Slow Cooked Bolar Roast

sliced roast beef on a chopping board
When you're in a rush, a roast or crockpot is always easiest for family dinners. Slow cooking makes for a fuss-free family meal that's ready by 5pm when your troops scoot in the door hungry and exhausted. This will quickly become your favourite Bolar Roast Beef recipe.

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours
Total Time 8 hours 5 minutes
Course Dinner
Servings 8 people

Equipment

  • slow cooker

Ingredients
 
 

  • 2 kg bolar roast beef
  • 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil we love Olivado
  • 1 ½ cups red wine
  • 1 bay leaf we love Superb Herb
  • 1 tsp black pepper crushed
  • 1 garlic clove crushed
  • 1 large onion quartered
  • 250 g bag of carrots cut in pieces
  • 1 cup sliced mushrooms

For the gravy

  • 1 tbsp flour we love Chantal Organics
  • ¼ cup red wine

Instructions
 

  • Pat the meat dry then brown in the oil in a heavy fry pan.
  • Combine the browned beef, wine, onion, carrots, mushrooms, bay leaf, pepper and garlic, in your slow cooker or crockpot. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
  • Thicken meat juices after cooking for a great gravy: a tablespoon of flour or cornflour mixed to a paste with a little extra wine.
  • Serve with creamy mashed potato, minted peas and gravy.

Notes

Roasting Tip
NZ Guild of Foodwriter's Jan Bilton has advice on roasting the less tender cuts of beef such as bolar, rolled rib, topside and perhaps prime rib: Place in a roasting pan. Baste lean meats often with butter or oil. Roast at 180 degrees C for 30 minutes per 500g. Season with salt, pepper and mustard.
Keyword dairy free
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

15 Comments

  1. Pamela on 14/03/2024 at 5:40 pm

    Hi, I have a almost 4kg piece bolar
    Guess it would double the cook time ?

    • Rani on 16/03/2024 at 1:33 pm

      Hi Pamela,

      No need to double it but I would give it a couple more hours. Make sure you place the meat first in your slow cooker and add the ingredients around it. I would recommend doubling up on most ingredients but substitute some of the wine for stock perhaps. A great way to add moisture without adding liquid is to grate some zucchini in. It will soften as it cooks, release all its fluid and help thicken the broth a little.
      You can choose to double up on the carrots or not – this will come down to how big your slow cooker is.

      Make sure you season it well, red meat calls for a lot of salt!

      Enjoy!

  2. Jacqui on 31/10/2023 at 6:58 pm

    1 star
    Did this for the first time and found the wine taste far too strong so maybe it depends on what wine you use. I would only use half wine and water next time.

  3. Tony Sharper on 13/09/2023 at 11:53 pm

    5 stars
    Thankyou for your recipe. We did a bolar blade roast and cooked the 1.2kg roast for 6 hours. My wife not a big mushroom fan so left them out and it was still a great meal. Fall apart meat, really tasty. Thank again.

  4. Trista on 13/08/2023 at 7:45 pm

    Doing this tonight for tomorrow lunch! Yum I can’t wait

  5. Natalie on 08/05/2023 at 6:40 pm

    Hi, do you think I could sear the meat at night and then slow cook in the morning?

    • Rani on 09/05/2023 at 3:08 pm

      Hi Natalie,

      From a food safety point of view, it would be best to avoid this. The meat will be seared but still raw and would sit in this state overnight. It will also make the meat go a bit tight/tough on the seared edges.
      If you are planning to turn your slow-cooker on in the morning, I would recommend prepping all other elements the night before, put everything in a bowl, in the fridge overnight but searing the meat at the last minute. It’s a quick enough step and with everything else ready, you would have your dish on in just a few minutes.

  6. Angela Brown on 10/04/2023 at 7:19 am

    Hi, I have 2x 1.3kg round beef roasts that I want to cook in the slow cooker together. One edge of each side of the meat will be touching the ends of the slow cooker, will this mean that the meat will cook slightly faster and will it shrink slightly when cooking so won’t be touching the edge for the whole 8 hours. Also do I double the liquid or keep it the same as if cooking just 2kg piece.

    • Rani on 03/05/2023 at 10:01 am

      Hi Angela,

      The meat will shrink but will actually take a bit longer to cook as there is more mass in the slow cooker. You may find that because you have more meat in the slow cooker, you won’t have space for the full amount of liquid. Adjust as needed in order to avoid an overflow.

  7. Minz on 13/03/2023 at 10:16 am

    hi have a 1.14kg bolar blade roast. how long would you recommend to cook for?

    • Rani on 13/03/2023 at 12:12 pm

      Hi Minz,

      Even though your piece is much smaller, I would still leave it on for 6 hours. The beauty of using a slow cooker is that you can never overcook your meat. If you are pressed with time, roast it in the oven at 180 degrees C for 30 minutes per 500g, about 1h15 for your piece.

  8. Jennifer de haas on 07/03/2023 at 6:10 pm

    Can’t wait to taste it will let you know

  9. Leanne Archer on 16/05/2022 at 6:38 pm

    5 stars
    Easy, simple and delicious recipe. Meat was so tender, will definitely make this again.

  10. Sara Worth on 23/12/2021 at 4:43 pm

    5 stars
    Thanks so much for putting this online. I had no idea what a Bolar roast was when I got my cow back from the butcher! I looked you up on google and found this recipe. I tried it in the slow cooker overnight with a bit of balsamic glaze. As I am gluten-free I thickened with a tiny bit of guar gum and the whole thing was yummy. So nice to use the slow cooker.

    • Rani on 23/12/2021 at 7:14 pm

      Hi Sara, we’re glad you enjoyed the recipe. Great idea using guar gum as the thickener! Thank you for the tip 🙂

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