Crock Pot Beef and Noodles
Crock Pot Beef and Noodles is inspired by a classic Midwestern dish. This one is so easy to make using chuck roast and egg noodles.
A COMFORTING CROCK POT MEAL
When I was researching this recipe, I found out, like any other classic dish, it has about a thousand different variations. But the base of all the recipes were similar: slow cooked beef in a thick broth with egg noodles. I figured that I could work with that so I took my base for Beef Stew and just built on that. And I cooked it all in the crock pot because I wanted that slow cooked, tender beef flavor. It turned out delicious!
TIPS FOR MAKING CROCK POT BEEF AND NOODLES
- Beef Broth can be substituted for the water and beef bouillon concentrate.
- The heavy cream is optional in this recipe but I think it adds a delicious creaminess to the final dish.
- Updated to add: I originally tested this recipe with Reame’s brand (12 ounce bag) frozen egg noodles. A lot of folks (not all – as you can see in the comments below) thought they ended up a bit “gummy” after cooking. So I went back to the drawing board and re-tested the recipe using dried homestyle egg noodles. You can usually find these where the other egg noodles are found in your grocery store. Be careful if using the no yolk or those types of egg noodles as they can easily over cook and fall apart. If you are using those, I would suggest boiling those separately and then just serving the meat mixture over them as you plate it up.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (FULL RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST)
- chuck roast
- steak seasoning
- salt and pepper
- onion
- minced garlic
- water
- Better than Bouillon (concentrated beef stock)
- Worcestershire sauce
- dried homestyle egg noodles (see image below)
- heavy cream (optional)
HOW TO MAKE CROCK POT BEEF AND NOODLES:
Season both sides of chuck roast with steak seasoning and salt and pepper. Rub it in well.
In a large skillet over high heat, add vegetable oil. I’m just doing this right in my Ninja cooker since it has a saute option.
Once oil is heated, add chuck roast. It should make a nice, loud sizzle when you put it in. Brown for about 2 minutes, then flip it over and brown the opposite side. Brown for a couple of minutes then turn off heat.
Transfer chuck roast to your 6 quart crock pot. Add in diced onion and minced garlic.
Cover crock pot and cook on low for about 6-8 hours. No additional liquid needs to be added. Do not lift the lid while cooking. Just set it and forget it!
After roast has cooked, pull it out and put it on a plate (leaving juices in the crockpot).
Begin shredding the beef, taking care to remove any excess fat bits. Place the shredded beef back into the crock pot.
In a bowl, whisk together the water, Better than Bouillon and Worcestershire sauce. Pour mixture into crock pot over beef.
Stir in egg noodles then cover crock pot and cook for an additional hour on low until noodles are fully cooked. Stir once or twice in the final hour of cooking to make sure all the noodles cook evenly and absorb the liquid. If mixture gets too thick and noodles aren’t quite done yet, add an additional 1/2 cup of water, gently stir and continue cooking.
Optional: During the last 15 minutes of cooking, stir in 1/2 cup heavy cream. This just adds a bit of creaminess to mixture but is not absolutely necessary for good taste.
CRAVING MORE RECIPES? GIVE THESE A TRY!
Originally published: February 2016
Updated & republished: January 2021
Crock Pot Beef and Noodles
Ingredients
- 1-2 pound chuck roast
- 2-3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 Tablespoon steak seasoning
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 medium onion, finely diced
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 4 cups water
- 4 teaspoons Better than Bouillon (concentrated beef stock)
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 16 ounce bag dried homestyle egg noodles (see my ingredient image in the post for reference)
- ½ cup heavy cream, optional
Instructions
- Season both sides of chuck roast with steak seasoning and salt & pepper. Rub it in well.
- In a large skillet over high heat, add vegetable oil.
- Once oil is heated, add chuck roast. It should make a nice, loud sizzle when you put it in.
- Brown for about 2 minutes, then flip it over and brown the opposite side.
- Brown for a couple of minutes then turn off heat.
- Transfer chuck roast to your 6 quart crock pot.
- Add in diced onion and minced garlic. No additional liquid needs to be added.
- Cover crock pot and cook on low for about 6-8 hours.
- After roast has cooked, pull it out and put it on a plate.
- Begin shredding the beef, taking care to remove any excess fat bits.
- Place the shredded beef back into the crock pot.
- In a bowl, whisk together the water, Better than Bouillon, Worcestershire sauce. Pour mixture into crock pot over beef.
- Gently stir in dried egg noodles.
- Cover crock pot and cook for an additional 30-60 minutes on low until noodles are fully cooked. NOTE: Different noodles may cook at different times. Keep an eye on your noodles. They may take less time to cook or may take a bit more.
- Gently stir once or twice in the final hour of cooking to make sure all the noodles cook evenly and absorb the liquid. NOTE: If mixture gets too thick and noodles aren't quite done yet, add an additional 1/2 cup of water or beef broth, gently stir and continue cooking.
- During the last 15 minutes of cooking, stir in the heavy cream. Then serve!
Notes
- Beef Broth can be substituted for the water and beef bouillon concentrate.
- The heavy cream is optional in this recipe but I think it adds a delicious creaminess to the final dish.
- Updated to add: I originally tested this recipe with Reame’s brand (12 ounce bag) frozen egg noodles. Some folks thought they ended up a bit “gummy” after cooking. So I went back to the drawing board and re-tested the recipe using dried homestyle egg noodles. You can usually find these where the other egg noodles are found in your grocery store (see my ingredient image above). If you can’t find them, just use whatever dried egg noodle you can find – just be sure to use about the same amount. These held up much better so my best advice is don’t go with the frozen and don’t cook the noodles so long that they start to fall apart and become mushy. Be careful if using the no yolk or those types of egg noodles as they can easily over cook and fall apart. If you are using those, I would suggest boiling those separately and then just serving the meat mixture over them as you plate it up.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
can i use a block of cream cheese instead of heavy cream?
I wish I would have read the comments before I added the noodles. It says an hour and when I chives after 30 minutes it was mush. I should have known it was too long. All tasted great until then so I’ll give this another shot at some point.
Life long Hoosier foodie. This recipe is on point. I did it in the instant pot – pressure cooked the meat and onions for 1 hour. Combined everything but the cream and pressure cooked for 10 minutes. Added the cream and cooked on high slow cook setting for 15 minutes. Came out awesome.
This recipe is spot on. Thanks! In my opinion the cream is not optional.
Thanks Pat! And I totally agree! 🙂
If you wanted to use the large bag of noodles, would you just double the liquid mixture? I’m cooking for harvest and need to have plenty! ???? I’m having to help in the field more, so if this is “approved” by the fam it will be a huge blessing! Thanks!
This recipe sounds great. We never put cream in it but I bet that would be good. However, you have to make the noodles from scratch. It’s not hard and it’s so much fun for the kids. They get flour every where.
Hi!! Brandie I am in the process of making beef an noodles right now. When we were kids we had mashed patatos or a couple slices of home made bread under the beef and noodles. A slice of bread then noodles, then another slice of bread and then more noodles. There we’re 8 of us in our family who enjoyed beef an noodles once a month.
I’ve read some of these other comments about how great this recipe was, but I have to disagree. This was by far the worst rendition of Beef and Noodles I’ve ever had. We followed the recipe exactly as written, and the frozen noodles added at the end made the dish inedible. Additionally, no amount added cream would help the flavor. In the end we had to go get take out.
I only added a bit of habanero to kick it up a notch! Fantastic meal!!!
Delicious! I used 3 lbs of stew meat. Seasoned with steak seasoning and a small diced onion. Cooked on low for 8 hrs. Added 4 cups of organic bone broth and 1 tsp. of better than bouillon (roasted beef flavor) and a few dashes of worcestershire sauce. Let that continue cooking, for about 30 minutes, then added the frozen egg noodles and let those cook on low an additional 90 minutes. Added fresh chopped parsley with 15 minutes to go…and the result was the best beef and noodles I have ever tasted. This made a lot with the 3 lbs of beef, but I have 3 containers, in my freezer, for later. Thank you, so much. This is now my go to for this entree!
Hi Stacey! Love how you made this recipe your own! Great job! And thanks for coming back to give your feedback 🙂
I am in the middle of making this. Roast is in crock as I am typing. Only thing that confused me is you have it that no added juices necessary when it was transferred to the crock. You don’t add any water here what so ever? I know the recipe lists 4 cups of water but it seems that is just being mixed with the beef stock stuff. Any clarification would be greatly appreciated! As I was confused I did put water in my crock with the roast.
I hope you got it figured out. I’m in the middle of making it also and added nothing as directed. guessing roast make a own juice as it cook? and then later adding liquid to make “sauce”. how did yours turn out?
The recipe is correct. No water is needed when cooking the roast. It will cook in its own juices. If you have a roast with not much fat on it, you could always add about 1/2-1 cup beef broth. The water that is added later is only needed for the noodles to cook in. Just make sure you are using the smaller (12 oz) bag of noodles – not the larger (26 oz) bag. That would be too many noodles and not enough water. Hope that helps!
Delicious! This recipe is going to be a keeper! Thank you for all your yummy recipes. I’ve tried and loved many of them.
Thanks so much Tina!!
I made this on Sunday and my family LOVED IT!!! Thanks for the great recipe.
Can you cook this on high in the crock pot for half the time? Or will it not come out as good?
One of my favorite meals. My son came from from college and he requested beef and noodles. My recipe is pretty similar to this one but I just cook it on top of the stove.. I always use reames noodles though….they are the best. I serve it over mashed potatoes with peas instead of corn. I like to have some fresh Italian bread too. Yes, it’s a lot of carbs but just work it off….you have to live life.
Hello,
First, thanks for this instructional recipe. I was wondering about the bouillon. Can a person use beef stock liquid instead? Is this the same, better or not as good taste wise? And what about salt content? I know I can get the low sodium beef stock. Does anyone know the comparisons of this bouillon compared to the low sodium beef stock liquid, on average? Also, anyone know or speculate what the green herb is that’s sprinkled on top?
Thanks, and I as well grew up on this, many times for Sunday dinner, and it was always served over homemade mashed potatoes. Nothing better in cold icey winters, here in Illinois! It’s one of those meals that has come out of those days of being able to put a meal on the table with just the bare or basics: meat, eggs, flour, (and potatoes for a lot of us. ???? Then you can use the milk or cream in the broth as well as the taters). I’m sure this is one of those meals that has been served to families for centuries. The great thing is it’s one of those meals that seems like it fills your soul along with your tummy, no matter whether it’s made with only the absolute bare basics or the smallest of additions, like in this wonderful recipe. It’s that good! For me? No matter how it’s made, it always reminds me of family and that’s a good meal any day. ????????
Can I add milk instead of cream?
Did we decide if you can use dry egg noodles? That’s all I have on hand!
Hi Kristine! I don’t see why not! Just watch the cooking time on them. The dry, thinner egg noodles won’t take as long to cook.
I’m from Nebraska. Yes over mashed potatoes and then corn. At 44 yrs old, it’s just for fun every great once in awhile! Hard not to add fresh parsley or anything like that! Anyone have a great home made Runza recipe???!!
Making this right now and it smells so good! Can’t wait to try the finished product
Indiana grown and our sides were peas and applesauce!
Mmmmm – that sounds good to me!
I have this cooking in my crockpot right now. Yum! If all I have is beef bouillon cubes, how many cubes do you think I should use? 2?? Thanks!
I would maybe use 3 or 4 but you can add a little at a time and taste. You want a concentrated beef flavor. 🙂
I served mine with coleslaw.
I just tasted the noodles (15 minutes left) and they are really mushy . i’ve had Reames many times before and they were more firm, less slimy. Are they overcooked or undercooked?
Hi Stacy! I’m so sorry. They do actually sound overcooked if they’re mushy. It’s so difficult to judge these days with slow cooker cooking times. Some run hot and cook super fast and some run at a lower temp and need more time. Sorry it didn’t work out right for you!
Stacy after reading your comment I kept an eye on mine and found I only need to cook the noodles 15 minutes total.
The meat was wonderful, the juice was good.