Slow Cooker Pepper Steak (Printable version)

Tender beef strips slow-cooked with bell peppers and a savory-sweet sauce for an effortless weeknight dinner.

# What You’ll Need:

→ Meat

01 - 1 1/2 lbs flank steak or sirloin, sliced into 1/4-inch strips

→ Produce

02 - 2 bell peppers (1 red, 1 green), cored and sliced into 1/4-inch strips
03 - 1 medium yellow onion, halved and sliced into 1/4-inch strips
04 - 3 cloves garlic, minced

→ Sauce

05 - 1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
06 - 1/3 cup beef broth
07 - 2 tablespoons brown sugar
08 - 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained
09 - 2 tablespoons cornstarch
10 - 2 tablespoons cold water

→ Seasonings

11 - 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
12 - 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
13 - 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

→ For Serving

14 - Cooked white rice
15 - Sliced green onions, for garnish

# How to Make It:

01 - Slice the flank steak or sirloin across the grain into 1/4-inch strips. Core and slice the bell peppers into 1/4-inch strips. Halve and slice the onion into similar-sized strips. Mince the garlic cloves. Place all of the prepared steak, bell peppers, onion, and garlic into the slow cooker insert.
02 - In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the low-sodium soy sauce, beef broth, brown sugar, diced tomatoes with their juices, freshly ground black pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes if using. Pour the sauce evenly over the steak and vegetables in the slow cooker.
03 - Gently stir the contents to combine, ensuring the meat and vegetables are well coated with the sauce. Cover the slow cooker with its lid and cook on the LOW setting for 6 hours, or until the beef is fork-tender and the peppers have softened.
04 - About 30 minutes before the cooking time is complete, whisk the cornstarch and cold water together in a small bowl to form a smooth slurry. Stir the slurry into the slow cooker, replace the lid, and allow the sauce to thicken over the remaining cook time.
05 - Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning with kosher salt as needed. Ladle the hot pepper steak over bowls of cooked white rice. Garnish with sliced green onions and serve immediately.

# Expert tips:

01 -
  • The sauce walks a perfect line between savory and sweet, and it soaks into the rice in a way that will make you go back for seconds without thinking twice.
  • Everything goes into the slow cooker raw, so there is no searing, no extra pans, and practically zero hands on time after the initial fifteen minutes of slicing.
02 -
  • Resist the urge to lift the lid and stir during cooking because every time you peek you let out trapped heat and add roughly thirty minutes to your cook time.
  • The cornstarch slurry must go in during the last thirty minutes, not earlier, because if it cooks too long the sauce will break down and become watery again.
03 -
  • Slice the beef while it is still partially frozen because firm meat gives you cleaner, thinner strips with far less effort and slipping.
  • If your sauce does not thicken enough after thirty minutes, let it cook with the lid off for the last ten minutes to help excess liquid evaporate naturally.

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