Slow Cooker Garlic Pepper Steak

The first time I made this, I used sirloin and let it go the full seven hours on LOW. The sauce was great. The beef was gray, tight, and a little stringy, the kind you chew twice and then reach for water. So the second round got chuck, same sauce, same timing, and that was the one. Soft enough to break with the side of a fork, still holding its shape in the bowl.

That’s really where this slow cooker garlic pepper steak came from. I wanted takeout pepper steak on a day I wasn’t going to be home to stand over a hot pan, and I wanted the garlic loud. Not a hint. Loud.

Everything goes in raw. No browning, no second pan. You come back to beef, soft peppers, and onions sitting in a dark soy-garlic sauce, and the last half hour is just a cornstarch slurry turning it glossy.

Why This Slow Cooker Garlic Pepper Steak Works

The cut decides everything. Chuck is full of connective tissue, and six hours of gentle heat turns that tissue into gelatin, which is why it goes tender and stays juicy. Sirloin barely has any. Long cooking just keeps squeezing it, so the strips tighten up and dry out even while they’re sitting in liquid. If sirloin is what’s in your fridge, it can work, but only on HIGH for 3 hours, and check it then.

Garlic, twice. Fresh garlic goes sweet and mellow after hours in the pot. Nice, but quiet. The garlic powder is what you actually taste at the end, that sharp roasted note on the beef. Skip it and the “garlic” in the name kind of disappears.

Brown sugar isn’t there for sweetness. A quarter cup of soy sauce plus Worcestershire is a lot of salt. Two tablespoons of brown sugar rounds it off so the sauce tastes savory instead of just salty. You won’t taste it as sweet.

The slurry goes in at the end, on purpose. Cornstarch needs a real simmer to thicken, and it starts to break down again if it cooks for hours. Add it at the start and you get thin sauce at dinner. Add it in the last 20 to 30 minutes, with the pot on HIGH, and it sets glossy and clings to the beef.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs beef chuck or sirloin steak, sliced into strips (chuck if you’re cooking on LOW)
• 2 bell peppers, 1 red and 1 green, sliced
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup beef broth
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons cold water

How to Make Slow Cooker Garlic Pepper Steak

1. Prepare the beef. Slice the steak into thick strips, about ½ inch, against the grain. Lay them in the bottom of the slow cooker.
2. Add the vegetables. Scatter the bell peppers, onion, and minced garlic over the beef. Beef on the bottom, vegetables on top. The beef needs to sit in the liquid.
3. Make the sauce. In a bowl, whisk the beef broth, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and olive oil until the sugar dissolves.
4. Combine everything. Pour the sauce over the beef and vegetables and stir gently so everything gets coated.
5. Slow cook. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 7 hours or HIGH for 3 to 4 hours, until the beef is fork-tender.
6. Thicken the sauce. Stir the cornstarch into the cold water until smooth, no lumps. Stir it into the slow cooker during the last 20 to 30 minutes. If you’ve been cooking on LOW, switch to HIGH now. Cover and cook until the sauce thickens and looks glossy.
7. Serve. Give it one gentle stir so the beef and vegetables are coated in the sauce, and serve hot.

Prep Time, Cook Time & Servings

• Prep time: 15 minutes
• Cook time: 6 to 7 hours on LOW, or 3 to 4 hours on HIGH
• Total time: about 6 hours 15 minutes on LOW
• Servings: 6

Dinner • American

Slow Cooker Garlic Pepper Steak

Strips of beef slow-cooked with bell peppers and onion in a garlicky soy and Worcestershire sauce, thickened at the end until glossy. Makes 6 servings.

By Kima

Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 360 mins

Total Time 375 mins

Yield 6 servings

Cook Mode Print Recipe

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Ingredients 14 items

• 2 lb beef chuck or sirloin steak — sliced into strips against the grain
• 2 bell peppers — 1 red, 1 green, sliced
• 1 large onion — sliced
• 4 cloves garlic — minced
• Sauce
• 1 cup beef broth
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp black pepper — freshly ground
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp onion powder
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• To Thicken
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 2 tbsp cold water

Instructions 7 steps

1. 1

   Prepare the beef

   Slice the steak into thick strips, about 1/2 inch, against the grain. Lay them in the bottom of the slow cooker.

2. 2

   Add the vegetables

   Scatter the bell peppers, onion, and minced garlic over the beef.

3. 3

   Make the sauce

   In a bowl, whisk together the beef broth, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and olive oil until the sugar dissolves.

4. 4

   Combine everything

   Pour the sauce over the beef and vegetables. Stir gently to coat everything evenly.

5. 5

   Slow cook

   Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 7 hours or HIGH for 3 to 4 hours, until the beef is fork-tender.

   Start 360 min timer
6. 6

   Thicken the sauce

   Mix the cornstarch with the cold water until smooth. Stir it into the slow cooker during the last 20 to 30 minutes, switching to HIGH if you were on LOW. Cover and cook until the sauce thickens.

   Start 30 min timer
7. 7

   Serve

   Gently stir the beef and vegetables into the sauce so everything is coated. Serve hot.

Tips & Substitutions

Use chuck if cooking on LOW; sirloin dries out over 6 to 7 hours, so cook it on HIGH for about 3 hours instead.
Switch to HIGH when you add the cornstarch slurry. LOW often won't simmer enough to thicken the sauce.
Taste before adding salt; the soy sauce and Worcestershire usually bring enough.
For peppers with some bite, hold back the green pepper and add it with the slurry.
Spoon off excess fat before thickening when using chuck.

Nutrition Facts 405 kcal / serving

Protein31g

Carbs15g

Fat23g

Fiber1g

#slow cooker garlic pepper steak #crock pot pepper steak #slow cooker pepper steak with chuck #easy slow cooker beef dinner

Slow Cooker Garlic Pepper Steak

Recipe Source: https://kimarecipes.com/slow-cooker-garlic-pepper-steak/ • Kima Recipes • Recipe by Kima

Tips for the Best Garlic Pepper Steak

• Slice against the grain, and not too thin. Thin strips shred apart by hour five. Half an inch holds together.
• Taste before you add salt. There’s none in the recipe and I’ve never needed any. If your broth is full-sodium, use low-sodium soy sauce.
• My 7-quart oval Crock-Pot spreads 2 pounds of beef into a fairly shallow layer, and it’s tender closer to the 6-hour mark than 7. Smaller round cooker, deeper layer, give it the full time.
• Peppers will be soft. Silky, not crisp. That’s how slow cooker peppers go. If you want some bite, hold back the green pepper and stir it in with the slurry.
• With chuck, a layer of fat collects on top. Spoon most of it off before the cornstarch goes in, or the sauce looks greasy instead of glossy.
• Don’t keep lifting the lid during the last half hour. Every peek drops the heat, and the slurry needs that simmer.

Variations

• Fresh ginger. A tablespoon, grated, into the sauce. This one I’d actually do every time. It pushes the dish toward the takeout version without changing what it is.
• Heat. ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes in the sauce, or a squeeze of sriracha at the table.
• Mushrooms. 8 ounces sliced cremini on top of the peppers. They drink up the sauce. Good.
• Honey instead of brown sugar. Fine. Slightly floral, nobody will notice much.
• Pre-cut stew meat. I’d skip it. The pieces come in every size, so some fall apart and some are still chewy at the same moment. Buy a chuck roast and slice it yourself. Takes five minutes.
• Canned tomatoes, which a lot of pepper steak recipes add? Tried it once. It stopped tasting like pepper steak and started tasting like beef stew. Not going back.

Make-Ahead & Storage

Prep the night before: slice the beef, slice the vegetables, whisk the sauce. Keep them in three separate containers in the fridge, then dump everything in the morning. Don’t let the beef sit in the soy sauce overnight. That much salt for that long gives the strips a firm, slightly ham-like edge.

Leftovers: 3 to 4 days in an airtight container in the fridge. Reheat gently in a skillet or the microwave. The sauce thickens more in the fridge; a splash of broth loosens it.

Freezing: the beef and sauce freeze well for up to 3 months. The peppers don’t. They thaw watery and limp. If you know you’re freezing a batch, pick out the peppers and add fresh sautéed ones when you reheat.

What doesn’t work: thickening it, cooling it, then putting it back in the slow cooker for more hours the next day. The sauce thins back out and the beef goes past tender into mush.

FAQ

Closing Thoughts

If there’s a bowl left over, turn it into sandwiches the next day. Pile the cold beef and peppers into a toasted hoagie roll, lay a slice of provolone on top, and put it under the broiler until the cheese melts. Spoon a little warm sauce over it if you’ve got some. Honestly, it’s a close second to the rice bowl. And a quick side of cucumbers in rice vinegar with a pinch of sugar cuts through the soy really well on the first night.