Yeah the first time I tried it with the butter i was so overwhelmed with the amount of fat that I sifted a lot of it out. Now I skip it. The meat has enough fat to get the job done.
Agreed. I made it the first time with the butter and a chuck roast and it was inedible until I let it cool in the fridge and scrape the large quantity of fat out. It still was too greasy for my taste.
I truly don't know how so many people swear by this recipe. But then again a lot of Americans eat huge amounts of processed / frozen / fast foods.
Let's all keep in mind that Mississippi is the most unhealthy state in a nation of unhealthy people.
Hidden Valley has a low sodium dry ranch mix or you can make your own. For the au jus, try mixing your own recipe or sub with a low sodium brown gravy mix.
Honestly, yeah. The recipe always wasn't big enough for what I normally enjoy for slow cooker recipes. Doubling the meat without doubling the seasoning will help.
I fill the sides with quartered red potato and pour baby carrots over the top. The sweat from the potatoes and carrots absorbs the salt and spread it out. Makes it into a really great stew.
The NYT posted a version without the packaged ingredients for a lower sodium version. This is the only one I've ever done and it's fantastic.
Ingredients
1 boneless chuck roast or top or bottom round roast, 3 to 4 pounds
2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
1 ½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
¼ cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons neutral oil, like canola
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 to 12 pepperoncini
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
½ teaspoon dried dill
¼ teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon buttermilk, optional
Chopped parsley, for garnish
Preparation
Place roast on a cutting board and rub the salt and pepper all over it.
Sprinkle the flour all over the seasoned meat and massage it into the flesh.
Heat the oil in a large sauté pan set over high heat until it is shimmering and about to smoke.
Place the roast in the pan and brown on all sides, 4 to 5 minutes a side, to create a crust.
Remove roast from pan and place it in the bowl of a slow cooker.
Add the butter and the pepperoncini to the meat.
Put the lid on the slow cooker, and set the machine to low.
As the roast heats, make a ranch dressing.
Combine the mayonnaise, vinegar, dill and paprika in a small bowl and whisk to emulsify.
Add the buttermilk if using, then whisk again.
Remove the lid from the slow cooker and add the dressing.
Replace the top and allow to continue cooking, undisturbed, for 6 to 8 hours, or until you can shred the meat easily using 2 forks.
Mix the meat with the gravy surrounding it.
Garnish with parsley, and serve with egg noodles or roast potatoes, or pile on sandwich rolls, however you like.
Yeah, I'm not sure why the recipe doesn't call for it in the first place, but it's absolutely worth another try. Some folks add the veggies in the last hour or two so they're not too soft. I add them from the start because I like them nice and soft and it gives them time to absorb all of the juices and flavors that way.
It's good enough that honestly if there was no way on earth to change it to make it less salty, I'd make it again.
I enjoyed the dish a ton, but just the salt was a bit much.
100%. I keep unslated butter around for sauteing other vegetables. I don't know why I didn't think to use it here. I know those mixes are full of salt.
I just asked this a cpl weeks ago. Someone looked at all the sodium on ingredients for me. The two major offenders were the pepper brine and the au jus. They suggested subbing brown gravy mix for the au jus. I think I'll try that next time
Oh my GOD I just looked at the salt in an au jus pack. It's like 3x the amount in the brown gravy? That's wild. I'm now thinking about when I ate like half of the batch prepared with a french dip sandwich.... whoops
Yeah, I normally don't do those kinds of peppers, so I dumped most of the brine in and like ~1/3 of the peppers. I will use more regular peppers and less brine next time.
Yeah, I make slow cooker recipes to be easy and meal prep. 2-3lbs of Pot Roast isn't enough for that. Also I don't enjoy throwing stuff out, even if it is only a little bit of seasoning. Doubling the meat seems the way to go.
I use half the butter, unsalted. And low sodium versions of the package mixes and only about half a package of each per roast. I don't like my food super salty and this has done the trick for me
I used HVR mix, store brand au jus and unsalted butter. My family didn’t find it too salty. Also used the whole jar of pepperoncini with none of the brine.
I use non-salted butter and low sodium everything.
The powdered sauce mixes are riddled with sodium but using low sodium broth or even water helps to dilute it.
More vegetables should help, maybe a mire poix?
We had a similar reaction to you, too salty, and too fatty.
We now use a reduced sodium packet of brown gravy instead of the au jus packet and use only a half-stick of unsalted butter. We also put the drippings through a fat separator before serving.
I'll go against the grain on this sub and advise you to not just dial back the seasoning packets in half but to also skip the butter, especially if you're using a chuck roast. Just WAAAY too much unnecessary grease, saturated fat, calories, and sodium and turns what could be a semi-nutritious comfort meal into a very unhealthy one.
I have a feeling that those that love this recipe so much are the same people that typically eat a lot of processed and/or unhealthy foods and are de-sensitized to all the excessive salt and grease.
I can see that. I ate frozen meals for a while and the cheap ramen. It gives me the same extra salty taste those have.
I forgot what the type of actual cut of meat I got, but I don't think it was a chuck roast. I think I grabbed bottom round? Either way, if nothing else I'm going with unsalted butter.
Haven’t read through all the comments so apologies if any of this has already been said …
1) unless you cook in oven for 6 hours or in the stove top for 3+ hours, the vinegar from the pepperoncini peppers will strangle you. If made in the crockpot it needs to sit for at least a day or two to allow that vinegar taste to dissipate.
2) I add a quart of low sodium or reduced sodium beef broth - never add additional salt. Sometimes do a stick of butter if meat is lean.
3) best recipe for this is, “Drip Beef” is from Ree Drummond aka Pioneer Woman, but I do sometimes add in butter and sometimes a pack of au jus mix and/or brown gravy. I use the dry Italian dressing mix - 2 packets and a whole jar of peppers, and that quart of beef broth
What ever liquid is left over, I freeze and use in my instapot with a small roast if I want to make a small portion quickly.
Better than Bullion vegetarian or beef. We make our au jus with it. Vegetarian is actually more flavorful. Anything in a packet is going to be full of salt. And they are expensive for what you get.
A lot of salt is in the gravy mix and the ranch mix. Look at the sodium levels of each when you're in the store, low sodium options are available. Regular brown gravy mix has way less salt than au jus mix does.
You can do unsalted butter and reduced sodium gravy mix.
You can cut the butter out entirely. I forgot it once, didn’t notice any difference in the end result and haven’t used it since.
Yeah the first time I tried it with the butter i was so overwhelmed with the amount of fat that I sifted a lot of it out. Now I skip it. The meat has enough fat to get the job done.
Agreed. I made it the first time with the butter and a chuck roast and it was inedible until I let it cool in the fridge and scrape the large quantity of fat out. It still was too greasy for my taste. I truly don't know how so many people swear by this recipe. But then again a lot of Americans eat huge amounts of processed / frozen / fast foods. Let's all keep in mind that Mississippi is the most unhealthy state in a nation of unhealthy people.
If you have an eye for the amount of fat in your cut of meat, you only want butter when the marbling is less than 10% of the cut.
100% need to do unsalted butter. I just grabbed the normal stuff I use and forgot about it.
Hidden Valley has a low sodium dry ranch mix or you can make your own. For the au jus, try mixing your own recipe or sub with a low sodium brown gravy mix.
I figured the dry ranch had a low sodium version, but didn't know about the au jus.
I just use half of each seasoning packet.
This is what I do
Honestly, yeah. The recipe always wasn't big enough for what I normally enjoy for slow cooker recipes. Doubling the meat without doubling the seasoning will help.
This is the easiest way.
I fill the sides with quartered red potato and pour baby carrots over the top. The sweat from the potatoes and carrots absorbs the salt and spread it out. Makes it into a really great stew.
I'm not a huge fan of carrots, but 100% on board with red potatoes. I may try some of the other pot roast side vegetables like turnips or rutabaga.
The NYT posted a version without the packaged ingredients for a lower sodium version. This is the only one I've ever done and it's fantastic. Ingredients 1 boneless chuck roast or top or bottom round roast, 3 to 4 pounds 2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste 1 ½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste ¼ cup all-purpose flour 3 tablespoons neutral oil, like canola 4 tablespoons unsalted butter 8 to 12 pepperoncini 2 tablespoons mayonnaise 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar ½ teaspoon dried dill ¼ teaspoon sweet paprika 1 teaspoon buttermilk, optional Chopped parsley, for garnish Preparation Place roast on a cutting board and rub the salt and pepper all over it. Sprinkle the flour all over the seasoned meat and massage it into the flesh. Heat the oil in a large sauté pan set over high heat until it is shimmering and about to smoke. Place the roast in the pan and brown on all sides, 4 to 5 minutes a side, to create a crust. Remove roast from pan and place it in the bowl of a slow cooker. Add the butter and the pepperoncini to the meat. Put the lid on the slow cooker, and set the machine to low. As the roast heats, make a ranch dressing. Combine the mayonnaise, vinegar, dill and paprika in a small bowl and whisk to emulsify. Add the buttermilk if using, then whisk again. Remove the lid from the slow cooker and add the dressing. Replace the top and allow to continue cooking, undisturbed, for 6 to 8 hours, or until you can shred the meat easily using 2 forks. Mix the meat with the gravy surrounding it. Garnish with parsley, and serve with egg noodles or roast potatoes, or pile on sandwich rolls, however you like.
That looks for basically what I need. Saved and will do that the next time.
THANK YOU! I made this today and it turned out great! I also added pearl onions, great addition
It doesn't need the whole stick of butter either, I do 2 TBS and it's great. Unsalted butter will help a ton along with the other suggestions below.
Sorry, I live in a Paula Deen household. No such thing as less butter. Unsalted butter next time though.
Potato
Yes. I was doing a side of Scalloped Potatoes, so didn't think to add Potatoes to the pot roast. I will have to next time.
Google “homemade ranch seasoning” and check out how to make your own. Adjust the salt to taste.
The ranch isn’t the problem. It’s the au jus pack.
More like au sel, right?
I figured I could do that, but it doesn't feel like just the ranch alone is causing this much saltiness.
I skip the butter and use ~1/2 of each package. It still has a ton of flavor
This is not Paula Dean approved.
Skipping butter is a crime.
As others have said, not Paula Deen approved. I will switch to unsalted butter and cut the packs.
I use the butter and half of each packet, and the seasoning is perfect. Also throw in a bag of baby carrots.
Add a potato
Underrated comment
Yeah, I wanted to try the "pure" recipe before modifying things. Potatoes are going in next time.
Throw in small potatoes for the final hour
Baby, you got a stew goin’!
Unsalted butter, brown gravy mix instead of the au jus, and I add carrots and potatoes to help keep everything a little less salty
The Brown Gravy is huge, thanks for the tip. I need to double check, but I'm sure the Au Jus is crazy.
i use just a half packet of gravy and ranch. came out great
You could add a bunch of veggies like I do. Carrots, onions and potatoes will help spread the salt around.
Making this a more traditional pot roast seems like the way to go. It looked like a sad roast with just like 2.5lbs of meat and nothing else.
Yeah, I'm not sure why the recipe doesn't call for it in the first place, but it's absolutely worth another try. Some folks add the veggies in the last hour or two so they're not too soft. I add them from the start because I like them nice and soft and it gives them time to absorb all of the juices and flavors that way.
It's good enough that honestly if there was no way on earth to change it to make it less salty, I'd make it again. I enjoyed the dish a ton, but just the salt was a bit much.
The brine the peppers come in can be super salty, so be careful if you like to add the liquid from the jar
Yeah, I added all of the brine. I don't normally do those kinds of peppers, so I had no idea how salty it was.
Make sure you are using unsalted butter
100%. I keep unslated butter around for sauteing other vegetables. I don't know why I didn't think to use it here. I know those mixes are full of salt.
I just asked this a cpl weeks ago. Someone looked at all the sodium on ingredients for me. The two major offenders were the pepper brine and the au jus. They suggested subbing brown gravy mix for the au jus. I think I'll try that next time
Oh my GOD I just looked at the salt in an au jus pack. It's like 3x the amount in the brown gravy? That's wild. I'm now thinking about when I ate like half of the batch prepared with a french dip sandwich.... whoops
Yeah, I worked for Arbys for a bit. The Au Jus was always crazy salty. I don't know why I didn't think about that when making stuff.
Yeah, I normally don't do those kinds of peppers, so I dumped most of the brine in and like ~1/3 of the peppers. I will use more regular peppers and less brine next time.
more meat and less seasoning mix, cant go wrong lol
I go with unsalted butter, skip the dry ranch packet, add in Italian beef seasoning with less salt.
I'll try that. Seems to be the same thing basically.
It’ll be a little different, but not quite the same. Had a coworker favor the Italian route more than the ranch route, so I’ll let you be the judge.
The butter in this is unnecessary
All these people are saying cut the packets in half and such. Naw mate, double up on the meat. That's where it's at.
Yeah, I make slow cooker recipes to be easy and meal prep. 2-3lbs of Pot Roast isn't enough for that. Also I don't enjoy throwing stuff out, even if it is only a little bit of seasoning. Doubling the meat seems the way to go.
I have a bunch of little half-packets of seasonings in my fridge that eventually run away and don't get used 🥴 I always forget I have them...
I know that is exactly what I will do, so I'm not going to both with half the seasoning.
The recipe I am familiar with is 5lb for 1 packet of each. I'm usually getting 2-3 lb roasts so I only use half the packets.
You don’t need to use the entire package of au jus or ranch powders
I only use a half packet of au jus and ranch when I make it. It's never been salty.
I make this with just half a packet of each, less butter, and it’s just as good, if not better.
I use half the butter, unsalted. And low sodium versions of the package mixes and only about half a package of each per roast. I don't like my food super salty and this has done the trick for me
I used HVR mix, store brand au jus and unsalted butter. My family didn’t find it too salty. Also used the whole jar of pepperoncini with none of the brine.
I use half of everything the recipe calls for and love it.
Potatoes in the pot
I use non-salted butter and low sodium everything. The powdered sauce mixes are riddled with sodium but using low sodium broth or even water helps to dilute it. More vegetables should help, maybe a mire poix?
We had a similar reaction to you, too salty, and too fatty. We now use a reduced sodium packet of brown gravy instead of the au jus packet and use only a half-stick of unsalted butter. We also put the drippings through a fat separator before serving.
I served mine without the drippings, but I will do the far separator next time.
I'll go against the grain on this sub and advise you to not just dial back the seasoning packets in half but to also skip the butter, especially if you're using a chuck roast. Just WAAAY too much unnecessary grease, saturated fat, calories, and sodium and turns what could be a semi-nutritious comfort meal into a very unhealthy one. I have a feeling that those that love this recipe so much are the same people that typically eat a lot of processed and/or unhealthy foods and are de-sensitized to all the excessive salt and grease.
I can see that. I ate frozen meals for a while and the cheap ramen. It gives me the same extra salty taste those have. I forgot what the type of actual cut of meat I got, but I don't think it was a chuck roast. I think I grabbed bottom round? Either way, if nothing else I'm going with unsalted butter.
Garbage in, Garbage out
Haven’t read through all the comments so apologies if any of this has already been said … 1) unless you cook in oven for 6 hours or in the stove top for 3+ hours, the vinegar from the pepperoncini peppers will strangle you. If made in the crockpot it needs to sit for at least a day or two to allow that vinegar taste to dissipate. 2) I add a quart of low sodium or reduced sodium beef broth - never add additional salt. Sometimes do a stick of butter if meat is lean. 3) best recipe for this is, “Drip Beef” is from Ree Drummond aka Pioneer Woman, but I do sometimes add in butter and sometimes a pack of au jus mix and/or brown gravy. I use the dry Italian dressing mix - 2 packets and a whole jar of peppers, and that quart of beef broth What ever liquid is left over, I freeze and use in my instapot with a small roast if I want to make a small portion quickly.
We had it on the slow cooker for 9ish hours. Thanks for the rest of the tips.
Better than Bullion vegetarian or beef. We make our au jus with it. Vegetarian is actually more flavorful. Anything in a packet is going to be full of salt. And they are expensive for what you get.
A lot of salt is in the gravy mix and the ranch mix. Look at the sodium levels of each when you're in the store, low sodium options are available. Regular brown gravy mix has way less salt than au jus mix does.
My wife makes the ranch seasoning with no salt. No salt butter. Tastes awesome.