This easy Crock Pot Beef and Broccoli recipe is perfect for the busy household. Now you can have a great Chinese dish the whole family will enjoy with only 10 minutes of preparation.
Introduction and My Rating
Beef and broccoli is a popular Chinese favorite that we all love in every Chinese restaurant. But it is super easy to make at home with these simple step by step photo instructions.
Google will give you lots of examples, most of which are nearly identical, but this Food.com Crock Pot Beef and Broccoli recipe will do as the inspiration piece.
A few minor adjustments for more sauce, taste, and options for you.
My Rating
A very nice middle of the road four.
🐄Beef
The most important thing for the meat is to cut your beef thinly across the grain. 1/8 inch or a bit more is a good thickness. Your beef roast needs to be nicely trimmed, so you don't have to pick out uneatable things.
The beef needs to have some marbling, but otherwise fairly lean. Sirloin roast is the preferred cut, but I also find an English cut roast is great here. It is related to a chuck roast but leaner.
🥦Broccoli
Frozen broccoli will work fine, but you can use fresh.
Frozen broccoli in the old days always came in a one-pound bag. Not any more. Most are 12 to 14 oz. But really with this dish, anywhere from 12 to 16 oz is just fine.
Fresh broccoli will work for this recipe, also. One medium to a large bunch of broccoli will produce approximately 3 cups when cleans and cut up.
♨️The Crock Pot
This recipe fits in a 4 quart or larger crock pot. It might do ok in a 3 1/2 quart, but that is marginal. For a double batch, at least 6 1/2 quarts but bigger is better.
Crock pots can vary some so the end point is when the vegetables are tender and not the time.
✔️Tips
This is easy to adjust. A bit more meat or broccoli doesn't matter.
Add a can of drained water chestnuts or some snap peas.
It will refrigerate well for about 3 days. Will not freeze well due to the corn starch.
I suggest low sodium ingredients and removed added salt. There is lots of sodium in soy sauce, and more is generally not needed. Add some if you think you need it.
📖Chinese Recipes
Sesame Pork Ribs in the Crock Pot
Crock Pot Honey Garlic Chicken Breast
🔪Instructions
No special sauces needed.
Trim 1 to 1 1/2 pound beef roast and slice into 1/8 inch slices across the grain.
In a larger crock pot (4 quarts or larger), add one 14 ounces can low sodium beef broth, 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1 tablespoon sesame oil, 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper and 4 cloves crushed or minced garlic. Mix well. Add the beef to the crock pot and cook for 6 hours.
At the 5-hour mark, mix two tablespoons cornstarch with 1/4 cup cold water. Add the cornstarch mixture and mix well.
Add about 2-3 cups of broccoli. You can add other vegetables at this point, also.
Increase crock pot to high and cook for the final hour. Be sure the broccoli is tender before ending. If not, extend the cooking time.
Serve over rice and garnish as you wish.
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📖 Recipe
Crock Pot Beef and Broccoli
Ingredients
- 1 to 1 ½ pound beef roast
- 14 oz beef broth - low sodiium
- 1/2 cup soy sauce - low sodium
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper - to taste
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons corn starch
- 2-3 cups broccoli - frozen or fresh
- 8 oz sliced water chestnuts - optional
Instructions
- Trim 1 to 1 ½ pound beef roast and slice into 1/8 inch slices across the grain.
- In a larger crock pot (4 quarts or bigger ) add one 14 ounces can beef broth, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/3 cup brown sugar, one tablespoon sesame oil, 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper and four cloves crushed or minced garlic. Mix well
- Add the beef to the crock pot and cook on low for 6 hours.
- At the 5-hour mark mix two tablespoons cornstarch with 1/4 cup cold water. Add the cornstarch mixture and mix well. Add 2-3 cups of broccoli. Other vegetables can be added at this point.
- Increase crock pot to high and cook for the final hour. Be sure the vegetables are tender and extend the cooking if needed.
- Serve over rice and garnish as you wish.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- You can use the beef you want, but I suggest a sirloin roast or English cut roast.
- Trim the beef well and cut across the grain about 1/8 inch thick. No more than 1/4 inch, please.
- Use low sodium products since the sodium will get out of control here. Add more salt only if you need it.
- The crock pot size is bigger than it seems to need due to the volume of the broccoli when added. A 4 quart or larger crock pot works well, but it may fit in a 3 1/2 quart size. A double recipe will squeeze into a 6 1/2 quart size.
- Add other vegetables with the broccoli if you like.
- Crock pots can vary some, so be sure the broccoli is tender before ending the cooking.
- Good refrigerated for 3-4 days but will not freeze well due to the corn starch.
Nutrition
Originally Published April 18, 2016. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos and a table of contents to help navigation.
Jeana
I was wondering if cashew nuts would taste good in this crockpot?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Jeana,
Welcome to the blog.
Cashews will be great in this recipe. If you add them early, they can become very soft. Raw cashews may need to cook a bit.
So when and how many you add is more a taste thing. If you have raw or want softer then 2-4 hours to cook. If you use roasted nuts and want some crunch, then I would add them for the last hour.
Dan
Jen B
I am a very novice cook and have been learning from your site, with some good success I might add, so thank you. For the beef in this recipe, sadly I don’t know what a beef roast or sirloin roast is - and I’ve never seen the meat labeled as such. (And as for English roast, 🤷♀️ no clue either) Is a sirloin roast the same as a sirloin steak?
Chicken & Broccoli is a favorite at our house. I didn’t see a chicken & broccoli recipe in your repertoire when I looked. How would I go about adapting it to chicken?
Thanks in advance. Jen B
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Jen,
Welcome to the blog.
Most cuts of beef will do for this recipe. You may not find "English Cut Roast" but you should be able to find a sirloin roast of some type. It may say top or tip sirloin. You could use a piece of sirloin steak.
You can even use the pre-cut "stew meat" which you can get in small amounts. If you get the stew meat, you may want to cut up a bit more.
I hope that helps. If your store is still staffing the meat department, you can ask them.
Don't be afraid to ask me again if it is still confusing to you.
Dan
ELIZABETH PEARCE
RE; CROCKPOT BEEF AND BROCCOLI We also live in a motorhome and don't have access to a 6 qt. crockpot. Glad I saw the comment regarding that from another RVer. What cut of beef did you use for this recipe? I appreciate this website. Thank you.
Elizabeth Pearce
Texas
Karen
Any substitute for the sesame oil? We are fulltime RV'ers so cupboard space is at a premium; just don't use sesame oil frequently enough to justify the space. By the way, we love your recipes! Most of the time we have the necessary ingredients without any special purchases. Thank you so much!
DrDan
You could sub in any nut oil... peanut for example. But to me this recipe has enough fat from the beef so I don't need oil/fat but it was there for some taste. However that is only a small component so I would just leave it out. If you have toasted sesame seeds toss some on at the end.
I try to keep my recipes to "everyday" things. I don't like to hunt down a special ingredient and I'm sure my readers don't. Outside of a few Pensey spice things, I try to keep it to your average American pantry.
Thanks for the note
DrDan
Peter E Beckles
I used arrowroot instead of corn starch but it didn't seem to thicken the sauce adequately.
I used fresh broccoli and one cubed potato instead of water chestnuts.
Does the fact that the broccoli [in your recipe] was frozen affect cooking time?
The complaints I got were that the potato was too soft and the broccoli was not crisp enough.
All agreed though that the flavour was great
DrDan
Hi Peter, Sorry for the delay. I have arrowroot but have not used it in a crock pot yet. The corn starch works fairly well here. Frozen broccoli is partially cooked so it just needs to get back to temp. It did drop the temp way down for about 45 minutes. The model recipe used cooked broccoli and put it in at 30 minutes left. I added 30 minutes for the frozen factor and that seems just right. Since most crock pots are running close to boiling that far into cooking, the 1 hour seems to have been too much for your fresh broccoli and potatoes.
Peter Beckles
Isn't the website about cooking for 2? I don't have a 6 qt CrockPot.
Can this recipe be managed in a 3-1/2 qt CrockPot or do I have to reduce the quantities proportionally?
But I do agree with you about "... more meat and “gravy” for my rice."
DrDan
Yep it is a web site about cooking for two but recipes are frequently for more than two servings. I have a discussion about this in the menu "about the blog" section. You can cut it down but the lowest "common denominator" is the can of broth. I use it or toss it.
Yes I believe it would fit in a 3 1/2 qt. It might be above the 75% I like to stay under at the end with the broccoli.
Dan