Easy Beef and Noodles in the Crock Pot

Easy beef and noodles in the crock pot takes about 20 minutes of work. Cube a chuck roast, put it in the slow cooker with onion, garlic, beef stock and a little thyme, and cook it on low for 8 hours until it falls apart. Then stir wide egg noodles into the broth for the last half hour, where they soak up the beefy broth and thicken it into something close to gravy.

This is a Midwest classic: plain, filling and made for a cold evening. In some kitchens it is served over mashed potatoes, starch on starch, and nobody complains. Chuck roast is the cut for it, because it has the marbling and connective tissue to turn soft over a long cook, and it breaks into tender shreds that thicken the broth.

At a glance: serves 6. Prep 30 minutes, slow cook about 8 hours, noodles 20 to 30 minutes.

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Chuck Roast, Boneless, Vaca Vieja

This recipe uses 1 chuck roast, cut into cubes, which feeds about six with the noodles.

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Cooking for a full freezer instead? See the 1/8 beef share subscription.

Talking about what he likes to cook, Gray Shipley, who runs the farm, said:

“I like to go with something a little more economical. And so either something like a chuck roast or a sirloin tip, maybe in the crock pot”

Gray Shipley

Beef and noodles is about as plain as that kind of cooking gets. A chuck roast, a pot of broth and a bag of noodles feed a whole table, and the slow cooker does most of the work while you are out.

Ingredients

• 1 boneless chuck roast, about 3 pounds, fully thawed
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon neutral oil (optional, for browning)
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 cups low-sodium beef stock, divided
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 12 ounces dried extra-wide egg noodles
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 4 cups mashed potatoes, to serve (optional)

Instructions

1. Make sure the roast is fully thawed; FSIS advises against putting frozen meat in a slow cooker. Trim off any large pieces of hard fat and cut the chuck into 1 1/2-inch cubes. Season with the salt and pepper.
2. For deeper flavor, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and brown the cubes in two or three batches, 5 to 6 minutes per batch. If you are short on time, skip this step.
3. Put the onion and garlic in a 6-quart slow cooker and add the beef. Pour in 4 cups of the stock and the Worcestershire, and add the thyme and bay leaf.
4. Cover and cook on low for about 8 hours, or on high for 4 to 5 hours, until the beef falls apart when pressed with a spoon.
5. Remove the bay leaf. Break the beef into bite-size pieces with two forks, right in the pot, and skim off any fat from the surface. Turn the slow cooker to high.
6. Heat the remaining 2 cups of stock until steaming and stir it into the slow cooker with the noodles, pushing them under the liquid. Cover and cook on high for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring once or twice, until the noodles are tender.
7. Stir in the butter and parsley and taste for salt and pepper. Serve in bowls, or spooned over mashed potatoes.

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Beef and noodles in a crock pot: low or high?

Low, if you can. Eight hours on low gives the chuck time to turn tender at a gentle heat, and the cubes come apart into soft shreds. High works in 4 to 5 hours when you start late, though the beef is a little firmer. Either way, switch to high for the noodles, because they need the liquid as hot as the slow cooker can get it.

A 6-quart slow cooker is the right size for this amount. In a smaller one, halve the recipe, or cook the noodles in the broth on the stove instead.

Which noodles to use

Dried extra-wide egg noodles are the easy choice, and they cook right in the pot. Frozen homestyle egg noodles, thick and chewy, are popular too, but they need a real boil. For those, tip the beef and broth into a large pot on the stove, bring it to a boil, add the frozen noodles and simmer them as the package directs, adding a little more stock if it gets too thick.

The noodles release starch as they cook, which is what turns the broth thick and glossy. If you like it thicker still, stir in 1 tablespoon of cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons of cold water and cook for 5 minutes more.

Why chuck roast, cubed by hand

Chuck comes from the shoulder and has the fat and connective tissue a long, slow cook needs. Leaner cuts come out drier here. Cutting your own cubes from one roast keeps every piece the same cut, so they all finish at the same time. The comparison of chuck roast and pot roast below explains how those two names overlap.

Leftovers

The noodles keep drinking up broth in the fridge, so leftovers will be thick. Refrigerate them within two hours. Reheat on the stove or in the microwave with a splash of stock or water until steaming hot, 165 degrees F, rather than in the slow cooker.

Food safety

FSIS advises thawing meat completely before it goes into a slow cooker, refrigerating leftovers within two hours, and reheating them to 165 degrees F on the stove, in the microwave or in the oven, not in the slow cooker. The safe minimum for whole cuts of beef is 145 degrees F with a rest of at least 3 minutes; beef cooked until it falls apart passes that long before it is done. See the FSIS guidance on slow cookers and food safety and the FSIS Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart.