Roast with gravy is a dish that brings me back to my childhood. Those were the days I spent every weekend with my Granny and Grandpa, swimming in their pool, playing with cousins, climbing trees, and eating good, old-fashioned food. Granny made a mean roast, and pairing it with gravy (usually served over rice) made from the pan drippings was perfection on a plate.
Slow cooker roast isn't exactly difficult. You simply throw a big hunk of meat into the pot, season and add broth as desired, and cook on low all day long until the meat is tender and falling apart. Cola roast, however, is something of a Southern favorite. We love our Coke, y'all, and have figured out a myriad of ways to include it in all kinds of foods and sauces. Traditionally it's simmered all day with a couple of cans-worth of the sugary soda and seasoned with powdered onion soup mix, and the drippings and juices left in the pot are reduced down with flour to thicken into a gravy. None of which will work on keto.
Thankfully, as our lifestyle becomes more commonplace, we are starting to see more compliant products that can stand-in for old favorites. One such product is Zevia cola. With no chemical colorings and sweetened only with erythritol and stevia, it's a perfectly acceptable replacement for regular (or chemical-laden diet) soda in this recipe.
Onion soup mix is a wee bit harder. The seasoning are easy, but the powdered bouillon that is part of its distinctive flavor is made with sugar, and is very much out. So, to get the same rich, beefy flavor without sugary bouillon powder, I used beef broth as part of the simmering liquid. Konjac powder (aka, glucomannan) thickens the leftover liquid into a nice, brown gravy. Serve it over riced cauliflower (as shown above) or caulimash, and you've got an awesome and savory meal on the table that's sure to be a family-pleaser.
Notes: Some folks like fatty roast. My family does not, so I usually trim mine and I calculated macros to assume it's trimmed. Also, even though I trimmed my roast, it still gave up an absolute ton of juices. My pot yielded a good 4-5 cups of liquid juices, and only 1 1/4 c of that was from what I added in cola and broth.
Your final yield will vary depending on your roast, which means the amount of konjac you need to thicken your gravy to your desired consistency is going to vary. I ended up needing a full teaspoon to thicken mine to my liking, but remember the cooking rule: less is always more. It's always better to have too little, because you can always add more. If you begin with too much, it can be hard, if not impossible, to fix. I recommend starting with 1/2 tsp in your juices and simmer it down. If it needs more, add it 1/4 tsp at a time, letting it simmer a few minutes between each addition so it can work its magic.
[tasty-recipe id="2751"]
