Crock Pot Italian Beef – Beef simmers in a slow cooker for hours in a spicy broth made from a jar of chopped pepperoncini peppers and an Italian dressing mix packet. Only 3 ingredients for this easy dinner recipe!
Italian Beef Sandwiches
Spicy crock pot Italian beef is easy to make and super flavorful. A whole jar of sliced pepperoncini, juice and all, gets mixed with a packet of Italian dressing mix and water to make a rich, flavorful broth that a beef roast simmers in for hours. The meat gets shredded, then added back to the pepperoncini/Italian seasoned broth. Serve this beef on hoagie rolls for amazing Italian beef sandwiches.
Pepperoncini are pickled hot peppers. If you don’t like spicy foods, you could use a jar of mild banana pepper rings instead of pepperoncini. Mild banana pepper rings will provide that salty pickled flavor without the heat.
This makes a lot of sandwiches. I used a 2 pound eye of round roast and it made 11 sandwiches on hoagie rolls (about ½ cup of Italian beef/juice on each sandwich). If this is more than you need, the Italian beef does freeze and reheat well.
To reheat frozen leftovers, I find that it is best to let the beef thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Then, put the beef in a stockpot, cover, and cook over medium-low heat until simmering and beef is heated through.
Check Out These Other Easy Crock Pot Recipes.
- Creamy Crock Pot Pork Chops and Potatoes
- Crock Pot Meatballs
- Crock Pot Potato Soup
- Crock Pot Beef Stroganoff
Watch the step by step recipe video for Spicy Crock Pot Italian Beef below.
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Spicy Crock Pot Italian Beef Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 2-3 lbs. eye of round roast (lean beef roast)
- 1 (7 oz.) jar sliced pepperoncini peppers*
- 1 package dry Italian dressing mix (around 0.7 oz.)
- 2 cups water
- For serving: hoagie rolls, sliced provolone cheese
Instructions
- Trim excess fat (if any) off the roast and place in a large slow cooker.
- In a medium bowl, add the pepperoncini (the whole jar with the juice), Italian dressing mix, and water. Stir to combine. Pour over the roast in the slow cooker.
- Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4 hours.
- Transfer the roast to a plate (leaving the juices in the slow cooker). Let the roast rest for 10 minutes. Turn the slow cooker to the warm setting (or lowest setting).
- Shred the beef (use 2 forks to pull the meat apart). Add the shredded beef back to the broth/pepperoncini mixture in the slow cooker.
- Serve on hoagie rolls.
This is the recipe I use, except I add Knorr’s french onion soup mix and garlic. If you want a more authentic Italian Beef like from Chicago, you’ll need some classic Italian seasonings and dried fennel, and serve on slightly toasted hoagie buns, crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, to absorb the wonderful juices. Some Italian Beef places serve this with a spicy pickled veggie medly on the roll, my favorite place used something like sport peppers. But keepung it simple like this recipe also makes an incredible sandwhich, and a family favorite.
Love this recipe! I omit the water and add a packet of aus jus. The pepperoncini make this a spicy sandwich!
Yum yum… especially love the addition of the pepperoncini peppers. Love those things!