Slow Cooker Beef Tips is my favorite way to cook fork-tender beef that’s combined with onions and sliced mushrooms and coated in a simple sauce. This easy-to-make, super simple, family-friendly meal is full of flavor and requires just a few extra steps than a true dump-and-go dinner.
Best Slow Cooker Beef Tips
When you’re craving comfort, Slow Cooker Beef Tips is the easiest way to cook a satisfying meat-and-gravy meal with a little help from your Crockpot. With a few spices and ingredients, these beef tips cook low and slow so they become fall-apart fork-tender and infused with deep, rich flavor.
It takes a matter of minutes to sear your meat, combine it with vegetables and a few pantry-staple spices, coat it in a flavorful gravy, and then set it and forget it. A simple slurry is stirred in at the end to create a thick gravy; it’s a perfectly warm and hearty meal that practically cooks itself!
If you love cooking main meals in a Crockpot, you must make my Crockpot Lasagna, Crockpot Queso Chicken Quesadillas, Crockpot Philly Cheesesteak and so many more.
Why We Love This Slow Cooker Beef Tips Recipe
- Quick and easy to prepare in 15 minutes.
- Uses simple flavorful ingredients.
- Family-friendly delicious dinner cooked low and slow in the Crockpot.
- Comforting, hearty dinner full of high-quality protein, nourishing veggies, and satisfying flavor.
- Tender, fall apart chunks of beef are coated in a thick gravy and served over rice, potatoes, or noodles.
- Make-ahead meal that you can add to your menu any night of the week.
Ingredients
- Top round London broil beef
- Olive oil
- Beef broth
- Yellow onion
- White mushrooms
- Onion mushroom dry soup mix (from a 1.8 oz. box)
- Worcestershire sauce
- Bay leaf
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Fresh parsley
- Water
- Cornstarch
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Substitutions and Additions
- Beef Tips: While I typically use cubed pieces of beef cut from the sirloin or beef tenderloin for this recipe, any large cut of beef will work. If beef tips aren’t available, you can use the “less tender” cuts of beef, such as beef stew meat, cubed chuck roast, or round roast
- Mushrooms: Feel free to use baby portabella or your favorite variety of mushrooms in this recipe. I like to buy my white mushrooms pre-sliced to keep on hand for meals and to add them to salads.
- Beef Broth: You can use a low-sodium beef broth, but you may want to add additional salt, to taste, to your beef tips. You can also substitute the beef broth with either a beef base, or beef bouillon cubes, mixed with hot water according to the package directions to equal 4 cups total liquid.
Recommended Tools
- Large heavy-duty skillet
- Slow Cooker or Crockpot
- Mixing bowls
- Measuring tools
How to Make Slow Cooker Beef Tips
Slow Cooker Beef Tips are so easy to make with a little help from your Crockpot. This simple supper is full of flavor and is cooked low and slow into the most delicious meat and gravy meal.
- Sear: Sear half of the beef in olive oil over high heat for 2-3 minutes or just until browned. Remove from the skillet, place on a plate, and sear the other half of the cubed beef for another 2-3 minutes.
Pro Tip: At this point you just want to get a good sear on the beef cubes and not cook them all the way through. You will still have some pink to the meat. - Make The Gravy: Stir together the beef broth, onion mushroom dry soup mix, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaf, salt, black pepper and fresh chopped parsley.
- Cook: Add the onions, mushrooms, and browned beef cubes and their juices from the plate to the slow cooker. Pour the liquid mixture over the beef and vegetables. Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on HIGH for 3 ½ hours.
- Make The Slurry: Mix the cornstarch with water until fully dissolved and you have created a slurry.
- Stir In The Slurry: Remove the bay leaf stir the slurry into the beef broth. Cook for an additional 15-30 minutes or until your liquids have thickened into a gravy.
Tips
- You can turn your slow-cooker to the warm setting for up to 2 hours if needed.
- You can save time with your prep work by getting stew meat from your butcher counter. This is a tougher cut of beef so it goes great with slow-cooker meals because the meat has time to get tender.
- Feel free to omit the mushrooms in this recipe if your family is not a fan of them, but I do like the flavor they add to the beef. Beef and mushrooms go very well together.
- If you choose to omit the sliced mushrooms from your beef tips then you can also substitute out the dry mushroom onion soup mix packet for a standard onion soup mix packet. I used the Lipton Recipe Secrets brand in this recipe.
What to Serve With Beef Tips
I love to serve this easy Slow Cooker beef tips recipe over my Scalloped Potatoes and Mashed Potato Casserole. It’s also delicious over buttered egg noodles, mashed cauliflower, mashed parsnips, my Cauliflower Fried Rice, or long-grain white rice.
The combination of tender beef and rich gravy pairs perfectly with a comforting base like one of these. For a super short cut you can even buy premade mashed potatoes in the grocery store’s cooler section. They have some great quality brands out there that taste just like homemade.
Storage Tips
- To Store: You can store leftover beef tips in the refrigerator, in a sealed container, for up to 3 days.
Frequently Asked Questions
If your slow cooker has a ‘sear’ setting on it you can brown your meat directly in your slow cooker and skip the extra skillet. This would make your slow cooker beef tips a true one-pot meal.
You can skip the step on searing your beef cubes however, I highly suggest that you do not. By searing/browning the beef cubes, you are locking in the juices and creating a great texture and color to your beef tips that does not happen if you simply add the raw beef to the slow-cooker.
If you want to make your slow cooker beef tips in the morning before you start your day, you can set the slow cooker to LOW for 6-7 hours.
When you are ready to add the cornstarch slurry to thicken up your broth and create a gravy, you should remove the lid and turn your slow-cooker up to HIGH and allow the broth to thicken.
Other Easy Slow Cooker Recipes
- Slow Cooker Butter Chicken
- Slow Cooker Chili
- Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken
- Slow Cooker Crack Chicken Chili
- Crockpot Cheese Dip
- Crockpot Monkey Bread
- Crockpot Yankee Pot Roast
Slow Cooker Beef Tips
Ingredients
- 3 pounds top round london broil beef cut into 2 inch cubes
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 3 cups beef broth
- 1 cup yellow onion diced
- 1 cup white mushrooms sliced
- 1 packet onion mushroom dry soup mix (from a 1.8 oz. box)
- 1½ tbsp worcestershire sauce
- 1 large bay leaf if they are small use 2
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley chopped, plus additional for garnish
- ¼ cup water room temperature
- 4 tbsp cornstarch
Instructions
- In a large heavy duty skillet, on high heat, add the olive oil and half of the cubed top round beef. Sear the beef on all sides for 2-3 minutes or just until browned. Remove from the skillet and place on a plate. Add the other half of the cubed beef to the hot skillet and sear the pieces, all on sides, for another 2-3 minutes. At this point you are just looking to get a good sear on the beef cubes and not cook them all the way through. You will still have some pink to the meat.
- To the insert of your slow cooker add the diced onions, sliced white mushrooms and the browned top round beef cubes and their juices from the plate. There is a lot of great flavor in the juices from the seared beef.
- In a large bowl add the beef broth, packet of onion mushroom dry soup mix, worcestershire sauce, bay leaf, salt, black pepper and fresh chopped parsley. Stir to combine. Add the liquid mixture to the slow-cooker on top of the beef and vegetables.
- Set your slow-cooker to HIGH heat for 3 ½ hours. Put the lid on your slow-cooker and allow it to cook undisturbed.
- After your slow-cooker beef tips have cooked for 3 ½ hours you will need to remove the bay leaf and make your cornstarch slurry to thicken the liquids and create a gravy.
- To a small bowl add the room temperature water and cornstarch. Stir until the cornstarch has dissolved and you have created a slurry. Remove the lid to the slow-cooker and stir in the slurry to the beef broth. Allow your beef tips to continue to cook for an additional 15-30 minutes or until your liquids have thickened into a gravy.
Jenn’s Notes
- To Store: You can store leftover beef tips in the refrigerator, in a sealed container, for up to 3 days.
- You can turn your slow-cooker to the warm setting for up to 2 hours if needed.
- You can save time with your prep work by getting stew meat from your butcher counter. This is a tougher cut of beef so it goes great with slow-cooker meals because the meat has time to get tender.
- Feel free to omit the mushrooms in this recipe if your family is not a fan of them, but I do like the flavor they add to the beef. Beef and mushrooms go very well together.
- If you choose to omit the sliced mushrooms from your beef tips then you can also substitute out the dry mushroom onion soup mix packet for a standard onion soup mix packet. I used the Lipton Recipe Secrets brand in this recipe.
- If your slow-cooker has a ‘sear’ setting on it you can brown your meat directly in your slow-cooker and skip the extra skillet. This would make your slow-cooker beef tips a true one pot meal. You can skip the step on searing your beef cubes however, I highly suggest that you do not. By searing/browning the beef cubes you are locking in the juices and creating a great texture, and color, to your beef tips that does not happen if you just add the raw beef to the slow-cooker.
- If you want to make your slow-cooker beef tips in the morning, before you start your day, you can set the slow-cooker to LOW for 6-7 hours. When you are ready to add the cornstarch slurry to thicken up your broth and create a gravy, you will want to remove the lid and turn your slow-cooker up to HIGH and allow the broth to thicken.
I used the low cooking method and the london broil was so tender! It also did not take longer for the gravy to thicken. My family loved it and I am planning on making it again!
Thanks Jackie! So glad you and your family enjoyed it!
Great