Slow Cooker Korean Beef
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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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Korean beef? In a crockpot? Really?
Yes, really! It is packed with the most tender chunks of beef chuck roast that cooks oh-so-perfectly right in your slow cooker, swimming in that gravy-like sauce. And don’t worry. The crockpot is doing all the heavy lifting for you.
All you have to do is gather a handful of pantry staples and throw them right into the slow cooker – beef broth, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, ginger, Sriracha, onion powder and white pepper. This is that lovely gravy-situation I mentioned.
You’ll want all of this on a bed of rice to sop up every last drop. A side of kimchi + cucumbers is also a very nice-to-have.
Did you miraculously end up with leftovers? Serve with eggs for breakfast or stuff it in tacos, quesadillas, or even a burrito.
Tools For This Recipe
6-qt slow cooker
Slow Cooker Korean Beef: Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! You can follow this recipe here.
This stovetop Korean beef bulgogi is another reader favorite!
You can serve this with white rice or our favorite no-fuss sheet pan fried rice!
Slow Cooker Korean Beef
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.
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Does the Sirachi sauce make it spicy? Sounds like a delicious recipe. I plan to make it for dinner. Thanks for sharing your recipe with us.
With only 1 teaspoon Sriracha, it is not very spicy, but as always, please adjust the amount as needed to suit your preferences.
Hi! I am going to tackle this today! Can I use frozen meat and cook it longer?
Also, is it very spicy? I have a toddler who will be eating this:)
Thanks and you’re recipes are awesome!
I also forgot to ask, if you only have 2 pounds of meat vs 3 would you keep the rest of the ingredients the same for extra sauciness:) or adjust accordingly?
Yes, you may need to adjust cooking time as well as the ingredients. And no, it is not very spicy at all.
I am going to make this tomorrow, but am wondering if Rice Vinegar is the same as Rice Wine Vinegar? Thank you!
Jessica, here is a great article discussing the differences between the two. Hope that helps!
Had a family get together the other night and served this. People couldn’t get enough. Outstanding.
OH baby! This meal is the BOMB! In fact, it is so good, I hesitated sharing this meal with my wife and son but, they do live under the same roof, so I had to share. Very anxious to try other “easy recipes” as I am not handy around a kitchen. Thank you for this site and your skills.
Would a 4 quart crock pot be ok for this recipe?
You may need to adjust the recipe accordingly to accommodate a smaller slow cooker.
The recipe looked delicious, and I couldn’t wait to try it, but I was disappointed with the end result. The flavor was okay, but it had a rather strange and unpleasant gritty texture. I followed the recipe almost exactly. The only thing I did differently was to add a little water and some beef bouillon to it. I’m not sure what I did wrong.
Kay, thank you for trying my recipe. However, the addition of the beef bouillon may have completely changed the recipe. I hope you get to try this again without any substitutions – it’s one of my favorite recipes! 🙂
wonderful meal, kids all loved it. I served over bean thread noodles, or cellophane noodles to hold all the good sauce. and I made a broccoli slaw to go with on the side. thanks for sharing this recipe.
Have you ever tried cooking the meat whole and then shredding when finished?
I actually haven’t!
Would it be okay to add in mushrooms and veggies? I would love to incorporate some veggies into this recipe!
Yes, absolutely.
Would it affect the taste if I added in mushrooms and carrots? I need to sneak in my veggies somehow!
Not at all! 🙂
Thanks for this recipe! Overall, mine turned out pretty well. The beef was very tender. The sauce wasn’t quite as flavorful as I expected – I think I will go slightly heavier on the sesame oil and rice wine vinegar next time. My sauce also didn’t thicken up after adding the cornstarch 🙁 But still tàsty and I will make again!
If I cut the ingredients in half in order to only make 4 servings (since I only have a 3 quart slow cooker), will it still take 8 hours to cook or will the cooking time be reduced?
Yes, cooking time may need to be reduced accordingly. As always, please use your best judgment.
Love using the slow cooker. This recipe is good with beef tongue and pork shoulder as well. For a twist I added doenjang and gochujang for that lovely umami depth of flavor. Tongue can be sliced thin and used with pickled carrots and daikon or kimchi for Korean tacos. So many ways to experiment with different flavors using this recipe as a jumping off point. Nice job
Question, do you think it would come out different / bad if I didn’t cut the meat first? Usually I have the butcher do it at the store, but the butcher wasn’t there and i didn’t have time to cut it and just threw it in this morning. I was planning to cut it when i got home, and then let it sit back in the sauce for a little bit.
Thanks for all the delicious recipes! I’ve made a few of yours and have not tried anything we didn’t like. This is actually one of mine and my boyfriends favorites!
It’s actually really hard to say without having tried this myself, but please let me know how it turns out!
Just wanted to come back and let you know that it actually came out great without being cut first!
This is a winner! The house smells amazing and the kids love it! so easy and so delicious
I Love Korean bbq ribs and cannot wait to try this! I saw somebody ask if you can cook with pressure cooker, which is what I was going to do before I realized I have a delay timer on mine, so I made the marinade the night before and all I had to do was set the timer this morining and now it’s slow cooking while I’m at work. I have no doubts it will be delicous! Thanks so much for posting this, we purchased a 1/4 cow this summer and was looking for a new way to enjoy the chuck roast cut!
Why don’t you have us brown the meat before adding to slow cooker?
Isn’t that the key to getting the most flavour?
All y recipes call for browning of meat whether it be chicken or beef.
There’s just no need for it here! 🙂 But as always, please do what you are most comfortable with. Isn’t that the beauty of home cooking?
Oh, is this bulgogi? I have been craving bulgogi since I left Korea, but am not a cook. But, I do know how to use a slow cooker. So this looks pretty simple, I am excited to try it. Also, do you have a recipe for slow cooker bim bimbap? Bc I would love to try that also. Thanks.
K,
1. This is actually not bulgogi – the flavors are very similar here but bulgogi uses thin sliced boneless sirloin, tenderloin or skirt steak.
2. Unfortunately, I do not have a recipe for slow cooker bibimbap at this time.
Hello! Can I use skirt steak instead? How long do you think I should put it in the slow cooker for?
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
Thanks for this great dish. I made a low carb variant by removing the sugar, and subbing xanthan gum for corn starch. It was amazing!!!!! We will be revisiting this recipe again.