Slow Cooker Korean Beef
by Chungah
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Amazingly tender, melt-in-your-mouth Korean beef easily made right in the crockpot – 10 min prep! So easy, so good.
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reasons to make slow cooker Korean beef
- Set and forget. This is one of those convenient dump-and-go slow cooker recipes where the crockpot is doing all the heavy lifting for you. Simply throw all your ingredients into the slow cooker and let it work its magic.
- Flavorful, fall-apart tender beef. Thanks to the slow cooker, the chuck roast is transformed into the juiciest, most tender, melt-in-your-mouth beef.
- Serve in so many different ways. Korean beef can be served in a myriad of ways – over rice or as sandwiches, tacos or quesadillas.
- Freezer-meal. This is a great recipe to freeze leftovers or meal prep so it is readily available for quick and easy dinners throughout the week.
what is korean beef
Korean beef is typically made with a marinade that consists of soy sauce, sugar, garlic, sesame oil and ginger, commonly served with white rice.
tips and tricks for success
- Use reduced sodium soy sauce. Reduced sodium has less sodium and less salt without compromising flavor.
- The right cut of meat is key here. Chuck roast is ideal for a slow cooker recipe like this due to its high connective tissue and fat – this will yield tender, juicy meat, allowing the flavors to fully develop during its long cook time.
- Add vegetables. Mushrooms, broccoli, carrots, bell peppers or snow peas can be added during the last 30 min – 1 hour of cook time for a more heartier meal.
- Serve with your favorite grains. White rice, brown rice, cauliflower rice, quinoa or farro are all great options to sop up every last drop. A side of kimchi and cucumbers is also a very nice-to-have.
- Add garnishes. Garnishes are always optional but a fresh sprinkle of green onions or sesame seeds will certainly take your dish to the next level, adding more flavor, texture and contrast.
more favorited korean recipes
Tools For This Recipe
6-qt slow cooker
Slow Cooker Korean Beef: Frequently Asked Questions
This stovetop Korean beef bulgogi is another reader favorite!
Yes! We have a recipe for that here.
You can serve this with white rice or our favorite no-fuss sheet pan fried rice.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Yes, Korean beef freezes very well! Let cool completely; portion into plastic freezer bags in individual servings, squeezing out any excess air before sealing. Lay the bags flat in a single layer in the freezer (this will help them freeze quickly). Label, date and freeze up to 2 months. To reheat, thaw overnight in the fridge, reheating over low heat, stirring occasionally, until heated through.
Slow Cooker Korean Beef
Video
Ingredients
- 1 cup beef broth
- ½ cup reduced sodium soy sauce
- ½ cup brown sugar, packed
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha, or more, to taste
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon white pepper
- 3 pound boneless beef chuck roast, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together beef broth, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, ginger, Sriracha, onion powder and white pepper.
- Place chuck roast into a 6-qt slow cooker. Stir in beef broth mixture until well combined.
- Cover and cook on low heat for 7-8 hours or high heat for 3-4 hours.
- In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and 1/4 cup water. Stir in mixture into the slow cooker. Cover and cook on high heat for an additional 30 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened.
- Serve immediately, garnished with green onions and sesame seeds, if desired.
Equipment
Did you make this recipe?
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I simply was not expecting as much flavour and texture as I got, seeing how easy the recipe is. I mixed it with jasmine rice and put in the fridge, and it may have even gotten better as the days have passed. Amazing, will make again!
This was so good. I didn’t cube it because my intent was to shred the meat and use it in tacos. The meat is SOO tasty, sweet and flavorful. I think it will make a great base for spicier dishes so I will be using this for that as well!
Hi, if I want to make a korean spicy version of this beef stew, can I just add gochujang and gochugaru to the sauce? what amoounts of these would you recommend? I do not have rice wine vinegar. Can I replace rice wine vinegar mm with mirin or sake?
I will probably use water as I dont have beef or any other broth.
Hope water will be all right too.
Can I cook this over the stove? what modifications do I need to make from the recipe?
thank you very much!
I made this slow cooker Korean beef recipe a few days ago. Amazing! The beef was so tender and flavorful. I served it over white rice to add some carbs to the dish. I made enough for 2 meals and it reheated very well. Just as good as the first night.
Freaking Amazing!!!!!!
Hi, I wanted to know if could put frozen chuck in the slow cooker or do I need to dethaw it first?
This is such an easy dish that looks so fancy! My Dad thought I was a pro when I made it for him. My husband loves it. Today I’m making the marinade and doing a stir fry with chicken with it. I never go wrong with one of your recipes!!
Fantastic. Added red and green peppers to mine.
Can I marinate the beef in the sauce overnight before I put in crock pot?
Our whole family loved this! Thanks so much for sharing.
Delicious! I love Asian food and this is a great addition. Great flavor so and is very easy to prepare. So, so good. Definitely a keeper!!
Delicious! But the cornstarch didn’t seem to work. I mixed it with water and stirred it in and it cooked an extra 45min. Any suggestions?
Cornstarch only works if the dish was brought to just below boiling if put back in slow cooker the cornstarch will not thicken
Phenomenal. My family loves it
Too sweet. Could omit the sugar entirely. Also the corn starch did t thicken – needed more. Finally, I put broccoli and bok choy on top for last 30 min. Served over rice.
Delicious but very sweet. Next time I’d cut the brown sugar to 1/3 c. I did halve the soy sauce to 1/4 c and added 1/4 c water, which it didn’t need. Ended up needing to double the corn starch mixture to thicken it up properly. I also added 1/2 an onion, mushrooms, more scallions, and one big carrot, sliced up. Great over jasmine rice.
LOVE this recipe. I got a new slow cooker for Christmas and decided to use this recipe for my first meal in it. I’m so happy I did. The beef is so flavorful and tender. We’ve been reheating it in a frying pan and making tacos with it. OMG. Thank you to everyone at DD for putting out such easy and tasty recipes.
I just recently bought an instant pot and haven’t used it much. I’d love to try this recipe using the pressure cook method. Has anyone tried it and how long should I cook it for? 60 minutes?
You can try this recipe instead, Bethany. 🙂
https://damndelicious.net/2018/02/21/instant-pot-korean-beef/
I cooked it for 1hour in my instant pot on pressure cook . Then after 5 minutes I let the steam out. Then I added the water with corn starch and put it for another 30 minutes. Came out really good. So I cooked it for 90 minutes all together.
Damn Delicious recipes are my go to. We haven’t found one yet that we didn’t enjoy. We loved this. So simple and so goooood.
This is so good! I pre-made everything the night before and let it marinate in the fridge so I could just throw it in the crock pot in the morning. I didn’t have fresh ginger so I used 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger. I ended up throwing in some steamed broccoli when it was all said and done to make a Korean beef and broccoli and served it over brown rice with sesame seeds, red pepper flakes, and extra sriracha. AMAZING! My 3 year old is devouring it as we speak 🙂
Incredible. I love to cook and this knocked my socks off. Delicious. This made for an amazing and easy meal with minimal prep time and little effort. The beef was tender and moist. The flavors were amazing.
This recipe is so easy to put together with ingredients in the store cupboard. The taste that develops over the gentle slow cooking period bought me to tears it was so good. Im yet to find out if it freezes and reheats well, it just gets gobbled up so quickly. I am ready to explore some more Korean flavours. David Chang, look out!
were you able to freeze this? there is only two of us
thanks