Slow Cooker Beef Tips cooks low and slow until tender: saucy, savory, and mostly hands-off for busy weeknights.
Slow-Cooked Beef Tips for Busy Nights
Tender, saucy beef that does the work for you: seared for flavor, slow-cooked for melt-in-your-mouth texture, and easy to finish into a glossy, spoonable sauce.
Think of this as the hands-off answer to craving a rich, protein-forward dinner without standing over the stove. Cubes of top sirloin get a quick pat dry, a light seasoning, and a hot sear to build those caramelized edges—those browned bits are where the deep, savory flavor lives. Add mushrooms, onions and a hit of tomato paste for umami, and the slow cooker patiently transforms everything into tender, fork-ready beef.
A splash of dry red wine deglazes the skillet, lifting up all the fond and concentrating into an almost jammy note, while low-sodium beef broth and a dash of Worcestershire round out the savory backbone. Toss in carrots for color and a touch of sweetness, then let the cooker do its six-hour magic until the meat is fall-apart tender and the vegetables are silky.
Finish with a simple cornstarch slurry to thicken the cooking liquid into a glossy, clingy sauce that coats every bite. Spoon it over mashed potatoes, buttered egg noodles, rice, or creamy polenta—each option soaks up the sauce in its own comforting way.
This is excellent for meal prep: it keeps in the fridge for several days and freezes well in portions. Reheat gently, taste for salt at the end, and you’ll have a week’s worth of satisfying, high-protein dinners with minimal evening effort.
Ingredients
How to Make Slow Cooker Beef Tips
- Trim any large pieces of fat from the beef and cut into 1-1.5" cubes; pat dry and season lightly with half the salt and all the pepper.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and brown the beef in batches, 2–3 minutes per side, to develop color; transfer seared pieces to the slow cooker.
- Reduce heat to medium, add the sliced onion and halved mushrooms to the same skillet and sauté 4–5 minutes until beginning to brown; add minced garlic and tomato paste and cook 30 seconds more to toast the paste.
- Pour the red wine into the skillet to deglaze, scraping up browned bits, and let the wine reduce 1–2 minutes; stir in Worcestershire sauce and pour the skillet contents over the beef in the slow cooker.
- Add the beef broth, chopped carrots, fresh thyme, bay leaf, remaining 1/4 tsp kosher salt, and an extra grind of black pepper to the slow cooker; stir gently to combine.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 6–8 hours (or HIGH 3–4 hours) until beef is fork-tender and flavors are melded.
- About 15 minutes before serving, whisk the cornstarch with the 2 tbsp water until smooth and stir it into the slow-cooker liquid; switch the cooker to HIGH and let thicken 10–15 minutes, stirring once, until sauce coats the back of a spoon.
- Remove the bay leaf and thyme stems (if used instead of leaves), taste and adjust seasoning, then sprinkle chopped fresh parsley over the beef tips and serve warm.
Recipe Card
Slow Cooker Beef Tips
Slow Cooker Beef Tips cooks low and slow until tender: saucy, savory, and mostly hands-off for busy weeknights.
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 6 hr
- Servings
- 4
Ingredients
Instructions
- Trim any large pieces of fat from the beef and cut into 1-1.5" cubes; pat dry and season lightly with half the salt and all the pepper.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and brown the beef in batches, 2–3 minutes per side, to develop color; transfer seared pieces to the slow cooker.
- Reduce heat to medium, add the sliced onion and halved mushrooms to the same skillet and sauté 4–5 minutes until beginning to brown; add minced garlic and tomato paste and cook 30 seconds more to toast the paste.
- Pour the red wine into the skillet to deglaze, scraping up browned bits, and let the wine reduce 1–2 minutes; stir in Worcestershire sauce and pour the skillet contents over the beef in the slow cooker.
- Add the beef broth, chopped carrots, fresh thyme, bay leaf, remaining 1/4 tsp kosher salt, and an extra grind of black pepper to the slow cooker; stir gently to combine.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 6–8 hours (or HIGH 3–4 hours) until beef is fork-tender and flavors are melded.
- About 15 minutes before serving, whisk the cornstarch with the 2 tbsp water until smooth and stir it into the slow-cooker liquid; switch the cooker to HIGH and let thicken 10–15 minutes, stirring once, until sauce coats the back of a spoon.
- Remove the bay leaf and thyme stems (if used instead of leaves), taste and adjust seasoning, then sprinkle chopped fresh parsley over the beef tips and serve warm.
Nutrition
- Carbohydrates
- 12
- Saturated Fat
- 11
- Sodium
- 400
- Fiber
- 2
- Unsaturated Fat
- 21
- Protein
- 52
- Fat
- 32
- Cholesterol
- 160
- Trans Fat
- 0
- Calories
- 580
- Sugar
- 5