This is the second pot roast-focused recipe that I’ve created for this sandwich blog. The first one was when I was testing to see whether Mississippi pot roast was any good or not. I was initially skeptical but it turned out pretty dang good. I recently decided to buy some beef and try another version.
This time I chose to create a new pot roast recipe with gochujang paste and Coke or cola. If you’ve never used it, gochujang is a paste made primarily from chili pepper powder and fermented soybeans. It’s very savory with a bit of sweetness that comes from the starch in glutinous rice. Gochujang is a fantastic addition to most dishes where you might want to add a little spice and savory flavors.
One tablespoon of gochujang mixed with three tablespoons of mayonnaise will create a great spread that will lift even the most boring of deli meat sandwiches.
This isn’t your grandmother’s pot roast sandwich.
What is pot roast?
Pot roast is a main dish composed of beef, typically from a cut called “chuck roast,” that is slow-cooked until very tender and in the United States is often seasoned simply with salt and pepper and served with braised vegetables like potatoes, carrots, and onions.
The phrase “pot roast” started being used in the late 19th century but the technique for cooking or braising beef like this has existed for many centuries. Chuck roast, which comes from the cow’s shoulder, is considered a more inexpensive beef cut because it can be very tough. However, a slow braising process helps break down the connective tissues in the beef, which helps to tenderize the meat and assists in infusing the flavor of the meat into a sauce or gravy.
Slow cooker or Dutch oven?
Before the invention of the slow cooker (sometimes just called “crock pot” which is a brand name), all pot roast was cooked in a large pot or Dutch oven. This is still an option today if you prefer. But in my experience, there’s not much reason to use a large pot for a slow braise like this if you have a crock pot or slow cooker available. A slow cooker will not brown the meat at all, so if you want to get some caramelization on the exterior of the meat you will have to initially use a pot (like I do in my recipe) but then you can move all of the meat and braising liquid to the slow cooker and set-it-and-forget-it.
The main slow cooker that I own is old enough that they don’t sell it anymore, but this Crock Pot 7-quart slow cooker would be very similar and as I am writing this, it is on sale for $30.
I do mention a few tips for making this same recipe in a Dutch oven in the gochujang cola pot roast section down below and I have also included that in the notes under the recipe instructions.
What is this sandwich?
This is a beefy and cheesy sandwich with a big flavor from slightly spicy gochujang and a lot of sweetness coming from the addition of cola and brown sugar in the braising liquid. The beef is tender and warmed through with slices of mozzarella cheese that gets all melty. Additions of tart pickle-y vegetables add texture and zing to the final sandwich. But first, we need some bread.
The soft buns
After a few weeks of making sandwiches out of sliced bread, we’re finally back to being Bounded by Buns. This is my favorite potato bun recipe that I created the first year I started this sandwich blog. This recipe produces pretty much the softest buns I know how to make in a very short period of time.
I am an early riser and if I get this dough started at 6:30 am I can have hot buns coming out of the oven as quickly as 10 am which gives them plenty of time to cool before being sliced for lunch. This is about as quickly as I can get buns produced at my house and it’s mostly due to the instant yeast and enrichments in the dough.
The only difference between this set of buns vs the actual recipe is that I painted on an egg wash and sprinkled some white and black sesame seeds on top just before baking. The egg wash helps make the buns shiny and brown and it also serves as a bit of “glue” to help the seeds stick to the buns.
Here’s my soft potato bun v2 recipe if you need a similar recipe but you’d prefer a recipe that doesn’t require milk powder, you can try the version 1 potato bun recipe.
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Super soft potato buns v2
Here's my updated, soft and squishy bun recipe that's perfect for your next burger night. This updated version that uses potato flour and dry milk powder for a lighter bun with longer shelf life.
Get RecipeGochujang cola pot roast
Some people (including my wife) do not have an appreciation for pot roast. She thinks it has a flavor component that is earthy that she doesn’t particularly like. This pot roast isn’t like that. Texturally, it’s similar to pot roasts that you might be familiar with because the grains in chuck roast tend to be short and a bit stringy, but the flavor in this roast will not be similar to the pot roasts that you might have enjoyed during your youth.
This is a sweet and spicy pot roast, but it’s not so spicy that you can’t taste the other flavors. The addition of gochujang paste and chili garlic sauce brings a lot of excitement to the beef that is balanced by cola—in the form of Coke—and brown sugar sweetness. These flavors bring excitement to what could be an otherwise boring pot roast.
The key to cooking meat in a slow cooker is to get the meat surrounded by braising liquid. In this case, the base for our pot roast is beef broth and coke. The onions and meat will go on to cook for 3+ hours in the slow cooker so giving it a start in a pot doesn’t necessarily help with the cooking process, but there will be no other opportunity to get any caramelization into the dish.
You don’t have to sear the beef and you don’t have to pre-cook the onions and garlic if you don’t want to, but skipping this step will miss an opportunity to build extra flavor into the braising liquid. Everything will still be cooked to about the same doneness. The searing process in the pot has very little to do with cooking anything, just adding flavor.
No slow cooker?
If you do not have a slow cooker, you can cook this same recipe in an oven-safe pot or roasting dish with the lid on. You can set your oven to 375 F (190 C) and cook it for roughly the same amount of time as the slow cooker instructions (3.5 hours). The oven does allow more moisture to evaporate than a slow cooker so you may want to add just a little bit more beef broth and cola (like 1/4 cup each) and check it at the halfway point to see if it’s losing a lot of liquid. You just want to make sure that the beef is mostly covered up by the braising liquid.
Cooking without a slow cooker means you can use the same pot to sear the beef and then cook the beef throughout the slow cooking process. So it’s one less pot to clean!
This pot roast is a great main course with some rice, buttered noodles, or mashed potatoes, but it also works great in a sandwich like the one I’m writing about today or even in a pot roast melt.
I suggest you make it for dinner and then you can use the leftovers as the base for some really flavorful sandwiches.
Here’s my gochujang cola pot roast as a stand-alone recipe, but you can also find the same ingredients and instructions in the full sandwich recipe down below.
Gochujang cola pot roast
A sweet and spicy, savory pot roast that cooks for 3.5 hours in a slow cooker leaving you with very tender beef perfect to top rice, noodles, or mashed potatoes.
Get RecipePickled veggies
This sandwich is packed full of spicy and sweet beef and melty cheese so I figured it needed some acidity to cut all of those flavors and richness. For me, with sandwiches, that job typically requires pickles. So I made some.
Inspired by the vegetables in banh mi I decided to create this mix of veggies for this pickle recipe. I sliced some cucumber, jalapenos, daikon radish, and carrots and pickled them all together. This is a quick pickle recipe, but you can store them and use them for a month or so.
Much like other pickle recipes I have shared, these are considered to be quick pickles because they aren’t fermented. They get their twang or tartness from the vinegar that is in the brining liquid. This is the easiest way to make pickles and it’s my preferred method to easily get some crunchy, vinegary additions to what might be an otherwise boring sandwich.
Once the vegetables are added to the brine, it’s simply a waiting game. You can eat these pickles after an hour of them soaking in the brine or you can wait 2 or 3 days to see how the flavors and textures change. I personally like them best after a night in the fridge but I have definitely eaten them after just an hour of brining and they’re still good.
Here’s my pickled banh mi veggie recipe that makes a batch of a crunchy and tart addition to a sandwich that will bring texture and flavor to match the deep rich, spicy, and sweet flavors of the meat and the creaminess of the cheese in this sandwich. But you can also use this same recipe in a banh mi and I did that recently as well.
Pickled banh mi vegetables
Crunchy and tart vegetables that you can add to your next sandwich or burger. These pickles add texture and snap to a sandwich that might be missing that extra bite.
Get RecipeMozzarella cheese
I selected a low moisture block of mozzarella to use in this sandwich because I was thinking about Korean fire chicken and how great the creamy and stringy cheese works in that dish. I don’t think a ball of fresh mozzarella would work, it’s important to use the low-moisture version.
Building the sandwich
Once we have all of the ingredients, there are only two or three steps to get everything sandwiched between buns.
Toasting the buns
This sandwich has a lot of meat, sauce, and cheese so toasting the bun is a very important step. I toast mine in a skillet with a little bit of butter spread on both halves of the bun. We’re going to use this same skillet to warm up the beef and melt the cheese in just a few minutes, so once the bun is toasted, remove it and wipe out the pan to get any small crumbs out so they don’t burn.
Toasting the bun gives it a bit more structural support to withstand the beef and cheesy goodness. It’s not a requirement but it’s something I suggest to retain some sandwich integrity.
Warming and melting process
Wrapping it up?
This is an optional step and I can understand why people might not want to do it at home, but it’s a step that helps this sandwich be a bit less messy and it ensures that the cheese and meat stay warm and melty.
I do not know if I would personally wrap my sandwiches if I weren’t shooting video and taking photos but I did notice on the days that I wrapped the sandwich it was easier and less messy to eat. So you can use this knowledge and apply it or discard it as you wish. If you discard it, then at least you won’t have an extra piece of parchment paper to also discard.
The spicy gochujang cola pot roast sandwich
You can keep scrolling for a bunch of photos of this tasty sandwich and the recipe is right below. If you have a slow cooker and some time, this is a fairly easy and very satisfying sandwich to put together.
Gochujang cola pot roast sandwich with pickled veggies
This beefy and cheesy sandwich is balanced by crunchy and tart pickled vegetables. Gochujang and cola bring spicy and sweet flavors that are complemented by melty mozzarella in this comforting sandwich experience.
Ingredients:
Gochujang cola pot roast- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 to 3 beef chuck roast, cubed into 2-inch cubes
- 1 large yellow onion, quartered and sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1⁄2 cup cola soft drink (I used Coke)
- 3 tablespoons gochujang paste
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar, firmly packed
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons garlic chili sauce
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
- 1⁄2 pound carrots, peeled and cut into matchsticks (1 large carrot)
- 1⁄2 pound daikon radish, peeled and cut into matchsticks (similar amount to the carrot)
- 1 English cucumber, thinly sliced
- 1 jalapeno pepper, sliced into rings
- 2 cups water
- 1 1⁄2 cups apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 soft burger bun
- 1 to 2 teaspoons butter
- gochujang cola pot roast (from above)
- 1 to 2 ounces low moisture mozzarella cheese, sliced or shredded
- pickled banh mi vegetables (from above)
Suggested Equipment
Directions:
Gochujang cola pot roast: add 1 tablespoon of oil to a medium pot or pan over medium-high heat. Cut the chuck roast into 2 to 3-inch square pieces. Salt and pepper each piece.
Once the oil starts shimmering, add half of the pieces of beef and cook for 4 minutes per side. Flip each piece over and cook for another 4 minutes on the second side. Remove the meat and place it into a slow cooker while you cook the onions, garlic, and braising liquid.
Reduce the heat under the pot to medium.
Add the sliced onions to the pot where the beef was and cook for 3 minutes. After 3 minutes, add minced garlic and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes, stirring often.
Once the garlic has cooked for a couple of minutes add beef broth and cola and stir to combine everything.
Add all of the other ingredients for the gochujang pot roast and cook over medium heat until the liquid starts boiling, stirring frequently to make sure everything is combined.
Once boiling, turn off the heat and pour all of the braising liquid into the slow cooker with the beef and cook on high for 3.5 hours or low for 7 to 8 hours.
After the time has elapsed, with a slotted spoon, remove all beef pieces to a cutting board leaving the liquid still in the slow cooker. Break each piece of beef apart with two forks to break it into smaller pieces.
Add the beef back to the sauce and store in the refrigerator until it is time to make the sandwiches.
Pickled banh mi vegetables: slice the carrot, daikon radish, cucumber, and jalapeno into matchsticks or disks/rings.
Add all vegetables into a quart-sized mason jar and a pint-sized mason jar (or two quart-sized jars).
Add water, apple cider vinegar, and salt to a small saucepan over medium-high heat.
Bring the vinegar mixture to a boil. As soon as it starts boiling, stir the mixture, remove it from the heat, and pour it into the jars over the vegetables. This is obviously a hot pot pouring hot liquid so be careful. I typically do the pouring process in the sink so any spilled near-boiling liquid does not hurt anyone.
Close the jar lid and let it rest on your counter until cool.
Add to the fridge and enjoy some great pickled veggies over the next few weeks.
Toasting the bun: spread a bit of butter on both sides of the bun and toast in a medium pan over medium heat until both sides are golden brown and toasty. Move the bun to a cooling rack while you prepare the meat.
Warm the meat and cheese: wipe out the pan from toasting the bun and place back over medium heat.
Add a sandwich-sized portion of gochujang cola pot roast to the pan and cook for 3 minutes or until things are starting to get bubbly.
Add the mozzarella cheese and cook for another 3 minutes until the cheese starts to melt. Stir the meat in with the cheese to help the melting process.
When the meat is warm and the cheese is melted, it's time to assemble the sandwich.
Sandwich assembly: scoop all of the meat and cheese from the pan onto the bottom bun.
Top the meat with 2 or 3 forkfuls of pickled vegetables and close the sandwich with the top bun. Serve and enjoy.
Notes:
No slow cooker? If you do not have a slow cooker, you can cook this same recipe in an oven-safe pot or roasting dish with the lid on. You can set your oven to 375 F (190 C) and cook it for roughly the same amount of time as the slow cooker instructions (3.5 hours). The oven does allow more moisture to evaporate than a slow cooker so you may want to add just a little bit more beef broth and cola (like 1/4 cup each) and check it at the halfway point to see if it’s losing a lot of liquid. You just want to make sure that the beef is mostly covered up by the braising liquid.
Don't like spice? If you would like to tone down the spice, you can reduce the amount of gochujang and chili garlic sauce. Or you can buy a mild version of gochujang and skip the chili garlic sauce entirely.
Check back next week
Next week I’m probably actually making a salad maybe. We’ll see. Check back to find out.
