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!
- Serve it over Instant Pot 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)
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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.
- 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.
My favorite recipe for the past few years. Meat is incredibly tender after slow cooking on this combination of liquids. Perfect over mashed potatoes.
My husband and all four kids (ages 2-14) loved this meal! I made it in the instant pot, and it was super easy! Definitely worth doubling and freezing half for later 😀
The balsamic beef is absolutely delicious! So tender and lots of flavor! I served it over cauliflower mash potatoes with green beans! Highly recommend!
I made this in the instant pot and it was so easy! It was flavorful and was enjoyed by entire family! We served it with cauli mashed potatoes and cut the red pepper flakes down for my kids. Highly recommend this recipe. It’s in our monthly routine.
One of our new favorite recipes. I usually make as directed, but last night I subbed chicken stock for the beef stock and used a pork roast. It was delicious, and I’m happy to have another pork roast recipe now!
This is one of my personal favorites. It’s so savory and delish.
Thanks, Holly! Glad it works well for you.
I love this recipe. I was always looking for different way to prepare a beef roast and this is it! I love it as is, my kids prefer a little less heat so I cut some of the red pepper flake. But it’s incredibly tender, juicy, and flavorful. Try it!
I love this no fail recipe! I have done it with beef roast in the instapot as well as with a venison roast in the crock pot. It comes out tender and a distinct flavor that you don’t get with just onion soup mix. A great change up.
I made this for dinner last night and it was delicious. I made it over the polenta and it was perfection!!!
Would this be good on Kings Hawaiian sweet rolls?
Ooo, I bet it would be yummy!
Guys!! you REALLY need to try this one!! It does NOT taste as easy as it is! I package it as a meal kit with Ore-Ida Steam & Mash potatoes… Such an easy meal to throw together, and seriously, comfort food on steroids!
What is in the picture underneath it? Is that polenta?
Yes, it’s polenta. 🙂
I have made this before and it was amazing. I want to make it again but I can’t see the recipe can you please help?
I’m so glad you said something! I made a revision yesterday that (for some unknown reason) made the recipe card not visible. It’s back now. Enjoy!
This is a recipe that you hold onto. Delicious with basic, identifiable ingredients. One of my top, if not top, slow cooker recipes.
That’s great to hear, Emily. Thanks for the feedback!
Husband claimed top ten of all meals I’ve ever made. He never offers compliments on meals but he sure was vocal about this one. Will make this again. Everyone loved it
That’s fantastic!
This was amazing! I made it for a party with some slider rolls. I don’t often eat meat and I couldn’t stop. Delicious!
We’re so glad you liked it and it worked well for your party!