This Crock Pot Steak recipe is a no-fail favorite that creates fork-tender beef in a rich brown gravy. It’s perfect served over mashed potatoes or even pasta.
This is an easy recipe that can be prepped in the morning and cooks low and slow all day for a cozy dinnertime favorite.
Savory Crock Pot Steak
Inexpensive round or cube steaks are browned in bacon fat and simmered in the crockpot with some red wine, broth, and mushrooms.
The result is meat that is cooked into tender perfection and smothered in a rich and tasty gravy.
- This recipe is the perfect ‘set it and forget it’ meal!
- This meal is hearty like a stew with easy prep.
- Serve over mashed potatoes or even in hoagie buns with mozzarella cheese.
- Make ahead of time and reheat (or even freeze) leftovers for another meal.
Ingredients and Variations
BEEF: Crockpots can cook all kinds of inexpensive meats to fork tender perfection. Cube steaks benefit from either being cooked quickly in a pan or very low and slow until tender. If you don’t have cube steaks, I’d recommend using other cuts that tenderize well in a crock pot like chuck roast, stewing beef, or round steak.
What are cube steaks?
Cube steaks are sometimes known as minute steaks (or even called swiss steak) and are cut from either top or bottom round.
Since they’re very lean, they can be tough. They’re most often sold tenderized at the store (making them look almost like ground beef).
THE GRAVY: Mix cornstarch with water to create a slurry. This will be mixed in with the juices of the cooked meat to create rich and flavorful gravy!
How to Make Crock Pot Steaks
- Sauté bacon & remove from pan. Season steaks with salt & pepper & brown in the bacon fat.
- Add to the crock pot with remaining ingredients (per recipe below) except bacon & cornstarch. Cook until tender.
- Once tender, thicken the gravy with a cornstarch slurry.
- Garnish with bacon & serve over potatoes.
Storing Leftovers
Keep leftover creamy crockpot steak in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop. Freeze individual portions in zippered bags with the date labeled on the outside for up to 4 weeks.
More Slow Cooker Beef Recipes
- Slow Cooker Beef Burritos
- Slow Cooker Barbacoa Beef
- Crockpot Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches
- Mississippi Pot Roast
- French Dip Sandwiches
- CrockPot Beef Stew
- Crockpot Swiss Steak
Did your family love this Crock Pot Steak & Gravy? Leave a comment below!
Crock Pot Steaks and Gravy
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 pounds cube steaks round steaks, or minute steaks
- 6 slices bacon
- 1 large onion sliced
- ½ cup red wine
- 2 cups beef broth
- 4 ounces mushrooms halved
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
Instructions
- Pound the steaks using a meat tenderizer/mallet.
- Cook bacon until crisp. Remove bacon from the pan, leaving the fat in the bottom of the pan.
- Season the steaks with salt and pepper and brown in the bacon fat. Place in the bottom of a 6qt slow cooker.
- Add onions to the pan and cook 2-3 minutes or just until it softens. Place onions in the slow cooker. Add wine to the pan, scraping any brown bits off, and pour into the slow cooker.
- Add all remaining ingredients except bacon & cornstarch. Cook on low for 8-9 hours or on high for 4-5 hours.
- Remove bay leaf. Combine 2 tablespoons cornstarch with 2 tablespoons water. Stir into the slow cooker and cover. Cook 15 minutes or until thickened.
- Stir in bacon and serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Beef, Dinner, Entree, Main Course, Slow Cooker
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
I have thin cut bottom round steak will it work in this recipe and I don’t use alcohol at all, is there a substitution? Looking forward to hearing from you, thanks.
Hi Sandra, that should work well. And you can replace the wine with additional beef broth. Enjoy the recipe!
this looks amazing! I was wondering, could you use petite sirloin steaks in this recipe?
Thanks so much!
Hi Diane, yes you can use sirloin steak but because it’s a more tender cut of beef you may not need quite as much cooking time. I would love to hear how it turns out for you!
Have made this often family love this with yeast rolls
Oops! I made a mistake with the wine/broth ratio, using 2cups wine and about 1 cup beef broth instead of the other way around! Do I need to make any corrections? I’ve made this before and it’s delicious. I guess we’ll be eating drunken cube steaks tonight! Any suggestions/comments?
Linda
Oh no! I hope you were still able to enjoy it. You could try adding a little extra broth and cornstarch to balance it out but I would love to hear how it turned out for you.
Good morning!!! This looks amazing however could you use avocado or light olive oil to sear the meat as typically I cook bacon in the oven and don’t use bacon grease? Thank you so much for all your yummy recipes!!!
Stephanie:)
I made this with round steak didn’t have any cube steaks. All the flavors blend well together. My husband loved this dish I paired it with mashed potatoes, the gravy was sweet and savory. I will be making this again and again.
So delicious, Diane! Glad you enjoyed it.
although I’ll be using beef steak instead of venison which we do not eat, I’m pretty sure this is going to be a tasty recipe. so thank you again for posting yet another delicious recipe
You’re welcome! We hope you love it.
Thank you for another delicious recipe. My husband is a hunter so we always have venison in our deep freezer. I thawed out a small roast, let it sit in the frig for 3 days to dry age, sliced into steaks I could pound and followed your recipe. I also made your Easy Mashed Potato recipe so we could top the mashed potatoes with the gravy from the steak recipe. It was a hit and will be added to my meal rotation. So far every recipe I have tried has been a hit. I have even sent your site to my new daughter in law so she can start on your awesome recipes.
I am so glad you have been enjoying the recipes Valerie!
OK I found the part about cooking the bacon.
The way this recipe reads you add 6 slices of uncooked bacon at the end and serve immediately. Raw bacon doesn’t appeal to me.
Hi Barbara, the bacon is cooked in step 2: Cook bacon until crisp.
Hi Holly, I an making this recipe today for a good friend of mine’s father who recently had a heart attack. So I don’t think I should brown the cube steaks in bacon fat. Do you think it would it still be good if is browned them in canola oil?
Canola oil should work just fine.
Thank you!!
This sounds amazing, however, would using beef broth be a good sub for the wine?
Ooops nm,, just read more comments ,,, guess I’ll use more broth ♀️
So glad I found this recipe. I am making it for my husband for Father’s Day. He got to select his foods for dinner. It looks super. Will let you know how it turns out. Howerver I do believe it will be fantastic.
I made this for dinner last night for my family. It was a huge hit with everybody, including me! This one is being added to the rotation immediately. Thanks so much, Holly.
So glad your family loved it Thomas!
What can I use instead of white wine. I really can’t stand the flavor it gives to my meals when I use it.
And if it can’t be substituted- what white wine would you recommend
Hi Ariel, in this recipe we use red wine, but you can replace it with additional broth if you prefer.
That’s an expensive cut of meat here in NC. I don’t like spending almost 6.00 a lb on cube steak. Crazy.
Hope you enjoyed the recipe, Frankie!
This is a sure fired way that the meat will be worth the price. Funny thing, when I was a little girl we called this poor man’s steak.