Slow Cooker Balsamic Shredded Beef
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Slow Cooker Shredded Balsamic Beef might be the easiest and very best slow cooker meal I’ve ever made for my family. You simply can’t beat the aroma of slow cooked chuck roast. It’s one of the best dump-and-go meals you’ll find!
Reasons You’ll Love This Recipe
- Everyone, from preschoolers to adults, devours this tender, flavorful dinner at our house.
- Impressive enough to serve for Christmas dinner or birthday dinner.
- Like our Slow Cooker Short Ribs recipe, it’s a dump and go slow cooker meal. Perfect to put in the Crock Pot at the beginning of the day!
- It’s freezer friendly. Double and freeze one for your future self!
- It’s high in protein with 21 grams per serving. We explain how important protein is in our Round up of High Protein Slow Cooker recipes.
- Serve it over Boursin Mashed Potatoes, Healthy Mashed Potatoes, or polenta (pictured) which are perfect for all that extra sauce left in the crockpot.
- Use the leftover shredded beef on Bread Machine Wheat Rolls as “french dip” sandwiches the next night. Again, a huge win!
Ingredients You’ll Need
These are the flavor-enhancing ingredients that you’ll need for this dump-and-go slow cooker meal…
- Beef broth – If you don’t have this on hand, chicken broth will work.
- Balsamic vinegar – This is a key ingredient that adds a slightly sweet, acidic note.
- Soy sauce – Use low sodium soy sauce, because you can also add salt at the end if needed (but you can’t take it out). Gluten-free option: Use coconut aminos or gluten-free Tamari Soy Sauce.
- Honey – Adds a little sweetness to balance out the salt and acid.
- Garlic – I just used minced garlic from the store to save time.
- Boneless roast beef – Look for a beef roast with some marbling throughout, which adds a lot of flavor. Chuck or round roast works well.
How to Make Balsamic Shredded Beef
Add Ingredients to Crock Pot
Put roast beef into slow cooker and season with Kosher salt and pepper on all sides. In a small bowl, mix together all remaining ingredients. Pour over roast beef.
Slow Cook the Beef
Place a lid on top and cook on LOW for at least 8 hours, until the beef easily shreds.
Shred and Serve
Use two forks to shred the roast. Stir into the sauce and serve warm.
How to Serve Balsamic Shredded Beef
Here are a few ideas of how to serve this savory-sweet Shredded Beef:
- Serve over Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes, Cream Cheesy Mashed Sweet Potatoes, or polenta (as pictured), and drizzle the juices from the cooker over it all.
- Use the meat for mini sandwiches on rolls. Put the au jus (leftover juices) from the cooker in small ramekins for dipping…like Crockpot French Dip!
- Serve with our Microwave Corn on the Cob or our Baby Boiled Potatoes.
How to Freeze Slow Cooker Shredded Beef
This recipe works great to prep ahead and freeze, so you may want to cook two roasts at once in a large crockpot. It should take about the same amount of time. Cook until they shred easily.
Here are two methods for turning this into a freezer meal:
Method 1: Uncooked
To Freeze: Place all ingredients together in a freezer-friendly plastic bag and freeze. To prepare, let bag thaw in refrigerator for 24 hours.
To Prepare: After thawed, cook as directed.
Method 2: Fully Cooked
To Freeze: Fully cook the meal (through Step #4). Let it cool completely. (Safety Note: Do not let the meat sit on the counter more than 2 hours.) Store meat and sauce in a freezer container or freezer bag after it’s cooled completely.
To Prepare: There are at least three safe ways to defrost and warm up this meal.
- Let meat thaw in the fridge for 24-48 hours and then warm gently on the stovetop or in the microwave. (This is the preferred method.)
- From frozen on stovetop: Place the frozen meat and sauce on the stovetop in a pot over medium-low heat. Dump 1 cup of water or beef broth over the top. Put a lid on and stir periodically until warmed through.
- From frozen in microwave: Place frozen meat and sauce in a microwave-safe bowl. Use the DEFROST setting to thaw, stirring occasionally. Then heat in the microwave on the COOK setting in 30-60 second increments until warmed through.
Recipe FAQs
Chuck roast is a popular choice because it turns out so tender when slow cooked. Brisket, rump roast, and short ribs would also work.
In our tests, we didn’t notice a significant enough difference in the end result to justify the time and mess it takes to sear the beef.
No, the USDA says it’s not safe to cook a frozen roast in a slow cooker. It will sit in the “danger zone” temperature where bacteria grows at a rapid pace for too long. It’s important to thaw the roast in the refrigerator for about 2 days ahead of time first.
Can You Make Shredded Beef in the Instant Pot?
You bet! Just follow the instructions in the recipe below but make the following changes:
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- Cut the beef into 2×2 pieces.
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- Place the beef and the sauce in a 6-quart Instant Pot. Lock and seal the lid. Cook at high pressure for 30 minutes. Allow the pressure to release naturally for 10+ minutes.
If you want to know how to convert other recipes to the Instant Pot, be sure to download our Instant Pot Cooking Times Chart.
We also have a cookbook that gives slow cooker AND Instant Pot instructions for EVERY recipe. You can check out From Freezer to Cooker here.
More Dump-and-Go Recipes
If you like this easy crockpot recipe, be sure to try a few of these favorites.
Did you make this? Snap a photo and tag us on Instagram at @thrivinghome so we can see your creations and cheer you on!
Slow Cooker Balsamic Shredded Beef
Slow cooker balsamic shredded beef is packed full of flavor and oh-so-easy to savor. So. Good.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 – 3 pound boneless beef chuck roast
- Kosher salt and pepper
- 1 cup beef broth (or sub chicken stock)
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce (Gluten-free option: Use coconut aminos or gluten-free Tamari Soy Sauce)
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (increase if you want more heat)
Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Instructions
Make It Now:
- Put roast beef into slow cooker and season with Kosher salt and pepper on all sides.
- In a small bowl, mix together all remaining ingredients. Pour over roast beef.
- Slow cook on LOW for about 8 hours, or until meat easily shreds apart.
- Using two large forks, shred the meat apart in the slow cooker.
- Serve meat warm on top of mashed potatoes or polenta (pictured). Alternatively, serve on a bun or ciabatta roll with sauce on the side for dipping, like French Dip Sandwiches.
Freeze For Later:
Method 1: Uncooked
To Freeze: Place all ingredients together in a freezer-friendly plastic bag and freeze. To prepare, let bag thaw in refrigerator for 24 hours.
To Prepare: Thaw in the fridge overnight and then cook as directed.
Method 2: Fully Cooked
To freeze: Fully cook the meal (through Step #4). Let it cool completely. (Safety Note: Do not let the meat sit on the counter for more than 2 hours.) Store meat and sauce in a freezer-safe container after it’s cooled completely.
To thaw: Use one of these safe thawing methods and then warm on the stove over low heat or in the microwave.
Notes/Tips
- Instant Pot Instructions: Cut the beef into 2×2 pieces, and place the beef and sauce in a 6-quart Instant Pot. Lock and seal the lid. Cook at high pressure for 30 minutes. Allow the pressure to release naturally for 10+ minutes.
- To Thicken the Sauce: If you’d like to thicken up the sauce at the end, here’s how. After removing the cooked roast to shred it, turn the slow cooker to HIGH. In a small bowl, stir together 2 tablespoons cornstarch with 2 tablespoons water until smooth. Whisk that into the sauce in the slow cooker, cover, and cook for about 30 minutes or until thickened. (For the instant pot, turn on the Saute function after removing the cooked roast and whisk in the cornstarch slurry. It should thicken up in 1-2 minutes.)
- Gluten-Free Version: Replace the soy sauce with coconut aminos or gluten-free Tamari soy sauce.
- Storage Tip: A great way to store this freezer meal or leftovers is in our favorite freezer meal containers. Either store in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer for 3 months.
- Where We Get Our Beef: We get our beef from ButcherBox. The beef is grass-fed and curated from trusted farms. We highly recommend this service to source healthy meat–like uncured bacon, chicken, and wild salmon–and have used it for years ourselves.
- We also have a similar recipes for Slow Cooker Short Ribs and Crock Pot Beef Bourguignon.
I tried it last week, and it worked beautifully! I didn’t change anything except the meat (pork cushion) and cooked on low around 9 hours. The cushion is slightly less fatty than shoulder, but it was still tender and flavorful. I made 6X the amount (in two slow cookers) for a large group of guests, and many commented on how good it was. We had a little left over, and it was just as good the next day. Thank you for a winner!
Great news! Thanks for reporting back and letting us know how it turned out. I’m sure others would like to try this using pork as well. So glad it was well-received. 6x any recipe is quite a feat!
This is a wonderful recipe that I have made several times with success and great reviews each time. Thank you for sharing it! As beef prices rise, I’m wondering about substituting a pork cut. Do you think anything would need to be adjusted to compensate for the pork flavor? I have pork cushion I would like to try and would appreciate any suggestions.
Hi there. This is a great question that got me doing some research. I looked at The Flavor Bible (my go-to culinary resource for flavor combos) and America’s Test Kitchen site and confirmed that these flavors will all work well together with pork. I haven’t slow cooked pork cushion before, but it sounds much like pork shoulder so it should do really well all day on low in the slow cooker (8+ hours). Please report back the results. I’d love to know what you think!
This was so delicious and so easy! Highly recommend – the entire family loved it. Thanks!
Love to hear this. Thank you for the kind words Mary!
If I could give this more than 5 stars I would. Easy, flavorful and so delicious. Made it with potatoes and added boursin garlic/herb cheese. Definitely will make this on repeat.
Wonderful! So glad you enjoyed this Angie. Thanks for taking the time to leave a review!
Great flavor! I could drink the sauce, it’s so good. Served it french dip style on rolls. Will definitely make again!
So glad you enjoyed this Lori! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review.
Hi! I made this recipe and the “sauce” is very thin. It’s soupy. Should add cornstarch to thicken it should it be thin? Thank you!
Good question. You can certainly add in a cornstarch slurry at the end to thicken it up. I will add these directions to the cooking notes but here’s how to do that: After removing the cooked roast to shred it, turn the slow cooker to HIGH. In a small bowl, stir together 2 tablespoons cornstarch with 2 tablespoons water until smooth. Whisk that into the sauce in the slow cooker, cover, and cook for about 30 minutes or until thickened. (For the instant pot, turn on the Saute function at the end and whisk in the cornstarch slurry. It should thicken up in 1-2 minutes.) I hope that helps!