Crockpot Mississippi Pot Roast Sliders

These Mississippi pot roast sliders start with a chuck roast cooked in the crockpot with ranch seasoning, au jus mix, butter, and pepperoncini, then shredded and baked on sweet rolls under a layer of provolone with buttered tops.

The roast recipe is here in full, so you are not sent off to another page for the meat and left with assembly instructions.

What keeps these from going soggy, which is the usual problem with pot roast on soft rolls, is draining the shredded beef with a slotted spoon and putting the cheese under the meat as a barrier, then brushing the tops with butter mixed with 1 tablespoon of the cooking juice so the flavor still ends up on every bite.

It is about 8 and a half hours start to finish, and 20 minutes of that is work.

Why You’ll Love It

• Five ingredients go into the slow cooker
• No searing, no broth, no chopping
• 8 hours on low, then 10 minutes in the oven
• Makes 12 sliders with about 2 cups of beef left for a second pan
• Assembly is layered in one dish and cut after baking

Ingredients

For the Roast

3-pound boneless beef chuck roast

1 (1-ounce) packet ranch seasoning mix

1 (1-ounce) packet au jus gravy mix

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

8 whole pepperoncini, plus 1/4 cup brine from the jar

For the Sliders

1 (12-count) package Hawaiian sweet rolls

8 slices provolone

3 cups shredded Mississippi pot roast, drained

1/3 cup sliced pepperoncini rings

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 tablespoon cooking juice from the slow cooker

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon dried parsley

Steps

1. Pat the roast dry and set it in a 6-quart slow cooker. Sprinkle the ranch packet and the au jus packet evenly over the top.

2. Set the stick of butter on the center of the roast and arrange the 8 pepperoncini around it, then pour in the 1/4 cup of brine. Do not add broth or water. The roast, the butter, and the peppers release more than enough liquid, and extra broth thins the flavor.

3. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for 5 hours if you are short on time, knowing the meat will be a little less tender. It is done when a fork twists through it with no resistance and the meat falls into strands.

4. Shred the beef right in the slow cooker with two forks, pulling out and discarding the large pieces of fat as you find them. Stir the shreds through the liquid, cover, and let them sit on warm for 15 minutes to soak it up.

5. Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Keeping the rolls connected as one sheet, slice them in half horizontally with a 10-inch serrated bread knife, and set the bottom sheet cut side up in a 9×13 baking dish.

6. Lay 4 slices of provolone over the bottom rolls, tearing them to cover the surface. The cheese goes under the beef on purpose, since it melts into a layer that stops the juice from soaking straight into the bread.

7. Lift 3 cups of beef out of the slow cooker with a large slotted spoon, letting each scoop drain for a few seconds, and spread it over the cheese. Wet beef is the single reason sliders fall apart, so shake off more than you think you need to.

8. Scatter the 1/3 cup of pepperoncini rings over the beef, cover with the remaining 4 slices of provolone, and set the top sheet of rolls in place.

9. Stir the melted butter with the 1 tablespoon of cooking juice, the garlic powder, and the parsley, then brush it over the tops with a silicone pastry brush. Use all of it, including the seasoning that settles at the bottom of the bowl.

10. Bake uncovered for 10 to 12 minutes, until the cheese is melted at the edges and the tops are a shade darker and shiny. Hawaiian rolls brown fast, so check at 10. Let the pan sit for 3 minutes, then cut along the roll seams with the bread knife and lift the sliders out with a wide metal spatula.

Helpful Tips & Substitutions

The drained beef is not dry beef. It has been sitting in butter and juice for 15 minutes and holds plenty inside the strands, which is why you can drain it hard and still get a moist slider.

Unsalted butter is deliberate. Both packets are heavy on salt, and salted butter on top of them pushes the meat into too-salty territory. If salted is all you have, use half a stick in the roast.

The 1/4 cup of brine does two things: it keeps the pot from running dry in the first hour, and the vinegar cuts through the butter and the packets. The whole pepperoncini go soft and mild after 8 hours, so use the brine even if you are not a fan of the peppers.

Chuck is the cut. Rump or bottom round shred into dry fibers that do not hold up on a roll. If you are starting with a 2-pound roast, keep the packets and butter the same and cook for 7 hours.

Plain slider buns or dinner rolls work in place of Hawaiian rolls, with a less sweet result. Keep them connected if the package allows it, since one sheet is far easier to layer and cut than 12 loose buns.

Swiss, Havarti, or pepper jack melt the same way as provolone. Avoid shredded cheese, which does not form the solid layer the bottom rolls need.

If you want all 5 cups of beef in sliders at once, buy 2 packages of rolls and 16 slices of provolone and bake two pans side by side. The topping doubles cleanly.

Start with a fully thawed roast. Frozen meat in a slow cooker stays in the 40°F to 140°F (4°C to 60°C) zone for hours before it heats through, which is a food safety problem and not a shortcut worth taking.

Serving Ideas

Put a small bowl of the strained cooking juice on the table for dipping, since it is the part of this recipe people ask about.

Kettle chips or a vinegar-based slaw balance the butter.

These sit next to the Crockpot Mississippi Pot Roast Meatballs on a party table. The meatballs are the same ranch, au jus, butter, and pepperoncini combination built on frozen meatballs, so you get the flavor in two forms with one shopping list.

For a sweeter third slow cooker on a holiday spread, the Spooky Crockpot Grape Jelly Meatballs cover the kids and anyone who wants a break from the pepperoncini.

If you have the roast but want it as a dinner instead of sliders, 9 Crockpot Chuck Roast Dinners has the plated options.

The leftover 2 cups of beef make a good second dinner over mashed potatoes with the juice spooned on top, or folded into a quesadilla with the pepperoncini rings.

Make-Ahead & Storage

The roast can be made up to 3 days ahead. Shred it, store it in its juice in an airtight container in the fridge, and reheat in a saucepan over medium-low heat until steaming before draining and assembling.

Do not assemble the sliders ahead. The rolls soak through within an hour even with the cheese barrier, and a pan built the night before bakes up with wet, dense bottoms. Cook the meat ahead and build the pan right before it goes in the oven.

Shredded beef in its juice keeps 4 days in the fridge and freezes for 3 months in a freezer bag with the air pressed out. Freeze it in 3-cup portions, which is exactly one pan of sliders.

Baked leftover sliders keep 2 days in the fridge wrapped in foil. Reheat them in the foil at 325°F (165°C) for 10 to 12 minutes, which crisps the bottoms back up better than a microwave does.

A 3-pound roast gives you one pan of sliders now and one in the freezer, and the frozen beef only needs an overnight thaw and 10 minutes in a saucepan.