This Slow Cooker Pepper Steak is an easy, family-friendly dinner made with tender beef and bell peppers. Minimal prep, ready when you get home, and perfect for serving over rice on a busy weeknight.
This Slow Cooker Pepper Steak is an easy, family-friendly crockpot dinner made with tender beef, sweet bell peppers, and a simple savory sauce. It’s the kind of meal we love on busy nights — minimal prep, no babysitting, and dinner is ready when you walk in the door.
If you like takeout style pepper steak, this slow cooker version gives you the same flavors with a softer, melt-in-your-mouth texture.
Why This Recipe Works:
As cattle farmers, we cook with every type of beef cut, and slow cooking is one of the easiest ways to turn affordable cuts into tender, flavorful meals. Typically, this recipe is made with sirloin steak, but stew meat works because it becomes tender in the slow cooker — it has collagen that breaks down during the long, slow cooking making it fork tender.
Ingredients:
- Beef: Sirloin, round steak, flank steak or stew meat
- White Onion
- Bell Peppers (any color)
- Can Stewed tomatoes with liquid 14.5 ounces
- Soy sauce, low sodium
- Worcestershire sauce
- Brown sugar
- Spices; garlic powder, ginger, black pepper, red pepper flakes (optional), salt
- Canola oil
- Cornstarch
- Water
How to make this slow cooker pepper steak recipe
Step 1: Prep Beef
- Slice beef into small strips. If you’re having any problems making the strips thin, you can place it in the freezer for about 15 minutes. This helps the meat firm up a little and makes it easier to get thin slices.
- Toss the beef with the spices in a large skillet and sauté it on all sides until lightly browned (optional step, but recommended for flavor).
Step 2: Add Everything to the Crockpot
- Add beef, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, ginger and red pepper flakes (optional) to slow cooker. Whisk soy sauce, Worcestershire, brown sugar, and cornstarch in a small bowl. Pour over hte beef and vegetables.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 5 to 6 hours or 3-4 hours on HIGH, until the beef is tender. For firmer peppers, add them in at the last hour.
What Type of Steak is Best for Slow Cooker Pepper Steak
We talk a lot about different types of beef cuts on our site. Pepper steak isn’t a specific beef cut. For slow cooking, the best cuts are those with natural marbling or connective tissue like stew meat, chuck roast, round steak, and sirloin steak (it’s leaner, but works well when slow cooked).
Farm Tip: Using Beef from Your Freezer
- Frozen beef can be sliced more easily when slightly firm. If you’re unable to get thin slices of beef, place in the freezer for 15 minutes, so it freezes slightly and then cut it.
- If using stew meat, be sure to cut the beef as evenly as possible in advance sot hat it will cook more evenly.
Store, Freeze and Reheat
- TO STORE: Place leftover steak in an airtight storage container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- TO REHEAT: Gently rewarm leftovers in a large skillet on the stove over medium-low heat. You can also reheat this dish in the microwave.
- TO FREEZE: Store pepper steak in an airtight freezer-safe storage container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Let thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
FAQ
Peppers release moisture as they cook. Add a cornstarch slurry in the last 10 minutes to thicken the sauce (See recipe notes).
Yes. This can be a “dump and go” crockpot recipe. It’s slightly less flavorful if you don’t brown the beef in advance, but it’s still very good.
More Beef and Bell Pepper Recipes
In our kitchen, bell peppers and beef go together like peanut butter and jelly. We are always combining them in recipes. Here are a few of our other favorite recipes with bell peppers and beef:
Slow Cooker Pepper Steak
Ingredients
- 2 pounds Sirloin steak, flank steak or stew meat* cut into 2 inch slices
- 1 Onion cut into ½-inch strips
- 3 Bell peppers. Any color – green, red, or yellow cored and cut into ½-inch strips
- 1 can Stewed tomatoes with liquid 14.5 ounces
- 2 tsp Garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/4 tsp Black pepper
- 2 Tbsp Cornstarch
- ¼ cup Water
- 1/4 cup Soy sauce, low sodium
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp Brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp Ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp Red pepper flakes optional. Add if you like dish to be a bit spicy.
- 1 tbsp Canola oil
Instructions
- Slice beef into small strips. If you're having any problems making the strips thin, you can place it in the freezer for about 15 minutes. This helps the meat firm up a little and makes it easier to get thin slices. Place sliced beef in bowl. Sprinkle beef with garlic powder, salt and black pepper. Toss to coat.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high. Add the beef and cook on all sides until the beef is lightly browned, about 3-5 minutes. Transfer the beef and any cooking juices to slow cooker. (Note: This step is for flavor, and can be skipped if you're in a hurry. However, we don't recommend skipping it since it will add more flavor to the dish if you brown the beef first)
- Add tomatoes, onions, and bell peppers to slow cooker. *(See note on bell peppers below)
- In a small bowl, mix water, cornstarch, soy sauce, ground ginger, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar and red pepper flakes (optional). Pour over beef and pepper mixture in crockpot.
- Stir to combine.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 5 to 6 hours, until the beef is tender, or on high for 2.5-3 hours. Prior to serving, determine if you want a thicker sauce. If so, see note*
- Serve hot over white rice, brown rice, cauliflower rice or egg noodles
Notes
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Here are a few other links you may like:
- Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef
- Easy Slow Cooker Pot Roast
- Ground Beef and Asparagus Pasta Toss
- Easy Chimichurri Sauce
- What everybody ought to know about beef cuts
- Homemade dry rub (the secret 8:3:1:1 ratio)
- Defrosting Meat: 4 Safe & Easy Ways
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You forgot to add ginger, and red pepper flakes. Is it browned with the meat? Or in the bowl mixture??
You forgot to put in the instructions where to add the ginger.