Shredded beef from frozen in a Dutch oven turns out so good. This is how to cook a frozen roast in the oven and slice it, but frozen shredded roast is killer too! We will show you how to make this step by step.
I love me a good Dutch oven recipe y’all. This pot can cook it all, like incredibly well. There is something about cast iron that makes everything so good. If you’re worried that dinner is ruined, try our frozen beef from frozen recipe and you’ll think again when you forget to defrost again. (affiliate links present)
Shredded Frozen Chuck Roast
We first made a frozen roast in slow cooker because I had one of those days. It came out so delicious I couldn’t believe it and started on the kick of cooking frozen meat to tender for months so I could share my findings with y’all. This is one more in my list of successes.
The biggest key to doing this right is patience, steady heat and a lot of steam. That means you need a pot that is going to really trap in all the warmth and not let any out. This will do the trick perfectly. Whether you have a pretty ceramic coated one like you see here or just black and raw, either is great.
FIRST – You should sign up for my free newsletter so you get new posts emailed to you twice a week and never miss out on anything! If you’re new to using this enclosed cast iron pot, let me share a little information:
- This is the dutch oven I have and love.
- I recommend having a good set of oven mitts to lift it in and out of your oven.
- You need a good trivet if you’re going to put this directly on the table to serve.
How to Shred Frozen Beef
This is the cut of beef I use often to make melt in your mouth roast beef. It has a decent fat content which means it will tenderize quite well, and when we buy half a cow we get a few. At first I had no idea what to do with them. My mom had never made or bought anything that looked like this so it was an experiment. Years later they’re one of my favorites.
Like I said, you need to have patience with this dish. The only way to speed up the process is if you cook it under high pressure. You can follow our Instant Pot frozen roast instructions for that. It gets raving reviews that way believe it or not, but if you want to use your oven, this is the way to go.
Ours was 4 pounds here so the cook time will reflect that. If yours is smaller you’d want to check beforehand so it doesn’t dry out. Ideally it’s best if you have time mid way thru to flip over and baste the liquid over the protein. If you don’t it may just not be as moist on the top half.
I mean you can’t shred it right out of the freezer of course but you can totally get it tender from rock hard. Difficult to believe but SO True and we will show you how to do that right here! Frozen chuck roast in the oven, pressure cooker and Crockpot are game changers.
If you had a different cut from the cow you could use that. Keep in mind that the thicker the piece the longer it will take to break down and shred easily with 2 forks, that is the goal here. You can see how thick chuck is typically here. Adjust timing accordingly but if you keep to 4 pounds it should be pretty close.
Ingredients
- 4 lbs. beef frozen chuck roast piece bone in (ours) or boneless is about right
- I used a jar of pepperoncini peppers with the juice in there
- A jar or container of salsa, chunky is best for this one
- When done you could add some salt and pepper but really if you use medium heat salsa you’ll have plenty of flavor
- Use just two forks to shred meat, you don’t need a special appliance for that.
Beyond that whatever you want to serve this with. Like if you are making slider beef sandwiches then I like frozen rolls you can bake to fresh, or wrap in tortillas with some blue cheese cole slaw for killer tacos.
Is it better to cook a roast frozen or thawed?
I mean of course it is always best if you have the time or frame of mind to take food out the night before. Whether you pressure cook, slow cook, or bake in the oven like this the texture will be slightly different. There isn’t a huge difference and if you didn’t know it started out as rock hard you probably wouldn’t guess it was.
I’ve cooked Instant Pot frozen chuck roast many times too and turns out well. I’ll say in the oven needs a bit more work because you really need to flip meat over halfway thru and baste with the liquid from the salsa below to keep moist.
If you do remember to thaw, you can follow our how to get to tender beef chuck roast Crock pot directions.
You can print the recipe at the bottom of this post if you want to keep it handy, or just come back time and time again. ๐ It is an easy way of how to cook frozen beef in dutch oven for sure. Other than a slow cooker this little pot does all the work for you to trap all that heat to break down the meat and get it to fork tender in no time.
How to Cook Frozen Shredded Beef in Oven
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lay frozen chuck roast inside dutch oven and pour jar of pepperoncini sliced peppers with the juice over the top with the jar of salsa.
- Put the lid on and into your oven on the middle rack for about 3.5 hours.
- Flip piece over after hour 2 and baste some of the liquid below over the top of the meat. Continue cooking the remainder of the 1.5 hours or until meat shreds nicely with 2 forks. Timing will depend on how thick yours is.
- Remove meat and place on cutting board when it pulls apart easily. Remove and discard bone and chunks of fat. Chop meat up or shred and put back into pot.
- If there aren’t enough juices left to coat pour a bit more salsa or beef broth on top and stir to coat.
Serve this easy beef recipe inside small tortillas as tacos. It is great over a bed of rice too, inside rolls if you’re having people over or as is for a low carb meal idea. You want to keep it really moist so as it sits it will soak up the sauces. Just pour more red or our Qdoba salsa verde in there and toss to coat every once and a while for the best results.
Mississippi Chuck Roast from Frozen
If you love Mississippi Roast in Oven this is kinda’ a cross between that and a Mexican beef dish. All I can say is that I couldn’t believe the amount of flavor I got out of just using two bottles of ingredients poured right over the top, that was it.
It will stay nice and warm with the lid on for about 30 minutes. If you’re having guests over this is a great one to make. Once it is prepped, set it on a trivet on your buffet table with the lid on. Make sure to set a pot holder on top for people to serve themselves with tongs. (the lid will stay hot for quite some time so be careful)
If you have leftovers do NOT throw them away, they are almost better the next day as it sits. Just wait until it all cools down all the way. Transfer what is left into a freezer bag with all of the liquid that is left, I sometimes add some more fresh salsa to keep it moist. Zip closed, remove the air and refrigerate.
Shredded Beef From Frozen
Equipment
- 1 dutch oven
Ingredients
- 4 lb chuck roast, frozen
- 16 oz Pepperoncini peppers, with juice
- 24 oz salsa, chunky is best
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lay frozen chuck roast inside dutch oven and pour jar of pepperoncini sliced peppers with the juice over the top with 16 oz from the jar of salsa. (rest will be used at the end)
- Put the lid on and into your oven on the middle rack for about 3.5 hours. Flip over after hour 2 and baste some of the liquid below over the top of the meat. Continue cooking the rest of the 1.5 hours or until meat shreds nicely with 2 forks. Timing will depend on how thick yours is.
- Remove meat and place on cutting board. Remove and discard bone and chunks of fat. Chop meat up and put back into the pot. Pour remaining salsa (or as much as you need) on top and stir to coat so it is nice and moist.
- Serve inside small tortillas as tacos.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Awesome! We used the leftovers for tacos:)
Glad it was a hit