This slow cooker beef and broccoli is perfect for those days that you are craving take-out! You can put this together in a snap and best of all, it is all made in the slow cooker!
My favorite time of year is the transition from summer to fall. I love the cooler temperatures.
It’s as if as soon as the temperature gets slightly cooler, my body immediately sends out some sort of alarm saying it needs comfort food.
Soups, stews, cozy dinners!
This is why this slow cooker beef and broccoli is the PERFECT meal to break in a slow cooker.
It’s not just for cooler weather though. We have made this in the dead of summer when we were just absolutely craving take out but didn’t want to actually order it.
I love setting up a meal and just forgetting about it.
You have the freedom to do whatever you want while a delicious meal is cooking away.
Let me tell you – your whole house will smell AMAZING and the flavors in the sauce are to die for.
I probably could’ve dunked all my rice in it, but I needed sauce for the next day as these make great leftovers :)
How easy is this slow cooker beef and broccoli?
Super easy. Take a look at the ingredient list below and you can see that you don’t need a lot to make this delicious meal!
Can you use frozen broccoli florets instead of fresh?
If you are using frozen broccoli florets, you do NOT need to defrost them prior to putting them in the slow cooker.
You add them in at the same time as you add the cornstarch mixture.
As stated in the instructions, after you add the cornstarch mixture, you cook for 30 more minutes.
This should be more than enough time to cook and defrost your broccoli florets.
What about fresh broccoli?
If you’re using fresh broccoli, you do NOT need to steam them prior to putting them in the crockpot.
You add them in at the same time as you add the cornstarch mixture.
Since you cook an additional 30 minutes, this will ensure that your fresh broccoli will be cooked through.
Can I cook this faster?
Your crockpot may differ in temperature than mine, I suggest cooking this for 4 hours on your first go-round of this dish.
6 hours in the crockpot seems to be giving a lot of people “shredded” beef instead of slices, so decrease cooking time by 2 hours and go from there.
Mine turned out fine with 6 hours.
If you want something faster, I suggest using my Instant Pot beef and broccoli recipe instead.
Do you put the meat in raw/uncooked?
Yes, you put the meat in the slow cooker raw, in sliced pieces.
My mixture doesn’t seem to thicken when I add in the cornstarch and water mixture.
If you find that your mixture is not thickening, simply drain the liquid from the slow cooker and place it in a small pot over the stove over medium-high heat.
Add the cornstarch mixture and stir into the liquid.
This should thicken the sauce.
Cornstarch needs heat to thicken so perhaps if you have had the lid open for a while, the temperature of the liquids may have gone down and not have been high enough in temperature to activate the thickening agent of cornstarch.
Additionally, if you decided to throw in your frozen broccoli florets BEFORE you added in your cornstarch mixture, that would have brought down the temperature of the liquids so you would need to cover and bring it up to temperature again.
If this slow cooker beef and broccoli sounds good to you, these other recipes may be enticing too:
- Instant Pot beef and broccoli (a faster way to cook this slow cooker recipe)
- 20-minute teriyaki chicken and broccoli
- General Tso’s chicken ramen
- 25-minute beef and snow pea stir fry
- Slow cooker Korean tacos
Watch this video on how I make this slow cooker beef and broccoli recipe
Pin this image below to save this recipe to make another time!
Slow Cooker Beef and Broccoli
Ingredients
- 1 lb boneless beef chuck roast, sliced into thin strips
- 1 cup beef consumme or beef broth
- 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- Frozen broccoli florets (as many as desired I believe I used almost 3 cups)
- 2 tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot powder
- 4 tbsp of liquid from slow cooker
- Cooked white rice
Instructions
- In the insert of the crockpot, whisk together beef consume or stock, soy sauce, dark brown sugar, sesame oil, and garlic.
- Gently place your slices of beef in the liquid and toss to coat.
- Turn slow cooker on low and cook for 4-6 hours. See notes below.
- When done, in a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and cooking liquid, pour into crockpot, stir to mix well. Toss in your broccoli florets. Cook on low for an additional 30 minutes to thicken up the sauce. Please see notes if your sauce does not thicken.
- Serve hot over white rice.
Video
Notes
Photography by Sarah Fennel
This is absolutely AMAZING and super easy to make!!! Thank you so much for sharing!
My husband was a big fan, I am trying a lot of receipts for two since we are empty nesters now. This one is a keeper! And I added fresh broccoli 🥦 and cooked maybe 15 mins. It was perfect!
So glad to hear!
My husband and I absolutely love this dish! We make at least once a month. Thanks for a great, quick, delicious crock pot recipe!
So happy to hear this!
Is there a way to make this with ground beef? I’m out of Chuck?
Hi, I definitely don’t recommend making this with ground beef.
Oh my god! This has amazing flavor! It’s such a simple recipe, but it’s delicious. I cooked for 5 hours, and it’s perfect! This recipe made just enough for two servings for me. As a single guy who hasn’t owned a thing in the kitchen for two years, it’s great to successfully make something for myself again. I cooked this is an Aroma multicooker, and it turned out wonderful. Thanks again!
Great to hear!!
Could you use almond flour instead of the starches you listed. If so, how much do you use ?
I haven’t tried it that way so I can’t give any suggestions. Sorry!
HELP.. I don’t have beef stock, can I use chicken??? Ready to make it now..
Yes, definitely
What size of slow cooker did you use?
I have a 6 quart slow cooker
I absolutely love this dish and crockpot cooking is such a great way to go, especially when it’s so hot outside and don’t want or need to use the oven or stove to much. Love Love Love it!! Thank you ❤️
Can I do this without the sesame oil? do I need to sub something for it? Daughter has allergry to sesame seed. Thanks.
yes, you can do it without!
Really easy and very tasty. We ate it all and there was only two of us!!! Think for 1 lb of meat I would do 5 hours as it does fall apart but my husband loved it. Think it’s better to cook the sauce to thicken but I didn’t do that because I wanted to keep everything hot.
Can you use frozen sliced beef for longer cook time?
yes, i imagine that would work but i honestly haven’t tried that myself so i can’t say for certain
First time on website
welcome!
Hi there I’ve made this several times now . And my young daughter loves it And every time I make it I make it a little different I do like to add hot sesame oil and seeds also I use veriyeri marinade. Absolutely delicious making again today for my daughters school pot look Xmas party. Ty mike smith Chelmsford mass
I’ve made this several times over the last year, it was an instant hit with my family. Actually tastes better than our local chinese take-out restaurant. I always add fresh broccoli that I’ve blanched while the sauce is thickening. This recipe is a must-try!!!!
When do you add the broccoli? Do you cook the broccoli first or throw it in frozen?
It’s in the last step of the instructions additionally all your questions are answered in the blog post itself.
It wasn’t clear to me is why I asked but thanks I guess..
I’m making this AGAIN was really good! Yum-yum LETS EAT 😸
:: Brocoli Beef Fake Out::
If i double this recipe, is it straight forward just doubling each ingrediant?
Yep
I made this last week and LOVED. I was putting it together to make again today and realized i am out of soy sauce. It’s too late to back out now. What is this going to taste like without soy sauce and can I add it in at the end of the slow cooking?
It’s one of the sauce ingredient so it definitely would not taste right and no, you need to add it while it slow cooks.
I have it in my crockpot now, but I used 3 pounds of meat (I have a big family). How long should I cook it?
Should still be fine 4-6 hours – I’d err on the side of 6 hours though
Thanx…it turned out delicious! ❤
Can I use beef broth and light brown sugar?
Yep!
This dish was so easy make and turned out great! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I can’t believe how simple it was and how easy the directions were to follow. Love this and will not only be making this recipe again, but I will definitely be sharing it.
Can I use flank steak with this recipe? If so how how should I cut it and would the cooking time change? Thanks in advance!
you can, but cooking time would be really little since flank is so thin, and also the cut might just end up tough so i’m honestly not sure if it’s the best cut to use in this..
Should I double ingredients if I’m making 2 pounds?
yes
Hello! I have yet to make this recipe but I read in one of the comments that you used a 6 quart slow cooker to make this dish. If I use a 3 quart would I need to cut each ingredient in half or will this all fit in a 3? Thanks so much!
It should fit in a 3 quart!
Hi, this recipe sounds delicious! But I don’t have any broth, would water or wine work, and if so, the same amount as listed for the broth or different? Thanks so much!
water would work but you might not get as much flavor! yes, same amount
Would it be possible to substitute water or red wine in place of the beef stock, and if so, would the amount be the same or different? Thank you!
it would taste watered down, i think, if you use water. the red wine might make the entire flavor profile wonky.