admin
Slow Cooker Poor Man’s Beef and Noodles: This easy slow cooker beef and noodles meal is cheap, simple, and very comforting. Soft beef chunks cook low and slow, then get mixed with rich brown gravy and smooth egg noodles. Made with just four pantry items, this hearty dish is great for feeding a hungry family any night of the week.
This slow cooker beef and noodles dish, made with just four simple ingredients, is the kind of meal that takes good care of a family without much fuss. When I was a kid growing up out in the country in the Midwest, my mom cooked this often because it didn’t cost a lot of money, used things we already had in the pantry, and filled up everyone sitting at the table. The beef cooks low and slow until it gets so soft it falls apart with just a fork, while the noodles turn silky and smooth as they soak up all that rich brown gravy. It isn’t a fancy dish at all — it’s just plain, warm, filling food that has fed farm families and big households for many, many years.
Serve this meal straight from the slow cooker while it’s still hot, spooning plenty of that shiny brown gravy over each plate. It tastes wonderful next to buttered corn or green beans, and a simple lettuce salad helps balance out all that rich, cozy flavor.
If you want to make the meal go even further, try spooning the beef and noodles over mashed potatoes or thick slices of white bread. Adding a jar of pickles or some sliced tomatoes on the side gives a fresh, bright taste that helps cut through all that warm comfort food.
Slow Cooker Poor Man’s Beef and Noodles
Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 2 pounds beef stew meat or chuck roast, cut into 1- to 2-inch chunks
- 2 (10.5-ounce) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
- 2 (0.87- to 1-ounce) packets brown gravy mix
- 12 ounces wide egg noodles (about 6 cups dry)
Directions
- Put the chunks of beef stew meat or chuck roast into the bottom of a 5- to 7-quart slow cooker. Try to lay the pieces out flat and even so they all cook at the same speed.
- Grab a medium-sized bowl and mix the condensed cream of mushroom soup together with the brown gravy mix packets. Whisk everything until it looks smooth with no lumps left. Don’t pour in any water yet — as the beef cooks, it will let out its own juices, which will turn this mix into a thick, rich gravy on its own.
- Pour the soup and gravy mixture right on top of the beef sitting in the slow cooker. Use a spatula to scrape the bowl clean so you don’t waste any of the mixture. Stir it gently so the meat gets coated well, but try to keep the beef mostly flat in one layer so it cooks evenly all the way through.
- Place the lid on top of the slow cooker. Leave it to simmer away on LOW for 7 to 8 hours, or if you’re short on time, HIGH for 4 to 5 hours will do the job just as well. The beef is ready when it feels very tender and can be broken apart easily using just a fork. The gravy should turn shiny and a deep brown color from all the beef juices mixing in.
- About 30 minutes before you’re ready to serve the meal, take a peek at the beef. If you see any large chunks still left, use a fork to gently break them apart into smaller, bite-size pieces right inside the slow cooker. Stir these pieces back down into the gravy.
- Pour the dry wide egg noodles directly into the slow cooker. Stir them down so they sink into the hot gravy and beef, making sure most of the noodles are covered by liquid. If the mixture looks too thick for the noodles to be covered, slowly pour in ½ to 1 cup of hot water, adding just a little bit at a time, until the noodles are just barely covered. Give it all a good stir.
- Put the lid back on the slow cooker and cook on HIGH for another 20 to 30 minutes. Stir the pot once or twice while it cooks, until the noodles turn soft but aren’t mushy or falling apart. They should look silky smooth and be nicely coated in that rich brown gravy, with pieces of beef spread throughout.
- Once the noodles are cooked just the way you like them, give the dish a taste and add more seasoning if you think it needs it. Most of the time, the gravy mix already has enough salt in it, so you probably won’t need to add much extra. Serve the whole dish while it’s hot, straight out of the slow cooker, and make sure every bowl gets a good helping of beef, noodles, and gravy.
