Beef

Italian Beef with Pepperoncini

Chicago-style beef with tangy peppers. Messy, and that's the point.

Prep 5 min LOW 8–9 hours HIGH 4–5 hours Serves 8

Italian Beef with Pepperoncini, finished and plated — Serving suggestion

Italian beef is a Chicago institution, and it has rules. Thin beef, seasoned broth, hot giardiniera or sweet peppers, and a roll that gets dunked in the juice before it's handed to you.

The thing that makes it work is the pepperoncini brine. Not just the peppers — the liquid they came in. It's salty, sour and slightly spicy, and it turns plain beef broth into something with real character.

Pour the whole jar in. Juice included. That's the recipe.

Why you'll love it

The brine does the work.

One jar of pepperoncini, liquid and all. That's the secret.

Feeds eight from one roast.

Sandwich beef stretches.

Genuinely regional.

This is a real Chicago dish, not a generic Italian-American one.

Better the next day.

The beef keeps absorbing the tangy juice overnight.

What's already in the packet

Beef bouillonOnionGarlicItalian herb blendBlack pepperOreganoBasilCrushed red pepper flakesVinegar powderCelery seed

Italian herbs and beef base with red pepper flakes and a little vinegar powder to reinforce the brine.

Choose your setting

Recommended

LOW · 8–9 hours

Low and slow gives collagen time to melt and flavors time to build. It is the setting this recipe was written for.

HIGH · 4–5 hours

For when you started late. It gets dinner done, but the texture is better on LOW.

Done at 195–205°F

For shredding. Pull at 160°F if you'd rather slice it thin.

You'll Need

3–4 lbs Beef (pick one below)
2 cups Water or beef broth
1 packet Cook SLO Italian Beef with Pepperoncini
1 jar (16 oz) Pepperoncini, with the juice

Pick your beef

3–4 lbs

Chuck roast

3–4 lbs

Rump roast

3 lbs

Bottom round roast

Roasts 145°F, ground beef 160°F

Add vegetables

Sliced onion (fresh or frozen)Bell pepper strips (fresh or frozen)Banana peppersGiardinieraWhole garlic clovesSliced mushrooms (fresh or frozen)

Sliced onion (fresh or frozen) and whole garlic cloves at the start, on the bottom; bell pepper strips (fresh or frozen), banana peppers and Giardiniera at the start; mushrooms at the start to melt into the sauce, or the last two hours to keep their shape.

When to add what

When	Add	Why
At the start, on the bottom	Sliced onion (fresh or frozen)Whole garlic cloves	Root vegetables cook slower than meat. They belong closest to the heat, and they hold the meat up out of the liquid. Cut everything an inch and a half or larger — smaller pieces disintegrate.
At the start, to soften into the sauce	Bell pepper strips (fresh or frozen)Banana peppersGiardiniera	These break down and give their flavour to the pot. Right for a gravy or a fajita, wrong if you want them to hold their shape.
At the start, or the last two hours	Sliced mushrooms (fresh or frozen)	Mushrooms are a choice. At the start they melt into the sauce and deepen it. In the last two hours they hold their shape and keep some bite.

Two ways to do this

If you're home

Follow the timing table above and add things when they're due.

About an hour is all you need

If you're out all day

Put in at the start as normal: sliced onion (fresh or frozen), whole garlic cloves, bell pepper strips (fresh or frozen), banana peppers, Giardiniera and sliced mushrooms (fresh or frozen). These need the full cook anyway.

Nothing needs adding later. Set it in the morning and leave.

Frozen is the better choice for a long day. Already cut, holds its shape better than fresh over eight or nine hours, and goes in straight from the bag with no thawing. Frozen diced onion and pepper strips remove the only real prep this recipe has.

Pasta and noodles

**In the pot.** Add two cups of dry penne or rigatoni for the last twenty-five minutes with two cups of hot broth. The pepperoncini brine flavours the pasta as it cooks, which is worth doing. **Or separately.** Toss cooked pasta with the shredded beef and the juices.

Before anything goes in the pot

1
Brown the meat first
Pat it dry, get a heavy pan properly hot, and work in two batches so nothing steams. Two to three minutes a side. You want colour, not doneness — the crock pot finishes it.
2
Deglaze the pan and pour it in
This is the step almost everyone skips, and it wastes half the benefit of browning. Most of the flavour you just made is stuck to the pan. Pour a cup of the recipe's water into the hot empty pan, scrape everything loose with a wooden spoon while it bubbles, and pour that into the crock pot. Count it toward the total liquid.

These happen outside the crock pot, before it's switched on.

Tonight's Plan

1
Put the beef in the crock pot.
One piece.
2
Pour in the water or broth and the whole jar of pepperoncini, juice and all.
The juice is the point. Do not drain it.
3
Sprinkle the whole packet over the beef.
Then leave it.
4
Put the lid on.
Eight to nine hours on LOW.

Vegetables

Shred the beef with two forks right in the pot.

It should fall apart.

Stir it back through the juices and let it soak 15 minutes.

Fifteen minutes, not ten. This beef needs to drink.

Stirring

Leave the lid on

Nothing in this one settles or scorches, and there is plenty of liquid moving. Every lift of the lid drops the temperature ten to fifteen degrees and costs about twenty minutes. There is nothing to check.

Swaps and add-ins

Add hot giardiniera.

On the finished sandwich, not in the pot. This is the authentic Chicago move.

Add provolone and broil.

Two minutes with cheese on top.

Dip the whole sandwich.

Chicago calls this 'wet'. Dunk the assembled sandwich in the juice for a second.

Serve over polenta.

Skip the bread entirely. Excellent.

Tips for success

Use the whole jar, brine included. Draining the pepperoncini removes most of what makes this dish taste right.
Let it soak after shredding. Fifteen minutes minimum. The beef absorbs the tangy juice and that's the flavor.
Toast the rolls. Especially if you're dipping. Untoasted bread falls apart.
Drop in a liner before anything else. Smooth it against the sides and fold the edges over the rim. When you're done, lift it out and throw it away — the crock never needs scrubbing.

Finish it right

Hot giardiniera.

The traditional topping. Pickled vegetables and chile in oil, spooned right on.

Extra pepperoncini, sliced.

More of what's already working.

Provolone, melted.

Two minutes under the broiler with the cheese on top.

Serve it over

Hoagie rollsOver polentaOver mashed potatoesIn a bowl with the juiceOver pasta

Tomorrow night

Italian beef pizza.

On flatbread with mozzarella and giardiniera.

Beef and pepper pasta.

Tossed with penne and the juices.

Italian beef nachos.

Over chips with provolone, broiled.

Beef-stuffed peppers.

Fill bell peppers, top with cheese, bake.

Keeping it

Fridge

Store in the juice, up to 4 days. Better on day two.

Freezer

3 months. Freeze in the juice.

Reheating

Gently in the liquid. Never dry.

Questions people ask

Recipe card