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.
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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.
I am from Southern Illinois never thought of making a roast with noodles. Roast, mashed pot, buttered corn and glazed carrots or roast, pot.,and onion and carrots all cooked in pot together in the oven at a low temperature all afternoon. But I do like noodles and cooked this in my oven. I used cluskie frozen noodles they are like homemade and very good. That’s it though not on mashed potatoes. I don’t like it on mashed potatoes. Without the noodles then with a gravy on top would be great also. Just my opinion.
Hello, I am making this recipe as I’m writing this comment, it is a little confusing about the minced garlic, at the top it says 1 tsp and add it with diced onions at beginning when putting in crock pot them at the bottom it says 2tsp and add it to liquid mixture to pour over roast after it has cooked in crock pot for 6-8 hrs???
Thanks!!! I will post an update after it’s done and we’ve eaten it!! But smells AMAZING!!
Good catch Lori! It actually will work both ways just fine but that was totally my good! Thanks for pointing it out!
Thanks!! And by the way, these were AMAZING!!! The only thing I added was a can of French onion soup when I 1st added roast to crockpot then 1 can cream of mushroom b4 roast was done cooking. I used Amish noodles from Kroger, they work great, we made them like a Manhattan on Hawaiian bread with mashed potatoes!!! Super delicious!!! Thanks so much for this awesome recipe!!! I will definitely be checking out your others!!!
I did use the dry noodles and not frozen. But it was very tasty.
Just made this for dinner ! Only thing I did different was to substitute 1 cup of red wine for the bouillon. I think next time I might add an extra bag of noodles. Yes, we did have mashed potatoes ! 😉
Perfection! I love your twist! Thanks so much for coming back to leave feedback!
My first time making beef and noodles the best I ever tasted don’t tell my mom but better than hers… I did use her homemade egg noodles.
My grandmother use to make Beef and Noodles for me when my family would travel 2 hours to get to her place. She knew I loved it. She made it in her pressure cooker. I can still taste it. It was so very rich and delicious!
Fort Wayne IN native son. The ONLY way to serve this is over mashed potatoes!!
The only variations are ~ should the corn on top or on the side 🙂
It is a “Hoosier thing”
Absolutely amazing! I served it over buttery mashed potatoes, so filling, I over did it. I would suggest a tsp less of the beef base, it is potent stuff! Great winter staple!!!
Beef roast, cut up celery, bay leaf, cut up onion, celery salt and cracked pepper. I don’t brown roast. Just simmer in 1 and 1/2 cups water until roast falls apart. Shred beef in large chunks. Remove bay leaf. Add package of good ol’ thick Indiana Amish noodles add water to cover and water as needed (Amish noodles are thirsty). Serve over fresh mashed potatoes. Sprinkle with celery salt to taste. Serve over mashed potatoes with a side of toasted herb bread. This is our naughty carb pleasure for fall / winter. Btw mashed potatoes freeze amazingly for more leftovers!
I think it is a Midwestern thing. I’m in Iowa and we always had it growing up. Now I notice it at restaurants and when it is offered at auctions, people line up to make sure they get it while there is still enough. If you served it with a salad, they would turn up their noses and say, “What? No corn?”
My husband made this last week and it was one of the best Crock Pot recipes I’ve ever eaten. I am craving it on a regular basis! Thanks for sharing.
Turned out great! Made it with a clearance $7 chuck roast and egg noodles. Turned on high after taking roast out and cooked for about 20 minutes.
I am planning on making this for my co workers and wanted to know If I could make it through the night / morning and then keep it on warm setting until lunch time without making the noodles soggy? Or what would you recommend?
Hi Kiersten! Ok, so here’s how you could do it. You can make the beef part ahead of time but not the noodles. The noodles will become a mushy mess. So you could boil the noodles and pretty much cook them until done. Then add them to your meat mixture maybe 30 minutes or so before serving so the noodles aren’t soggy. You can use regular egg noodles for this too.
Made this and it was absolutely delicious! However, once refrigerated and reheated on the stove the next day, it was wasn’t very soupy at all and more of just all stuck together. Any recommendations on getting it to its original consistency when reheating? Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!
Try adding some beef stock 1/2 cup at a time until your desired consistency. Hope this helps.
I have made this recipe now more than once and always comes great on and so easy ! Made it again today.
Surprised my wife and 4 kids with this meal and it was a huge success! I started late so cooked meat on high for 3 hrs then low for 1 before adding the rest. Turned out way better than I expected! Plated with a bit of salty butter on rolls 🙂
Love hearing that! So awesome – thanks so much Trav!
I made this and it came out really thin but still good.
I’m kind of newer at this. I made this last night and it was wonderful. Was I suppose to leave the juice from the beef and onions in the crockpot and to add the mixed liquids in as well ? Or empty crockpot and just add the new mixture in ?
Hi Graham – yes, just leave those yummy juices in the crock pot. 🙂
Brandie, may I ask….don’t the juices that are left have grease from the meat in it? Would there be a way to skim them off? My hubby does not care for anything greasy? Thank you.
Yes there will be a little. Honestly, I hate any kind of grease or gristle too. What little is in there gets reabsorbed into the meat and the noodles so you don’t get a great mouth feel. You can cut down on it by really trimming your meat before cooking. You could also run the juices through a fat separator before adding the shredded meat and noodles into the pot. Hope that helps!
Hi I grew up in Ohio & my Mom made the best beef & noodles. She didn’t have a crock pot so beef was made in oven. She also rolled out homemade noodles. When noodles were added to beef broth she added a can of Campbell’s Golden Mushroom soup. It gave it an extra depth of flavor. We also put the noodles over mashed potatoes! Delicious! I miss my Mom & I do make this from time to time. I’ll try your recipe soon.
What a precious memory Delores!! Thank you for sharing with me. Sounds like you had one amazing Momma!!
Great recipe! Made a few changes for personal likes. Increased cooking time to 1 1/2 hours and on high after adding the frozen noodles. Could be that my crock is not as hot on low. Also added 1/4 cup of flour shaken in 1/2 cup of water as a thicker. Thanks for the recipe. And yes with mashed potatoes.
Thank you so very much Brad! I really appreciate you coming back and taking the time to review!
I made this tonight- yummy! I substituted venison for the beef, and 1/2 and 1/2 for the cream, because that’s what I had on hand. And yes…. as a Hoosier I served it with mashed potatoes!
Yes! I love my Hoosiers! Ha! Love that you made it with what you had on hand!
I have 2lbs of stew meat I would like to use to make this. Should I add some liquid? I don’t know if stew meat will produce enough juices like a roast would. Thanks!
I was reading over the previous comments again and I saw you suggested adding some beef broth if the roast doesn’t have much fat so I’m definitely going to do that because I’m pretty sure my stew meat doesn’t have much fat on it.
I’m from Louisiana, home of gumbo, jambalya, and all things cajun, but my dad was from northeastern Kansas and this was one of his favorite meals. My grandmother taught me how to make the homemade egg noodles (which are best) for the dish one year during a visit up north and after that I made it for my dad every year for his birthday. It was always served over hot creamy mashed potatoes or it just didn’t taste right. He died in 2010 and I havent made it since. Thanks for reminding me about this old favorite, I think I’ll have to make a batch very soon.
I made this for dinner today and it was delicious and easy. Perfect for a cold winter’s day.
Can half and half be used instead of heavy cream?