Crockpot Pepper Steak is a dump and go hands-off meal that is super flavorful, simple, and comforting. This Chinese inspired pepper steak recipe is a favorite when served over rice, noodles and more!
Crockpot Pepper Steak boasts a huge flavor profile of savory, sweet, and mouth-watering delicious! The slow cooker version of this stir-fried Chinese American favorite is full of sliced beef and sweet bell peppers cooked in an umami beef sauce.
This method really tenderizes the beef, much more than the stovetop does. This flavorful and tender crockpot pepper steak will be a new favorite. The savory richness of the dish and just how simple it is to cook and prepare will make you want it again and again!
Table Of Contents
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- It's a dump and go recipe- there is no precooking the ingredients!
- The beef turns out super tender and flavorful, think melt-in-your-mouth!
- It's hands off throughout the cooking process- nothing is added at a later time!
- There is minimal prep time- just 5 or 10 minutes of slicing veggies!
- On busy nights with no time to cook slow cooker pepper steak will be a lifesaver.
Ingredients
- Beef sirloin strips: sometimes called sirloin tips or beef for stir fry when precut. You can also use sirloin steaks that you cut into long slices.
- Bell peppers: my preference is a combination of green, yellow, red, and orange.
- Onion: I prefer a sweet onion but a yellow onion works too!
- Garlic cloves: go for fresh garlic but garlic powder in a pinch.
- Beef broth: substitute with water, as the recipe also uses bouillon cubes to make a concentrated beef broth.
- Beef bouillon cubes: or packets.
- Soy sauce
- Worcestershire sauce
- Honey: can replace with agave syrup or pure maple syrup.
- Ginger: I use ground ginger but you can grate fresh ginger root too.
- Cornstarch: added to the broth as a thickener. For a thinner sauce, leave out the cornstarch.
Instructions
This easy crockpot pepper steak is made in 3 simple steps.
STEP 1: Make the sauce. Combine hot beef broth, bouillon cubes, soy sauce, worchestire sauce, honey, ground ginger, black pepper, salt and cornstarch in a mixing glass. Stir well, crushing the bouillon cubes.
STEP 2: Place beef strips into the slow cooker. Pour sauce on top. Add peppers, onions and garlic on top of the beef.
STEP 3: Set to LOW for 6 hours or HIGH for 3 hours. If possible, stir the ingredients once halfway through.
When finished, stir well and transfer to a serving dish. Serve over rice or noodles or as a side with mashed or baked potatoes.
Tip From The Chef
If you like your peppers crispy, add them to the crockpot when there is 1 hour of cooking time left.
How To Serve Pepper Steak
While pepper steak is delicious enjoyed as is, especially for a low carb meal, here are a few suggestions for making it a full dinner.
Serve crockpot pepper steak over:
- white rice
- basmati rice
- brown rice
- wild rice blend
- quinoa
- Asian-style noodles, like lo mein or ramen
- couscous
- barley
- farro
Or serve with these favorite side dishes:
- vegetables, like broccoli, asparagus, brussels sprouts, or green beans
- mashed potatoes or baked potatoes
- mashed cauliflower
- crockpot mashed sweet potatoes or instant pot sweet potatoes
- roasted baby potatoes
Variations
- Change the color of bell peppers: use all green peppers instead of a combination of colorful peppers.
- Make it spicy: add red pepper flakes or even a few jalapeno peppers to make a spicy pepper steak.
How To Store
Storing: keep pepper steak in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Recipe FAQs
Yes! You can freezer pepper steak before or after cooking. To freeze it before, slice the meat, peppers and onions and place into a freezer safe bag. Pour the sauce into a separate bag. Store in the freezer for up to 6 months. When you're ready to use, cut open both bags and place the ingredients into the slow cooker while frozen. Cook on low for 6 hours. Slow cooker pepper steak can be frozen after cooking by placing the entire meal (even rice!) into freezer safe bags and freezing for up to 3 months (for optimal quality). Defrost overnight in the fridge.
Sirloin is the most traditional and most tender cut of beef to use for this recipe. You can use already sliced meat usually labeled "beef for stir fry" or sirloin tips. If you can't find steak for stir fry that has already been cut, use sirloin steaks and slice them into long strips about 1 inch thick.
On high, this recipe cooks for 3 hours and on low it cooks for 6 hours. I prefer cooking beef recipes on low so the meat gets extra tender and flavorful. But in a pinch, a shorter time on low is fine!
If you find yourself less than pleased with how soft slow cooked peppers turn out, add them to the crockpot during the last hour of cook time. Keep in mind though, that the peppers give the sauce flavor and you won't have as much of it if you don't cook them for the entire 6 hours.
If you enjoyed this recipe, make sure to give it a star rating and let me know what you thought in the comments! And follow me on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for more delicious recipes!
Recipe
Slow Cooker Pepper Steak Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 lbs beef sirloin strips or sirloin steak cut into slices
- 3 large colorful bell peppers sliced thick
- 1 large onion sliced
- 3 garlic cloves
- ¾ cup beef broth
- 3 beef bouillon cubes
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoon cornstarch or flour
Instructions
- Make the sauce. Combine hot beef broth, bouillon cubes, soy sauce, worchestire sauce, honey, ground ginger, black pepper, salt and cornstarch/flour in a mixing glass. Stir well, crushing the bouillon cubes.
- Place beef strips into the slow cooker. Pour sauce on top. Add peppers, onions and garlic on top of the beef.
- Set to LOW for 6 hours or HIGH for 3 hours. If possible, stir the ingredients halfway through.
- When finished, stir well and transfer to a serving dish. Serve over rice or noodles or as a side with mashed or baked potatoes.
Notes
Nutrition
Mary
Very disappointed. This came out entirely too mushy!
Cathy
I made this last night and served it with egg noodles.... It was amazing!!! I made it as written except I cooked it in a Dutch oven. I cooked it at 350 for 1.5 hours .... My husband and sons all raved about the flavor of the sauce and asked me to make it again soon!!!!
Kristina Tipps
I am glad you all enjoyed it!
karenf
This was very good! I used frozen peppers to try to keep them from getting too soft, and I used fresh grated ginger, and brown sugar in lieu of the honey. Per another reviewer's suggestion, I added in 1 Tblsp. of sriracha sauce. Other than that, I followed the recipe. Next time I'll use more cornstarch, as we think we'd like it to be thicker.
Kristina Tipps
I'm really glad you enjoyed it! Sriracha sounds like a great addition. I made this last night, as well and as usual it was devoured!
C White
I’d leave out the honey next time. It gave it an odd sweet taste that pepper steak shouldn’t have.
Kate
Such good flavor! I cooked it on low for about 4 and a half hours and it was fall apart tender! So delicious will definitely be making again! I served it with a baked potato!
Aurore
I see hot beef broth in the recipe, do you actually have to heat it up and mix the rest of the ingredients to make the sauce?
Kristina Tipps
The reason for heating the broth is to make the sauce and so that the extra bouillon cubes dissolve into the sauce. You'll have the best results if you make the sauce first instead of adding the sauce ingredients separately to the slow cooker.
Anonymous
Suggestions for making with pork instead?
Kristina Tipps
I have not tried this recipe using pork, but if you do I suggest cooking it on low for a shorter time, as pork tends to dry out quickly.
Abbey
Super easy and yummy. It was a little too salty for my husband and that is even after cutting the salt down to 1/4 tsp. I like it salty so it was okay to me. I will likely omit the additional salt next time and will probably buy reduced sodium broth. Otherwise it was good. (I also used 3Tablespoons of cornstarch instead of 2 after reading through the comments. )
Jan
This was a very tasty meal, if sauce is ever to thin, I just pour the liquid into saucepan with cornflour and bring to boil then add back into crockpot.
Amber
Soooo good with Gotchujang sauce. I use Sir Kensingtons
Ken
I use better than beef bouillon. Do I still need bouillon cubes or can I add more btbb?
Kristina Tipps
You could use the better than bouillon, substituting each bouillon cube with 1 tsp of better than bouillon. Enjoy!
Kathy
This was so good! I made 2 minor changes based on other comments. I coated my meat with 2 Tbsp of cornstarch prior to putting in the crockpot. I still used the 2 Tbsp in the sauce. I added some red pepper flakes to my sauce as well for a bit of a bite. SO GOOD, will make again! Thanks for the recipe!
Kristina Tipps
I am so glad you enjoyed it! A bit of a spicy version sounds great!
Jennifer
This was sooo good!!! I used the better than boullion beef paste and added a little more that the recipe called for, for color and a little more cornstarch too but other than that the taste was amazing. Will make it again. Thank you!
Kristina Tipps
I am so glad you enjoyed this pepper steak! Thanks for the kind feeback.
Monique
I have a half hour left of the 6 hours on slow, and it already tastes AMAZING!!! I read the reviews in case I needed to tweak it a bit, and the only thing I did do was thicken the sauce by mixing 1/2 cup of the sauce w/2 tablespoons of cornstarch about four hours into the 6 hours of cook-time. I even used what I feel is the toughest steak (round), and the meat didn't come out tough at all. We are eating with either egg noodles or white rice, haven't decided. But this recipe is a definite keeper. Glad I chose it.
Kristina Tipps
I am so glad you like it! I just made it the other day and did up my cornstarch as well. When using different cuts of steak, you may need to alter how much thickener you use, since some cuts give off more fat (and therefore liquid). Thank you for the feedback!
Jana
This is so good! I followed the recipe and it came out perfect. I highly recommend this recipe it’s so easy and delicious, Thank you for providing a great recipe.
Kristina Tipps
I am so glad you liked this pepper steak! Thank you for the kind feedback.
Arlene
This was really good. The sauce was especially delicious. I did have to thicken it a bit more so I added 2 tbsp cornstarch mixed in about 1/2 cup of the sauce then I turned the slow cooker to high for about 20 minutes. This made it nice and thick to stick to the rice we served this over. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Kristina Tipps
Thanks for sharing your feedback! I am glad you enjoyed it.
Courtney
is this considered gluten free?
Kristina Tipps
Yes, this is gluten-free.
Amy Liu Dong
Love this! The steak is so tasty and it's just wonderful, I enjoyed eating this one.
Stacey
This was super easy and flavorful
Ann
I loved this dump and go meal! It was super tasty! I have not made a recipe like this before, but it will definitely be one I make again.
Karen
Turned out perfect!Sauce was just the right thickness and so tasty!Steak, pepper and onions were tender and flavorful! My kitchen smelled so good when I came home!Will definitely make again!
Kristina Tipps
I am so glad you enjoyed it!
Danielle
I used 1.5lbs of stew meat. Everything was great except the sauce was completely liquid. Would it have been the amount of meat?
Kristina Tipps
Do you mean that the sauce was too thin for you? The sauce should be all liquid, but when you serve it over rice or noodles, it will absorb into the rice or noodles so you want some extra. If it was just too thin, you can add flour or cornstarch in the beginning and that should thicken it up!
Sam
The stew meat probably had more fat than sirloin would have so it thinned your sauce.
Sydney
Cooked on high for 3 hours. Kept the entire recipe the same. My steak was suuuper dry. Any idea what could’ve caused this?
Kristina Tipps
Hi Sydney- The age/quality of the steak could have caused it to dry out. I would recommend cooking it on low (as with all other meat recipes) to prevent it from happening next time.
Anonymous
Too watery. Peppers and onions over cooked. Was disappointed
Silvana
Hi
The recipe looks delicious. Wondering what size of crockpot?
Thanks in advance
Kristina Tipps
Hi Silvana, I have made it both in 6 and 8 quart crock pots but it should work in a 3 quart crock pot also. Anything smaller than that, you may need to cut the recipe in half.
B
Prepared this on the eve of a busy day (took 10 minutes total) and threw it in the slow cooker in the morning. Paired it with rice and a bagged salad. Not only easy but delicious and EVERYONE in the family agrees (no small feat!). Highly recommended!
Kristina Tipps
I am so glad you all enjoyed it!
Amy
When I make anything with beef I put my meat in flour salt and pepper then brown it in a frying skillet then transfer to my crockpot because my meat is super tender. This was definitely a delicious recipe. Thanks for sharing. I will make this again.
Teresa
Can I make this with stew meat? That's all I have right now?
Kristina Tipps
Yes, you can use stew meat. Enjoy!
Robin
You say water in one of your comments but none is listed in the recipe. Is that only if your making your own beef broth? If not I’m adding 3/4 cup canned beef broth and the 3 bouillon cubes w/ no water correct? Thanks for your help!
Kristina Tipps
Hi Robin. You are correct- only use water to make your own beef broth. Otherwise, you are adding 3/4 cup canned beef broth plus 3 beef bouillon cubes. I hope you enjoy it!
Brittney Peterson
Ugh!!!! the beef bouillon said to dissolve in 2 cups of water so I did 6 for the 3 cubes and poured it in for the sauce !!
Kristina Tipps
Oh no! This recipe makes a concentrated sauce, so you only want to dissolve the 3 cubes in the water/broth that is called for in the recipe which is 3/4 cups. Don't follow the instructions on the beef bouillon package for dissolving them. I hope you try it again and enjoy it more next time!
Cary
I made this recipe for the first time today. It was easy-to-follow and perfect for a no-fuss meal on a weeknight. My husband loved it served over rice! Will definitely make this one again! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Jennifer Gambini
Do I make the bouillon into liquid by adding 3 cups of water to the bouillon cubes in addition to the 3/4 c up beef broth?
Kristina Tipps
No, you want to make the sauce concentrated. So use 3 cubes of bouillon with only 3/4 cup of water. The beef is going to give off liquid as it cooks, and you don't want it to become diluted.
Jennifer Gambini
Can you make this the day before you plan on cooking in crockpot?
Kristina Tipps
If you mean to prepare it the day before, yes you can. You can put everything in a large bowl, then put it into the crockpot the next day.
Ashley
I have minced garlic, can i use that instead? If so, how much should I use?
Kristina Tipps
Yes, you can use minced garlic. For every 1 clove of garlic, use about 1 teaspoon of minced garlic.
Kels
The recipe says it’s for 6 but if I half it because there’s only 2 of us would that change the cook time? Thanks!
Kristina
It should cook a little quicker, maybe an hour or so. Enjoy!
Lauren Lucas
Hi there! Looking to make this next week. Recipe says 'hot' beef broth. Are you boiling the broth before adding other ingredients? Wasn't sure what that meant. Thank you!
Kristina Tipps
Hi Lauren, You don't have to boil the beef broth, just heat it up in the microwave until it's steaming. The additional beef bouillon cubes will dissolve better into hot liquid instead of cold.
Melissa
Can you make this in an Instapot? Do you know what the cooking times would be?
Kristina
Yes you can. I would say 8-10 minutes with at least a 15 minute natural pressure release. The peppers will be very soft at that time, though. If you want them crispier, you can add them to the pot once the pressure has been released. Close the lid and let them steam for 5-10 minutes.
Anna
On instant pot there is slow cook option. So the same 6/3 hour would apply. Unless you cook under pressure in this case 15 minutes would not be enough… I’d say give it at least 30 min
Brittany H
It was good but even though I cooked it for 7 hours the meat was still tough. Some pieces were tender but others were extremely tough. I added the peppers in 2 hours before end of cook time and they were perfect. What can I do to make the meat more tender next time?
Kristina Tipps
Hi Brittany, It could have been that particular piece of meat, especially if some pieces were tender and others were not.You could also try giving it a good stir when you add in the peppers, so that all of the meat is coated in the sauce.
Morgan
Followed recipe exactly, overall flavor was good but the sirloin came out so dry. Any suggestions to prevent that?
Kristina
Hi Morgan, It could have been the quality of meat. The sirloin should have a good marbeling rather than large pieces of fat or no fat at all. Go with a high quality brand and give the recipe another try. You could also double the sauce, so that there is more of it for the meat to cook in.
Rebekah Armitage
Are there any changes i should make if I’m setting this to cook for 8 hours while I’m at work?
Kristina
Make sure that it's on low. Ideally it should cook for 6 hours on that setting and then stay warm for the next 2 hours. If you want it to cook for 8 hours, and don't want the peppers extremely soft (they will be for this duration of time), add them in when you come home and let it cook for another 30-60 minutes. If you don't mind the peppers very soft, then you should be okay at 8 hours without making any changes, although the meat will probably shred more than stay in chunks.
Emily Rogers
Can I sub the cornstarch with flour?
Kristina
Hi Emily- yes you can. Enjoy!
Jackie
Can I substitute cornstarch with flour? If so how should I do it? And I also have ginger paste instead of ginger root
Kristina
Yes you can use cornstarch. You should mix it with a little cold water before adding to the slow cooker. I have not used ginger paste so I would add a little bit and taste at the end, adding more if needed.
Fran
Why is there honey in this recipe?
Kristina
For a slightly sweet flavor.
Roberta
Made this last night - family loved it. Added more garlic then the recipe called for but I do that with most recipes. I did mine in the instant-pot. 30 minutes and it was perfect. Will definitely be making again.
carol
LOVE this recipe 5 stars
PK
I made this today. Followed the recipe exactly. Not thrilled. It was bland. I’m going to try to kick it up with some fresh ginger, more soy sauce, garlic, etc. for tomorrow. 🤷🏻♀️
Anonymous
Followed the recipe to the letter. Came out like a bland soup???
Kristina
Are you making the sauce concentrate as indicated? There is only about 1 cup of liquid in the recipe, so there should not be enough at the end to turn this recipe into a soup. The ingredients are 3/4 cup of beef broth plus 3 extra beef bouillon cubes (not an additional 3 cups of beef broth as some have made this mistake which will turn the recipe bland because there is too much liquid). If you've done the sauce correctly, try adding more ginger, salt, pepper, and garlic til you get the seasonings right for your preference.
Christine
Looks good but the sodium at over 1400 mg is extremely high. Any way to reduce that without sacrificing taste?
Kristina
The only way to reduce the sodium would be to use low sodium soy sauce (I usually do this and don't notice a difference in taste) and low sodium beef broth (this might affect taste). Instead of adding the 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the slow cooker, you could season individual bowls as well.
Jerika
Yum! Can't wait to pair this Crockpot Pepper Steak on my rice.:) What I love about this is it's flavorful, simple and comforting. Thanks!:)
Debbye
The ginger really made this extra special. Thanks for sharing
Leeanne
Loved this recipe! I usually order this in, but homemade was definitely better and cheaper! Thanks.
Nancy
This is yummy and super easy to make