Slow Cooker Beef

Slow cooker beef recipes, prepared in the moist cooking environment of a slow cooker, let you use cheaper cuts of beef which provide the best value for money and still come out tasting absolutely delicious.

After cooking in a slow cooker, the toughest cuts of beef which are often avoided for conventional oven cooking or frying, become tender and juicy.
These better value beef cuts don't always appear in the supermarket, but can be found from a good butcher or online.
Beef that has been 'dry-aged' or matured and looks brown has more flavour than beef which has been vacuum-packed fresh and looks red.

Cheap Cuts of Beef

Value cuts of beef to ask for are:

Shin

from the foreleg.

Leg

from the hind leg.

Brisket

from behind the foreleg,

Chuck (blade or clod)

from the shoulder,

Neck

from the neck, and

Flank (skirt)

from the belly area.

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Beef stew is one of the most popular slow cooker beef recipes, very easy to prepare and can be put together with whatever vegetables you have on hand. Depending on your region, (or your supermarket), beef stews can be very versatile. Usually root vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, parsnip and swede make up the body. Remember to put slow cooking vegetables like potatoes in the bottom of the slow cooker.

Other popular ingredients and flavours are tomato, celeriac, artichoke, fennel lemon and apple. Herbs and spices often used in a slow cooker beef stew are garlic, oregano, thyme,sage and paprika. A glass of red wine always adds depth to the flavour.

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

This slow cooker beef stew recipe is unusual in that I've included sweet potatoes. Putting the sweet potatoes in for the full eight hours makes them become part of the gravy, useful with difficult kids and giving a delicate flavour

Crockpot Mediterranean Beef Stew

Crockpot mediterranean beef stew adds zest to traditional beef stews. Just when you need something colourful and filling, this does the trick.

Crockpot Beef Stew Recipe with Mushrooms

This crockpot beef stew recipe is spectacular for the richness of its sauce due to the combination of the tomato puree and the mushrooms.

Slow Cooker Roast Beef

A joint of beef, brisket for example, can be very successfully roasted in a slow cooker. Cut the fat off and tie the joint up again, or leave the string and the fat on for a rich gravy.

The technique is to make a vegetable trivet from carrots or potatoes, cover the vegetables with water or stock, and place the joint on top of the vegetables. After eight to ten hours on low, the slow cooker beef roast will be perfectly cooked.

This trivet is made from carrot, parsnip and potato with a chopped onion in there for flavour, and works for all slow cooker roast recipes.

Alternatively, a short metal or ceramic trivet about one inch, (25mm.) high can be used for slow cooker roast beef.

Unlike in an oven, there is no need to baste joints in a slow cooker, The moist cooking environment will prevent the beef from drying out.

Slow Cooker Beef Bourguignon

This classic French dish is rich, flavourful and keeps well. If you need to eat it the next day, you will find it tastes even better.

Slow Cooker Pot Roast Recipe

This slow cooker pot roast recipe must be the simplest I've tried yet. The fastest to prepare as well. This crockpot roast beef tastes as good as it looks. I served it with cauliflower and fries, but use whatever you have to hand.

London Broil Crockpot Recipes

Beef for London Broil crockpot recipes can be any cut, preferably a cheap one because the marinade adds plenty of flavour in a slow cooker. "Flank steak" and "Top round" are cuts that are often used. I used "Brisket" for this meal and it turned out beautifully.

Crockpot Meatloaf Recipe

This crockpot meatloaf recipe is very easy to make, tasty and filling. I've used both ground beef and ground pork in this, but you could use one or the other. Serve with your vegetables of choice and a tasty gravy.

Corned Beef Slow Cooker Recipe

Corned beef is a popular slow cooker recipe and produces excellent results, but takes a while to prepare. The secret is to make up a marinade and keep the beef submerged in it for a couple of days in the fridge before cooking, stirring each day, so that the beef takes up the flavours.

Ingredients for the marinade are sugar, dry mustard, garlic, pickling spices,

Beef Stroganoff Crockpot Recipe

This beef stroganoff crockpot recipe is very rewarding for so little work, and tastes as good as it looks. It can be served on a bed of egg noodles, but on rice or just with fresh bread are good options.

Crock Pot Swedish Meatballs

This recipe for crock pot swedish meatballs was a great hit with the family. We have a lad who's a very faddy eater and it's difficult to find meals he likes. We put these meatballs on a bed of spaghetti for him and by the time we'd dished ours up, his plate was clean.

Crockpot Lasagna Recipe

This crockpot lasagna recipe is pretty easy to make. The main thing is to buy noodles suitable for a crockpot lasagne. The ones to go for can be found in the dried pasta section, where they will be labelled either 'pre-cooked' or 'no need to pre-cook'. They can also be found pre-cooked in the chiller section.

Crockpot Spaghetti

This crockpot spaghetti recipe is almost a staple dish and is very easy to make. Recipes for slow cooker spaghetti sauce allow the flavours to blend because of the long cooking time, so the garlic becomes less pungent and the herbs more subtle.

Slow Cooker Beef Tips

To brown beef ready for slow cooking, dip pieces in flour and then brown in a frying pan.

In a fridge, fresh beef will keep for up to five days. (Check the use by date).

Beef intended for freezing should be frozen as soon as possible and used within six months.

Remove packing, place beef on a covered plate and defrost beef in the fridge, allowing five hours for every pound (500 gms.) of meat.

Keep cooked beef in the fridge and use within two days.

Slow Cooker Tips

Fill cooker to at least half full, but not more than two thirds

Almost cover the ingredients with liquid for good transfer of heat

Lifting the lid during cooking will lose heat, increasing cooking time, and causing moisture loss

If using sugary ingredients, either use a liner or non-stick spray to make cleaning easier

Defrost ingredients before cooking

Place ingredients that are slower to cook, such as root vegetables, at the bottom of the cooker

Cooking on 'high' takes half as long as cooking on 'low'

If you had a power cut, there is no way of knowing if food is cooked properly. Throw it out

Don't re-heat food in a slow cooker

Cheaper, tougher cuts of meat will be tenderised in a slow cooker

Soak dried beans for twelve hours and boil for ten minutes before adding to the cooker to remove toxins

Adding a little liquid and pre-heating the cooker gives food a fast start