10 Crockpot Steak and Beef Tip Dinners

These crockpot steak and beef tip dinners are how I get steakhouse-style beef out of stew meat and cheap cuts.

From beef tips in gravy over mashed potatoes to Philly cheesesteaks and Mongolian beef, the slow cooker does the tenderizing so you don’t have to.

Here are the ten I keep making!

I used to think steak had no business in a slow cooker, and then I made beef tips and gravy on a whim one winter.

Turns out the tougher cuts, the ones sold as stew meat, sirloin tips, or cube steak, are exactly what low and slow is for.

1. Beef Tips and Gravy

Start here if you’ve never done beef in the crockpot!

Stew meat cooks in beef broth with onion, garlic, and Worcestershire until it’s fork-tender, and the liquid gets thickened into gravy at the end.

I sear the beef first when I have ten minutes, and skip it when I don’t.

Both versions get eaten.

Mashed potatoes, egg noodles, or rice, and a lot of gravy.

2. Garlic Butter Steak Bites and Potatoes

Steak and potatoes in one crock, and the garlic butter is most of the reason to make it.

Cubed sirloin and baby potatoes cook with melted butter, a lot of garlic, and Italian seasoning, and the potatoes soak up the beef juices.

Keep the potatoes small and the steak in big cubes so they finish together.

Parsley on top, and a green salad so you feel like you tried.

3. Beef and Broccoli

I ordered this from the same takeout place for years, and now I don’t.

Thin-sliced flank or sirloin cooks in soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, and sesame oil, and the broccoli goes in for the last thirty minutes so it stays green.

Add the broccoli any earlier and it turns gray and soft, and that’s the only way this goes wrong.

Over rice, with sesame seeds.

4. Mongolian Beef

Sweet, sticky, and the one my family requests most out of this whole list.

Flank steak sliced thin against the grain, tossed in cornstarch, then cooked in soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, and garlic.

The cornstarch is what thickens the sauce as it cooks, so don’t skip it.

Four hours on low, then a pile of sliced green onions and a bowl of rice.

5. Beef Stroganoff

The Sunday-dinner version of stroganoff, with chunks of beef instead of ground.

Stew meat, mushrooms, onion, garlic, and beef broth cook together all day, then sour cream and a little dijon get stirred in once the heat’s off.

Wide egg noodles hold the sauce, and I cook them separately because noodles in the crock go to mush.

A splash of the noodle water loosens the sauce if it’s gone thick.

6. Cube Steak and Gravy

Cube steak is tough and cheap, and the slow cooker is the only way I’ll cook it now.

The steaks go in with a brown gravy built from broth and a gravy packet, and six hours later they cut with a fork.

It’s the plainest recipe here and the one I’d miss most.

Mashed potatoes, and a vegetable that isn’t beige.

7. Pepper Steak

Chinese-restaurant pepper steak, with the peppers still holding their shape.

Sliced beef cooks in a soy and ginger sauce, and the bell peppers and onion go in for the last hour so they soften without dissolving.

I use a mix of red and green peppers because it looks better on the plate, and that’s the whole reason.

Rice, and a little extra sauce spooned over the top.

8. Philly Cheesesteaks

Not a Philly-purist version, and I’ve made peace with that!

Thin-sliced beef cooks with peppers, onions, and a little broth, then gets piled into hoagie rolls with provolone and broiled until the cheese melts.

Toast the rolls first so they hold up, and drain the beef a little before it goes on the bread.

These feed a crowd from one crock and everyone builds their own.

9. Salisbury Steak

Beef patties in mushroom gravy, and it tastes like a good diner.

The patties get a quick sear so they hold together, then cook in the crock with mushrooms, onion, and a gravy that thickens by the end.

Ground beef patties are the traditional version, and I’ve made it with cube steak too when that’s what was in the freezer.

Mashed potatoes, and nothing else needed.

10. Korean Beef

Sweet, garlicky, a little spicy, and the one I make when I’m tired of the other nine.

Sliced beef cooks in soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, and a spoonful of gochujang or red pepper flakes.

Serve it in bowls with rice, cucumber, and a fried egg if you’re feeling it, and the leftovers make a good cold lunch.

Notes on Cooking Steak in a Slow Cooker

The cuts that work are the tough ones, and that’s the whole trick.

Stew meat, sirloin tips, chuck cubes, flank steak, and cube steak all turn tender over six to eight hours on low, and a ribeye or a filet would turn to gray rubber in the same time.

Slice flank against the grain before it goes in, with a sharp 8-inch chef’s knife, or the strips are chewy no matter how long they cook.

A quick sear in a cast iron skillet adds flavor to the gravy recipes and isn’t needed for the Asian-style ones, where the sauce carries it.

For a gravy that’s too thin at the end, mash a tablespoon of butter with a tablespoon of flour and whisk it into the hot liquid, and it thickens in ten minutes on high.

I keep glass containers for leftovers, which keep three to four days and reheat better with a splash of broth.

More Crockpot Beef on the Site

My hearty crockpot beef stew with root vegetables is where the stew meat goes on the coldest nights.

And the quick crockpot dinners with ten minutes of prep post covers the nights nothing gets sliced at all.