Onion Pot Roast in Foil

Onion pot roast in foil is a spectacularly simple and easy recipe. You can use a purchased dry onion soup mix, or make your own mix to control the ingredients and sodium content. If you look carefully at the grocery store or co-op, you can sometimes find organic dry onion soup mixes that are much more flavorful than the generic variety.

The best cuts of beef for this recipe are round steak, chuck eye roast, or bottom round. The meat becomes very tender during the long cooking time; the connective tissue and fat melt to keep the beef moist. The beef cooks to a final internal temperature of about 190 F; that is much higher than well-done, but that's what it takes to get these cuts of beef tender. The meat will literally fall apart as you unwrap the foil and remove the beef.

You can make a gravy or pan sauce with the drippings if you'd like, or just pour the liquid into a saucepan and reduce it a bit. You most likely won't need to add any more salt, as the onion soup mix is quite salty.

Serve this tender and juicy roast with hot mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, and a fruit salad for the perfect meal. Alternatively, to make this a one-pot meal, an hour before the beef is done, open up the foil and put some small red potatoes, whole mushrooms, and baby carrots around the meat. Wrap it all up again and bake until vegetables are tender.