Slow Cooker Beef Tips and Potatoes. This slow cooker beef tips and potatoes with 4 ingredients recipe is my low effort solution to a Valentines dinner at home in a restaurant setting. You have some meltingly tender beef, large rustic pieces of russet potato and a rich brown gravy that seems like it has slow-cooked on the stove all day, but without any noise the slow cooker is doing the job when you are lying around.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- Beef stew meat or beef tips, in big pieces → 2 pounds
- Russet potatoes, scrubbed and cut into large 11/2- to 2-inch pieces → 2 large
- Beefy mushroom internal soup or golden mushroom soup → 2 (10.5-ounce) cans
- Dry brown gravy powder → 1 (1-ounce) package
Beef Tips and Potatoes: Directions
- Ready the potatoes: Scrub the russet potatoes, and chop them into large pieces, 11/2 -2 inch. The large size of the pieces is used to maintain their shape during the long and slow cooking time and still become soft and creamy on the inside.
- Prepare the slow cooker; The potato chunks should be placed in a uniform layer on the bottom of the slow cooker. Evenly sprinkle the potatoes with the beef tips or stew meat, although it is best to keep the pieces on the same layer as much as possible so that they cook evenly and will not become hard.
- Prepare gravy base: Add the condensed mushroom soup and the dry brown gravy mix to a medium bowl and mix until a smooth and well mixed gravy base is formed. You desire a rich, juicy mixture that has no dry spots of gravy mix; and this will become the nice brown sauce that covers the beef and potatoes.
- Add sauce to the slow cooker: Add the gravy mixture to the beef and potatoes and use a spatula to distribute the mixture evenly in order to cover as much of the meat and potatoes as possible. Please do not add additional water, the water in the beef and potatoes will make the sauce to a silky, spoon able gravy as it cooks.
- Slow cook: Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook it on LOW 7-8 hours, or on HIGH, 4-5 hours, until the beef is extremely tender and the pieces of potatoes are soft when pierced with a fork but still retain their shape. Do not open the lid too frequently because this increases the time taken to cook the food and may result in the failure of the sauce to thicken.
- Add a pinch of salt: When the beef and the potatoes are cooked lightly stir at the bottom with a wide spoon, taking care not to chew up the big russet pieces too much. This assists in the covering of all that in the glossy brown gravy. Seasoning Place a little salt and, as you wish, a pinch of black pepper on the table table, but the gravy sauce is often hot enough on its own.
- Serving: Pour the beef tips, potatoes and the thick brown gravy in warm bowls or placed in plates. You can serve as soon as it comes out of the slow cooker and everyone serves themselves since you will not get any more relaxed at the table.
Variations & Tips
Any modifications in order to maintain the air of a 4-ingredient, low-effort Valentine dinner must be either easy or optional. A somewhat more distinct taste will be provided by adding one can of condensed mushroom soup of beefy nature and one can of condensed French onion soup (still as part of the same category of ingredients in case you want to mix and match). To make a looser gravy, take up 2 to 4 tablespoons of water or beef broth and add to the soup and gravy mix to make it smooth; and then add a tablespoon of cold butter at the end and whisk until melted to give it a smooth Silky Finish. You may use stew meat in place of sirloin tips or chuck roast cut into large cubes- both are very tender when cooked slowly. In case you need a little more color without the added ingredients, you can quickly sear the beef in a hot skillet and add to the slow cooker, although this is unnecessary it gives the meat a subtle roasted flavor that is restaurant-like. To make it a little light, one can replace one of the russet potatoes with pieces of peeled carrot or one can place the beef and gravy over some buttered egg noodles or mashed potatoes instead of baking the potatoes in the slow cooker. The leftovers can be warmed in the stove using low heat along with a splash of water so as to loosen the sauce; hence the following day lunch would be as cozy as the initial dinner.
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