Crock Pot Beef and Noodles is a very simple and hearty dinner that will fill up the whole family. It is the perfect slow cooker meal for a busy weeknight.
When you are looking for something to make dinner time easier, nothing is quite as handy as the slow cooker. I love wrapping up my busy days with a dinner that was made in the morning and just needs a few finishing touches before meal time.
This Slow Cooker Beef and Noodle recipe is warm and filling, total comfort food. Our whole family enjoyed this recipe! If you are looking for a lighter stovetop version, try this Beef and Noodles recipe.
Love, love, love!!! I will NEVER cook pot roast on high heat in a crockpot again. The flavors are melt in your mouth! This is so amazing , my dog guarded the kitchen, seriously!
How to Make Crock Pot Beef and Noodles
- Combine Cooking Liquid: In the base of the slow Coker combine the beef stock, wine and seasonings.
- Add the Beef and Cook: Put the chuck roast into the liquid and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.
- Shred the Beef: At the end of the cook time (don’t let your slow cooker turn to warm, just extend the time on the low setting), remove the beef, shred it, and discard any large pieces of fat. Return the beef to the slow cooker.
- Cook the Noodles: Turn the slow cooker to high and add the egg noodles. Cook on high for 45 minutes to an hour, stirring occasionally.
- Adjust Seasonings: Taste and add more salt and pepper as needed.
Why Cook on Low
Very often, slow cooker recipes will give you a range of how long to cook the recipe if you cook on high and how long to cook it on low. With this recipe it would be 4 hours on high and 8 to 10 hours on low. (You will need additional time after that for the noodles.)
While that will work, I would like to suggest that with chuck roast recipes, they are much more tender when cooked on low. Traditionally they were braised over a low flame for hours. The beauty of the slow cooker is being able to do that long low cooking while walking away from it, leaving your beef incredibly tender.
Note that the range is 8 to 10 hours. While it only needs 8 hours, it will be fine if you need to leave it for 10. The key here is not to let your slow cooker temperature lower by flipping to the “keep warm” setting before putting in the noodles, so set it for a longer time if necessary.
What Beef to Use
For this recipe we are using a chuck roast. It is very well marbled, which means that it falls apart after low cooking. It is a perfect, affordable, cut for a recipe like this.
Replacing the Wine
This recipe calls for a little bit of red wine. It adds a nice depth of flavor. If your family doesn’t drink red wine regularly, you can buy a four pack of small bottles. That way you are not opening an entire bottle just for this recipe.
If your family does not ever cook with alcohol, you can replace the wine with additional beef stock. I do not recommend just leaving the liquid out, as it is necessary for cooking the noodles.
Using Other Noodles
This recipe calls for 16 ounces of frozen egg noodles. If your family does not like egg noodles, you could use 2 cups of dry noodles – much in the way we do with my Crockpot Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup. Cook on high as written, but check the doneness of the noodles after 30 minutes rather than waiting 45 minutes.
A Note on Salt
Beef stock varies greatly in it’s salt content. This recipe is seasoned on the low end. You will likely need to taste it and season it with more salt and pepper at the end of cooking.
What to Serve with Slow Cooker Beef and Noodles
This dish is very hearty, making it perfect for smaller portions with a sides of vegetables.
If you make this Crock Pot Beef and Noodles, leave me a comment and let me know what you think! I love hearing from you.
Crockpot Beef and Noodles
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups beef broth
- 1/2 cup red wine If you don't cook with wine, read here about replacing it.
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 – 3 pound chuck roast
- 16 ounces frozen egg noodles (add them right from the freezer to the slow cooker)
Instructions
- In the base of a slow cooker combine the beef broth, red wine, garlic, onion powder, salt, oregano, thyme, parsley, and black pepper.
- Add the chuck roast and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours. (The roast will be done after 8 hours, but if you need to leave it for 10, that is fine. Make sure that it does not switch to the warm setting as it needs to have its heat high to cook the noodles in the next step.) Read here about why I prefer to cook this recipe on the low setting.
- At the end of the 8 hours, remove the beef from the slow cooker. Shred it and remove any large pieces of fat, discarding them. Return the beef to the slow cooker. add in the egg noodles and cook on high for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the noodles are tender. Stir occasionally so the noodles do not stick to the side of the slow cooker.
- Add in the egg noodles, stirring so they are fully covered by liquid, and cook on high for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the noodles are tender. Stir occasionally so the noodles do not stick to the side of the slow cooker.
- Taste and add more salt and pepper to taste. This dish was intentionally seasoned only lightly with salt as sodium varies greatly in beef stock. It is likely you will need an additionaly 1/2 to 1 teaspoon kosher salt and a touch more black pepper.
- Serve and enjoy!
Dawn Gravel says
What if I decide to make my own egg noodles?
I haven’t tried this with homemade egg noodles, but they would need less time once added to the slow cooker. I would keep a close eye on them to make sure they don’t over cook.
Lisa says
Any idea if this could be done in the Instant Pot?
We haven’t tried this one in the Instant Pot yet.
Susie Ritchey says
What kind of red wine do you suggest?
Anything you would drink would be great in this. I especially like a Cab or a Pinot Noir. Stay away from things labeled “cooking wine.” And don’t break the bank. An inexpensive wine will be perfectly delicious in this.
Trish Peterson says
Love, love, love!!! I will NEVER cook pot roast on high heat in a crockpot again. The flavors are melt in your mouth! This is so amazing , my dog guarded the kitchen, seriously!
I’m so happy that you enjoyed this so much! Thank you for taking the time to come back and let me know!
Margaret says
Husband loved it.. I used dry noodles as he wanted flat ones. It was a childhood comfort meal on a cold evening.
I’m so glad this was a hit!