Have you noticed there’s been an increase in the popularity of slow cooker recipes lately? I dunno, maybe it’s just me, but I feel like every other pin on pinterest is a recipe for a slow cooker. They all claim to be SO GOOD. Well, I’m going to share my honest opinion about crockpot cooking…
Here are the pros: I think crockpots are marvelously convenient. You throw a bunch of ingredients in, and it does the rest for you. You have a hot-cooked meal waiting for you when you get home. They also make your house smell intoxicatingly delicious. And lastly, you can make some killer dips for football parties using your crockpot.
Now here are the cons: I leave for work at 6:30 AM. You might not leave at that exact time, but like most working Americans, you probably leave for work between 6 and 8 in the morning. Most recipes call for the crockpot to cook for 6 to 8 hours on low. Well that puts my meat getting ready right at….lunchtime. And then it just sits in the “warming” mode for the remaining 4 or 5 hours until dinner. All the while the meat gets drier. Also, from my experience…nearly every crockpot recipe comes out tasting…meh. It’s just that all the flavors have run together and they’re no longer distinct and vibrant. If you put veggies or potatoes in with your meat, then they won’t taste like veggies or potatoes…they just taste like a mushy thing that has the same flavor as your meat.
So there you have it…that’s my take on the slow cooker craze. However, in the wasteland of vapid tasting meals from the slow cooker, I have found a couple of gems. Compared to all the other roasts from a crockpot I’ve eaten, this is the best one. And I cooked it on the weekend so it wouldn’t be drying out all afternoon between lunch and dinner, but I could time it just right to get ready at dinnertime. My favorite thing about this recipe is the gravy it makes. You almost certainly have to serve mashed potatoes with this dish to sop up the gravy!
Dr. Pepper Roast
Source: Family Food Storage
Ingredients:
Roast
1 can Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup
2 cans Campbell’s cream of potato soup
2 cups Dr. Pepper
1 package Lipton onion soup mix
1/2 – 1 tsp. Tony’s Creole Seasoning (depending on how spicy you want it)
Simply add all ingredients to crockpot and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
normalcooking 
What size roast do you use?
I believe mine was between 4 and 5 pounds.
So what time should I start cooking it if I want
It for dinner if I don’t have to work that day?
Well it says 6-8 hours, but I think closer to 6 works best so the roast doesn’t get dry. So if you want to eat dinner around 6, start it at noon.
Recipe sounds great. If you go to the hardware store and get a timer like people use to turn their lights on and off, you can set it so that it starts cooking later in the day. I work long hours and this works out great. It doesn’t sit on warm and get mushy.
That’s a great idea! Thanks Tina!
I do the same thing with the timer, works like a charm.
Ya know, in this day and age, why don’t crock pots have a “delay” setting? That would really make sense. Someone should get on that.
I have a versa cooker from Wolfgang Puck and it does have a delay setting. Got it on HSC.
I have a really nice “All-Clad” slow cooker and yes, you pay a little more for it, but you can delay starting; and when it’s finished it will switch to “warm” automatically for an hour. works like a charm; never have to worry about it and it’s a large size.
ps: got it at Bed, Bath and Beyond, so got 20% off with the coupon you get in the mail every other week!!!
what?! That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing!
I find most things don’t dry out if there is enough liquid added. I cooked a small pork roast for 2 days in my crock pot on low with golden mushroom soup and lipton onion soup mix. Just added extra water and it melted in my mouth. Didn’t add any vegetables. I prefer them raw or lightly steamed. Don’t like mushy veggies.
I totally agree! I can’t stand mushy veggies.
Have you ever thought about cooking your dinner overnight and then refrigerating it and reheating it when you come home?
I guess I could do that too. Do you reheat things in the microwave or something else? For me, reheating in the microwave makes the meat have hot and cold spots. It works for leftovers, but not what I prefer for dinner.
what kind of roast do you use? top or bottom?
Mine was a shoulder roast.
Would any kind of beef or pork roast do? I have a hard time finding good recipes for lean roasts like pork loin and inside round…may just try this anyway and send another comment to you! thanks for the leg-work!
What can you use if you don’t have access toTony’s Creole Seasoning?
Hmmm that’s a toughy. You could make your own creole seasoning. If you don’t want to go to that much trouble, maybe a dash of cayenne pepper or blackening seasoning.
thank you!
what if u dont like mushroom soup… what if u used carrotts nions and whole potatoes with the dr, pepper
You could try cream of celery soup. I didn’t put veggies in mine because I don’t like how slow cookers make veggies a little mushy. However, I know lots of people love crock pot veggies!
I’m not a fan of the flavor of Dr Pepper. Does the roast have a Dr Pepper flavor, or does it cook out of it and just make it tender?
Nah it doesn’t taste like Dr. Pepper…just makes it nice and tender!
An *excellent* recipe – so glad that a friend shared it on her pinterest page! I added baby carrots 2-2.5 hours before serving, and they were cooked perfectly. Served on a bed of mashed potatoes, and I had some happy campers at our dinner table! Every bit as good as the pot roast at Black Eyed Pea! Thanks so much!
Thank you for the comment! So glad you and your family enjoyed this dish! I just love the gravy it makes served over some mashed potatoes. Mmmm.
I’m making this tonight! I’ll have to come back and give an update!! Can’t wait!
Thanks Robin, please do!
Oh gurl, you do know what you doing!! Turned out great. My roommate loved it also! I love your saying “cooking for normal people”……where have you been all my life! haha Keep it up!!
Haha thank you! I really felt like too many cooking blogs were for vegans or people on diets or people with lots of cooking experience. I’m so glad you’re a normal cook like me!
I could not find cream of potato soup. What would you recommend as a aubstitute?
Cream of celery would probably be the most similar.. I’m sure cream of mushroom would be really good, but it has a more distinct flavor. Also, I like the little bitty chunks of potato in the soup, so you might want to add some of your own.
What about browning the roast beforehand? Is that necessary?
Nope! No browning necessary. I just took mine out of the freezer, let it thaw, and then it was ready to go in the crock pot.
Pork or beef roast
Beef roast.
This was so good!! My husband couldn’t say enough about it! The only problem I had was that it seemed a bit sweet, but I didn’t use the onion soup mix. Next time I will. Thanks so much for posting!!
Thanks so much for the kind words Sarah! It’s always good when you find a husband-pleasing meal that’s not much work!
I made this last night and it was wonderful! Thanks for the recipe!
You’re very welcome Julie! So glad you enjoyed it!
If I end up using a smaller roast like 2 or 3 pound, I assume I need to cut down on how long to cook it? Also, do I need to cut down the measurements of the ingreidients? Only 3 of the 6 in my family will eat it so I’d rather have a smaller one to avoid a ton of leftovers – just 1 days worth of leftovers is all my family will tolerate.
I think it would probably need to cook around 5-6 hours. As for the other ingredients, that depends on how much gravy you want. You could leave all the ingredients the same and just have lots of extra gravy or you could reduce it to be more proportional to the roast. Honestly, I would have preferred for mine to have a little more gravy because it was so good!
YUMMY! Found you on Pinterest, and took a chance, Very yummy roast! I didn’t see the part about 2 cans of cream of potato soup, so I used a can of cream of celery too, didn’t hurt it one bit. Will definately make it again. Thanks!
Thank you Penny! So glad you liked it! Thanks for commenting 🙂
I’m not a fan of onion soup mix. Any substitution on that? 🙂
Hi Jen! There are lots of homemade substitutions that you can find online. This link: http://www.food.com/recipe/homemade-dry-onion-soup-mix-110331 is the easiest one I know of. Hope this helps!
But I can’t use Anyang in place of the onion soup mix? Am I ok in leaving it out. I hate onions and anything that tastes like it 🙂
Anything, not Anyang 🙂
Umm I think it would definitely be missing some flavor if you didn’t replace it with anything. Maybe try another mix like a packet or dry ranch seasoning or something along those lines. Let me know how it works out for you!
I LOVED this!!! it was amazing!
Thanks Jessica!
Frist off smells great so far.. but few questions what is the point of the soups ? Dose it thinken up? Also I just put it in the bottom and roast on top top with packet of onion soup and Dr pepper. But should I have mixed everything together and poured over the top??? Lol prob just over thinking LOL thanks and hope it turns out …
Hi Court,
I really don’t think it’s a big deal that you didn’t mix it up. However, if you check it while it’s cooking and all the powder doesn’t seem to be absorbing into the liquid, then a quick stir won’t hurt! It also might help to spoon some of the mixture over the meat to make it more moist, but honestly I don’t think it will make a huge difference. Let me know how it turns out!
So delicious! Though the trickiest part was not buying a roast to fit in crock pot as the liquids take up about half of the pot. I had to cut an inch off my roast in order to get it to work. I also transferred the leftover liquid to the stove to make a thicker gravy. As just two of us, we ate 1/3rd, kept a 1/3rd for sandwiches this weekend, and froze a 1/3rd in its gravy (sliced) for a future super easy dinner.
Wow I didn’t have that problem with my roast. Glad you figured out a solution though! Was the gravy on the stove worth the extra effort? I definitely love thick gravy!
Have you ever doubled the gravy ingredients
or does it make a lot of gravy?
It does make a decent amount of gravy, but if you want extra for topping your mashed potatoes, then doubling it is a good idea!
Could I use a pork roast ?
I don’t see why not. Let us know how it is!
I used the pork roast. It was very good. Will be making this more offend.
What kind of meat and what amount in pounds
Mine was a beef shoulder roast, about 4 or 5 pounds.
Top sirloin works best. It’s less fatty. Thanks for the recipe
Thanks for the advice Jeannette!
This did not turn out great for me. The gravy was good, but the roast beef was still tough. I used a good cut of top sirloin roast and cooked it for six hours. It was 2kg and I did not want it to dry out. Maybe another hour or so would have helped..
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Wow!!!! THis tasted wonderful our new favorite way to make a roast!!
Thank you Deb! So glad you enjoyed it!
I’m making this roast today only we will be replacing the Dr. Pepper with Coca Cola! We use coca cola for our sloppy joes too..have you ever tried it!? Yum! 🙂
I’ve heard of using Coke in sloppy joes but I’ve never had it. I’ll give it a try!
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I just made this and its awesome!! My boyfriend loves dr pepper so I marinated the meat in it overnight to try to get it sweeter. Not sure if it actually did anything but we loved it!! Thanks for sharing this!!
So glad you both liked it! Thanks for commenting!