Come home to the delicious aroma of a comfort food classic waiting for you in the slow cooker: This Crockpot Beef Tips and Gravy is the perfect easy weeknight dinner!
I can never get enough of comfort food recipes I can let cook in my slow cooker all day!
I love coming home to the delicious aroma of his family favorite classic waiting in the slow cooker: My Crockpot Beef Tips and Gravy is one of my favorite easy weeknight dinners, and it doubles as an elegant enough meal to serve to company for a nice Sunday dinner.
Step by step photos
This is the most simple recipe ever:
- Brown the beef tips & cook the mushrooms
- Transfer to the slow cooker
- Thicken the gravy before serving
Ingredient notes
Best beef cut: Since this is cooked in the slow cooker for a long time, there’s no need to use a prime cut. On the contrary, it would be a shame to cook an expensive cut of meat for such a long time!
Simply use beef stew meat, it’s budget friendly and will be fork-tender from the slow and low cooking. If you want to use a different cut, I recommend using a chuck roast you cut into pieces yourself.
Mushrooms: You can skip the mushrooms if you don’t like them; the gravy will have less flavor but will still be delicious.
Gravy Seasoning: You can use a packet of gravy mix in place of the herbs and spices called for in the recipe – you will need less cornstarch to thicken the gravy in the end.
Broth: Use chicken broth in place of the beef broth if you don’t have any on hand; the gravy will be a bit less rich and a little lighter in color but it still turns out really well.
Note: Why add flour to the beef?
The flour helps the beef to brown nicely, and it will also help thicken the gravy as the beef cooks. If you prefer not to use it, you can skip the flour. For a thick gravy, you’ll need to add more cornstarch in the end.
Cooking tips
Don’t skip browning the meat
Browning the beef before slow cooking it adds so much extra flavor!
It also helps give the beef chunks and nice color and caramelizes the meat. It’s absolutely worth the extra time and skillet to wash!
What if my gravy doesn’t thicken?
Sometimes it’s hard to gauge how much cornstarch slurry you need to thicken the gravy (it depends on ho much juices your meat releases, how much your gravy thickened from the flour alone etc).
First, make sure you only use a couple of tablespoons of cool water to stir up your cornstarch slurry. Do not add the cornstarch dry to the gravy, or it will only clump up but not thicken your juices. If your gravy hasn’t thickened after 5-10 minutes, add more cornstarch slurry.
Is this make-ahead and freezer-friendly?
Ok so the internet is divided on this, but I’m a stickler when it comes to food hygiene and food safety when freezing/reheating. And I do not reheat mushrooms, ever.
You can make ahead and freeze this beef tips and gravy recipe if you skip the mushrooms.
To make ahead and eat later: Transfer the finished dish (cooker without mushrooms!) to a shallow container to cool quickly to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate up to 3 days.
To reheat, bring to a simmer over medium heat and simmer for 5 minutes or until piping hot all the way through. You can also reheat it in the microwave, just make sure to stir from time to time to make sure it reheats evenly.
To freeze: Transfer the finished dish (cooker without mushrooms!) to a shallow container to cool quickly to room temperature.
Then, transfer to a freezer bag or container, label with the name and use-by date (freeze for up to 3 months) and place in the freezer.
To reheat, defrost in the fridge overnight. Reheat as you would refrigerated beef tips as instructed above.
Serving ideas
We love having our beef tips over mashed potatoes or egg noodles.
I love making my Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes because that’s how my grandma taught me to make them. But they also turn out well on the stove as “regular” mashed potatoes!
For a special meal, glazed carrots or roasted carrots (or crockpot glazed carrots) are a nice side dish, so are sautéed green beans or roasted asparagus (if you have an air fryer, try air fried asparagus!)
For the broccoli lovers, I have a few ideas as well: Roasted broccoli or air fried broccoli both make for a perfect match with beef tips and gravy!
PS If you try this recipe, please leave a review in the comment section and add a star rating in the recipe card – I appreciate your feedback! Follow along on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram.
Printable recipe
Crockpot Beef Tips and Mushroom Gravy
Recipe details
Ingredients
For the meat
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 ½ pounds beef tips an inexpensive cut like beef stewng meat or chuck roast is perfect
- salt & pepper
For the gravy
- 1 yellow onion choopped
- 2 cloves garlic sliced
- 1 pound mushrooms sliced
- ½ teaspoon ground paprika
- ½ teaspoon dried parsley
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
- ⅓ cup red wine OR beef stock
- 3 cups beef broth
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1-2 teaspoons salt or less depending on what kind of broth you’re using
- Black pepper to taste
To thicken
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch + cool water or up to 4 tablespoons plus cool water, as needed
Instructions
- 1: Brown beef: Add oil to large skillet over medium-high heat, then add beef (work in 2 batches if necessary; do not overcrow the pan). Season beef with salt and pepper and sprinlkle with flour; then cook until browned on all sides. Remove to a 5-6 quart slow cooker.
- 2. Cook mushrooms: Add onion, garlic and mushrooms to the hot skillet over medium heat. Cook until softened, about 4-5 minutes. Season with gorund paprika, parsley and thyme; then add wine (or extra broth), beef broth and Worcestershire sauce, scraping any browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil, then take off the heat and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- 3. Slow Cook: Carefully transfer mushroom and beef broth mix to meat in the slow cooker. Stir well, then cover with a lid and cook on LOW for 8 hours or on HIGH for 4 hours.
- 4. Thicken: Once cooking time is up, open the slow cooker and stir. Stir in a cornstarch slurry, then cook with the lid OPEN for 5-10 minutes or untul thickened. Serve immediately.
Notes
Ingredient notes
- Best beef cut: Beef stew meat is budget friendly and will be fork-tender from the slow and low cooking. If you want to use a different cut, I recommend using a chuck roast you cut into pieces yourself.
- Mushrooms: You can skip the mushrooms if you don’t like them; the gravy will have less flavor but will still be delicious.
- Gravy Seasoning: You can use a packet of gravy mix in place of the herbs and spices called for in the recipe – you will need less cornstarch to thicken the gravy in the end.
- Broth: Use chicken broth in place of the beef stock if you don’t have any on hand; the gravy will be a bit less rich and a little lighter in color but it still turns out really well.
Antonio Baker says
Great recipe. Made it for the first time last night and had it for dinner tonight and it was delicious. Really easy, really affordable, and can’t wait to share with my sister-in-law.
Sherry says
It was delicious! I used the red wine as suggested. I also cooked up a half of package of medium egg noodles and added them to the crockpot before serving.
Emily says
This was amazing! We used beef broth in place of the wine, but did everything else exactly as it says in the recipe. I cannot believe how delicious this was. We served it over mashed potatoes and there were no leftovers!
Nora says
That sounds delicious, Emily! Glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Sue Wilhelm says
This turned out amazing! I served it over mashed potatoes and everyone raved. Full of flavor and the meat was melt in your mouth tender. (I did use stew meat as suggested.) Had enough left for my lunch the next day and are it over noodles. Really love this meal and will be making it often. Thanks for sharing!!
PamC says
Excellent taste and so easy to prepare.
Nora says
I’m so glad!
Nicole says
Sorry If I missed this somehow, but did you specify what type of red wine should be used? Thanks!
Nora says
Nicole, I do usually specify this in recipes now, but I didn’t in the past. I recommend a dry red wine for cooking, a Cabernet Sauvignon or Pinot Noir would work well here. Hope this helps!
Kellie says
Oh my goodness, this was so good! Rave reviews from my whole family. I made it exactly as the recipe stated, including the wine, and served over mashed potatoes. Everyone went back for seconds. This will be going in the regular rotation! Thanks for sharing!
Kellie says
This was so good! My entire family loved it! I served it over mashed potatoes – my college aged daughter wants the recipe so she can try to make it on her own. This is going in my regular rotation!
Carah says
Wow this recipe is a keeper!!!
I feel like this is my masterpiece of dishes!
Nora Rusev says
I’m so glad to hear this, Carah! Thank you for making and enjoying my beef tips recipe so much – and thank you for coming back to leave a review, too. Much appreciated!
Betty says
perfectly delicious, with so much gravy!! served with mashed potatoes, noodles (no comment we like our carbs lol) and green beans – so yum
Nora Rusev says
Sounds good to me with the carbs 😉 Thanks for coming back to leave a review, Betty! I appreciate it.
Pam says
came out perfect, thank u!
Nora Rusev says
I’m glad to hear it, Pam!
Brenda R says
cut up my own chuck roast, used garlic powder instead of fresh bc that’s what I had, needed 2 tablespoons cornstarch to thicken to our taste, otherwise followed recipe to a tee and was perfect
Nora Rusev says
Thank you so much for sharing your alterations, Brenda. And I’m glad you enjoyed the meal!
Lorelai Anderson says
Made with wine as recommended, only used 1/2 pound mushrooms because husband isn’t a fan. Easy to make and meat came out tender with a good gravy, looked like the photos. I recommend!
Nora Rusev says
Lorelai, I’m so glad to hear this. Thank you so much for making my recipe, and for coming back to leave a review – I appreciate it very much.
LaBa says
OMG my grandma made these for me and my brothers all the time and I just made this recipe for my family and it taste likes grandma’s. THANK U!!!
Nora Rusev says
I’m so happy to hear this! Thank YOU for trusting in my recipe, and for leaving such a heartfelt comment.