How to Cook Beef Roast Shoulder

Tender beef roast shoulder recipe. Keep it simple baked in the oven for the perfect fall apart texture. This Dutch Oven roast can be served as is for dinner or on buns as fun sliders.

Beef Shoulder Roast Recipe

The first time we bought locally from a farmer we too got a bunch of cuts I was confused about. I got to experimenting so I didn’t waste food and answer the same question for all of y’all too. The first one I figured out that was “weird” was how to cook an arm roast well. OMG and so good it was with a little balsamic vinegar.

Then it was on to this questionable cut, the beef shoulder. Quite a thick piece I knew it needed to be cooked kinda’ low and slow to get the connective tissues to break down well.

We are all about cutting with a fork, it needs to be that tender. Make sure you give it enough time to defrost beforehand. A good 2 days in the fridge is what you’ll need.

We need this to be thawed for the timing listed below. I have in fact shared how to cook a frozen roast in the oven before and it turns out quite well. If you are forgetful and realize that is what you’re dealing with you will need to use that link to get the correct timing and temp. for that.

Roast Shoulder Beef Recipe

The timing below is for two pounds. If yours is much more than 2.5 you will need to increase the timing. Yes you can check the internal temp but this is beef so not as necessary as you would need to be with poultry or when you cook a pork shoulder. The done for us is that you can pull it apart with 2 forks, period. Ingredients needed are;

• 2 lbs beef shoulder roast
• 1 onion
• Olive oil
• Beef broth
  • or half broth and half red wine
• Celery
• 1 carrot
• 3 bay leaves
• Minced garlic

You will want to use some cornstarch to make a sort of thickening slurry at the end. That will make a killer gravy using the drippings in the pot.

Another great about using this pot is you can take it out, allow the meat to rest on the side, and put it on a burner. Allow liquids to boil and add your roux to thicken. One pot meal.

How to Cook Beef Roast Shoulder in Oven

If you want a crust on the outside start like we did with our top round roast recipe, at 425 for a few minutes. Here we preheat the oven to 320 degrees F. Blot the outside of meat with paper towels to dry it off, then brush your beef shoulder with olive oil, season with salt and pepper. You can add other seasonings of your choice if you like. I kinda’ think the more the better on the outside to get a nice thick crust.

• In the remaining olive oil, fry the beef over high heat on all sides to make a crust and browned.
  • It is convenient to do this in a Dutch oven.
• Searing this way will take approximately 10 minutes.
• Cut the onion into quarters, cut the carrots and celery into strips.
• Fry in a dry hot skillet to brown.
• Pour the beef broth into the Dutch oven, add the fried vegetables, bay leaf, and garlic.
• Close the Dutch oven with a lid and place in the oven.
• Cook for 3 hours to get soft and fork tender beef.
  • to check if it is done pull away at it work a fork, if it pulls apart it is done
  • if not add some more time to it with the lid on
• After 3 hours, remove vegetables and bay leaf from the broth. Transfer the beef to a plate and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm. Remove cooking strings before serving.

Put pot with broth on a burner and cook on high heat. When boiling whisk cornstarch in adding 1 tbsp to it. Immediately the broth will begin to thicken. Now this sauce can be used as gravy. If you want to make something faster you can dice up your protein like we did with our chuck roast burnt ends.

How to Cook Beef Shoulder

So that is the gist of it in the oven. You can use our slow cooker beef chuck roast and gravy directions if you want to go that route. Since this is a bit thicker you may have to add another hour but I would use that timing to begin with and add more at the end if you think you need it. It is hard to over-cook beef in a Crock pot really, it just falls apart more and more.

Unlike roast beef this won’t really slice well, it is better served as pulled beef. Same goes for pot roast, we will shred, toss with gravy and serve over a bed of mashed potatoes. If you do want to slice this you would want to cook it shorter so it is closer to a medium cook. You would then;

1. Roast your piece in a lined roasting pan set to 375 degrees for 20 minutes
2. Then you want to reduce the heat to 325 degrees F. Continue to cook until a thermometer inserted into the shoulder reads at least 145 degrees F
3. This will take about 4 hours depending on how thick your piece is

What internal temperature should a shoulder roast be cooked to?

You need it to reach a minimum of 145°F which will be considered medium-rare, 160°F is less pink and closer to a medium cook or if you do not want pink at all then 170 degrees F would be well done.

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