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Crockpot Beef & Broccoli
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Some dishes are worth standing over a stove for. This crockpot beef and broccoli is worth walking away from one.
Featured Creator
Raven Hall
Why You Need to Make This
Not every version of a classic dish needs to follow the same method to be worth making.
Beef and broccoli made in a crockpot produces a result that is different from the wok version, and that difference is a feature rather than a flaw.
The slow cooker builds a sauce that is thicker, more gravy-forward, and deeply seasoned, which is made possible by the low heat. The beef becomes tender in a way that a quick high-heat cook cannot replicate.
I want to be clear that neither version is the wrong choice. It just depends on what you are in the mood for and how much time you have. The crockpot version is the one that works when you need dinner to handle itself while you handle everything else.
That low-and-slow process does something to the sauce that makes the whole dish feel more developed and satisfying in a comfort-food kind of way.
Walk away in the morning, come back in the evening, and dinner is already done. That is the kind of recipe that fits into a real life schedule without asking for much in return.
Complete the Table
White rice is a must here, since the thick, slow-cooked sauce is the whole reason you made this dish, and rice is what carries it.
For another beef dish on the blog that takes a completely different direction, the Jamaican Style Pepper Steak brings bold seasoning to the same protein and is worth exploring when you want something with a different kind of depth.
Recommended Tools
ChefMan 7-Quart Slow Cooker - The size of the slow cooker matters here because the beef needs enough room to sit in a single layer at the bottom of the pot so the sauce can circulate evenly around each piece.
A smaller cooker forces the beef to stack, which means the pieces on top spend most of the cook time out of the liquid and end up less tender than the ones underneath.
Joi’s Kitchen Notes
Buying Tip: Flank steak or chuck roast is well-suited for a slow-cooker beef and broccoli since they have enough connective tissue to break down during the long cook and become tender without drying out. Chuck roast, in particular, is one of the more affordable cuts and benefits most from slow cooking, making it the better budget choice of the two.
Budgeting Tip: Frozen broccoli florets work just as well here as fresh and cost less per serving. Since the broccoli goes in toward the end of the cooking time anyway, starting from frozen does not significantly affect the timing and eliminates the need to wash and chop a fresh head before everything goes into the pot.
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