Y’all know how much I love slow cooked meat, right? It’s always so tender and full of flavor, yet nearly effortless. While I usually opt for a southwest blend of spices, a couple of months ago I tested an Asian inspired beef version and fell in love. This Slow Cooker Sesame Beef uses only a few ingredients and comes out with so much flavor, which is good because beef is expensive, so I like to use it sparingly in my meal and combine it with other less expensive ingredients.
How to Serve Slow Cooker Sesame Beef
So what do you serve this Slow Cooker Sesame Beef with? This tasty shredded beef can be used in so many ways. You can use it in a bowl meal like Bibimbap, or do a more simple combo with just some warm rice and broccoli florets. Asian inspired tacos are always fun, or you can just pile it on top of a crunchy cabbage salad. You can stir it into a batch of (not) Fried Rice, or serve it with some rich Garlic Noodles. Me? I couldn’t stop eating it right out of the slow cooker. :P But honestly, I’m going to pair it with rice, some quick pickled cucumbers, and shredded carrots (you might see this combo in a Sunday Meal Prep in the future!).
What Type of Beef Should I Use?
One more note about the type of beef used. I used an eye of round roast because there wasn’t much of a selection at my store the other day, and this cut was the best price. Eye of round is quite lean, so the resulting beef had more of a flakey texture. A chuck roast or brisket would be more ideal as both have a little more fat and connective tissue, which will result in a more tender and moist shredded beef.
What Size Slow Cooker Should I Use?
I am use a 6-quart Hamilton Beach slow cooker (affiliate link), and it was only filled about 1/3 of the way to the top. I would suggest using a 3-quart or larger for this recipe.
Slow Cooker Sesame Beef
Servings 6Ingredients
- 1/2 cup soy sauce ($0.72)
- 1/3 cup brown sugar ($0.24)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 1/2 Tbsp grated fresh ginger ($0.10)
- 1 tsp toasted sesame oil ($0.12)
- 2 lbs beef roast ($8.14)
- 6 green onions, divided ($0.67)
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch ($0.04)
- 1 Tbsp sesame seeds ($0.08)
Instructions
- Combine the soy sauce, brown sugar, and 1/2 cup water in a bowl and stir until the brown sugar is dissolved. Mince the garlic and grate the ginger. Add the garlic, ginger, and toasted sesame oil to the soy sauce mixture. Set the cooking liquid aside.
- Either slice or cube the beef roast. Slice three of the green onions into 1.5-2 inch sections (save the rest of the green onions for garnish after cooking). Place the beef roast and green onions in the slow cooker. Pour the cooking liquid over top and stir to combine.
- Place a lid on the slow cooker, and cook on HIGH for four hours or LOW for eight hours. After four hours on high or eight hours on low the beef should be very tender and should shred easily with a fork. If not, replace the lid and cook for 30-60 minutes more.
- Once the beef is tender, it’s time to thicken the sauce. Dissolve the cornstarch in 2 tablespoons of water, then pour it into the pot with the beef and cooking liquid. Stir to combine, then allow it to come back up to a simmer, at which point the sauce will thicken just slightly. Turn the heat off and garnish with the sesame seeds and remaining green onions (sliced). Serve over a bed of rice or as part of your favorite meal.
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Nutrition
How to Make Slow Cooker Sesame Beef – Step by Step Photos
Prepare the cooking liquid first. Combine 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 2 cloves garlic (minced), 1/2 Tbsp grated fresh ginger, and 1 tsp toasted sesame oil in a bowl (or large measuring cup). Set the liquid aside.
I used a 2 lb. eye of round roast because there wasn’t much available at the store the day I was there. This will produce a slightly dryer, more flakey end result. I would aim for a chuck roast or brisket, both of which have more fat and connective tissue to keep things moist and soft.
Either slice the beef or cut it into cubes. The goal is to increase the surface area so that it can soak up all the delicious flavors of the cooking liquid.
Place the beef in the slow cooker, along with three green onions that have been sliced into 1.5 to 2-inch sections.
Pour the cooking liquid over top and give everything a brief stir to make sure everything is in contact with the liquid.
Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for four hours, or low for eight hours. After that time, the beef should be tender and easily shreddable. If not, replace the lid and cook a little longer. Once tender, stir together 1 Tbsp cornstarch with 2 Tbsp water and then pour it into the pot. Allow it to return to a simmer, at which time the cornstarch will turn from cloudy to clear and you’ll notice the liquid will thicken just slightly.
Garnish the beef with 1 Tbsp sesame seeds and the remaining green onions (sliced).
This Slow Cooker Sesame Beef is SUPER flavorful, so I like to pair it with more mild foods, like rice and plenty of vegetables. :)
More serving suggestions at the top of the post!
It was very salty, I think I have a reasonably high salt tolerance and I used light soy sauce. I did marinade the meat before cooking but next time I would use 1/4 cup of soy sauce. I put mine over brown rice grits.
Wow, I think this is the best recipe I’ve ever made. I used a trimmed brisket and added mushrooms, red onion, bell pepper, and broccoli 30 minutes before it was done. The flavor is amazing. I can see how some might consider it too salty on its own, but rice should certainly balance it out. I’m in love.
I don’t have a slow cooker. Could this be made in an iron dutch oven with a lid in the oven? What kind of cook time would that take? And at what temperature would I set the oven?
That might work, although I’ve never tested it and I don’t know what the temperature and time conversions are for slow cooker to oven. You may be able to find some general guidelines on those conversions online, but you never really know how it will work until it is tested.
So I tried this recipe and modified it just a little. I preheated the over to 400 degrees. I used chuck roast cut into strips. I browned the meat in two batches in a bit of oil in the dutch oven on top of the stove. Put all the meat in there at once and added 2 TBS of flour over the meat. Then I put the meat into the over for 4 minutes. Took it out stirred it up. Put it back in for another 4 minutes. Then I added the liquid mixture.
I checked a conversion chart and it said to bake in the dutch oven with the lid at 325 degrees for 2 hours. So I reduced the heat to 325 and put it back in the oven. Set the timer for 2 hours. Checked it at 1.5 hours and the liquid was thickened and the meat was tender. So success! I love this recipe!! It’s delicious.
Can this be made in Instant Pot?
Yes, that would probably work, although I don’t have specific instructions since I have not tried it.
We made it in our Instant Pot last night using manual setting for 30 minutes and a natural release. We did not change the recipe at all and the flavor was great but the sauce was very thin and watery. When we added the corn starch at the end, we let it simmer in the Instant Pot, stirring occasionally, for about 45 more minutes to let the sauce thicken and it was really wonderful. The beef was pretty shredded by the time we were done stirring for 45 minutes! Next time, I plan on using less water so that we don’t have to spend so much time reducing the sauce at the end. Overall though, I’d say it was a success even though the complete start to end took 2 hours. Most of that time was waiting for the IP to come to pressure, cook, and release, so I wasn’t actually working half of it.
Loved this recipe. I came back to the blog since I’ll be making it a second time! In addition the beef in the slow cooker, I picked up some pre-cut, Asian style veggies in my produce section, a pack of mushrooms and water crescents. Can’t wait to make it again!
AMAZING recipe! My family devoured it! What a great new way to use beef. It was so tender and delicious. I ended up decreasing the sugar to 1/4 cup and it was fabulous.
I notice you used eye of round. Do you think this would work with chuck?
Yes, I talked about that a bit in the intro of the blog post. I think chuck would actually work better than the eye of round, but unfortunately there wasn’t any at the store the day I made this. :P
If I were to omit the sugar, would this recipe still taste good?
No, the sugar is needed to balance the flavors.
I would love to see something similar like a beef broccoli.
I’m also wondering about that. If you threw some carrots or broccoli in the crock pot would that work well?
Yes it would! Just add them to the slow cooker for the last 30 minutes or use this beef in a stir fry :)
Yes! I’ve made this recipe several times using different vegetables, and it always turns out well. Just be sure not to add them too soon—It only takes 15-20 minutes before getting mushy! For what it’s worth, I’ve made this with green beans, broccoli, zucchini, and carrots.
Tasted like soy sauce and nothing else. Not a keeper.
I whole-heartedly agree.. wayyyy too much soy sauce and way too salty. I’m making this again tonight and cutting the amout of soy sauce in 1/2 from this recipe. I’ll post again after I make this to see if the altered recipe was a sucess.
Could I prep this ahead of time and leave the whole crock pot in the fridge overnight before cooking?
You may need to cook it longer to compensate for all the ingredients and the crock being cold when it starts. I would maybe even cook it on high for the first hour to make sure all the ingredients heat up to a safe temperature in an adequate amount of time.
You certainly prep it and keep it in a different bowl overnight. Then just dump it into the crock pot in the morning. I bet that would marinate the meat nicely, too.
Be careful. My crock cracked right in half when I put it into the base from the fridge and turned the heat on. Maybe let it warm up to room temp. first.
I made this.. very good BUT it was way too salty with the amount of soy sauce in the recipe.. I followed the recipe exactly. I recommend using 1/2 the soy sauce and the rest water. Great recipe.. but just too salty.
I agree with the salt. I just made it and it is my new favourite – But i am going to look for low sodium soya sauce.
A person could put a bit of paprika or cayenne if they wanted but the amazing thing is – it is so easy as is. Love it. i made it with sirloin tip because it was on sale.
Anjoy!
I use Coconut Aminos to replace soy in all recipes, it’s amazing!!
I made this, and the flavor got diluted I think (probably my fault). Oh yeah, if you use a pressure cooker for 1 hours, you’ll get fall off the bone, tender results!
Recipe is not for a pressure cooker but for a slow cooker, also called a crock pot.
Yes, but it’s easily adaptable for a pressure cooker.
I’ve loved all the budget bytes recipes I’ve tried, but this is my favorite! So delicious! I used what I had–powdered ginger and garlic–and was still pleased with the flavor. Added sliced onions and peppers at the end so they were crisp-tender. I’ll definitely do that again.
This was really tasty! I did 8 hrs on low because I don’t get “fall-apart tender” results in my slow cooker when I do 4 hrs on high. I cut the roast into chunks because I was lazy, but I think in the future I’ll do strips so the flavor can penetrate the meat better. I also didn’t get a lot of sesame flavor, so I might increase the sesame oil next time. I also saw another commenter say that sesame oil loses its flavor with heat, and Google seems to agree, so next time I’ll add it to the pot right before serving instead of at the beginning. But still, this was a delicious recipe and makes the house smell amazing, so it’s definitely staying in my rotation. I served it with rice and pre-cut cole slaw dressed with rice vinegar, mirin, sesame oil, and garlic. This would also make a great taco or sandwich with the slaw – very versatile.