Slow Cooker Shredded Beef

12 Servings
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours
Total Time 8 hours 20 minutes

Slow Cooker Shredded Beef is an easy juicy, fall-apart tender beef flavored with beer, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar and spices.

This simple shredded beef recipe is the perfect way to prep for a variety of Dinners. Just like Shredded Chicken, you can serve this dish in sandwiches, burrito bowls, salads, and so many other ways.

Slow Cooker Shredded Beef filling in hoagie roll on plate

This slow cooking recipe is perfect for an easy weeknight meal. You can prep the chuck roast and the other delicious ingredients easily in the morning. All you have to do is whisk together the flavorful cooking liquid and pour it over the beef, then set it to cook low and slow while you go about your day. The meat will absorb the flavor and juices from the sauces so by the end of the day you have the perfect, tender beef ready to go.

The tender, fall-apart beef makes a great filling for sammies! Pile the meat over toasted hoagies or hamburger buns for easy beef sandwiches. Cover with cheese slices then pop under the broiler for a minute to get the cheese all melty. Finally, top off with sandwich fillings like fresh veggies and condiments like Horseradish Sauce or BBQ Sauce.

Slow Cooker Shredded Beef ingredients in crock pot collage

You can use this easy, beefy main dish as part of other dinner recipes. For a more traditional main course, serve this slow cooked beef roast with easy sides like Mashed Potatoes and Roasted Broccoli. It would taste great as the filling for tacos or make easy burrito bowls with Brown Rice and Salsa. There are so many meals that you can make with this easy crock pot beef recipe!

Slow Cooker Shredded Beef ingredients in crock pot and sandwich collage

More Slow Cooker Main Course Recipes

How to Make

  • Brown: Start the recipe by slicing the chuck roast into 3 pieces, then season with salt and pepper. Add oil to a large pot or a metal slow cooker insert. Set the pot to medium-high heat, and brown the meat on all sides for 8-10 minutes. Then place the browned beef in the slow cooker, and top it with onion pieces.
  • Cooking liquid: Add beer or beef stock, ketchup, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, mustard, paprika, and hot sauce to a mixing bowl. Whisk the ingredients together before pouring the liquid over the chuck roast.
  • Cooking time: Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours until the meat is cooked through. After leaving to cook for hours, shred the meat with two forks and serve the tender meat over hoagie rolls.

Slow Cooker Shredded Beef shredded in slow cooker and on fork

Variations

  • Vegetables: You can add different vegetables to the slow cooker along with the 2 yellow onions already in the recipe. This beef would taste great with the addition of sliced green onions, chipotle peppers, or green bell pepper.
  • Sauce add-ins: Experiment with the cooking liquid flavor by mixing in or swapping in ingredients like tomato sauce, liquid smoke, tomato sauce, or honey mustard.
  • Seasonings: Play with flavor by adjusting the spice mix in the recipe with ingredients like onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, chili powder, or mustard powder.

Slow Cooker Shredded Beef filling in hoagie roll on plate

Pressure Cooker Instructions

  • Whisk together salt, pepper, vegetable oil, yellow onions, beer (or beef broth), ketchup, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire Sauce, brown sugar, mustard, paprika, and hot sauce.
  • Add the mixture to the pressure cooker along with the chuck roast.
  • Set the instant pot to high pressure and cook for 75 minutes.
  • Use a natural pressure release for 10 minutes, then quick-release remaining pressure.
  • Use two forks to shred the beef.

Slow Cooker Shredded Beef ingredients in crock pot

Beef Main Dish Recipes

How to Store

  • Serve: After cooking, this beef roast will stay good at room temperature for 2 hours. If you want to keep the beef out longer, like for potlucks, put the slow cooker on low heat to keep the meat warm.
  • Store: Let the Shredded Beef cool completely, then transfer to an airtight container. It will keep in the refrigerator for 3-5 days.
  • Freeze: Once cooled, seal the beef in a freezer-friendly bag or another airtight container for storage. Freeze the Shredded Beef for up to 4 months and thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating to serve.

Slow Cooker Shredded Beef shredded in slow cooker

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Slow Cooker Shredded Beef

Slow Cooker Shredded Beef is an easy juicy, fall-apart tender beef flavored with beer, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, and spices.
Yield 12 Servings
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours
Total Time 8 hours 20 minutes
Course Dinner
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 3 pounds beef chuck roast , cut into 3" chunks
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2 yellow onions , thinly sliced
  • 1 cup beer , or beef broth
  • 1 cup ketchup
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar , packed
  • 2 teaspoons yellow mustard
  • 1 teaspoons paprika
  • 1 teaspoon hot sauce

Instructions

  • Season beef with salt and pepper.
  • Add vegetable oil to a large pot or metal slow cooker insert.
  • On medium-high heat brown the beef on all sides, about 8-10 minutes.
  • Place beef into the slow cooker, top with onions.
  • In a bowl whisk together beef broth, ketchup, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, mustard, paprika, and hot sauce.
  • Pour over the beef and onions.
  • Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
  • Shred with forks and serve on hoagie rolls.

Nutrition

Calories: 287kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 22g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 78mg | Sodium: 545mg | Potassium: 534mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 206IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 39mg | Iron: 3mg
Keyword: Slow Cooker Shredded Beef

Slow Cooker Shredded Beef filling in hoagie roll on plate collage

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’ve played with similar recipes, but yours sounds really intriguing, The ketchup sounds a bit weird, but after trying many of your recipes, I’ll take a leap of faith. Maybe your Liquid Smoke suggestion will mellow it out. Thank you!!!
    I’ll let you know how it turns out, when PARTY FOOD is needed!

  2. Can I substitute brown sugar for an erythritol brown sugar and olive oil for vegetable oil? Thank you for sharing such lovely recipes!