Description

Mississippi Pot Roast is a flavorful and tender slow-cooked beef dish infused with pepperoncini peppers, au jus gravy mix, ranch seasoning, and buttery richness. This versatile recipe offers multiple cooking methods including oven roasting, slow cooking in a crockpot, or pressure cooking in an Instant Pot for convenience. The result is a melt-in-your-mouth roast perfect for shredding and serving with its savory, tangy juices.

Ingredients

Scale

For the Roast

2 tablespoons olive oil
3–4 pounds beef chuck roast
12 pepperoncini peppers
1/4 cup pepperoncini juice (from the jar)
1 (1 ounce) packet au jus gravy mix
1 (1 ounce) packet ranch seasoning mix (such as Hidden Valley)
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), cut into pieces

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Instructions

Preheat oven and prepare Dutch oven: Preheat your oven to 275°F and place the rack in the middle position to ensure even cooking.
Sear the roast: Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven (or a skillet if Dutch oven is unavailable) over medium-high heat. Sear the beef chuck roast on all sides until it develops a rich, brown crust, enhancing the flavor.
Add seasoning and ingredients: Remove the pot from heat and let it cool for a few minutes. Pour in 1/4 cup of pepperoncini juice, place the pepperoncini peppers around the roast, and sprinkle the au jus and ranch seasoning packets evenly over the top. Finally, distribute butter pieces atop the roast.
Roast the beef: Cover the pot with a lid and roast in the oven for 3 to 4 hours, or until the meat is tender and falls apart easily. A 3-pound cut typically takes about 3.5 hours.
Shred and serve: Using two forks, shred the roast directly in the pot, mixing it thoroughly with the flavorful juices to coat the meat.
Alternative crockpot method: Sear the beef in a skillet as above, then transfer to a slow cooker. Add pepperoncini juice, peppers, seasoning packets, and butter. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours until fall-apart tender. Shred to serve.
Alternative Instant Pot method: Cut roast into 3-4 pieces. Heat olive oil in the Instant Pot using the sauté function and brown the meat batches. Turn off sauté, add all meat back to pot with 3/4 cup water and pepperoncini juice, peppers, seasoning packets, and butter. Seal lid and cook on high pressure for 60 minutes. Allow natural pressure release for 15 minutes, then quick release remaining pressure. Shred meat and serve.

Notes

Use a tougher, fattier cut of beef like chuck roast for best results; lean cuts will dry out.
The general rule for roasting is one hour per pound at 275°F to 300°F. Adjust time if using larger cuts accordingly.
Do not cook the roast at higher temperatures to accelerate cooking; it will negatively affect tenderness.
Searing the beef enhances flavor but can be skipped if necessary, with some loss of depth in taste.
This recipe can be adapted for pork shoulder as an alternative to beef chuck.
Prep time is approximately 5 minutes; oven cook time around 3 hours 45 minutes; total time about 3 hours 50 minutes.