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. Why? Because this recipe is in my ALDI meal plan for the week of 9/25/16, so I thought I should flesh out the Crock-Pot Italian beef version for you a little bit more. (OK… and maybe… just maybe… because I wanted a convenient excuse to make it.)
Note: See here if you’re looking for the Instant Pot Italian beef recipe, but excuse the terrible photos on that one. It’s also tasty, despite the photography.
I was also pleasantly surprised that ALDI carries pepperoncini — never thought to look for these peppers there before, but there they were at just $1.49 a jar. 🙂
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, 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 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
This Crock-Pot Italian beef is so easy, and 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!
- 2.5 lb boneless chuck roast
- 16 oz jar pepperoncini
- One cup beef broth
- A handful of whole peeled garlic cloves,to taste
- 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.
You can also make this with mild pepper rings, if you prefer. Plus, you may even have leftovers for tomorrow: Italian beef makes great quesadillas.
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maggie says
September 25, 2016 at 6:41 pmExcuse me for not knowing this, but are the pepperoncini spicy peppers? I know you like spicy foods, so I’m assuming they are but wanted to make sure…. Or perhaps there is a less spicy one out there?! Thanks for helping out an ignorant pepperoncini person…. 🙂
rachel says
September 25, 2016 at 6:55 pm🙂 The pepperoncini are not very spicy at all — I do like spicy foods, but this is not a spicy recipe. They are the mild green peppers with stems that you sometimes see on salads, like that big bowl of salad they give you at Olive Garden. So here they give the beef its Italian beef flavor and a tiny bit of a tang, but the end result is more savory than spicy. You can discard the peppers at the end instead of saving them to use on the sandwiches, too.
Don says
October 3, 2016 at 11:35 amMost do not find this spicy but because I do, I plan to use 1/2 of the jar of peppers and juice. I can hardly believe how awesome this tastes and how easy it is…. this is going to be my go to for get togethers. I recently saw an addition to this recipe – line a square pan with rolls, I believe they used Hawaiin rolls, top with some juice and fried onions and cheese then top with the top buns and warm at 250…. makes sliders…..
maggie says
September 25, 2016 at 6:59 pmOkay thanks! I’m getting hungry looking at this recipe and I’d really like to try it… 🙂
rachel says
September 25, 2016 at 7:02 pmIt’s so good! Hope you enjoy it. 🙂
christine says
September 25, 2016 at 7:47 pmI just made this last week. It was delicious! And the buffalo ranch chicken potato dish was outstanding!
rachel says
September 25, 2016 at 8:15 pmThanks! I’m all about the easy slow cooker recipes in the fall. 🙂
Lori says
September 26, 2016 at 9:29 amYou inspired me to get this together last night, so today, while I’m working, this is slowly cooking. Thank you! I am always glad to come home from work to dinner already done!
jolynn says
September 26, 2016 at 11:25 amI stopped into Aldi today looking for the roast and the spot was empty. An employee told me they are having trouble with their supplier and don’t expect any more to be delivered before the sale ends.
jane says
October 2, 2016 at 11:51 amWere the pepperoncini a lot cheaper at Aldi than Jewel? I want to make this, but don’t want to hit too many stores today.
rachel says
October 2, 2016 at 12:08 pmIt was $1.49 at ALDI everyday price. I don’t know what it runs everyday at Jewel — I’ve bought Mezzetta there at $1.49 or 3/$5.00 on sale but think the everyday price is… $2.49? don’t quote me on that tho, lol.
jane says
October 2, 2016 at 5:15 pmI ended up picking it up at Aldi, because that IS a good price! Jewel’s price was $2.99 regular, $2.49 current sale, for 16 oz. Mezzetta. I spent the dollar I saved on $.99 Ghiradelli brownie mix at Aldi. 😀
Maskry says
October 3, 2016 at 7:12 amI am making this dish right now! In response to the price of the peppers at Jewel, look around a little for Greek peppers by Vigo. They are $1.99 and are the same pepperoncini peppers. Jewel also had the beef roasts for $2.99 a pound.
Lulamom says
October 3, 2016 at 8:06 amHow many does this serve? I’m curious about your other recipes too. We have a bigger family so I just need to know if I should double the recipes. Thanks, I look forward to making this and others!
rachel says
October 3, 2016 at 8:16 amI have a family of four and this serves us with leftovers, so I’d say it serves at least six if you have the rolls and a side — the chuck roast does shrink up because it’s fatty. If you use a bigger 3.5 lb roast, probably 8. Enjoy! 🙂
Jennifer says
October 6, 2016 at 8:35 amI made this yesterday. So yummy! Thanks for the awesome recipe!!! However, I would love to know where you find the bag of peeled garlic.
rachel says
October 6, 2016 at 8:39 amI got it at Costco — it’s HUGE so you have to make a lot of recipes with whole garlic cloves to make it worth it, but sometimes I just roast up the cloves that are left and freeze them if it’s getting close to expiration.
Glad you liked the recipe. 🙂
jane says
October 6, 2016 at 11:56 amThis was very good! I love the “only four ingredients” aspect of this, but then I still want to mess around with it a little. When I made this the other day I put giardiniera and fresh arugula on top of the melted cheese (along with the pepperoncini and garlic). Sooo good! The one addition I am going to try next time is adding Italian seasonings to the pot, and slicing instead of shredding the beef.
SoapboxTray says
October 7, 2016 at 1:40 pmThis is in the crock pot for dinner tonight, only change is I had “sport” peppers (hopefully similar enough) and chicken broth, lol… I am sure it will be delish. I too was wondering where you got the whole peeled cloves because I still smell my fingers of garlic from this morning.
rachel says
October 7, 2016 at 2:05 pmEvery once in a while I splurge and buy the bag at Costco because they are soooo convenient. Plus I like that they are real California garlic there.
Sport peppers are spicier than pepperoncini — let me know how it turns out with those!
Jen says
January 23, 2017 at 1:05 pmI 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!
Allison says
November 28, 2019 at 9:33 pmVery 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.