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The chuck-eye roast is one of our go-to cuts for beef stew and pot roast. Here's why.

For pot roasts and stews, we typically turn to a cut from the chuck, or shoulder, since meat from this region tends to be flavorful and fairly fatty and boasts plenty of collagen that breaks down to lubricate meat and add silkiness to braising liquids. Our favorite roast from the shoulder is the chuck eye.

Unlike other roasts from the shoulder, which may feature multiple small muscle groups separated by lots of hard fat and connective tissue, the chuck eye has a more limited number of large muscle groups that run along the center of the shoulder. With fewer muscle groups, this roast has less intramuscular fat and connective tissue to trim away, so it’s easier to prep; it also has a higher yield for the money.

In addition, the chuck eye has a compact, uniform shape that makes it easier to carve if cooked whole for dishes such as pot roast.

Shopping for Chuck-Eye Roast

Some readers have told us that chuck eye can be hard to find, but that may be because the roast goes by a number of aliases:

chuck center roast
chuck-eye roll
inside chuck roll
boneless chuck fillet
America’s beef roast

If you can’t find chuck eye under one of these names, boneless short ribs (which aren’t ribs at all but thick swathes of meat cut from the chuck) make an excellent alternative.