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This is a super simple, warming recipe has just a handful of ingredients but so much flavour. No need to make a trip to the takeaway this weekend because this Chinese Style Slow Cooker Beef and Broccoli dish is our newest fakeaway. Healthy, delicious AND affordable.
I know this is a slow cooker series, and I’ve tested so many slow cooker recipes over the years, but sometimes even I’m impressed about what they serve up!
This Slow Cooker Beef and Broccoli stir fry-style recipe is made with a sticky, tangy, rich Chinese-style sauce and while it tastes like a treat, it’s actually fairly light and quite nutritious.
Plus, slow cooked beef just can’t be beaten for flavour and tenderness.
This is a perfect weekend dinner, you could even serve this up as part of a banquet, alongside my Sweet and Sour Chicken, Chicken Fried Rice, Peanut Butter Noodles with Halloumi or Pork Yuk Sung.
Why you’ll love this Slow Cooker Beef and Broccoli recipe
⭐️ So easy with just a few ingredients
⭐️ Delicious, sticky sauce
⭐️ A homemade is best satisfaction
Sarah’s Notes
Beef and Broccoli is actually a Chinese-American dish, rather than authentically Chinese.
Chinese restaurants first appeared in the United States during the Gold Rush, when over 20,000 migrants moved across from China.
Over the years since, Chinese American restaurants have adapted their dishes and style to use produce available nearby and meet the tastes of local customers. Beef and Broccoli is one such dish. [source].
My slow cooker remake of that recipe is, as always, created with cost, convenience, flavour and nutrition in mind.
Slow Cooker Beef and Broccoli Ingredients
- Diced beef – Usually called casserole beef or stewing steak in the supermarkets. No browning necessary
- Onion, ginger and garlic – Using frozen or fresh with these ingredients is fine
- Low sodium soy sauce – It’s worth buying low sodium here to reduce the salt content
- Oyster sauce – This is one of my favourite ingredients for packing in so much flavour
- Honey – Runny honey ideally, but just use what you have in
- Chinese five spice – From the herbs and spices aisle
- Broccoli – Fresh or frozen is fine for this too!
How to make Slow Cooker Beef and Broccoli
1. Add the ingredients to the slow cooker and cook (as per the recipe card at the end of this post).
2. Half an hour before the end, make a cornflour ‘slurry’ to thicken the sauce.
3. Pour the paste back into the sauce.
4. At this stage add the broccoli too and cook for a further 30 minutes. (Or, ideally, boil the broccoli separately and then add – see the recipe card notes.)
Substitutions
- Vegetables – Beef and broccoli are a classic combination and go together so well, but feel free to add any other vegetables you like that need using up
Leftovers
In the fridge You can keep this recipe in the fridge for 3 days. Reheat fully in the microwave or on the hob before serving.
In the freezer This recipe freezes well. Just wait until it’s totally cold and then put into a freezer proof container and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost thoroughly before reheating in the microwave or hob.
Recipe Tips
Marinate the beef
If you want to save time in the morning, you can mix the sauce with the beef the night before and refrigerate until it’s time to cook for extra flavour.
Broccoli timings
This goes in near the end for a more al dente finish, however if you prefer it less solid you can put it in for longer. Or to keep it fresh and green, steam or boil it separately beforehand (see recipe notes).
Thicken the sauce
If your sauce is very runny, don’t worry, you can thicken it at the end of the recipe. Just add some cornflour and water and stir into a paste. This is called a ‘slurry’ (see details in the FAQs).
Serving suggestions
This goes really well with rice or noodles. You could even try my Quick Egg Fried Rice.
More Slow cooker beef recipes…
Beef
Beef Goulash
Slow Cooker Beef
Honey Garlic Beef Noodles {Slow Cooker Recipe}
Slow Cooker Beef
Slow Cooker Beef Stew {with Rich Gravy}
Slow Cooker Curries
Easy Slow Cooker Beef Curry Recipe
FAQs
Try my Slow Cooker Peking Style Duck, Honey Garlic Beef Noodles or Honey Garlic Chicken for starters, or my curry-meet-noodles recipe Chicken Noodles with Curry Sauce or Chicken Chow Mein.
The Morphy Richards Sear & Stew Slow Cooker is my all-time favourite because you can use it for initial browning on the hob and it’s really light.
For induction hobs, I recommend the Lakeland Digital 6.5l Slow Cooker instead.
This is a trick to thicken the sauce without ending up with floury lumps.
First you add cornflour to a small bowl, mug or jug, then use a little liquid from a dish (a spoonful or two) to mix the cornflour into a paste consistency. Add that back into the dish’s sauce.
If you just sprinkle cornflour straight into the dish, it will form lumps that are almost impossible to get rid of. I promise this step is worth the extra dirty bowl!
Let me know how you got on and what you thought of these recipes. Please rate the recipe using the ⭐️ below.
Also I’d LOVE to see your cooking creations. If you’d like to share yours with me, you can tag me on Instagram (@tamingtwins).
Slow Cooker Beef and Broccoli
Ingredients
For the slow cook:
- 500 g Diced beef
- 1 Onion, Chopped
- 1 tbsp Ginger
- 4 Cloves Garlic
- 6 tbsp Soy sauce, Low sodium
- 4 tbsp Oyster sauce
- 4 tbsp Honey
- 4 tbsp Tomato ketchup
- 2 tsp Chinese five spice
- 1/2 tsp Dried chilli flakes, (Optional)
To finish:
- 3 tbsp Cornflour
- 1 Broccoli head, Chopped into bite sized florets
Instructions
- Add the slow cook ingredients to the slow cooker. Set the slow cooker to HIGH for 4-5 hours, or LOW for 6-7 hours.
- Half an hour before the end of the cooking time, make a cornflour paste slurry and add back to the sauce. Add broccoli at this stage too (or see notes for separate cooking preference).
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is absolutely delicious 😋 I cooked on high, I would try on low next time as beef was a tiny bit hard on outside, but soft inside…. Next time I will reduce the soy by 1 tablespoon & 1/2 teaspoon less of 5 spice, but honestly make it !!
Really tasty , better than any takeaway 👌- Thank you Sarah for sharing 🙏
Tried this and was a bit dubious as my hubby is fussy turned out we both loved it. Also so easy to make just chucked it all in the slow cooker. We had it the day after with boiled rice so cooked the broccoli separate and it was lovely will definitely make again.
Made this a few times now, so lovely. I add a cup of water and half the Chinese 5 spice powder. I add the cornflour but it always congeals when served up. Any ideas how to prevent this please? as that’s the only thing which is rather unpleasant when served up as to whether you get a lump of congealed cornflour!
I take the lid off for half an hour to thicken or put a clean tea towel under the lid.
I really enjoyed this, it’s so easy and packed with flavour. I only had 1/2 the required amount of oyster sauce in my bottle so made up the difference with hoi sin. I also added a green pepper. I didn’t bother with the cornflour and instead added dry noodles towards the end. Delicious
I’m making this today and look forward to eating it later! Can this be frozen at all? 😊
Wow, this recipe did not work out how I had hoped. Two teaspoons if Chinese Five Spice is **far** too much and made the recipe almost/basically inedible. Because the sauce is so thick (even before the cornflour is added) the beef did not become tender as you would expect to happen in a slow cooker and was too chewy. And half an hour for the broccoli achieved almost nothing, just warmed it – presumably because the sauce was too thick? If I made something like this again I would reduce the five spice considerably and add a liquid such as stock. Such a shame as I had high hopes.
Can’t believe his delicious and easy this was. I left in the pot all day on low and added the cooked Brocolli at the end. So good with egg fried rice.
Could I reduce the ginger content as my daughter liked it but not a great ginger fan?
Whole family enjoyed it (4 of us) only issue is the sauce was practically non existent by the time it was all done, had to add 2 cups of water just to actually have sauce. unsure as to why it happened even at the beginning it was really thick and barely a sauce. I did follow everything on the recipe, went over it a million times as well so I don’t know where I went wrong but apart from that a family favourite that will definitely be getting made again!
Well done Sarah❤️Xx
Absolutely delicious
I reduced soya sauce and oyster sauce slightly as I thought it might of been too strong.
I did as advised with cooking broccoli separately.
I totally forgot about the thickening with cornflour but I found it was OK, I served it with noodles.