This Slow Cooker Mississippi Pot Roast is made with tender chuck roast, ranch dressing mix, au jus gravy mix, butter, and pepperoncini peppers. With about 10 minutes of prep, the slow cooker does most of the work and turns the beef into a fork-tender roast that shreds easily.
Serve this Mississippi pot roast over mashed potatoes (my favorite), rice, or egg noodles, or pile the beef onto slider buns or sandwich rolls. It's a simple slow cooker recipe for busy days when you want a comforting dinner without a long ingredient list or much hands-on cooking.
If you like easy slow cooker dinners, try my Crockpot Ranch Pork Chops or Slow Cooker Honey Mustard Chicken next.
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What Is Mississippi Pot Roast?
Mississippi pot roast is credited to Robin Chapman of Ripley, Mississippi, who created the recipe in the 1990s as a milder variation of her aunt’s pot roast. The recipe later spread through a church cookbook and eventually became a hugely popular slow cooker recipe online.
If you have a chance, search Mississippi pot roast on Google Trends. You can see interest first start to take off around 2012, and now the recipe trends every fall and winter in the United States.
Shortcut Notes
- Minimal prep: It takes about 10 minutes to get the roast into the slow cooker.
- Shortcut seasonings: Ranch dressing mix and au jus gravy mix add plenty of flavor without measuring several individual seasonings.
- Easy cleanup: Shred the roast directly in the slow cooker, then stir it into the cooking juices before serving.
Ingredient Breakdown
- Beef chuck roast: Chuck roast has plenty of marbling, which helps the beef become tender during slow cooking.
- Olive oil: Used to sear the roast before it goes into the slow cooker. Excluding the oil, this is a 5-ingredient recipe.
- Ranch dressing mix: A packet of dry ranch seasoning.
- Au jus gravy mix: Dry au jus mix adds a rich, beefy flavor to the cooking juices.
- Unsalted butter: Butter melts over the roast as it cooks.
- Pepperoncini peppers: Whole pepperoncini are mild add a mild tang and a little acidity. A small amount of juice from the jar adds to the flavor and adds a little extra cooking liquid.
See the recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Pat the roast dry and sear until deeply browned, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer the roast to a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker.
Sprinkle the ranch dressing mix and au jus gravy mix over the top. Add the pepperoncini peppers and pour the pepperoncini brine around the roast. Place the butter on top.
Cover and cook on LOW for 8–10 hours or HIGH for 4–5 hours, until the beef is fork-tender and shreds easily.
Shred the roast directly in the slow cooker using two forks. Stir the shredded beef into the cooking juices, then serve over mashed potatoes, rice, egg noodles, or sandwich rolls.
Substitutions
- Chuck roast: Top round or bottom round can be used, but these cuts are leaner and may not become quite as tender as chuck roast.
- Au jus gravy mix: Brown gravy mix can work in a pinch, although the flavor and salt level will be different.
- Unsalted butter: Salted butter can be used, but keep in mind that the ranch mix and au jus mix already contain salt, so I don't recommend it.
- Pepperoncini peppers: Mild banana peppers can be substituted. They’re usually a little sweeter and less tangy than pepperoncini, but both are mild in heat.
Mississippi Pot Roast Tips
Keep the lid closed while the roast cooks. Opening the slow cooker releases heat and can extend the cook time.
Cook until tender, not just until the timer goes off. Slow cookers vary, so use the cook time as a guide and look for beef that shreds easily with a fork.
Behind the Recipe
I like using whole pepperoncini peppers instead of sliced peppers because they're easy to remove from individual servings if someone in my family doesn't want them.
My absolute favorite way to eat Mississippi pot roast is the classic pile of beef over buttery mashed potatoes. Piling the shredded roast onto a sandwich roll is a close second.
FAQ
Chuck roast is my top pick because its marbling helps it become tender during a long cook time.
No. Searing adds browned flavor and gives the outside of the roast a deeper color, but you can skip this step when you need an even lower-effort slow cooker dinner.
It is tangy rather than hot. Pepperoncini peppers are mild compared to other peppers, and using fewer peppers will make their flavor less noticeable. I've seen recipes with as few as 6 peppers.
This recipe is written with ½ cup of butter, which is pretty standard for a Mississippi pot roast recipe, but you can absolutely reduce the butter to ¼ cup.
📖 Recipe
Slow Cooker Mississippi Pot Roast
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 pounds beef chuck roast trimmed
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 (1-ounce) packet ranch dressing mix
- 1 (1-ounce) packet au jus gravy mix
- ½ cup unsalted butter cold
- 12 to 16 whole pepperoncini peppers plus ¼ cup brine
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Pat the roast dry and sear until deeply browned, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer the roast to a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker.
- Sprinkle the ranch dressing mix and au jus gravy mix over the top. Add the pepperoncini peppers and pour the pepperoncini brine around the roast. Place the butter on top.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 8–10 hours or HIGH for 4–5 hours, until the beef is fork-tender and shreds easily.
- Shred the roast directly in the slow cooker using two forks. Stir the shredded beef into the cooking juices, then serve over mashed potatoes, rice, egg noodles, or sandwich rolls.
Notes
Nutrition
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Food Safety
- Once the roast is fully cooked, you can use the slow cooker's Keep Warm setting to hold it for serving.
- Store cooked beef in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.
- Use clean utensils and surfaces when handling raw beef, and wash your hands thoroughly afterward.
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Kelsey Smith says
I love how tender and flavorful this Mississippi pot roast turns out with such a short ingredient list. The pepperoncini add just the right amount of tang, and serving it over mashed potatoes is my favorite way to eat it. If you make this recipe, leave a review and let me know how it turned out for you.