple way to prepare beef, this perfectly smoked chuck roast is covered in a simple garlic and herb butter rub that forms the most flavorful bark. The perfect meal for any occasion any time of the year!
Growing up, we ate southern style pot roast, roasted green beans, and creamed potatoes at least once a week. You just can't beat a good Sunday pot roast. Traditionally, pot roast is made in the crockpot or in the oven. But have you ever made a smoked chuck roast? We're talking whole new amazingly delicious levels of flavor here...this is now my "go-to" method for making roast.
Just like this pork loin that is slow smoked, this smoked prime rib and this whole smoked chicken, smoking a chuck roast is easy, affordable, and there's just not a lot of fuss in the preparation. And the smoker does all the hard work! You're going to love the juicy and tender meat. And it has one of the most flavorful crusts that is formed during the smoking process.
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Smoked Chuck Roast: What To Know & Recipe Highlights
- Type of Smoker to Use: any kind of smoker will work when making this recipe.
- Types of Wood To Use: Oak, hickory, or pecan wood works really well when smoking a roast
- Ingredient Tip: Covering the roast in the garlic and herb compound butter is the key to forming the most flavorful crust during the smoking process.
- Adding Extra Flavor: You can intensify the flavor of this recipe by seasoning the roast and then covering it in saran wrap and placing it in the refrigerator to marinate 24 hours before smoking.
- Binding with Twine: Binding the meat in twine can help ensure the meat maintains it's shape during the smoking process. If you choose to do this, secure the chuck roast with 1 to 2 pieces of twine tied around its circumference. Then, take 4 pieces of twine and go around the width of the beef at a 2 inch interval.
- How To Make It Extra Juicy: Take an empty spray bottle and fill it with 1 cup of beef stock. Spray 3-4 squirts onto the roast every hour until you wrap it for the holding process (I talk about this below).
- Leftovers, Storage & Reheating: Put any leftovers in a container with a lid and store in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. For best results when reheating, place the leftover meat in an oven safe dish along with 3-4 tablespoons of beef broth and warm it in a preheated 250°F oven until warm.
🛒 Ingredients You'll Need
- Chuck Roast: even though chuck roast is well marbled, it's still a tougher cut of meat. Smoking it low and slow helps break down the muscle fibers which makes it extremely tender, flavorful, and juicy.
- Salt, Pepper, and Garlic Powder: I mix all of these together to make a house seasoning dry rub. It makes a lot and can be stored and used in the future. Using course salt and pepper will stick to the meat better and provides more flavor. Sea salt or Himalayan salt salt work well. Garlic powder helps add depth of flavor.
- Garlic Compound Butter: The recipe to make this is linked for you below in the recipe card. I make it with unsalted butter that contains fresh garlic cloves, fresh chopped rosemary, salt, and pepper.
👩🏼🍳 Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full ingredients list & instructions!
🔪 How To Make It
Step 1: Prepare your smoker accordingly and pre-heat to 225°F.
Step 2: Cover the meat with 3 tablespoons of the garlic herb compound butter.
👩🏼🍳 Expert Tip!: The compound butter will not spread evenly and that is ok! The clumps of butter help form the outer crust while smoking. You can use your hands to spread the butter or a basting brush. Both methods help for a more even spread.
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Step 3: Next, evenly apply 2 tablespoons of house seasoning dry rub onto all sides of the meat.
Step 4: Place the meat directly on the smoker rack. Close the smoker lid and let it smoke low and slow.
Step 5: About 2 hours into the smoke, insert a digital thermometer into the side of the meat at an angle until it reaches the center. Close the lid and continue to the let the meat smoke until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 160°F. Remove the smoked chuck roast from the smoker and double wrap it in aluminum foil.
Step 6: Place the wrapped meat back on the smoker and close the lid. When the internal thermometer reaches 190°F, remove the chuck roast from the smoker.
👩🏼🍳 Expert Tip: This process is called holding. This technique assists in melting the connective tissues which will result in the meat absorbing some of the liquid, which produces more tender and juicy meat.
Step 7: Place the smoked chuck roast on a cutting board and allow it to rest for 10 minutes before slicing. Pour the remaining juice from the aluminum foil over the sliced beef and serve.
🙋🏼♀️ Recipe FAQs
This one requires some patience, so get ready. When smoking a chuck roast at 225°F, the general rule is a smoke time of 1.5 to 2 hours per pound until it is done. Here's what I would plan for, but always go by internal temp rather than time!
- 3 lbs → 4.5 to 6 hours
- 4 lbs → 6 to 8 hours
- 5 lbs → 7.5 to 10 hours
Always smoke low and slow. For this recipe, I like to keep the smoking temperature at 225°F. But depending on the type of smoker you are using, the temperature may go up and down a bit, so just make sure you keep the temperature between 225°F and 250°F.
If you intend to slice the chuck roast after it's done, smoke it to an internal temperature of 190°F. To shred, smoke it until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 210°F.
Expert Tips
- Getting Past The Stall: Similar to smoking a brisket, you could experience a stall when smoking a chuck roast. These are the best and most efficient ways to combat the stall on any large piece of meat. I also use this method when making smoked brisket and these smoked burnt ends recipe.
- Resting Period: During the resting period, the internal temperature of the meat can increase by 10 degrees which is why I remove it when it hits 190°F so that the final doneness after the rest is around 200°F.
- Slicing Against the Grain: Always slice the meat against the grain so that you cut through the fibers. This helps make the meat more tender.
🍛 Serve Smoked Chuck Roast With...
🍽️ More Chuck Roast Recipes You'll Love
If you tried this smoked chuck roast recipe, leave me a comment and a 5 star rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and let me know how it turned out!
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Smoked Chuck Roast
Equipment
- Any type of smoker
Ingredients
For The House Seasoning
- 1 cup kosher salt
- ¼ cup coarse black pepper
- ¼ cup garlic powder
For The Chuck Roast
- 3-5 lb beef chuck roast
- 2 Tablespoons Garlic Herb Compound Butter
- 2 Tablespoons House Seasoning
Instructions
To Make The House Seasoning (In Bulk)
- In a large bowl, combine 1 cup of salt, ¼ cup pepper, and ¼ garlic powder. Mix well to combine.Important Note: This makes a batch of house seasoning that can be stored and used for later use. You will not use all of this house seasoning in this recipe.
- Set aside 2 tablespoons for seasoning the roast and store the remaining rub in an airtight container for future use.
To Make The Roast
- Prepare the smoker accordingly and heat to 225°F. Maintain this temperature throughout the entire smoke, ensuring you don't go over 250°F.
- Coat the meat with 3 tablespoons of room temperature garlic herb compound butter. Expert Tip: The butter will not spread evenly and that is ok! The clumps of butter help form the outer crust while smoking. You can use your hands to spread the butter but using a basting brush also helps for a more even spread.
- Once the butter has been applied, generously apply 2 tablespoons of the House Seasoning onto all sides of the roast.
- Place the roast directly on the smoker rack. Close the smoker lid and let it smoke low and slow.
- About 2 hours into the smoke, insert a digital meat thermometer into the side of the meat until it reaches the center. Close the lid and continue to smoke.
- When the internal temperature of the roast reaches 160°F, remove it from the smoker and double wrap it in aluminum foil. Expert Tip: This process is called holding. This method helps melt the connective tissues resulting in the meat absorbing some of the liquid which produces more tender and juicy beef.
- Place the wrapped meat back on the smoker and close the lid. When the internal meat probe reaches 190°F, remove the the wrapped meat from the smoker. It should have a succulent crust and appear incredibly juicy.
- Place the smoked roast on a cutting board and let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing. Pour the leftover juice from the aluminum foil pouch over the slices of beef.
Notes
- Add More Flavor: You can intensify the flavor of this recipe by seasoning the roast and then covering it in saran wrap and placing it in the refrigerator to marinate 24 hours before smoking. You then need to bring the uncovered roast to room temperature for a couple hour before smoking.
- Binding the Roast: If you opt to bind the roast in twine, secure the meat with 1 to 2 pieces of twine tied around its circumference. Then, take 4 pieces of twine and go around the width at a 2 inch interval.
- Additional Moisture: To add to the moisture of the roast, take an empty spray bottle and fill it with 1 cup of beef stock. Spray 3-4 squirts onto the roast every hour until you wrap it for the holding process.
- Resting Period: During the resting period, the internal temperature of the meat can increase by 10 degrees which is why I remove it when it hits 190°F so that the final doneness after the rest is around 200°F.
- Slice Against the Grain: Always slice the meat against the grain so that you cut through the fibers. This helps make the meat more tender.
- Slice vs. Shred: If you intend to slice the chuck roast after it's done, smoke it to an internal temperature of 190°F. To shred, smoke it until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 210°F.
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Tracy
What temperature are you smoking at?
Amanda Mason
Smoke at 225°F.
CB
Can I smoke it even slower at 190 degrees?
Amanda Mason
I dont recommend it, no. If it's too low, bacteria has a chance to grow and you can become very sick. This is where the science comes in. You have to ensure it's at a hot enough temperature for a certain length of time to ensure bacteria doesnt grow. So no, I would not smoke chuck roast at 190°F.
Moust
To the Author- why does your final product look so dry?? How long was your total cook time? The outside color looks nice but the inside looks shockingly devoid of moisture. Sorry if that comes across as rude, I don't mean to attack your food but I am genuinely concerned for that final product.
Amanda Mason
Hi Moust - I can assure you, the final product is not dry. Follow the recipe as written for smoke time. I honestly think my picture had bad lighting the day I shot the picture. I plan to redo final pictures. I do question how you can give this recipe a 2 star rating if you haven't made it?
Juyali
Brilliant recipe! Never thought of smoking a chuck roast, and the result was amazing. Specially since it's a cheaper cut. Great recipe! 🙂
Amanda Mason
So glad you enjoyed it so much! It's a fan favorite recipe!
Sammy Gabriel
The nutrition data: How many grams of meat for those numbers? Without that information, the values have no meaning!
Amanda Mason
Hi Sammie! I just added the ounces for you. It's 5 ounces of meat. The reqson the fat content is higher is because of the butter used in the recipe to coat the smoked chuck roast. If you leave the butter off, the fat content will be lower.
Glen Raines
I chose to use a pan of water in my pellet smoker for two reasons one, it makes the temperature of the smoker constant in all areas of the smoker and two, it also keeps the meat moist so you don't have to open often to baste so often. It works very well for me when smoking 12 or more hours doing brisket.
Amanda Mason
Agree 100%! Such a wonderful technique to apply when using a pellet smoker!
Allyssa
This is perfect! Thanks a lot for sharing this! super yum!
Amanda Mason
I'm SOOO glad you liked it! It's one of my absolute favorite smoked recipes ever. More people should smoke chuck roast!!!