The Best Fluffy Pancakes recipe you will fall in love with. Full of tips and tricks to help you make the best pancakes.
I made this the first time on a Sunday when I had zero interest in cooking and a package of stew meat that needed to get used. Dumped everything in, put a stick of butter on top like a lid, walked away.
That’s the whole recipe, really. Crockpot Buttery Beef and Potatoes is stew meat, baby yellow potatoes, a packet of onion soup mix and a full stick of butter. Six hours on HIGH. No browning, no broth, no chopping beyond a little garlic.
What you get is tender beef and creamy potatoes sitting in a buttery, savory sauce that builds itself at the bottom of the pot. Spoon it over everything. Eat it right out of the crockpot if nobody’s watching.
Why This Works
No liquid goes in. That’s on purpose. Stew meat and potatoes both release juice as they cook, and the butter melts down into it, so you end up with a sauce that’s thick and rich instead of watery. Add a cup of broth and you dilute all of it.
The onion soup mix does double duty. It seasons the beef and it dissolves into the butter, so the sauce tastes like onion and beef without any extra work.
Baby yellow potatoes matter too. They hold their shape for six hours. Russets would fall apart and turn the whole thing into mush.
And the stir at the end isn’t optional. The butter pools at the bottom. Skip the stir and the top layer of beef sits there a little dry while the bottom is swimming in butter.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds stew meat
- 1 pound baby yellow potatoes
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 packet Lipton Recipe Secrets Onion Soup mix
- 1 stick butter
Instructions
- Add the stew meat and baby potatoes to the crockpot.
- Season everything with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.
- Add the dry onion soup mix and the fresh minced garlic.
- Toss until the beef and potatoes are evenly coated.
- Place the butter right on top.
- Cover and cook on HIGH for about 6 hours, until the beef is fork tender and the potatoes are cooked through.
- Stir well before serving so everything gets coated in the buttery juices at the bottom.
Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 6 hours Total time: 6 hours 5 minutes Servings: 6 Course: Main Course Cuisine: American Equipment: 6-8 qt crockpot
Tips
- Go light on the salt at the start. The onion soup mix is salty already. Taste at the end, then add more if it needs it.
- Toss before the butter goes on. Once the butter is sitting on top, you can’t coat anything. Do the seasoning first.
- Keep the lid on. Every peek costs you heat and time. Leave it alone until hour five.
- Big potatoes? Cut them in half. Anything bigger than a golf ball won’t cook through at the same pace as the beef.
- Fresh garlic, not jarred. Six hours mellows it out. It won’t taste sharp.
Variations
Want gravy? Stir in a splash of beef broth in the last 30 minutes. I don’t bother, though. This is a buttery-juices dish, and I like it that way.
Swap the potatoes for baby reds if that’s what you have. Same cooking time, slightly firmer bite.
Skip the carrots. I know, they seem like they belong. They go soft and sweet and fight the onion flavor.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Don’t assemble this the night before and stick the crockpot insert in the fridge. A cold ceramic insert throws off the cook time. If you want to prep ahead, season the beef in a bag and hold the potatoes separately.
Leftovers keep in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. Reheat in a skillet on the stove. The microwave tends to split the butter and leaves a greasy layer on top.
Don’t freeze it. The potatoes go grainy.
FAQ
Can I cook Crockpot Buttery Beef and Potatoes on low?
Yes. Eight hours on LOW.
Do I need to add liquid?
No. The beef, potatoes and butter make their own sauce as they cook. Adding broth or water at the start waters it down, and you lose that thick buttery coating that makes the dish work.
What’s the best cut for stew meat?
Chuck. If you can, buy a chuck roast and cube it yourself instead of grabbing the pre-cut package. Packaged stew meat is often a mix of random scraps that cook at different rates. A chuck roast cut into 1½-inch pieces gives you even bites.
Salted or unsalted butter?
Unsalted. The onion soup mix has plenty of salt.
Can I use frozen stew meat?
Thaw it first. Frozen meat takes too long to come up to a safe temperature in a slow cooker.
Closing Thoughts
Serve this with green beans or a pile of crusty bread for mopping up the sauce. A simple cucumber salad with vinegar on the side cuts through all that butter nicely.
Crockpot Buttery Beef and Potatoes
This Crockpot Buttery Beef and Potatoes is an easy slow cooker dinner made with tender beef stew meat, baby yellow potatoes, garlic, onion soup mix, and plenty of butter. Everything cooks together until the beef is fork-tender and the potatoes are coated in rich buttery juices.
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Add the stew meat and baby yellow potatoes to a 6-8 quart crockpot.
- Season the beef and potatoes with salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder.
- Add the dry onion soup mix and minced garlic.
- Toss everything together until the beef and potatoes are evenly coated with the seasonings.
- Place the stick of butter directly on top of the beef and potatoes.
- Cover and cook on HIGH for about 6 hours, or until the beef is fork-tender and the potatoes are cooked through.
- Before serving, stir everything well so the beef and potatoes are coated in the buttery juices from the bottom of the crockpot.
- Serve hot.
Notes
Use a 6-8 quart crockpot.
Cook on HIGH for about 6 hours, or until the beef is very tender and the baby potatoes are cooked through.
Stir everything well before serving so the beef and potatoes are coated in the buttery onion-garlic juices.
