Easy Slow Cooker Chinese Recipe: Beef with Broccoli!

When you poke slow-cooked beef with chopsticks, the meat just falls apart. The tenderness of slow-cooked beef makes it easier to digest. If you want to enjoy such a beef recipe, I recommend this slow cooker Chinese recipe. I made this recipe using beef chuck.

The preparation for this dish takes a short time, but you need to wait for a few hours before it gets ready. When you taste the slow-cooked beef, it will wipe off the pain of waiting for too long. I will include the list of ingredients, list of tools, nutritional value, and all other relevant information about the recipe here. Let’s get started.

Slow Cooker Recipe Overview

You should get the key information organized in the following chart. Check it out.

Course: Main	Cuisine: Chinese		Difficulty: Medium
Total Time: 6 hours 10 minutes
Serving		Preparation Time	Cooking Time	Calories
3 persons		10 minutes	6 hours	354 kcal

Tools and Utensils You Need

If you don’t have the exact tools and utensils mentioned below, you can use their alternatives.

1. A crockpot or slow cooker
2. A small bowl
3. A cooking spray
4. A whisk
5. Paper towel
6. A kitchen knife
7. Measuring spoons

Slow Cooker Recipe Ingredients

This slow-cooked beef recipe needs the following ingredients.

• Beef: 1.5 lbs of beef chuck
• Beef Broth: 1 cup
• Soy Sauce: 1½ cup
• Brown Sugar: ⅓ cup of dark brown sugar
• Sesame Oil: 1 tbsp
• Garlic: 2-3 tbsp, minced
• Cornstarch: 4 tbsp
• Broccoli: ½ lb
• Sesame Seed: 1 tsp

Slow Cooker Chinese Recipe: Step-By-Step Instructions

If you are making this dish for the first time, the detailed steps below will be helpful.

Step 1: Clean and Cut the Beef

Wash the beef thoroughly. Then, pat it dry with a paper towel and slice the beef into thick strips. Grease your crockpot with cooking spray and place the beef slices into the pot.

You Can Also Try: Chinese Beef Tendon Recipe

Step 2: Prepare the Sauce

Take 1 cup of beef broth in a small bowl. Mix 1½ cup of soy sauce, ⅓ cup of brown sugar, 1 tbsp of sesame oil, and 2-3 tbsp of minced garlic with the broth. Whisk the sauce until the ingredients are mixed well. Then, pour the sauce into the crockpot.

Step 3: Cook the Beef

Close the lid of your crockpot and set it to low. Then, cook the beef for about 5-6 hours. If you cook on medium, it will take about 4 hours.

Step 4: Add Cornstarch Slurry

After the beef is cooked, take 4 tbsp of the cooked sauce in a small bowl. Mix 4 tbsp of cornstarch with the sauce to make a slurry. Then, add the slurry to the beef.

Step 5: Cook the Broccoli

Add about ½ lb of broccoli florets to the pot. Close the lid and cook them for about 30 minutes. Delicious slow-cooked beef with broccoli is now ready to serve. Sprinkle some white sesame seeds on top as a garnish.

Nutrition Facts of the Recipe

Besides being flavor-packed, this dish provides a lot of energy and essential nutrients. You will find its nutritional value below.

• Total Carbohydrates: 14.2g
• Protein: 20g
• Total Fat: 24.6g
• Saturated Fat: 7.5g
• Polyunsaturated Fat: 12g
• Monounsaturated Fat: 3.2g
• Total Dietary Fiber: 2.7g
• Total Sugar: 3.9g
• Cholesterol: 65mg
• Sodium: 842mg
• Potassium: 459mg
• Calcium: 50mg
• Iron: 3.2mg
• Vitamin A: 450IU
• Vitamin C: 92.4mg

Each serving of this slow-cooked beef dish contains 354 calories. So, you get a lot of energy for your daily activities. The protein and fat content of this dish is higher than its carbohydrate content. So, it is beneficial for people with a high blood sugar level.

Adding broccoli to this dish increases the amount of dietary fiber, which is good for your digestive system. Though this dish has a lot of sodium, it is also enriched with useful nutrients, such as calcium, iron, Vitamin A, and Vitamin C.

Do’s and Don’ts of the Recipe

For recipes involving the slow-cooking method, there is nothing much to tweak. Still, here are some tips to improve your dish.

Do’s

• Using frozen broccolis reduces the hassle of preparing them before making this recipe. Add them directly to the slow cooker.
• Keep an eye on the liquid level. If the amount of liquid is too low, the meat will get burnt.

Don’ts

• Don’t open the lid of the crockpot while the beef is cooking. Let it work for about 5-6 hours straight.
• Don’t add salt to the dish. I used a generous amount of soy sauce in this recipe, so adding extra salt will make the beef too salty.

Can I Make This Recipe With Other Types of Meat?

Of course. You can make this recipe with a variety of meat, such as beef, pork venison, etc. No matter what type of meat you use, the cooking time will be the same. However, chicken isn’t suitable for this recipe.

Chicken gets cooked so fast that you shouldn’t put it in the crockpot. If you cook chicken for a long time, it will dry out.

Can I Use Other Cuts of Beef for this Recipe?

Why not! You can use a lot of different cuts of beef for this recipe. For example, the tenderloin is already a softer cut, which gets even better when slow-cooked. But the chuck is the best cut for slow cooking.

It is generally a tougher cut of beef. When you cook the chuck slowly, it gets much more tender.

What Other Vegetables Can I Use for This Recipe?

You can use vegetables like carrots, broccoli, cabbage, etc., in this recipe. Cabbage gets cooked faster than carrots or broccoli, so you should cook it for about 5-10 minutes after cooking the beef.

For tougher vegetables like carrots, the cooking time will be the same as broccoli. You can also use other vegetables. Just remember to adjust the cooking time based on how much time the vegetables take to cook.

What Can I Serve With This Slow-Cooked Beef?

Slow-cooked beef pairs the best with white rice. You can put the beef on top of white rice and sprinkle some sesame seeds or chopped scallions. Another way is to serve this dish alone, as it contains almost all the nutrients needed for your body.

Especially if you want to reduce carbohydrate intake, I recommend serving this dish on its own. As rice neutralizes some of the intense flavors of this beef, it will taste much better when you eat it on its own.

Discussion Recap

Using a crockpot or slow cooker is a common scenario in Chinese cuisine because it improves the flavor of any dish. Especially when you make beef or other types of meat that take a long time to cook, using a slow cooker is the best way to make it.

I showed this slow cooker Chinese recipe with beef chuck and broccoli. Using broccoli doesn’t only improve the nutritional value and flavors of this dish but also adds more texture to the dish. Give this recipe a try.