Whole30 Slow Cooker Balsamic Beef

This recipe is tasty. Not quite what I had envisioned (I had visions of sticky almost tart beef dancing in my head), but good. A great ‘cook once and use as the backbone for many meals’ recipe.

I’ve served over brussels sprouts, eaten straight of the container, and paired with mashed cauliflower this week – I’m also dying to try it as a “pizza” topper, as a “taco” filling, and with more and varied greens. Yum.

Whole30 Slow Cooker Balsamic Beef

Adapted from Balsamic Roast Beef by Add A Pinch – thanks go out to one of my husband’s Facebook friends who posted the recipe that got the obsession rolling

2-4 pound boneless beef roast (chuck or one of the rounds – I used top round)
1 cup beef broth (check your labels!)
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar (check your labels!)
2 Tbsp. Red Boat fish sauce
2 Tbsp. coconut aminos
1/2 a date, minced
6 cloves garlic, minced
Big pinch red pepper flakes

Plop your meat into a slow cooker. Combine all other ingredients and pour over top. Cook on High 4-8 hours. When your beef can shred with a fork, it’s done. Remove to a platter and go to town.

Place the cooking liquid into a pan and reduce by half for a nicely flavored gravy. Drizzle with extra balsamic before serving for an extra kick of taste. (and if you have some sticky aged balsamic? Heaven.)

4-8 hours? Can you be more specific? Here’s what happened: The original recipe calls for 4 hours on High or 6-8 hours on Low. This is the second time using my new crock pot and we weren’t sure if we needed to latch the lid down while cooking or if that would cause some sort of meatsplosion, so we left it unlatched. Came back 4 hours later and the meat was about half done. So we latched the lid and put it on for another 4. If you know how to operate your crock pot properly, I’d go with the original cooking directions and work from there.

Makes a bunch. I’ve gotten at least 2 dinners for two out of it + 3-4 lunches and I still have 1-2 days’ worth of lunch portions leftover.