Mississippi Pot Roast

🍲 Slow Cooker Recipe

(There’s a quick and easy version of the recipe, posted first, as well as a longer version to try if you don’t have premixed spice packets.)

Ingredients – for the quick and easy version

1 boneless beef chuck roast (1.4kg to 1.8kg / 3 to 4 lbs) (Apparently could also use boneless pork sirloin roast cut, or 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts instead)
1 packet ranch dressing mix
1 packet ‘au jus’ gravy mix
113 grams (1/4 cup) butter
4 – 5 pepperoncini peppers (or lombardi, or mild banana peppers)
1/4 cup – 1/2 cup brine from the jar of peppers

Directions – for the quick and easy version

Place the roast in the slow cooker, and sprinkle the top with the ranch dressing and the au jus mix packets. Place peppers on top, add the butter, cut up into thin slices. No need to add any water to this!
Cover and cook on Low for 8 hours.
Serve with mashed potatoes, rice, or noodles. Optional: Add some quartered russet potatoes and/or a big handful of baby carrots to the slowcooker for the final 1-2 hours of cooking time.

Internet Tips:

To thicken the juices into more of a gravy, make a paste with 2 teaspoons of cornstarch and 2 teaspoons of cold water. Stir into the slowcooker and cook on High for 10 minutes or so until thickened.

Can use chuck roast, chuck eye roast, chuck shoulder, bottom round roast — any cut of meat will be good.

My Notes

From trying the quick and easy version: I’ve made this a few times now. For later versions, I skip the butter entirely, and I trim most of the fat off the roast, if possible. You can also skip the au jus gravy mix if you don’t have any. I don’t really like it with pepperoncini peppers, but we loved it with about 10 yellow pickled mild lombardi peppers as well as 1/4 of the brine. Alternately, mild pickled banana peppers (and some brine) works, too.
I didn’t sear the meat before putting it into the slow cooker because I wanted to make sure this would work as a ‘throw it and forget it’ type of meal, and it does. 😀 I usually don’t bother with more than a drizzle of the cooking liquid the first night. Then I save the liquid in a glass measuring cup in the fridge overnight to make it easy to remove the solidified fat off the top, and use it as gravy for the leftovers.
For something so simple to put together, this really turned out nice! 😍
I’ve made this with pork, too. It was nice — but I think we prefer the beef!

Photo of 1st attempt (beef):

Photo of 2nd attempt (beef, and used more lombardi peppers this time!):

Ingredients – for the longer recipe

1 boneless beef chuck roast (or top or bottom round roast) (1.4kg to 1.8kg / 3 to 4 pounds)
2 teaspoons kosher salt (or more, to taste)
1.5 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper (or more, to taste)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons neutral oil (like canola)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 to 12 pepperoncini peppers
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dried dill
1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon buttermilk (optional)
Chopped parsley (optional, to garnish)

Directions – for the longer recipe

Place the roast on a cutting board and rub the salt and pepper all over it. Then sprinkle the flour on top and massage into the meat.
In a large frying pan on high heat, warm the oil until almost at smoking points, and place the roast into the pan to sear on all sides (about 4 to 5 minutes per side) until you have a nicely browned outer crust.
Remove meat from the pan and place into the slow cooker.
Place the butter and pepperoncini peppers on top of the meat. Cover with lid and set to low.
While it’s starting to heat up, make the ranch dressing: mix the mayonnaise, vinegar, dill, and paprika in a small bowl, whisking well to emulsify. Add in the buttermilk (if using), and whisk again until completely blended.
Remove the lid from the slow cooker and pour the dressing over the meat. Cover, and cook for 6 to 8 hours on low heat, until the meat can easily be shredded using 2 forks. Mix the shredded meat with the gravy surrounding it. Garnish with parsley, if desired. Serve with roasted potatoes, egg noodles, or inside a sandwich roll, as per your preference.