Crock Pot Italian Beef Sandwiches (+Video)
Crock Pot Italian Beef Sandwiches are a classic Chicago favorite. The meat comes out so tender and it must be dipped in the beefy gravy!
A DELICIOUS ITALIAN BEEF RECIPE
If you’ve ever visited Chicago then you know one food you gotta try is the Italian Beef. It’s served on a sub roll with melted cheese, giardiniera (pickled vegetables) and gravy on the side to dip the sandwich in. You can even get the entire sandwich dipped into gravy before it is served for the full experience.The meat is tender, juicy and so flavorful. It’s a taste that just can’t be beat!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
With a chuck roast in a slow cooker, it would take more than a day for that to happen. Chuck roast is a tough cut of meat so it needs a longer cooking time to get tender. It’s very hard to overcook it unless you completely forgot about it cooking until the next day.
Chuck roast is typically used. However, top round, bottom round, London broil or rump roast can also be used. They are all pretty tough cuts of meat so cooking them low and slow all day is really the key to these coming out super tender!
No, it is not absolutely necessary to achieve good flavor. However, it is often recommended to brown the meat on both sides to add additional flavor.
For authentic Italian Beef, like the famous Portillos in Chicago, they would be served on Turano brand French Rolls. However, most people making this at home are using sturdy sub rolls (something that can hold up to gravy dunking!)
You can find jarred giardiniera (pickled vegetables) where the pickles are located in your grocery store. They are often right near the peperoncini peppers.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (FULL RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST)
- chuck roast
- dry Italian dressing
- peperoncini peppers
- beef broth
- provolone cheese
- sub rolls
HOW TO MAKE CROCK POT MAKE ITALIAN BEEF:
Put the roast into the bottom of a 4-6 quart Crock Pot. In a bowl, combine beef broth, dry italian dressing and 1/2 the jar of pepperoncini peppers (including some of the juice). Use as little or as much of the peppers as you like (depending on how spicy you like it.)
Pour this mixture over the roast.
Cover and cook on low for about 8 hours.
When ready, remove the roast and shred with two forks then place shredded meat back into the juices.
This part is optional, but if you’d like, add a little butter to sub rolls and lightly toast them in a skillet. Place sliced meat onto your toasted rolls, making sure you add a few of the peppers on there too.
Add a slice or two of provolone cheese on top and serve. And if you’re doing it up Chicago-style, make sure you dip your sandwich into those leftover juices/gravy!
CRAVING MORE?
Crock Pot Italian Beef (+Video)
Ingredients
- 3-4 pound chuck roast
- 1 packet dry Italian dressing
- 1/2 (16 ounce) jar sliced peperoncini peppers
- 10.5 ounce can beef broth
- 4-6 slices provolone cheese
- sub rolls
Instructions
- Place the roast into the bottom of a 4-6 quart crock pot
- In a bowl, combine beef broth, dry italian dressing and 1/2 the jar of pepperoncini peppers (including some of the juice).
- Pour this mixture over the roast.
- Cover and cook on low for about 8 hours.
- Remove roast and shred meat with two forks.
- Place shredded meat back into the juices in the crock pot.
- Add a little butter to sub rolls and lightly toast them in a skillet (optional.)
- Place shredded meat and peppers into sub roll. Top with a slice or two of provolone cheese.
- And if you’re doing it up Chicago-style – make sure to dip the whole sandwich into the leftover juices!
Video
Notes
- Use as little or as much of the peppers and juice that you like. If you like it with more kick, add more peppers and the juice.
- For extra Italian flavor, add a teaspoon or two of Italian seasoning into the broth mixture before cooking.
- It is not recommended to cook on high as the meat will not come out as tender and will not shred well.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Originally published: July 2012
Updated & republished: April 2019
Can you make this in a insta pot and if so how would you go about it?
It lists a 10.5 ounce can of beef broth. Considering the size of the can – should that be consommé and not beef broth?
No it’s beef broth. You can see it in the ingredient picture above.
Can you put it on high for 4 hours instead of low for 8 hours ?
I don’t recommend it. The beef needs time to become tender and four hours on high won’t result in a tender meat.
Great recipe
On the top of the recipe you say rump roast and when you give the directions you say chuck roast. Help!
Sorry for any confusion. You could use either but pictured here is the chuck roast.
Can you make this in the instapot?
I have 2 very picky eaters that hate peppers. We all loved it!
My family loved it!
Can you use sliced banana peppers? Also, if making own Italian seasoning, what would be the total amount? Like a table spoon or 2?
Hi Shannyn, I don’t see why you couldn’t use banana peppers. If using your own Italian seasoning, it would be about 3 tbsp. 🙂
I’d give it a 5 for simplicity alone. I added sauteed green and red peppers to fancy it up.
So simple and delicious!
Delicious my family loves this recipe
I’ve been making something similar for years. I always get a chuck roast, throw it in the crockpot, throw entire jar of pepperoncini after it, & in 8 hours or so heaven has arrived. I don’t know why you would add all the rest of the listed ingredients. The peppers give it plenty of flavor without being spicy.
Too many peppers make it VERY spicy for me. There is no way I could use that much at all. It would give me terrible acid reflux. And the butter adds a wonderful buttery-ness and texture to it that’s hard to describe but tastes amazing!
great recipe, love it.
I love this recipe! The addition of the peperocini (sp) peppers – would have never thought of it and I will add those next time because we love them at this house – even Mr. Picky-eater!
Hi I added a handful of sliced mushrooms and a handful of sliced sweet onion. Yum!
Do you have to use the peppers? Can something else be substituted?
Yes, you do. They really add to the flavor. You don’t have to serve it with the peppers but the meat does need to cook with them.
Cooking Lover- Thanks so much for commenting and letting me know how great this was for you. Hope you browse around and find a few more to try.
My boyfriend and I thought this was awesome. I cannot comment on if it tastes like italian beef because I have never had it, but it was really great as a sandwich.
Love Love Love this site! This is a GREAT recipe….I have also made it with a Pork Roast…(instead of beef broth…I used a pkg. of brown/mushroom gravy mix and 1 cup of water). The pepperoncinis and pkg. of Italian dressing really make either roast taste so good!
Made this last night using a round roast (on sale this week — yay!). It was a 4 pounder and about $16. I cooked it for exactly 8 hrs and wished I'd have gone maybe an hour shorter. Flavor was FABULOUS and the meat had a nice kick to it but wasn't as spicy as I feared it'd be (my 17 yr. old daughter can be a bit of a wimp ;-); it was a tiny bit dry but was exceedingly tender. With about 4 hours to go I added a large white onion cut into rounds, which were great on the sandwiches, too.
I'll absolutely make this again, being mindful when those beautiful roasts are on sale so I've always got one in the freezer. This crock pot dinner allowed my husband and I to go wine tasting and come home with a very short "to do" list for dinner. Salad prep & roll prep and we were done! Loved it!