How To Make Mississippi Pot Roast: A 5-Ingredient, Slow Cooker Win

updated May 4, 2020
A plate of pot roast with peppers and mashed potatoes.
Credit: Photo: Ghazalle Badiozamani; Food Styling: Brett Regot

This 5-ingredient, shortcut slow cooker recipe is going to completely change how you think about pot roast.

Serves6 to 8

Prep15 minutes

Cook5 hours to 8 hours

Jump to Recipe
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A plate of pot roast with peppers and mashed potatoes.
Credit: Photo: Ghazalle Badiozamani; Food Styling: Brett Regot

Pot roast is a pretty easy dish to love. A cut of inexpensive beef is slowly braised in flavorful liquid until it’s melt-in-your mouth tender, then served alongside potatoes, pasta, or crusty bread for sopping up all the rich gravy. We love it so much that we rarely riff on it, but we’ll make an exception for this Mississippi pot roast. It’s a five-ingredient slow cooker version that tastes nothing like the classic, but trust us when we say you’ll fall in love with it all the same.

We initially discovered Mississippi pot roast on Reddit, where it’s amassed somewhat of a cult following. It involves a seemingly strange combination of seasoning packets, butter, and pepperoncini peppers, which transform into a spicy, tangy sauce as they cook. This certainly isn’t your grandmother’s pot roast, but it’s much, much easier — and it just may become your new favorite.

Credit: Photo: Ghazalle Badiozamani; Food Styling: Brett Regot

What Is Mississippi Pot Roast?

Uber-popular internet recipes often have an unclear history, but we were able to track down Mississippi pot roast’s origin story pretty quickly. According to Southern Living, Robin Chapman of Ripley, Mississippi, created the recipe while attempting to adapt her aunt’s spicy beef roast to her family’s palate. Her family loved the resulting beef dish so much that she shared the recipe with a friend, who later published the recipe in a community church cookbook. Mississippi pot roast saw a huge surge in popularity in the early 2000’s, when Sam Sifton published his riff on it in The New York Times.

Is Mississippi Pot Roast Keto?

Yes! With the rise of the keto diet, Mississippi pot roast is making the internet rounds once again. The dish is very low in carbs, so it’s a great option for anyone keeping keto. Serve it with steamed asparagus or riced or mashed cauliflower to keep it low-carb.

Credit: Photo: Ghazalle Badiozamani; Food Styling: Brett Regot

A 5-Ingredient, Impossibly Easy Dump Dinner

Mississippi pot roast is what we would call a “dump dinner” — the beef goes into the slow cooker, the rest of the ingredients get dumped on top of it, and then the whole thing gets cooked. There’s no browning the beef, no extra add-ins before serving. You don’t even have to stir together the ingredients! Here’s what you’ll need to make it.

  • Beef roast: You’ll want to use a chuck roast in the 3- to 4-pound range. Choose one with minimal visible fat, if possible.
  • Gravy mix and ranch seasoning: You’ll need one (1-ounce) packet of both gravy (or au jus) mix and ranch seasoning. If you can only find 0.6-ounce packets of the au jus mix, such as Knorrs, grab two and use both.
  • Whole pepperoncini peppers: You’ll need a 12-ounce jar of these bright beauties. As written, the recipe calls for half the brine, which is perfect for families with young kids. But if you like things spicy, go ahead and add the full amount of brine to the slow cooker.

Once everything is in the slow cooker, cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours or on HIGH for 5 to 6 hours. As it simmers away, the beef will braise and the packets of seasoning mix will thicken the beef’s liquid into a tangy gravy, which you’ll serve over the finished roast beef. When it’s time to eat, you have plenty of options. Pile the saucy beef onto sandwich rolls with provolone cheese and peppers, or serve with egg noodles or mashed potatoes, which are the most popular vehicles for this unorthodox but totally delicious pot roast.

Credit: Photo: Ghazalle Badiozamani; Food Styling: Brett Regot
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How to Make the Best Slow Cooker Mississippi Pot Roast

This 5-ingredient, shortcut slow cooker recipe is going to completely change how you think about pot roast.

Prep time 15 minutes

Cook time 5 hours to 8 hours

Serves 6 to 8

Nutritional Info

Ingredients

  • 1

    (3 to 4-pound) boneless beef chuck roast

  • 1 (1-ounce) packet

    ranch salad dressing & seasoning mix

  • 1 (1-ounce) packet

    au jus gravy mix (or 2 (.6-ounce) packets)

  • 8 tablespoons

    (1 stick) unsalted butter

  • 1 (12-ounce) jar

    pepperoncini peppers

  • Options for serving: mashed potatoes, mashed cauliflower, sandwich rolls and provolone cheese

Equipment

  • 6-quart or larger slow cooker

  • Cutting board

  • Tongs

  • Small strainer

Instructions

  1. Add the chuck roast to a slow cooker. Place a 3- to 4-pound boneless beef chuck roast in a 6-quart or larger slow cooker.

  2. Add the seasoning packets. Sprinkle the chuck roast with 1 packet ranch salad dressing and seasoning mix and 1 (1-ounce) packet au jus gravy mix.

  3. Add the butter, pepperoncini, and brine. Cut 1 stick butter into cubes and place on top of the roast. Pour 1/2 cup brine from a jar of pepperoncini peppers and pour this over the roast. Add 10 to 12 pepperoncini peppers.

  4. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours. Cover and cook until the beef is very tender, about 8 hours on the LOW setting, or 5 to 6 hours on the HIGH setting.

  5. Use tongs to shred the roast and serve. Shred the roast into bite-sized pieces with tongs. Serve the pot roast over mashed potatoes or pile onto rolls and top with provolone cheese.

Recipe Notes

Storage: Leftovers can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to 4 days.

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