It is no secret that I love my slow cooker. I use it about once a week to help make easy dinners for our family. And if you have been following along for really any length of time, you have noticed how many great crock pot recipes are here. This Italian Beef is one of my very favorite recipes to make in the slow cooker. With just a little bit of hands on time in the morning, the slow cooker does the majority of the work, and you come home to an incredibly delicious dinner that everyone loves.
What Makes this the Best Crock Pot Italian Beef Recipe
There are three things that take this recipe over the top:
Searing the meat before putting it in the crock pot. This creates a caramelization that adds a huge depth of flavor to the final dish.Deglazing the pan with a little red wine. There isn’t much point to searing the meat if you don’t deglaze the pan and add all of that flavor back to the dish. Wine does this perfectly, plus it adds another layer of flavor.Using my Italian Seasoning. It is perfect and brings the perfect mix to the party.
How to Make Italian Beef
What Cut of Meat is Italian Beef
For this Italian Beef Sandwich recipe you want to buy chuck roast. In addition to being a relatively inexpensive cut of meat (relatively being the key word), chuck roast is very well marbled. It is perfect for braising and slow cooking and after being cooked low and slow for hours, it just falls apart in the most delicious way.
Searing Meat Before Slow Cooking
As mentioned above, searing the beef in a hot skillet before adding it to the slow cooker is a big part of what makes this recipe a winner. Searing the meat caramelizes it, and that alone adds such great flavor to crock pot recipes. It is a common misconception that searing meat is to “seal in the liquid” of the beef. The smart folks at America’s Test Kitchen have actually tested this theory. In a test they took two pieces of beef, weighed them, and only seared one. They were both then roasted for the same amount of time. The meat was weighed after cooking, and the amount of moisture lost between the two of them was negligible. The bottom line is that you aren’t searing meat to make it more moist – this recipe will be incredibly moist either way – you are doing it for the flavor. You can skip this step and the dish will still work. But you will be missing out on some great flavor.
My Secret Ingredient for Crock Pot Italian Beef
The extra secret ingredient to my Italian Beef recipe is red wine! But it’s really more than just a secret ingredient, it’s a secret step. Often a recipe will call for wine to deglaze a pan after caramelization. The bits of food that you are scraping up during this process contain a ton of great flavor. If you do not drink alcohol, you can deglaze the pan with a little beef stock. What type of Wine to Use The most important thing to consider when picking a wine for this recipe is that you pick a wine that you would want to drink. Skip the “cooking wines.” The flavor of the wine will be more intense as you cook it, so you want it to be something that is already good. The cooking wines have a sharp vinegar taste that isn’t great. I recommend using a dry red wine. I have used a Cabernet in this and a “red blend” and both were fantastic. Do not break the bank on this. An inexpensive red wine will work just fine in this recipe.
Spicy Italian Beef Sandwich
The heat in this dish is brought by pepperoncinis and their juice. If your family is adverse to spiciness, try making it without the juice. The pepperoncinis themselves can still be left in. If you love your dishes spicy, try buying hot giardiniera mix!
Cooking Time for Crock Pot Italian Beef
This recipe calls for cooking on low for 8 hours, and that is my very firm recommendation. As mentioned above when I talked about using chuck roast, it is the low and slow cooking that makes the beef so tender. You can cook this recipe on high for four hours, but I would absolutely urge you not to. It will result in really tough beef and you will end up not liking this recipe nearly as much as I think you should.
Storing and Reheating Leftovers
This recipe makes enough for 8 large sandwiches, so we always have left overs. The left overs of this recipe are just as amazing as when it is fresh out of the slow cooker, another reason this bad boy gets a gold star. The key to storing the left overs is to make sure that the meat is completely submerged in liquid in the storage container. This will prevent it from drying out. When ready to eat, pull out just enough beef for the sandwiches you want to make. Make sure it is covered in liquid and reheat in a microwaveable container or in a small saucepan on the stove over low heat.
Freezing Left Over Italian Beef
This recipe makes so much and freezes so well, that our family typically freezes half the recipe for another meal in a few weeks. To err on the side of caution, discard any additional left overs after freezing and reheating. This recipe should not be reheated more than once.
What to Serve with Italian Beef Sandwiches
There are so many things that would go great with this recipe.
Baked Potato Wedges: These are a natural fit with this recipe and so easy to make. Baked Zucchini Fries: These are like the healthier cousin of the baked potato wedges. Cucumber Tomato Salad: The Italian flavor to this recipe would pair great with this sandwich.
If you make this Italian Beef recipe or any of my other recipes, leave me a comment below and let me know what you think. I love hearing from you!
