When I was pregnant with my oldest, I had this recipe for beef tips and gravy that I kind of became obsessed with. I was craving red meat and it really hit the spot, plus it was so easy (beef, onion soup mix, cream of mushroom soup, crock pot, done.) So I decided to remake it awhile back. Turns out it was not as delicious as I remembered it. I don’t know if it was the pregnancy talking or if my tastes have changed, but it tasted kind of like cafeteria food. And not those delicious peanut butter bars.
I set out to make a beef tips and gravy recipe that was almost as easy, but I wanted to do it without condensed soup. This ended up being an unnecessarily stressful element–I was all prepared to add stuff at the end to help bolster up the gravy, but it turns out that because of the flouring/searing/slow-cooking, we had just the magical amount of liquid and thickening agents for tender pieces of beef with flavorful mushrooms and then this perfect gravy. With literally no work after it was done. Totally my kind of dinner–the older my kids (heck, the older I) get, the more I hate the hour right before dinner.
So to get started, take out 2 pounds of beef stew meat (or cut up 2 pounds of something like London Broil). If you have any really large pieces, cut them into pieces that are a little more bite-sized.
Heat 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil in a large skillet or Dutch oven (I used our garlic olive oil). Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.
While the oil is heating, take 1/4 cup all-purpose flour and 1 teaspoon steak seasoning (I used McCormick Steak Mates Montreal seasoning)…
and combine them.
Shake the flour and seasoning together in a large Ziploc bag, then add the beef pieces, seal the bag, and shake it until they’re evenly coated.
When the oil is very hot, turn the heat all the way up to high. Add the floured beef pieces to the hot oil and sear them until they’re (mostly) well browned. You don’t want to cook the beef through, just get a nice sear on the edges of the meat, but because you’re dealing with a whole bunch of little pieces, that’s obviously not going to happen to every piece on every side. So just sear it for about 3-4 minutes.
Transfer the beef and scrape everything from the pan into your Crock Pot.
Take a medium onion and 4-5 cloves of garlic…
Chop the onion in half and peel it. Thinly slice it, then chop the garlic and toss them into the pot. Sprinkle with a packet of onion soup mix.
Add an 8-ounce package of sliced mushrooms (I’m using baby portobellos.)
Add in 1 cup beef broth…
and cook on low for 7-8 hours or high for 5-6 hours or until the beef is very tender. Stir in the red wine vinegar.
Serve over hot rice or egg noodles (homemade egg noodles, anyone?). Makes 6-8 servings.
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Beef Tips with Onion & Mushroom Gravy
Recipe by Our Best Bites
Ingredients:
2 pounds lean beef stew meat
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon steak seasoning (like McCormick Steak Mates Montreal Steak Seasoning)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, cut in half and sliced
1 8-ounce package sliced baby mushrooms (I used baby portobello mushrooms)
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 1-ounce package onion soup mix
1 cup beef broth
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
3-4 cups hot cooked rice or egg noodles
Instructions:
Heat the oil in a large skillet or stockpot over medium-high heat. While the oil is heating, toss the flour and steak seasoning together in a bag (like a roasting bag or a large zip-top bag). Add the beef and toss until evenly coated.
When the oil is hot, add the seasoned beef and cook for 3-4 minutes or until browned on all sides. Transfer the beef to a slow cooker. Add the onion, mushrooms, garlic, onion soup mix, and beef broth. Cook on low for 7-8 hours or until the beef is very tender. Add the vinegar and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve over hot rice or egg noodles. Makes 6-8 servings.
Questions & Reviews
Freaking delicious!!
Thank you for creating a recipe that didn’t require cream of mushroom.
Freaking delicious!!
Thank you for creating something that didn’t require cream of mushroom.
This was great all the items u have in a cupboard my husband thought he was getting regular steak he loved it it was a great and tasty change
I made this and it was the most amazing supper ever. WOW was that good.
Thank you so much for the recipe
I’m making this recipe for the second time today. It has turned into a family favorite and with 3 kids ranging from 6-18 that is saying a lot.It is so easy to make and delicious.
Do you know if this will be the same on high for 4 or 5 hours?
I might be too late to help you, but I just made this today. I did 5 hrs on high and it came out great! Hope yours turned out.
Just had to come back and say thanks for another keeper! We served this over mashed potatoes tonight and it was perfect for the chilly evening!
I made this for dinner last night. It is definitely going into my recipe rotation. My family loved it. I served it over yukon gold mashed potatoes. I used the broth to deglaze my skillet and followed the rest of the recipe exactly. It was fantastic. Thank you so much!
I made this for dinner last night and boy was it good!! My kids agreed. I used the broth to deglaze the dutch oven that I browned the beef in and used beefy onion soup mix b/c that’s what I had. I’m not sure how different that tastes instead of just plain onion soup mix but I’m guessing it’s not a whole lot. This is a keeper!!
Hooray!!! That makes me so happy!!
This looks so hearty and creamy and perfect!
I was actually going to make the original cream of mushroom soup recipe today, for the first time, when this popped up. I had all the ingredients for this and switched over. My family all loved it! I ended up serving it over mashed red potatoes.
Awesome!! I’m so glad!!
I love slow cooked beef or even just any beef and gravy. I going to double the recipe and freeze some. Thanks
Thank you for posting this- I have all the ingredients and was going to use them to com the same beef stroganoff that I always do. It’s delicious but I’m bored with it, so this will be a welcome change. Also, your photos are beautiful.
Thank you so much, Jessy! 🙂
This sounds incredibly delicious. I will be making this soon.
I used to use my crock-pot all the time years ago, and am falling in “love” with it all over again. This sounds like a great recipe to add to my collection. My husband likes to hunt and I have an abundance of elk stew meat in my freezer. I think this will be a great recipe to use with some of that.
YUM! I love me some beef and I LOOOVE tender beef cooked in a slow cooker. This is the perfect cold-weather recipe. I can’t wait to try it!
This looks delish. I will pick up a London broil today. For those of you on a low sodium diet Mrs. Dash makes packets of onion soup mix. I get mine from Salsa Express.com. All of her packets (taco seasoning, chile, etc) are good except the pot roast was disappointing. You can also Google Montreal steak seasoning recipes and just omit the salt. A combo of chile powder and lemon zest or juice will give you the salty flavor needed for this. Thanks for a great recipe. Love your blog.
Thank you for the tips. This looks delicious, but I worried about the salt as I am on a low sodium diet. I always buy low sodium broth, but didn’t know that Mrs. Dash made the onion soup mixes.
Thank you! I got a bunch of London Broil on sale a couple weeks ago and was clueless what to do with it!!
Yummo!
Yummm…the London broil is always the most reasonably priced cut of beef at the grocery store, but I was running out of ideas. Anything served over egg noodles has got me at “hello”. I would add that you probably can’t go wrong by using that cup of beef broth to deglaze the pan quickly after you dump the meat into the crock…just in case you got some good browning in there 🙂