Slow Cooker Roast Beef (Sliceable!)

12 servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes

Slow Cooker Roast Beef that you can slice into tender slices cooked to a perfect medium temperature. Enjoy for dinner or sliced thinly in sandwiches, you will never buy the deli variety again!

Slow Cooker Roast Beef that you can slice into tender slices cooked to a perfect medium temperature. Enjoy for dinner or sliced thinly in sandwiches, you will never buy the deli variety again! Slow Cooker Roast Beef. Yes, no joke, this was made IN A SLOW COOKER. The crust is gorgeous because I browned it before cooking, but that amazing tender medium center of the roast beef is 100% slow cooker.

The recipe for this came from a new series I’ve started in 2017 of slow cooker sandwiches. I’ve combed through list after list of the top sandwiches people crave and I’ve started making slow cooker versions of them all. Most delicious project ever. This Slow Cooker Roast Beef can be served in thick slices for a beautiful meal worthy of company or it can be sliced thinly and used in place of deli roast beef (coming Friday!).

At the beginning of this month I spoke at a blogging conference where I met Gina from Skinnytaste. I had so much fun meeting her my friend surprised me with one of her cookbooks.  So when I came across Gina’s recipe for this roast beef in her book I immediately tested it out. It felt so meant to be that I would come across a recipe for one of the sandwiches on my long list. The verdict?

It is perfect! I added garlic to the recipe and skipped the broth, but the technique is what is golden here. It tastes like a shortcut Prime Rib dinner without the effort and high price tag! Win win! If you’re looking for a side dish to this Slow Cooker Roast Beef, I would recommend Classic Steakhouse Creamed Spinach and the Richest, Cheesiest, Crispy Mashed Potatoes. It may as well be Chistmas dinner because your meal is going to be amazing.

Slow Cooker Roast Beef that you can slice into tender slices cooked to a perfect medium temperature. Enjoy for dinner or sliced thinly in sandwiches, you will never buy the deli variety again!

Looking for more Slow Cooker Beef dishes?

If you’re keeping track here are the sandwiches we’ve got so far:

There’s more on the way too, I’ve made and photographed a lot of slow cooker sandwiches, so if you’re enjoying this series definitely stick around, more are coming!

Slow Cooker Roast Beef that you can slice into tender slices cooked to a perfect medium temperature. Enjoy for dinner or sliced thinly in sandwiches, you will never buy the deli variety again!

Tools Used in the making of this Slow Cooker Roast Beef:
Slow Cooker with Thermometer Probe: This slow cooker is a new addition to our house but it is an amazing new toy I’ve been having fun with. The thermometer fits through the lid without letting the heat escape.
Thermometer: If you don’t have that slow cooker, this thermometer can stay in the slow cooker with no issues.
Skinnytaste Fast and Slow: An amazing book by an even more amazing blogger. Her food doesn’t taste like it lost flavor to be better for you.

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Slow Cooker Roast Beef

Slow Cooker Roast Beef that you can slice into tender slices cooked to a perfect medium temperature. Enjoy for dinner or sliced thinly in sandwiches, you will never buy the deli variety again!
Yield 12 servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes
Course Main
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 5 pounds chuck roast
  • 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 tablespoon canola oil

Instructions

  • Rub the chuck roast with the salt, pepper and garlic.
  • Heat up your slow cooker insert (if cast aluminum) or a large pot on high heat with the canola oil.
  • Sear the beef on each side for 3-4 minutes.
  • Put the beef and the drippings from the pan into your slow cooker.
  • Cook on low for 90 minutes.
  • Using a standard meat thermometer or a slow cooker with a thermometer probe, cook to 135 (medium rare) or 140 (medium) degrees.

Nutrition

Calories: 351kcal | Protein: 36g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 130mg | Sodium: 540mg | Potassium: 627mg | Vitamin A: 25IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 33mg | Iron: 3.9mg
Keyword: Slow Cooker Roast Beef Sliceable

Slow Cooker Roast Beef that you can slice into tender slices cooked to a perfect medium temperature. Enjoy for dinner or sliced thinly in sandwiches, you will never buy the deli variety again!

Slow Cooker Roast Beef that you can slice into tender slices cooked to a perfect medium temperature. Enjoy for dinner or sliced thinly in sandwiches, you will never buy the deli variety again!
Slow Cooker Roast Beef that you can slice into tender slices cooked to a perfect medium temperature. Enjoy for dinner or sliced thinly in sandwiches, you will never buy the deli variety again!
Slow Cooker Roast Beef that you can slice into tender slices cooked to a perfect medium temperature. Enjoy for dinner or sliced thinly in sandwiches, you will never buy the deli variety again!
Slow Cooker Roast Beef that you can slice into tender slices cooked to a perfect medium temperature. Enjoy for dinner or sliced thinly in sandwiches, you will never buy the deli variety again!
Slow Cooker Roast Beef that you can slice into tender slices cooked to a perfect medium temperature. Enjoy for dinner or sliced thinly in sandwiches, you will never buy the deli variety again!

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. I’m hoping to make this today but it doesn’t say what setting to have the slow cooker on (low, medium, high)? Looking through comments it takes 3 1/2hrs on low so is your 90mins on high?

    1. Such a busy season, I’ve fallen behind on responding to questions. How did your Roast Beef turn out?

  2. I have cooked several chuck roast in crock pot using ==mississippi pot roast ==respiece// every time it comes out stringy,,you say cut across grain but chuck has different grain sections ,i have problem telling which is which// stringy meat is just eatable if you put it on bread and kill the flavor with sause followed by toothpicks// just my opinon// maybe i am over cooking since i cook meat 3 to 5 hours,,your pictures look great// meat cooked more than that is called leather???please advise,,,thanks willie

    1. Hi Willie, perhaps you should try the thermometer probe to make sure your meat is taken out of the slow cooker when it reaches 165 degrees at the thickest portion of the meat. There’s a link to one in my blog. Let us know how it turns out!

  3. I have 5.30 lb eye of round roast . No meat thermometer. How long in a slow cooker for med rare to slice for deli sandwiches? Any approximate time would help.

    1. I don’t know about medium rare; however, rule of thumb for a 5 lb eye of round roast is 10 – 11 hours on low or 6 – 7 hours on high.

  4. Hi Sabrina, this looks so delicious would I be able to do this in my instant pot? I no longer have a slow cooker. what would the timing be for medium rare?

  5. I make a standing rib roast every year for Christmas. It’s amazing, but $$$$$$. This option worked great! And it was delicious. My only problem was that I bought a cheap beef that didn’t have great taste to begin with.

    This year, we bought 1/2 cow and the meat is delicious. And you can bet I’ll be making this with our Chuck Roasts.

  6. I was so excited to try this recipe. I followed the very simple instructions, took the roast out at 90 minutes, and it was completely raw inside. The only thing cooked were the edges I seared at the beginning. I don’t know if there is a step missing. What should I have done differently? I even had a 3.5 lb Roast, not the 5lb as noted in the recipe.

    1. I am just seeing this tonight. I am sure the recipe has long been cooked/or not but I still want to try to help.

      What temperature did you cook it at? what cut was it? Was it a uniform thickness?

    2. I do this same method. But I’ve learned that all slow cookers are different. I cook mine on low for 3 1/2 hours to get rare. Using my meat thermometer.

  7. I like this recipe a lot!!! I much prefer beef that is medium rare or rare and while the chuck is a fairly tough cut of the steer (it’s the shoulder, which gets a lot of work), the flavor of this cut is wonderful! The chuck is just in front of the rib, and is closest in flavor to prime rib, but it is not easy to cook to a tender degree. Most people use the chuck for pot roasts and stews and braise the hell out of it. While braising does produce tender meat, much of the flavor comes from all of the vegetables cooked with the roast. This recipe uses only the meat and the juices from the searing, AND IT WORKS, just like Sabrina says it does! Many commentors use roasts much smaller than 5 lbs, which don’t work as well for me. A 5 lb chuck roast will be about 2 1/2 or 3 inches thick, which usually has to be cut by your butcher. I think that is part of the secret of this roast. The other part of the method is to cooking temperature, which is about 200°F on the “Low” setting of a good slow cooker. An accurate “Low” setting as well as an accurate thermometer are essentials. Done right, using this recipe and a quality chuck roast, will come really close to prime rib flavor and texture at about one third the cost. Adding liquid is unnecessary before cooking and the jus is great. To top it all off, the leftovers freeze well for more dinners and sandwiches. Thanks Sabrina!

    1. I am so sorry, I am just seeing this tonight. I am sure the recipe has long been cooked/or not but I still want to try to help.

      If the marbling of the beef is good and even throughout that’s what matters most. If it is really lean it could be very tough.

  8. If your using smaller chuck roast for 3 people how many pounds should I get and what would the cooking time be? Also do you have a recipe for gravy for this?

    1. I am so sorry, I am just seeing this tonight. I am sure the recipe has long been cooked/or not but I still want to try to help.

      We have a lot more beef sauce recipes since this was posted, but also I would test the roast with a thermometer if possible, I haven’t tested one that size in the slow cooker.

  9. I really wanted this to be good.. it was sliceable and pink. There was nothing tender about this at all as my husband bluntly put it it was tough!
    Won’t make agan.

  10. This is great and so easy. I’m trying with frozen roast but net time I’ll try it thawed. I tried this a while ago and it was easy.

    1. Yes, make sure to let the roast rest for about 10 minutes before slicing it to allow the juices to soak in. Enjoy!

  11. Is this recipe degrees C or F?
    Just tried this today, and unfortunately didn’t work out for me. Ended up being well done as I was waiting for the temperature to rise, I’m thinking it must be the C or F problem

  12. This is my family’s go to recipe which we have at least once every two weeks. The only thing we do different is we leave it in the slow cooker until it gets very tender and almost falls apart. We love it! Thank you!

  13. I don’t have the type of thermometer that stays inside the crock pot. Can I just take the lid off periodically and stick a thermometer into the meat ?

  14. Hi!
    Just came across this and am INTRIGUED to say the least! 🙂 Very much want to try this but all I have is a shoulder roast and a bottom round roast- will either of those roasts work?

    1. The shoulder roast should work but the bottom round roast doesn’t really have enough fat on it to work with this recipe. I hope you enjoy it!

  15. Never in a million years would I have thought rare roast beef in a crock pot! This is what I did for 5 lb standing rib roast: crock on low while heating 1 cup beef broth on stove and browning meat all sides. Then paint with oil , thyme n pepper. Place in crock ribs down. A meat thermometer is imperative. Mine has a probe on a white attached to a display you set for alarm when it reaches correct temp. For med rare.
    It took 3 hrs 15 min on low. Starting with room temp meat….perfect !!!!! Wowzer. Frees up oven space……..Thanks.

    1. You can, but because it’s a leaner meat, you may want to cook it for less time. It won’t render down the same over the lengthy time.

  16. I made this tonight and it is still very much RAW in the middle. Had to put it back in the slow cooker and Im still waiting for it 🙁

    1. Janine, this is one recipe (since it needs to cook to such a specific temp) that a thermometer is called for in the recipe. Depending on how thick your cut of beef is you have to know by temperature when it is done. The timing is a guideline on this one and the steps are for the method. I wouldn’t guess/eyeball for something this specific. Sorry for any confusion.

  17. The only thing I added was I lined the crockpot with sliced onions. I seared the beef and added what little juices to the crockpot with the roast. Cooked on low for 90 minutes and checked the temperature. Added more cooking time in 20 minute intervals until perfect!

    The juices make a wonderful gravy!

  18. I’m doing a 2.5 lb roast, what is your recommended cooking time on that weight for medium rare to medium center?

    1. I would check it after an hour. You are looking for a temperature rather than a time and slow cookers can run hot so look for 135 (medium rare) or 140 (medium)

  19. Hi. We do not have a slow cooker. We have had “pink meat” at a restaurant and it was delicious.Can pink meat be created using a normal electric cooker.Please say it can and how do you do it.

    Kind Regards

    Brian

    1. It depends on how much smaller the roast is. What you are looking for is an internal temperature of 135 (medium rare) to 140 (medium). Enjoy!

  20. Made this today and it was very good.Will make it again and try some of your other recipes.Thank you.

  21. Hi! I’ve made this twice now and each time it has been the most perfect beef I’ve ever cooked! Thank you. 🙂
    Can lamb be cooked the same way and still be medium rare and sliceable? Fingers crossed you see this before tomorrow!

    1. Yes, I just haven’t tested timing yet. I would recommend sticking with around the same cut or thickness and start with that timing for cook time. Hope this helps! So sorry I’m seeing this much later though.

  22. I have just taken a frozen beef joint from the freezer and as soon as it thaws I will try this recipe for our guests tomorrow.

  23. This recipe looks amazing. I generally buy CAB rump roasts. Is that cut suitable for this recipe? Some comments said their roast was tough. Not sure what cut of meat they used.