Four ingredients + time: That's all you need for the most delicious Slow Cooker Italian Beef. Serve it on French rolls; serve it in a bowl; just serve it up to a grateful family!
Welcome to the September 25, 2016 edition of Sunday Scratchups: Your weekly recipe from scratch around grocery store sales and affordable ingredients. Up this week: Slow Cooker Italian Beef! This is a perennial family favorite here, and the kids are always excited to see it on the meal planning menu.
Whether you serve up your Crock-Pot Italian beef on French rolls as shown here, or keep it low carb by making your own beefy bowls, it's downright delicious.
Note: See here if you're looking for an Instant Pot Italian beef recipe.
I was also pleasantly surprised that ALDI carries pepperoncini -- I never thought to look for these peppers there before, but there they were at just $1.49 a jar. 🙂 Update -- in 2022, they are up to $1.89 a jar at my store. Darn inflation...
Easy Four Ingredient Slow Cooker Italian Beef
Ingredients
2.5 lb boneless chuck roast
16 oz jar pepperoncini (can substitute mild pepper rings, if desired)
One cup beef broth
A handful of whole peeled garlic cloves, or substitute minced garlic, to taste
Directions
Place chuck roast in the bottom of your slow cooker. You can brown it first, but I generally skip that step with the slow cooker version since it doesn't seem to make a perceptible flavor difference. Add a cup of beef broth, a handful of whole peeled garlic cloves (or to taste -- I add a bunch because we all like garlic here and they're so good as a sandwich topping at the end), and the entire jar of pepperoncini, including liquid.
Cook on low for 8-10 hours.
Remove beef and shred, reserving garlic, peppers, and juice for topping sandwiches. Serve on French rolls with provolone or mozzarella cheese. You can also enjoy your Italian beef in a bowl or on a low carb wrap, if you're low carb, or on a gluten free bun, if you're gluten free.
Slow Cooker Italian Beef is the perfect easy recipe
Maybe it's just a personal preference, or maybe it's just the anticipation you build up because of the maddeningly delicious smells coming from the kitchen all day with this one... but while Instant Pot Italian beef is good, Italian beef in the Crock-Pot is definitely better.
The 8-10 hour cooking time means that it's easy to throw the (four!) ingredients into your slow cooker before work, too, and you'll come back home to an amazingly good & fully cooked dinner. Serve your slow cooker Italian beef sandwiches with something like a bagged green salad, fruit, and/or chips on the side for a super easy meal.
Plus, you may even have leftovers for tomorrow: Italian beef makes great quesadillas.
This Crock-Pot Italian beef is so much better than the Italian beef you can buy in the frozen tubs, guys. There's really no comparison. If you give it a try, let me know what you think!
Slow Cooker Italian Beef, printable recipe
Four Ingredient Slow Cooker Italian Beef
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2.5 lb boneless chuck roast
- 16 oz jar pepperoncini
- 1 cup beef broth
- A handful of whole peeled garlic cloves, or substitute minced garlic to taste
Instructions
- Place chuck roast in the bottom of your slow cooker. You can brown it first, but I generally skip that step with the slow cooker version since it doesn't seem to make a perceptible flavor difference.
- Add a cup of beef broth, a handful of whole peeled garlic cloves (or to taste -- I add a bunch because we all like garlic here and they're so good as a sandwich topping at the end), and the entire jar of pepperoncini, including liquid.
- Cook on low for 8-10 hours.
- Remove beef and shred, reserving garlic, peppers, and juice for topping sandwiches.
- Serve on French rolls with provolone or mozzarella cheese. You can also enjoy your Italian beef in a bowl or on a low carb wrap, if you're low carb, or on a gluten free bun, if you're gluten free.
Notes
Recipes in the real world
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Anne
Thursday 3rd of February 2022
Has anyone made this on high?
Jeannie
Friday 23rd of July 2021
I just made this today and loved slow cooking beef! Apparently slow cooking meats (at a lower temp) prevents certain proteins from disintegrating, so I’ll be doing this more often.
I was unsure about using the entire jar of vinegary liquid, so I only used half. I had also bought sliced banana peppers as well as the pepperonccini and mixed them in - next time I’ll use just the banana peppers and maybe a quarter jar of the liquid (the banana pepper liquid is way more potent).
I added fresh ground pepper and Italian seasoning before closing the lid, which I’m glad I did. I also stopped it at 7 hrs, and the meat was very tender already!
Last thing: I was tempted to add baby carrots but wasn’t sure how they’d go with the vinegary liquid so I deferred - will definitely add at halfway mark next time.
The Hawaiian rolls also from Aldi made excellent sliders with some bbq sauce, onion, and avocado. I’d also add cabbage coleslaw, giardiniera, arugula, and maybe even fresh peach slices and feta if serving a crowd.
Thank you for a fantastic, easy recipe!
Allison
Thursday 28th of November 2019
Very easy and very tasty! I've never had Italian beef before, so I have nothing to compare it to in terms of "authenticity" that others have commented. I will say though that this makes a great sandwich with a hearty serving of melted provolone. I hope authentic Italian beef is this good.
Ultimate Slow Cooker Recipes List - Drugstore Divas
Tuesday 9th of October 2018
[…] Italian Beef […]
Jen
Monday 23rd of January 2017
I wanted to come back and say I finally tried this recipe and we loved it. I had made something similar before but the peppers I used that time must not have been pepperoncini because I could barely choke down a few bites due to the spice. I got up the courage to try again though, and this time it hit the mark. The pepperoncini I used said "mild" and they were indeed not very spicy at all. Hubby ate the actual peppers on his sandwich; I opted to skip them.
However, I definitely wouldn't call these "italian beef". They just don't have the right seasonings (oregano especially). You could probably play with the spices to get it to taste more like real chicago italian beef, but I'm lazy and I liked this dish as it was, so I'm good. :) Thanks for a great recipe!