Dump Meals

Beef Freezer bag

Pepperoncini Pot Roast

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Chuck roast cut into pieces with pepperoncini, ranch seasoning, gravy mix and butter. The dish often called Mississippi pot roast.

Serves
8
Prep
10 minutes
Cook
Low 8 to 10 hours, or high 4 to 5 hours
Slow cooker
4-quart

This is the dish often called Mississippi pot roast: a chuck roast, a jar of pepperoncini, ranch seasoning, brown gravy mix and a little butter. The pepperoncini add tang and a gentle heat, and the juices become a salty, savory gravy. No other seasoning is needed.

USDA-based guidance from university extension services warns against very large roasts in a slow cooker, because the center may stay too long in the danger zone. So the roast is cut into 2-inch chunks and set in broth. Serve over mashed potatoes or egg noodles, and spoon the gravy over the top. The leftovers also make good sandwiches.

Taste the gravy before adding anything else. The jar juice and the two seasoning packets make it salty enough for most tables. Cooked carrots and potatoes can go on the side, boiled or roasted separately.

Ingredients

Into the slow cooker

  • 3 pounds beef chuck roast, cut into 2-inch chunks
  • 1 (12-ounce) jar pepperoncini peppers, you'll use 6 to 8 peppers and 2 tablespoons of the juice
  • 1 (1-ounce) packet ranch seasoning mix
  • 1 (0.75-ounce) packet brown gravy mix
  • ½ stick butter
  • 2 cups beef broth

To serve

  • mashed potatoes or egg noodles, for serving

Directions

  1. If your meat is frozen, thaw it completely in the refrigerator first. Never put frozen meat in the slow cooker.
  2. Cut the roast into 2-inch chunks, trimming off thick fat. Lay the pieces in a 4-quart slow cooker.
  3. Sprinkle the ranch mix and gravy mix over the beef. Pour in the broth. The liquid should come most of the way up the meat. If it doesn't, add a little more broth.
  4. Lay 6 to 8 pepperoncini on top with 2 tablespoons of the jar juice. Set the butter on top.
  5. Cover. Cook on low 8 to 10 hours or on high 4 to 5 hours. Keep the lid on.
  6. Check the beef with a thermometer. It must read at least 145°F and be fork-tender. Rest 3 minutes.
  7. Shred the beef in the juices and serve.

It's done when every piece of beef reads at least 145°F in the center, and it is fork-tender and pulls apart easily. Let it rest 3 minutes before serving. Check with a food thermometer.

Leftovers go in the refrigerator within two hours. Reheat them on the stove or in the microwave until hot all the way through (165°F), not in the slow cooker. Slow cooker safety

Make it a freezer dump bag

Put the beef pieces, ranch mix, gravy mix, broth, 6 to 8 pepperoncini with 2 tbsp of their juice, and butter in one gallon freezer bag. Press out the air, seal, label and freeze flat.

Bag: gallon freezer bag. Keeps: 3 months for best quality; safe indefinitely at 0°F in the freezer.

Pepperoncini Pot Roast

Frozen on:

Thaw in the refrigerator 24 to 36 hours, until no ice is left in the middle. Never cook it from frozen, and cook it within 2 days of thawing. Dump into a 4-quart slow cooker. Cook on low 8 to 10 hours. Check with a food thermometer that the beef reads at least 145°F and is fork-tender, then let it rest 3 minutes. Shred the beef in the juices.

Best within 3 months of the date above.

Plan several bags at once with one shopping list and printable labels.

The planner prints this label free. A designed set for all 17 freezer recipes, plus blanks, is in the Freezer Bag Labels pack ($7).

This recipe is one of the ten in The Freezer Session ($12): ten dump bags, one shopping trip, one afternoon.

Cooking for two

Use 1.5 lb beef in 2-inch chunks, half of each packet, 1 cup broth, 3 or 4 pepperoncini and 2 tbsp butter. Use a 2-quart slow cooker, so the food still fills it about halfway. Check the beef at 6 hours on low.

More in Cooking for two in a slow cooker.

Tips

  • The pieces should sit mostly under the liquid. Add a little more broth if they do not.
  • The ranch mix and gravy mix are salty. Do not add salt until you taste the gravy.
  • Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours, in shallow covered containers. Reheat them on the stove or in the microwave until they reach 165°F. Do not reheat them in the slow cooker.

Food-safety sources

More beef

  • Beef Stew Low 8 to 10 hours, or high 4 to 5 hours Freezer bag Beef chuck cubes, carrots, potatoes and celery in a beef and tomato gravy. Peas go in at the end.
  • Italian Beef Low 8 to 10 hours, or high 4 to 5 hours Freezer bag Chuck roast pieces in Italian dressing mix and broth, shredded for sandwiches with pickled pepper relish.
  • Beef and Broccoli Low 4 to 6 hours, or high 2 to 3 hours Freezer bag Thin-sliced beef chuck in a soy, garlic and ginger sauce, with broccoli added at the end. Serve over rice.
  • Beef and Bean Chili Low 6 to 8 hours, or high 3 to 4 hours Freezer bag Browned ground beef with kidney and pinto beans, tomatoes, peppers and chili powder. Uses canned beans only.