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.
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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
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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!
I used 1kg of lean diced beef which had a bit of marbling and used about 1/3 cup of soy sauce as that was all I had left (oh no!). I decided to add one small thai chilli as everyone in my house likes a bit of heat. I was very glad for the chilli in the end because my results ended up being fairly bland, and there was very little sesame flavour. If I make it again I will try a fattier beef, the 1/2 cup of soy sauce, at least double the sesame seed oil, and maybe two chillis. It was better the second day, so you might want to factor that in!
I don’t eat meat, so I’m relying on my husband for this one. He said it was good, but way too salty (I mean, it’s a soy sauce base so I think that did be expected). My only “complaint” is that I doubled the sauce, but by the time everything was cooked, there was barely any sauce left. Next time, I’ll triple the sauce portion.
Hi Beth,
What would be the best way to cook Broccoli to add to this?
I would probably just steam some broccoli lightly, then stir it into this at the end of the cooktime. Or, just serve it on the side. :)
Even using low sodium soy sauce, this turned out a little too salty for my taste. I’m going to try this again with less soy sauce and experiment with some miso paste. A good starting off point, though!
I made this for my aunt, and she said it was the best thing I ever cooked. I am making it again right now.
This was absolutely delicious and is now a family favorite. I did double the cornstarch to make a thicker sauce. It had such great flavors!
Huge hit and we haven’t even had it as a meal yet. Cooked this up last night for dinner today and I now my family is just passively moving through meals waiting for the SHOW! Thanks, as always your recipe hold up to the praise.
Amazing Recipe…. thank you for sharing this
Everyone liked this and it was easy! Next time I’ll try using already cut stir-fry beef to make less work and see if it will improve the texture–my daughter would have preferred it to be more like beef and broccoli type beef rather than a roast type beef.
Ok this came out tasting so much like Bulgogi…simply put: Amazing! Only thing I did a little differently was slice the meat paper thin, almost shaving it and it was fall apart in your mouth tender. I served it with white rice, homemade egg and chive pan fried dumplings and your very own sesame cucumber salad. I will definitely be making this beef and the cucumber salad again.
I used several pounds of stew beef and it worked as well as a roast. We also added oyster mushrooms in the last hour of cooking so they could absorb some flavor without being complete mush – very tasty. Thanks for this recipe!
Huge hit and we haven’t even had it as a meal yet. Cooked this up last night for dinner today and I now my family is just passively moving through meals waiting for the SHOW! Thanks, as always your recipe hold up to the praise.
Hi, I put in all 2.5lbs of chuck roast beef in the slow cooker, along with the approximate sauce. However I noticed that the sauce was at a low level compared to the beef, and I was worried that the top portion of the beef wouldn’t get soaked in the sauce correctly.
So I ended up making the sauce twice (just doubling the the measurements you gave for the sauce). I hope I didn’t mess up anything by doing this. Was the sauce supposed to be at a low level or is it okay if I doubled up on the sauce? Thanks!
There will be some moisture that will come out from the beef, it doesn’t always need to be completely covered. But if you doubled the sauce you should be just fine.
I absolutely LOVED this. This is my favorite recipe so far. It had so much flavor in the sauce and smelled amazing for those 4 hours of cooking. It came out perfect, I will definitely make this again.
hi!
I don’t have a slow cooker. What about a dutch oven? Would it work?
Has anyone tried coating beef in flour then searing before-hand to lock in flavor?
I’ve done that with other recipes in the past Rob. You can certainly give it a try and report back to us. I’ve found searing does a better job of keeping those flavors in before putting in the slow cooker.
Instead of coating it with flour, marinade the beef in the sauce mixture for at least an hour and then try searing it before it goes into the crock.