Many slow cooker recipes start off by telling you to fry and brown the meat first – for many this isn’t an option.  Whether you’re without a stove, or simply don’t have the time, you’ll be wondering if you can put raw beef steak in a slow cooker.

The short answer is Yes, you can.  I cook raw beef in my slow cooker all the time.  Beef steak cubes in a stew, beef mince, beef kebab meat, whole beef joints – they all go in raw.

There’s no need to add any water or liquid if you don’t want to – I often add liquid close to the end of the cooking, depending on whether I fancy more of a gravy or sauce with my meal.  The natural juices come out of the meat pretty quickly during cooking, meaning it’s not essential to add liquid from the beginning.

The photo above is 400 grams of cubed beef steak 5% fat – I’d expect this to serve 3-4 portions, depending what else I serve it with.  Most lookup charts will tell you that 175-225 grams of raw beef per person is a normal portion, making this pack two portions, but I couldn’t eat that much meat in one meal!  We’re all different.  If you’re a meat fanatic, 400 grams serves 2.  If you’re not bothered about meat, then it will serve 3-4 portions.

Lidl Pick of the Week Offers:

I bought this pack as one of the Lidl Special Offers, at £2.19 for a 400 gram pack of British beef.  Depending how many portions I end up using this in, that’s 55-73p per portion.

Since buying it, I’ve popped back and bought two more packs and frozen them for future use as beef stew is a favourite meal in the winter time, so it makes sense to have some ready to use.

Additional Ingredients: 

Once you’ve got your beef into the slow cooker, you can either add vegetables, or cooking sauces, to complete your meal!  All done and dusted, out of the kitchen …. and just stroll back 5-6 hours later to dinner 🙂