3 packets and 3 pounds! That’s it! … well, that and a little water. This slow cooker shredded beef recipe is so simple and it tastes and smells absolutely amazing! My friend had me scribble down this recipe on a piece of scrap paper a couple of years ago, and I am so glad she did because I have made it several times since, and it is a big hit EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
Sometimes I serve the shredded meat on egg noodles to make beef stroganoff and other times I serve it on buns for Italian roast beef sandwiches, but you could even just eat it by itself with some veggies if you wanted to! Today I am showing you how I use the meat to make shredded Italian beef sandwiches.
How much does it make and how many points is it worth?
These sandwiches are great for when you are feeding a crowd. The recipe calls for 3 pounds of meat. Once the fat was cut off of our beef and it was cooked and shredded it measured to 4 cups of shredded beef. I used 1/3 cup on each sandwich so it was enough meat for 12 sandwiches. According to my WW recipe builder, if I divide my 4 cups of shredded meat into 12 servings then one (1/3 cup) serving of meat is 3 WW FreeStyle Smart Points*. This does not include the bun or egg noodles you would serve it on, which can vary by brand and size/amount.
Here is all you need to make this 3-packet, 3-pound shredded beef:
3 lbs. lean Sirloin beef, fat removed
1 (.7 oz.) packet Italian seasoning
1 (.88 oz.) packet Brown Gravy mix
1 (1 oz.) packet dry Ranch mix
1-1/2 cups water
12 buns, optional
Making these sandwiches really is as simple as this:
Mix the Italian seasoning, gravy mix, and Ranch seasoning with the water.
Put your meat in the slow cooker. Pour mixes in water over the meat.
Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
Once cooked, shred the meat in the sauce and serve 1/3 cup meat on each bun.
1/3 cup meat was 3 green, 3 blue, and 3 purple points* and the buns we used were not the light kind so they were 5 WW SP, making my sandwich 8 WW SP total. If five smart points seems like a lot for a bun you can go here for a list of buns that you can get at the store that are just 2 WW SP each!
- 3 lbs. lean Sirloin beef, fat removed
- 1 (.7 oz.) packet Italian seasoning
- 1 (.88 oz.) packet Brown Gravy mix
- 1 (1 oz.) packet dry Ranch mix
- 1-1/2 cups water
- 12 buns, optional
- Mix the Italian seasoning, gravy mix, and Ranch seasoning with the water.
- Put your meat in the slow cooker. Pour mixes in water over the meat.
- Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
- Once cooked, shred the meat in the sauce and serve 1/3 cup meat on a bun.
*WW FreeStyle SmartPoints® calculated by Meal Planning Mommies; Not endorsed by Weight Watchers International, Inc. All recipe ingredients except optional items included in determining nutritional estimates. SmartPoints® values calculated WITHOUT Weight Watchers Zero Points fruits and vegetables using the WW Recipe Builder.
Amy Caligiuri says
If I wanted to add onions and peppers, when would you do this? I don’t want the vegetables to be mushy. Thanks!
Alisha Hughes says
Hi Amy. I haven’t tried it yet to know for sure, but I think you could add them in and just let them cook while the meat is cooking. If you want the veggies more crisp you could always pan fry them with a little cooking spray and top the sandwiches with it. Hope this helps! If you do try cooking it with the onions and peppers come back here and drop us a comment to let us know how it went. Thanks. 🙂
Carol Young says
I recommend sautéing the peppers and onions in a little bit of olive oil (or olive oil-flavored cooking spray) and Italian herbs until desired doneness, then topping the meat with the veggies. In my experience, green peppers can turn bitter in the crockpot if cooked for a long time, and this bitterness can be off-putting.
Alisha Hughes says
Awesome Carol. Thanks so much for chiming in on this one. 🙂
Shannon says
Would this work with pork? If so, any idea what the points would be? Thanks
Alisha Hughes says
Yes. Pork would work great with this recipe as well. When I enter 3 pounds of “pork, center loin, lean only raw” (that is how it is worded on the app) it shows that one (1/3 cup) serving would be 4 WW SP. Hope this helps. Thanks for asking.
Neti* says
I will also add lots of onions to this and cannot wait to try it. Thanks!!
Alisha Hughes says
🙂 Sounds good Neti. Thanks for popping over to our blog. Let us know how it turns out.