This Mississippi Pot Roast recipe is a family favorite, and I love it because it’s so easy to prepare! You only need 5 ingredients and a few minutes prep time. Set it and forget it for a melt-in-your-mouth Crock Pot roast with rich, savory gravy!

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I Absolutely LOVE This Mississippi Pot Roast Because..
- This Mississippi Pot Roast recipe is fork tender with a flavorful gravy.
- With just five ingredients, the prep is super easy.
- Since it’s made in a slow cooker, it’s a ‘set it and forget it!’ meal that practically cooks itself!
- It can be made ahead of time, and leftovers freeze well.

Ingredients
I love this recipe because it’s so easy with just a few simple ingredients. Home cook Robin Chapman created it and it has even been featured in the New York Times!
Beef Roast: For the best results, use a chuck roast with nice marbling throughout (I use the same for any pot roast). Other options include round roast or rump roast. No beef? Make Mississippi chicken or use a pork shoulder roast instead!
Seasonings: This roast is seasoned with dry ranch dressing mix and au jus gravy mix. You can replace the packet with your own ranch dressing mix (I often just add the ranch seasonings and skip the buttermilk powder).
Pepperoncini Peppers: These are the secret ingredient! They tenderize the meat and add flavor. Although they’re spicy out of the jar, I find this recipe is not spicy once cooked.
Butter: This recipe calls for half a stick of butter (salted or unsalted). For a smoky twist, you can swap some of the butter for leftover bacon grease.
Variations: This roast is delicious on its own, but feel free to add some veggies like carrots, celery, or onions.

How to Make Mississippi Pot Roast
Low and slow is the way to go for super tender melt-in-your-mouth beef.
- Brown: Brown the meat on both sides and transfer it to a slow cooker (recipe below).
- Combine & Cook: Add pepperoncini juice and sprinkle the ranch and au jus mixes on top of the roast. Top with pats of butter. Cover and cook until fork-tender.
- Shred & Serve: Shred with a couple of forks and serve with the juices. (The juices can be thickened if you’d like – see recipe notes).
Holly’s Tips
- Searing is optional, but it adds extra flavor.
- Don’t add extra liquid to the slow cooker. The juices from the roast and the butter will ensure there’s plenty of flavorful gravy to go around.
- If you don’t have a slow cooker, you can still make this dish in a Dutch oven. Follow my pot roast cooking times for perfect results.
- If you’d like to thicken the gravy, combine one tablespoon of cornstarch with one tablespoon of water, then whisk it into the drippings. Let it cook for about 10 minutes or until thickened to your liking.

Serving Suggestions
We serve this Mississippi pot roast recipe with:
- Mashed potatoes, rice, or homemade egg noodles.
- Add it to a hoagie roll and serve it french dip style.
- Keep it low-carb with mashed cauliflower or cauliflower rice.
More Tender Beef Recipes
Did your family love this Mississippi Pot Recipe? Leave us a rating and comment below!

Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 to 5 pound beef chuck roast or pot roast
- 1 ounce ranch seasoning mix 1 packet, about 2 tablespoons
- 1 ounce au jus gravy mix or brown gravy mix, low sodium, 1 packet
- 6 pepperoncini peppers plus ½ cup juice
- ¼ cup butter
Instructions
- In a large skillet, over medium-high heat, brown the roast for about 5 minutes per side.
- Place roast in the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker and pour in the pepperoncini juice. Sprinkle the dry ranch dressing mix and au jus gravy mix over the top of the roast. Add the pepperoncini peppers and sliced butter on top of the roast.
- Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or until the roast is fork-tender.
- Once the roast is cooked, shred it with a fork and mix it into the juices in the slow cooker.
- Serve over mashed potatoes, egg noodles, or rice.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
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This Mississippi Pot Roast recipe was originally developed by Robin Chapman, Ripley, MS.















I have issue with spicy things. Do I have to use the pepperoncini? Is there a replacement item?
You can use any pickled pepper – a mild one should work just fine.
This is a good recipe when you want something easy. I have never browned the meat first. I just put it in thr slow cooker and let it go.
I’ve cooked this once before an it was fantastic. This time I couldn’t find the dry auju or brown gravy so I had a jar of brown gravy and am using that. Hope it still come out as great as the last time. Has anyone else ever done this?
I haven’t tried that but I’m sure it’ll be great!
I do 1 hour on high and then 4 hours on low. It comes out great. Maybe my crockpot cooks faster/higher? Doesn’t matter excellent recipe, and 1 time i had to use onion soup packet because I did not have Au jus packet, and we liked it better, just letting you know. Thanks for sharing.
Great tip with the onion soup packet Karen, thanks for sharing!
I haven’t tried the recipe yet but I plan to tomorrow. I just wanted to share that dry onion soup is always my go to when making chuck roast. I can’t wait to try this version!
I made this a while ago and used the onion soup packet too and it was AMAZING!
fantastic flavor and so easy to make! I didn’t realize my daughter had used all the potatoes so we opted to make these sandwiches (had to drain them to avoid soggy buns) and was just drlish!
To make sure I understand your ingredient list properly, did you say to add only 2Tbsp of the ranch dressing mix and NOT the whole packet? Maybe the whole packet is 2 Tbsp…. I don’t know.
The reason I ask is because I was reading another recipe elsewhere that called for a 3 pound chuck roast, and using the whole package of ranch dressing. Their one star reviewers all said it was way too salty!
The whole packet is about 2 tbs, we don’t find it to be too salty. You can use unsalted butter as well.
Super easy and flavorful. Only adjustment I make is that I use the peppercini juice at the beginning, but don’t out in the peppers till the last 30 min. I prefer my peppers to still have crunch to them, and putting them at the beginning makes them super soggy and mushy. Sometimes I’ll add in some sliced onions with the peppers as another added veggie.
Can you add vegetables? Like carrots at any point in the cooking process thanks.
You definitely can, for carrots I would add them about halfway through.
You can add potatoes and carrots or whatever vegetables you like. However, I feel it takes away from the juice which is my favorite part to put on mashed potatoes! I stir fry my carrots separately in an iron skillet with garlic and herbs for side dish. :)
I made this and froze for Christmas Eve. It tastes delicious .
What kind of rolls has anyone used to serve as a sandwich?
I love using sub buns for these sandwiches but also leftover dinner rolls or homemade hamburger buns. I hope you enjoy them!
If I use 2 roasts should I also double the other ingredients?
This recipe is for 4-5 pounds of roast. So depending on the size of the roast you may want to increase the other ingredients.
Holly I’m cooking for a group. Do you think I could use 2 Chuck roasts and still get the same results? Thank you!
I do think it would work but it may need extra time (or two slow cookers if possible). If the roast is done early, it can stay on warm so I’d recommend allowing for extra time (can vary based on the size).
our family absolutely loves this pot roast! And it’s so easy.
I’ve made this. it’s really good and nice and tender too.
I am wanting to make this, but would like to understand why butter is needed? I would prefer to not add it since there are so many other delicious things happening but am wondering if it will make the roast dry or something?
Many readers have made this recipe without butter so feel free to skip it or reduce the amount if you’d like.
So good!
Making this for myself.. since I am single and have a picky daughter, she will not be joining in all the deliciousness. I have a 2quart slow cooker so I just halved everything… I will let you know and I am super excited to try this!!
Btw, I love all your recipes!!
She is missing out! I hope you enjoyed this recipe, Krystal.
if I start it on low at 10:30, after 5 hours can I put it on high to finish cooking so it’s done by 5:00?
In theory that should work, but I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure. Let us know how it goes.
perfect!
everyone loved it
Delicious