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Slow Cooker Cube Steak with Mushroom Onion Gravy is comfort food in a slow cooker! Stop ignoring the cube steaks in your grocery store, you can now make it tender, falling-apart beef perfection!
Slow Cooking Cube Steak is the Best Method
There are tons of recipes on the internet that tells you to cook cube steak it in a frying pan for 10-15 minutes. Well, let me tell you that I’ve had shoe leather with every attempt I’ve made to fast cook those steaks, so that doesn’t really work, does it? I am of the opinion that there isn’t really a “fast fry” or minute steak that works out cooking it quickly. These steaks can also be labelled as minute steaks or fast fry. If you are buying the steaks at the grocery store, assume that they need to be treated as cube steaks. All of these types of steaks are thin and tenderized yet have never yields a tender result for me from fast frying them. Slow cooker cube steak is definitely the best way to go.
Cube Steak is Sometimes Labelled Minute Steak or Fast Fry Steak
Cube steak has to be cooked a long time in order to be tender and succulent, but if you have the time and the patience the reward is one amazing beef dish! That’s why this slow cooker cube steak recipe is the way to go. Cube steak tends to be a cheaper cut of meat to pick up and a lot of people ignore it as they fast fry it and wonder why it’s as tough as shoe leather. Let’s face it, when the grocery meat department labels them “fast fry”, what else are you supposed to think about the cooking methods? Technically, minute steak is supposed to be different. Cube steak is cut thin and tenderized with the distinctive cube shapes indented in it. Minute steak is cut thin and pounded. I have actually never bought a minute steak that was tenderized properly and I think the problem lies in the fact that butchers just pound on a piece of sirloin and call it minute steak.
What is cube steak?
- Cube steak is usually a top round or top sirloin steak that has been tenderized by pounding it with a meat tenderizer. Sirloin steak isn’t usually the best cut of meat for tender steaks, so tenderizing it and flattening helps with the cooking process.
- You might also find cube steak labeled as “minute steak” or “fast fry steak”. Those are thin pieces of tenderized steak that should be treated as cube steak for cooking purposes.
- The actual name of “cube steak” comes from the indentations that are left in the top of the steak from the tenderizer! You can see a meat tenderizer in action and see the 7 best meat tenderizers if you are interested in owning one or just learning about them! I think if you made a lot of jerky one of those machines would be awesome
Slow Cooker Cube Steak Tips and Tricks
- If you want a fork-tender steak, make sure that you take the time and go for the long and slow cooking method. It’s very hard to get a proper steak from the grocery store so err on the side of caution and don’t waste your money on cooking it fast and ending up with meat that’s as hard and tough as shoe leather.
- You have to braise the cube steak with a lot of moisture, the moisture is what helps it not dry out. Cube steak doesn’t have the fat running through it like blade or chuck steaks do so you have to compensate for that.
- The gravy and soup in this recipe can be switched out for low sodium, the choice is up to you.
- The garlic in this recipe is really important, try not to skip it in the recipe. I would add another 1/2 tsp for my liking but I’m Ukrainian, so of course I would!
- The soup and gravy are pretty high in salt so I didn’t add more salt to this recipe, I would salt it after.
Enjoy!
The Fast and Slow Cooking Team
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Slow Cooker Cube Steak with Mushroom Onion Gravy
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 8 hours
- Total Time
- 8 hours 10 minutes
- Course
- Main Course
- Cuisine
- American
- Servings
- 6
- Calories
- 459
- Equipment
- Slow Cooker
- Author
- Fast & Slow Cooking
Ingredients
Slow Cooker Cube Steak Ingredients
- 2-3 lbs cube steak 2-4 inch pieces
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 large white onion cut into large chunks
Slow Cooker Mushroom Sauce
- 1 10.5 oz can of cream of mushroom soup
- 1 .75 oz powdered mushroom gravy mix
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 10 oz can button or sliced mushrooms with brine
Instructions
- Whisk together the flour, salt and pepper and then place in a medium sized bowl. Place the canola oil in a large skillet or frying pan and heat the oil to medium high heat.
- Dredge the cube steak through the flour mixture, coating all sides. When the oil is heated Add in the onion and cook for 4-5 minutes. Add the cube steak to the frying pan. Fry all of the steak until it’s browned on all sides. .
- Spray your slow cooker inside with cooking spray. Place the cube steak and onions in the bottom of the slow cooker.
- In a large glass measuring cup whisk together all of the crockpot mushroom sauce ingredients until the gravy powder is mixed throughout and dissolved.
- Pour the mixture over the cube steaks and onions in the slow cooker. Place the lid on top of the slow cooker and cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 8-10.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information
All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
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