Slow Cooker Peppered Steak Casserole

A great tasting meal which can be cooked slowly over the course if the day ready for when you get home. This slow cooker peppered steak casserole recipe tastes amazing and is a variation on the traditional hot pot meal.

This is a recipe for a slow cooker steak casserole dish with instructions how to cook this in a Ninja Foodi and also a slow cooker.

The typical hot pot is a great way to have a meal cooking all day while you are at work and be ready for when you get home.

I had some cuts of peppered steak left over from Christmas which were a little too chewy for my liking and so I wanted to do something with them so as not to waste the meat. This was inspired by my beef casserole recipe on this site, but swapping out the type of meat in use. Try soaking it up with a home made bread roll.

Ingredients for slow cooker steak

There are simple ingredients in this list, only 4 to be precise. These are pre prepared ingredients (such as the mixed vegetables etc). Feel free to make up your own batch though, I used the below for convenience over cost.

• Oil - I use sunflower oil is used to sear the meat.
• Beef Steak/Braising Steak - The peppered steak in this recipe was a leftover cut of meat. However normal beef stewing steak (or braising steak) will work well. You can use these cheaper cuts of beef for this recipe as the longer cooking times make for a more tender bite.
• Stock - Instant stock pots are super useful. Just make up 568ml (1 pint) with boiling water. You can also use stock cubes like a Knorr stock cube or Oxo.
• Vegetables - The mix I have consists of carrots, new potatoes, onion and swede. You can buy pre-prepared or make up your own mix with whatever you have lying about. See more about keeping a selection of staple pantry ingredients in this post.

For this dish you are looking to get around 500g of mixed vegetables in total for a serving suitable for two people.

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions to make beef casserole

There are only two stages to this meal which is why I love the simplicity so much:

• Sear the meat to brown it off.
• Put everything else in the pot and start cooking.

Fry off the beef or steak in a little oil. Use the sear mode on the Air fryer with the lid up.

Once the meat is browned off, prepare the stock.

Add the vegetables and then the stock to the pan

Cook on High for 7 hours until the veg is cooked. Use slow cook mode - Hi - and then press start. it will remain in "keep warm" mode once the time has finished and then you can serve when ready.

Once the meat it getting to a brown colour, turn off the sear mode as it will keep cooking for a while after. You don't want the beef to burn but the residual heat will still give it a bit of colour.

Substitutions for slow cooked beef stew

Feel free to mess about with the ingredients in the mix here. There are no rules what goes in and the availability of vegetables will vary depending on the season. Root veg work well such as turnip and swedes. Carrots and parsnips are a good addition.

If you are using larger potatoes (rather than new potatoes) it is worth while cutting them down in to smaller pieces so that they cook throughout. Otherwise they can end up being a little hard in the middle.

• Onion - Red or brown onions work well in this dish. You could also put in shallots instead.
• Beef stock - While I recommend to use beef stock if making beef casserole, you can use vegetable stock or even chicken stock.
• Vegetarian - While this is quite a meat heavy dish, you don't need to have steak in it. You can swap out the beef for Quorn sausages other meat substitute.
• Other meats - you can try dishes such as this slow cooker lamb stew instead of beef for a bit of variety. Don't forget to try other cuts of meat such as left over loin of pork or roasted lamb.

Keeping the weights in proportion is the important factor to making this dish a success. Use 500g of vegetables, 300g to 400g of meat and then 1 pint of stock.

Variations to spice a casserole up

Why not try adding a little spice to the mix. Before adding the beef in, marinade it in a few Chilli pepper flakes to give it some heat.

Jerk seasoning is a nice addition too. Leaving the meat in this over night before cooking will help it absorb the flavour.

Equipment to make casserole

The winning piece of kit for this dish is the slow cooker. You can buy a dedicated slow cooker for most slow cooking requirements at quite a low cost.

These slow cooker liners are really useful to help keep things nice and clean too!

My preference is to use the slow cooker mode on my Ninja Foodi air fryer. This air fryer has lots of functions available to me of which slow cooker mode is one. While it is a big piece of kit, it does let me do plenty of other types of cooking.

For example, the sear mode and the slow cooker mode are two different types of cooking. If I had a standard slow cooker then I would need two pans, one for the sear and then a slow cooker.

With the Ninja Foodi air fryer I can do this entire meal in one pot.

The air fryer has a keep warm mode. Use this by letting the program finish but leaving the air fryer (Ninja Foodi slow cooker) switched on.

Storing Beef Casserole

Once the slow cooker peppered steak casserole is cooked, it will keep for 2 to 3 days in an air tight tub in the fridge. Otherwise you can freeze into portions and keep them in the freezer for up to three months.

If storing in the fridge or the freezer, I recommend using these takeaway style tubs with lids for storage.

If you are reheating from the freezer, make sure to defrost thoroughly first before reheating in the microwave. The food should be piping hot before consumption. Never refreeze something which has already been defrosted.

FAQ

Related Recipes

Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:

Pairings for your casserole

These are my favourite dishes to serve with peppered steak casserole: