Mississippi Slow Cooker Pot Roast

Folks in Mississippi (em eye crooked letter crooked letter eye, crooked letter crooked letter eye, humpback humpback eye) aren’t lazy. No, they just know how to get things done with minimal muss and fuss. They also know that sometimes you don’t want to spend  all day in the kitchen; you just want dinner to taste like you did.

Enter this easy-to-prepare slow-cooker pot roast. The basic recipe has been floating around the Internet since its inception, I think. No one can claim this one as their own, because Mississippi Moms have been making it since forever! Or at least since Auntie Sue accidentally dropped a packet of dressing mix into the pot.

Those who’ve been around this site a while know that I can’t really make any recipe without tinkering with it. So, after I show you the basic, easy-as-falling-off-a-log version, I’ll offer a few tips to make it your own. Then you can claim it as your own. (I know; it’ll really be mine, but you don’t have to tell anyone that. I won’t rat you out.)

Ingredients:

1 chuck roast – about 4 lbs., give or take
1 packet Ranch dressing mix
1 packet au jus mix
1 stick butter
5 (or more!) pepperoncini peppers

Instructions:

Throw everything in a slow cooker.

No, really. That’s all there is to it. Put everything – in order listed – into a slow cooker.

DO NOT ADD WATER!

I repeat: DO NOT ADD WATER!!

Turn cooker on to low and cook for 8 hours or more. 

Serve with sides – a nice vegetable and some mashed potatoes, noodles or rice. Traditionally, this is served over a nice bed of mashed potatoes. And biscuits. If you want a real Mississippi Meal, you’ve got to have biscuits.

Variations:

I like garlic. No, I LOVE garlic. So I always add a few cloves of crushed or minced garlic to this one.

You can add root vegetables to this if you so desire but, to be honest, it’s better if you don’t. If you simply must have veggies int here, just go for the standards – carrots, onion, celery and you’re good to go. If you don’t plan to serve a side starch, you can add potatoes, too.

Want it hotter? Substitute jalapenos for the pepperoncinis. I staywith the milder pepperoncini peppers, but I use somewhere between 8 and 12, depending on how many people I’m serving at the first meal. I figure 2 per plate.

Sometimes, but not always, if I’m serving biscuits, I’ll thicken the pan (pot) gravy with a little Wondra flour mixed with milk (or water). If you prefer thinner pan juice, don’t do this.

When ready to serve, remove from slow cooker. If you’re very careful, you can lift the roast out intact, then slice. However, most people I know remove the pepperoncinis, then shred the meat right in the cooker. If I’m thickening the gravy, I’ll remove the roast and the peppers, then do my thing with the gravy. I’ll shred the meat in a large bowl just before serving.

This is an excellent, easy recipe for days when you don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. It’s also great because, after about on hour, your house is going to smell AWESOME!!

And there you have it: Southern Comfort Food! Don’t forget to…

Play with your food!

Lane

Did you like this recipe? What recipes would you like to learn? Leave me a comment and tell me your thoughts! (And don’t forget to LIKE this post!) Share it using the tiles below.

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