Best Cheap Beef Cuts for Slow Cooking

Best cuts of meat for slow cooking

Make the nearly of your dull cooker with these tips and recipes from our Selection kitchen adept

Final updated: 29 June 2021

Those chilly nights are closing in, so it's time for your slow cooker to step into the spotlight. The queen of user-friendly kitchen appliances, slow cookers are rightly celebrated for their 'prepare and forget' capabilities, and patient cooks will gleefully reap their rewards.

Slow cookers turn the most stubborn cuts of meat into succulent stews, comforting soups and wholesome dinners for the family that pack the goodness in. Basically, all you have to practice is throw in the ingredients and leave them to simmer away while you go about your day.

Slow cookers turn the most stubborn cuts of meat into succulent stews, comforting soups and wholesome dinners

CHOICE kitchen proficient Fiona Mair is a fan of this versatile kitchen-hand: "I would definitely recommend a slow cooker for a family or keen cooks and entertainers," she says. "Foods cooked in a slow cooker are great for batch cooking and freezing, plus you can apply cheaper cuts of meat and stretch out meals with legumes."

Here are Fiona'southward recommendation for some great-value cuts of meat that love to exist cooked low and slow in your cooker. Plus, we give you some delicious recipes to go y'all inspired.

1. Oyster blade steaks (for shredded chilli beefiness)

Oyster blade is a hard-working musculus that is institute below the shoulder blade. It has a strip of gristle that runs through the meat that can make information technology tough when grilled, so information technology'south perfect for slow cooking in dishes like a rich chilli beefiness. Available in supermarkets for about $15 per kg, you can usually buy it in steaks, or purchase a whole roast that yous tin dice or slice into steaks yourself for slow cooking.

Fiona's tip for cooking with this cut? "It's best to season and sear the meat first before wearisome cooking," she says. "If you're cooking a whole piece of beef, y'all can cook it on low for viii hours. If you utilize steaks, they'll need about 5-6 hours on high in the ho-hum cooker, they will become tender and like shooting fish in a barrel to shred with a fork."

Recipe: Shredded chilli beef

Ingredients

• 3 cups soaked dried borlotti beans (soak overnight, drain and rinse)
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1kg oyster blade steaks, cut into 2cm thick slices
• 2 large brown onions, thinly sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• one tablespoon ground coriander
• 1½ teaspoons paprika
• 800ml beef stock
• 2 fresh jalapeño chilli, seeded and finely chopped
• one bunch fresh coriander stalks, finely chopped
• 400g (1 can) diced tomatoes
• Table salt and black pepper, to gustation
• 2 bay leaves
• one agglomeration fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped
• Sour foam, to serve

Method

1. Oestrus the oil on medium/high heat in your dull cooker using the sear function, or in a frypan on your cooktop. Add together steaks and brown on both sides. Remove the meat, add together onions and garlic, fry until soft.
2. Add cayenne pepper, oregano, cumin, coriander and paprika. Melt for i minute.
3. Pour in the beef stock, bring to the boil. Add steak, onion and stock mixture to the slow cooker pan, fresh chilli, soaked beans, tomatoes, table salt and pepper and bay leaves.
4. Make sure the meat is pushed into the liquid. Cook in your tedious cooker for 5–half-dozen hours on high setting or eight hours at the low-heat setting.
5. Remove the meat from the slow cooker and gently shred the meat using a fork. If the sauce is too liquid, plow the slow cooker on high setting, with lid removed, for a farther 30 mins.
6. Return the shredded meat to the sauce, add together the coriander leaves and season to taste. Serve with rice and a dollop of sour cream.

2. Chuck steak (for beef goulash)

Chuck steak is probably the nearly economical cut of beef. The chuck is found effectually the neck and shoulder, then it contains some connective tissue and fatty that will melt down during long tiresome cooks and give your dish a rich, robust flavour. You tin can purchase it from supermarkets for most $15 per kg.

"It's best to cutting chuck into chunks equally it needs to be cooked well otherwise information technology tin be tough and hard to chew," says Fiona. "I like to use chuck in this beef goulash recipe."

Recipe: Beef goulash

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 onions, diced
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1kg chuck steak, cubed
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 1 x 440g can diced tomatoes
• ½ cup h2o
• 1 loving cup lycopersicon esculentum passata
• 1 greenish capsicum, cubed
• Common salt and pepper, to season
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• Cooked fettuccine or spätzle, to serve

Method

1. Add oil to a large frypan or a slow cooker with a sear function, heat on medium. Add onion and garlic, cook until softened. Transfer to the slow cooker.
2. Fry batches of chuck steak on high until browned well.
3. Add paprika, tomatoes, water, passata and capsicum to the last batch of browning the meat and bring to the boil. Cascade into the ho-hum cooker with the onions.
4. Cover with the lid and melt on high setting for 5-six hours or low for 8 hours. Season to taste, serve with sour cream and fettuccine or spätzle.

CHOICE tip: For amend flavour development, sear meats and cook off any spices before slow cooking. Some models of boring cooker let you lot sear in the slow cooker bowl, and some have a basin that can go straight on a stovetop. This means you won't need to utilize a frypan every bit well, cutting downward on washing up.

3. Silverside (for corned beefiness)

Silverside has a less-than-glamorous reputation, but give it a spin in your slow cooker, simmered slowly with veg and seasonings, and yous tin plough it into a classic, cornball corned beef that will rival the ane your Nanna used to make. And at about only $8 per kg, information technology'south excellent for upkeep dinners.

It gets its name from the shiny connective tissue attached to the cut. It comes from the outer part of the rear leg and sits between the knuckle and the topside to a higher place the shin. Because this cut is a muscle, it needs a moist, long, slow melt.

Purchase corned silverside from your butcher or supermarket in a whole slice (there is usually a layer of fat on one side that should be left on during cooking to keep the meat from drying out – it as well adds flavor).

Recipe: Corned beef

Ingredients (for five–6.5L capacity slow cooker or halve the ingredients for a three–3.5L capacity)

• 2kg slice corned silverside
• 1 large onion, peeled and halved
• ten peppercorns
• ii bay leaves
• two tablespoon brown sugar
• ¼ cup malt vinegar
• 1–i½50 water (roughly)
• Steamed carrots, potato and shredded cabbage, and parsley sauce, to serve

Method

1. Put the corned silverside into the dull cooker or multi cooker bowl (y'all may need to cut the silverside in one-half to sit down it flat in the basin).
2. Add the residual of the ingredients and pour over the h2o – simply plenty to achieve the top of the meat. Cover and cook on low for six–viii hours.

Choice tip: Slow-cooked corned beef is perfect for sandwiches. You lot tin can store it in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

A irksome-cooker makes lite work of wholesome family unit dinners, and needn't exist constantly watched.

4. Lamb shanks

Tender, fall-off-the-os lamb shanks are a winter menu must-have, and considering you lot tin pick them up for virtually $15 per kg from the supermarket, they're economical, too.

The shank comes from above the articulatio genus joint and below the leg. As it'southward a working muscle, shanks require a low and slow form of cooking to tenderise the meat. They're also great for the pressure cooker if y'all want to speed upward the process.

"Cooking meat on the bone actually boosts the flavour of your dish," says Fiona. "One time washed, the meat will exist so tender and will easily fall off the bone."

Recipe: Ho-hum-cooked lamb shank

Ingredients (for 5–six.5L capacity)

• four–6 lamb shanks, remove fatty and flavour with salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped
• one onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 sticks celery, finely chopped
• 1 loving cup chicken stock
• ½ cup ruby-red wine
• 1 tablespoon lycopersicon esculentum paste
• 1 tablespoon rosemary, chopped
• 1 tablespoon butter
• two teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Creamy mashed potato and steamed light-green vegetables, to serve

Method

1. Heat the oil in a frypan or sear function of your ho-hum cooker. Add the shanks and dark-brown on all sides. Remove from the rut.
2. Cook the garlic, carrots, onions and celery until lightly browned. Add the stock, vino, love apple paste, and rosemary, cook for 1 minute. Add together shanks and garlic wine mixture to the slow cooker. Make sure the shanks have enough liquid to cover, and add extra stock if needed.
3. Place the hat on the slow cooker and cook on high for 5–6 hours. To reduce the sauce, render the liquid to a pan and bring to a boil uncovered, until the liquid has been reduced and thickened slightly. Whisk in the butter, and then add the vinegar and season to gustation. Serve shanks with sauce, creamy mashed potato and green veg.

5. Ham hock (for pea and ham soup)

For the most flavoursome stews, soups and sauces, you can't look past a ham hock. The idea is to cook information technology in a stock and then it imparts all its lovely rich and smoky flavour, then discard the skin and pull the meat off the os to stir back into your dish.

This cut requires slow cooking every bit it'south a foot articulation, made upward mostly of tendons, ligaments and skin. In Deutschland, it'south known as pork knuckle and is typically eaten whole. The knuckle is cooked slowly in a stock, then it is roasted on a high heat to well-baked and chocolate-brown the peel, and served as a roast with cabbage and potatoes.

Fiona says: "Get the best ham hock y'all can find – you can get both fresh and cured ham hocks at your butcher, supermarkets and cafeteria from nigh $ten per kg. They should be small-scale, smoky and as fresh every bit possible."

Recipe: Pea and ham soup

Ingredients

• 1½ cups green split peas, rinsed
• two smoked ham hocks
• ii tablespoons olive oil
• 2 onions, peeled & diced
• 2 celery sticks, diced
• one carrot, diced
• 2L water
• 2 bay leaves
• Common salt and pepper, to season
• ¼ cup mint, finely chopped

Method

1. In a irksome cooker with sear function or in a frypan, estrus oil and fry onions, celery and diced carrot until vegetables are just tender.
2. Put peas and ham hocks with the cooked vegetables into the slow cooker, add h2o and bay leaves. Cook on low for viii hours or high for 6 hours until meat is tender and falling off the bone.
3. Remove ham hocks from the soup and discard the fat and bones. Chop the meat upwardly into minor pieces and return to the soup. Add mint and season to taste.

6. Borlotti beans (for vegan chilli)

We're big fans of irksome-cooked meat just legumes are likewise primed to do a star turn in your cooker. Try dried borlotti beans – they're the brown ones speckled with ruddy, they're super inexpensive (from well-nigh $4.75 per kilo), high in fibre and a proficient source of protein. And they make a hateful vegan chilli, adding a mild nutty flavour and a flossy consistency (don't forget the guac, salsa and corn chips).

We're big fans of slow-cooked meat just legumes are primed to practice a star turn in your cooker

Buy the dried beans from supermarkets, grocers or delis, and soak for at least 4 hours or overnight before adding to your slow cooker. Soaking the beans removes any anti–nutrients such every bit lectins and saponin that may block the absorption of nutrients into the torso and lower the nutritional value of the nutrient (soaked beans can be refrigerated for up to 2 days or you tin can also freeze them ready for the next repast).

Recipe: Vegetarian/vegan chilli beans

Ingredients

• three cups soaked dried borlotti beans (soak overnight, rinse and drain)
• 2 tablespoons actress-virgin olive oil
• 2 big brownish onions, thinly sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1 modest eggplant, chopped into 2cm cubes
• one zucchini, roughly chopped
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon stale oregano
• ane tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• 1½ teaspoons paprika
• two fresh jalapeño chilli, seeded and finely chopped
• 1 bunch fresh coriander stalks, finely chopped
• 800ml vegetable stock
• one x 400g tin diced tomatoes
• Table salt and black pepper, to taste
• 2 bay leaves
• ane agglomeration fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped
• Sour foam, corn chips, guacamole and salsa, to serve

Method

1. Oestrus the oil on medium-high oestrus in your slow cooker using the sear function, or in a frypan on your cooktop.
2. Fry the onions, garlic, eggplant and zucchini, until just soft.
3. Add together cayenne pepper, oregano, cumin, coriander and paprika. Melt for 1 minute.
4. Pour in the vegetable stock and bring to the boil. Add together mixture to the slow cooker pan with the fresh chilli, soaked beans, canned tomatoes, salt and pepper and bay leaves. Brand sure the ingredients are pushed into the liquid.
5. Melt in the slow cooker for 5–half dozen hours on loftier setting or 8 hours on low. If the sauce has as well much liquid, plough the boring cooker to high setting, remove the lid and melt for a further 30 minutes. Add the coriander leaves and flavor to taste. Serve with sour cream, corn chips, guacamole and salsa.

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Source: https://www.choice.com.au/home-and-living/kitchen/benchtop-cooking/articles/best-cuts-of-meat-to-use-in-a-slow-cooker

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