My Absolute Favorite Beef Crock Pot Recipe (Beef with Brown Sugar Worcestershire Sauce and Corn-Free Polenta)

I love using the crock pot, especially in the summer. It uses so much less energy than the oven and doesn't heat up the whole kitchen. One of my all-time favorite recipes is Beef with Brown Sugar Worcestershire Sauce. I love the combination of flavors in the sauce. If you want it spicy, increase the chipotle powder a little, or use cayenne pepper instead. It really doesn't take much to make it incredibly spicy though. After my disappointing phone call to Lee and Perrins, I'm now making this recipe with my Homemade Worcestershire Sauce.

I started with Emeril's Beef Short Ribs with Cheddar Polenta and modified the recipe to make it in the crock pot, adjusted the seasonings and added broccoli. We've made this recipe will beef short ribs, stew meat, and roasts. Short ribs are our least favorite. It's harder to get the meat off the bone and it tends to make the sauce pretty greasy. My favorite is stew meat since it's already cut into cubes. Any type of beef roast is great too. This meal makes excellent leftovers too. 

Since Tommy is allergic to corn and dairy, I've made my own recipe for a Corn-Free Polenta. Ground hulled millet acts very similar to coarse cornmeal. I use the milling blade on my Baby Bullet. The final texture is a little chewier/coarser than a traditional polenta, but it sure makes a great substitute for traditional polenta. The polenta can easily be vegan if you use a vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. 

I made this recipe two weeks ago, but the night we were going to eat it we wound up buying a last minute climbing rope in Salt Lake City and ate out instead. I brought the beef on our camping trip. I reheated the beef and sauce mixture on our camping stove and then made the polenta fresh at the campsite with millet I ground at home. OMG, it was definitely the best meal I've ever had camping. It made a ton, but there were no leftovers. I forgot to take any pictures, but it was so good I decided to make it again this week. 

Flash forward to this week, and once again our dinner was postponed. I had the beef going for several hours in the crock pot and then we heard from a friend that he was in town and invited us to join him out to dinner. So once again, the cooked beef went into the fridge for the next day. So I'm 0 for 2 recently on eating this the day I cooked it. Good thing it's even better the next day. 

Beef in Brown Sugar Worcestershire Sauce

2-3 lb beef roast or stew meat
2 medium onions, sliced
2 cups water
6 Tbsp brown sugar
6 Tbsp Homemade Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp coconut aminos or gluten free soy sauce
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chipotle powder
1/2 tsp smoke paprika
3 medium heads of broccoli, cut into florets

1. Optional: Line crock pot with crock pot liner.
2. Add the beef to the bottom of the crock pot. Top with the onions. 
3. In a medium bowl, combine the remaining ingredients except for the broccoli. Stir until combined. Pour the sauce over the beef and onions.
4. Cover and cook on low for 7 hours.
5. Add the broccoli to the crock pot, cover and cook on low for another hour. Serve over mashed potatoes or Corn-Free Polenta.

Corn-Free Polenta

1 1/2 cups hulled millet
2 cans chicken broth
1 can full fat coconut milk
Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Pour the hulled millet into a medium saucepan. Run your fingers through the millet to look for any rocks. In batches, grind the millet into a powder using the milling blade of a Baby Bullet, a coffee grinder, or a powerful blender.
2. Add the ground millet, broth and coconut milk to the saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat and simmer, whisking frequently until the polenta is thickened and the millet no longer tastes raw.
3. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Carolina BBQ

Ben's family has a beach house out in the Outer Banks, North Carolina. It has been such an amazing place for his family to get together and for all the cousins to really get to know each other. One of my absolute favorite foods out at the beach is Carolina BBQ pulled pork. This is North Carolina style, so it's a runny, vinegar based tomato sauce. It is NOT the South Carolina BBQ style mustard based sauce.

Years ago Ben's mom and aunt put together a family cookbook of all their favorite family recipes. One of those was for homemade Carolina BBQ. I've kept pretty close to that original recipe for the pork, but over the years I've come up with my own sauce recipe. I never measure the spices for the dry rub. Generally I use more paprika and lighter on the chipotle/cayenne pepper. That's a personal preference so it's not too spicy for Tommy.

I love making it in the crock pot. Be careful that you don't buy a roast too big for your crock pot. It's a pain to trim it down, especially if it has bones. I like picnic roasts or Boston Butt. Ideally you want something with a lot of fat and bone-in. One time I made pulled pork with a small pork tenderloin roast and the pork was so dry it was almost inedible. Basically I buy the cheapest large pork roast I can find. Costco has some great ones. The packages at our Costco are huge, but each one contains two roasts, so I freeze one for later.

There's a little BBQ hut in the town of Corolla, NC called Corolla Village BBQ that is sooooo good. The restaurant is little more than a walk-up counter and some picnic benches, but they sure make tasty food. Just a word of warning, you may insult the owner if you ask for a lot of extra sauce. Apparently we have a very different opinions on how much sauce a Carolina BBQ sandwich needs.

My sauce recipe is based on Corolla Village BBQ's. It's sour, sweet and a little spicy. If you want more heat, add more crushed red pepper flakes. Or make the sauce in advance and let it sit in the fridge for a week. Over time the sauce gets hotter. You can make a larger batch of the sauce and can it for later (water boil method pints for 10 minutes at sea level, 20 min in Utah). If you can the sauce, be sure to stir it frequently when you're filling the jars otherwise the pepper will all settle to the bottom.

We love this stuff. So do our friends. I am not ashamed to admit I have used this pork recipe multiple times to bribe people into coming over to help us move furniture. 

According to Ben, this is the way to make a Carolina BBQ sandwich. First comes the bottom of a hamburger bun, then a pile of pork, more sauce, creamy coleslaw and then the top of the bun. I don't care for creamy coleslaw, so I make my own slaw with the shredded cabbage and the Carolina BBQ sauce. I'll even share with you guys my recipe for Creamy Coleslaw. 

Carolina BBQ

4-8 lb Pork Roast (Picnic/Shoulder/Boston Butt)
Paprika
Smoked Paprika
Ground Black Pepper
Ground Chipotle Pepper or Cayenne Pepper
(Optional) Liquid Smoke
(Optional) Crock Pot Liner

1. Optional: Line crock pot with a Crock Pot Liner.
2. Sprinkle spices and a few dashes of liquid smoke onto the meatier side of the roast and rub in.
3. Place roast in the crock pot, fat side up. Add more spices and liquid smoke, rubbing into the meat.
4. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.
5. Shred the pork removing the fat, bones and connective tissue.
6. Stir in some Carolina BBQ Sauce.

Carolina BBQ Sauce

2 cups apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup ketchup
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 Tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1. Combine all ingredients in medium saucepan. 
2. Heat over medium heat, whisking frequently until the sugar dissolves.

 Creamy Coleslaw

Shredded Cabbage or Prepackaged Coleslaw
Hidden Valley Coleslaw Dressing

Mix the coleslaw with the dressing. Start by adding a couple tablespoons of the dressing for a good sized bowl of coleslaw. Add more dressing to get to the consistency you want.

Yup, we use bottled Coleslaw Dressing. Ben has made his own dressing a few times from scratch using plain yogurt, but usually we just use the bottled stuff.

Asian Style Crock Pot Chicken and Spaghetti Squash

I'd like to experiment more with spaghetti squash. It's a great low calorie alternative to wheat pasta and Tommy can eat it. Win win. Today I'm trying Chicken Chow Mein in the crock pot. I'm going to the gym after Ben gets home from work, so I wanted something that I could get going before I left. 

Well, I think the squash may have been a little over cooked. It turned more into a mixture of veggies with an asian style sauce. The first attempt I made at the sauce was a little bland and runny, so I added some starch and more soy sauce and sesame oil. The final result was delicious, even though it really doesn't resemble chow mein at all. So I think this dish is better titled "Asian Style Crock Pot Chicken and Spaghetti Squash". We served it with chili garlic sauce to taste at the table for a little extra spice. 

Tommy liked the chicken but didn't care for the squash. When I was younger, I wouldn't eat something if there was "food touching food." Sadly I think Tommy might be entering that phase. That doesn't mesh well with my love of stir fries and one pot dishes.  I hope it's a short lived phase...

Asian Style Crock Pot Chicken and Spaghetti Squash

6 Servings

1 spaghetti squash
1/2 medium onion, diced
5 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup gluten free soy sauce
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp ground ginger
3 tsp sesame oil
2 lbs frozen chicken tenderloins
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 bunch green onions, sliced
1 Tbsp potato starch
(Optional) Chili garlic sauce to taste

1. Wash the spaghetti squash and pierce multiple times with a knife. Place the squash in a large crock pot. Add the carrots and onion to the crock pot.
2. Combine the chicken stock through sesame oil. Pour over the veggies. Cover and cook on low for 7 hours.
3. After 3 hours, add the chicken tenderloins and diced red bell pepper. Cover and continue cooking.
4. With 30 minutes left, remove the squash from the slow cooker and set aside. Add the green onions, cover and continue cooking.
5. After the squash cools, slice in half and scrape out the seeds. Shred the squash flesh with a fork along the circumference of the squash to form noodles.
6. Break up the chicken in the crock pot. Stir in the squash.
7. Scoop some of the cooking liquid into a small bowl. Add the potato starch and stir until the starch is dissolved. Stir the starch liquid into the crock pot. 
8. Optional: Serve with chili garlic sauce for some spice. 

Nutritional Info (From My Fitness Pal)
Calories: 238
Fat: 3 g
Fiber: 4 g
Sugar: 4 g
Sodium: 860 mg
Protein: 37 g

Chicken in "Peanut" Sauce

I'm finally back in our regular routine after spending almost two weeks visiting my mom in California. We had a great trip, but it sure is nice to be home. I've been slacking on blogging and mostly making repeated favorite recipes like Apple Pie Pork Chops and Roasted Bacon Carrot Soup. Last week I made Chicken in 
"Peanut" Sauce. Except I used soynut butter instead of peanut butter. It was simple, quick and delicious. It's savory, a little sweet and a little spicy. Tommy loved it, which is great especially since I made a big batch. 

Chicken in "Peanut" Sauce

3 lbs frozen chicken tenderloins
1/2 cup gluten free soy sauce
1/2 cup soynut butter
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup honey
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
4 cups sliced sweet baby peppers
2 apples, cored and julienned


1. Combine all ingredients except for chicken, sweet peppers and apples in a bowl. 
2. Place chicken in the bottom of a crock pot. Pour sauce over top.
3. Cover and cook on low for 3 hours. 
4. Stir in the sweet peppers and apple.
5. Cook on low for 1 hour. Serve over cooked millet.

Cooked Millet

1 cup hulled millet
2 14.5 oz cans chicken broth

1. Run your fingers through the millet to look for any little rocks. 
2. Toast the millet in a small pot over medium heat. Cook for a few minutes stirring frequently so that it doesn't burn. 
3. Stir in the chicken broth. Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 30 minutes. 

Updated Apple Pie Pork Recipe

We've made this a couple times, and it's always delicious. We've made it with pork chops and boneless country style pork ribs and the boneless ribs are our favorite. They have more fat marbling than pork chops and don't dry out as much during the cooking. I also increased the amount of potato starch. The fat in the meat combines with the potato starch to make a delicious silky sauce. 

This pork is delicious over white rice or cooked millet. I've recently started cooking the millet in chicken broth instead of water and what a huge difference! It's so much more flavorful. Try this recipe if you have kids that are reluctant to eat meat. 

Apple Pie Boneless Country Style Pork Ribs

2 lbs boneless country style pork ribs
12 small or 8 medium gala apples, cored and diced
3/4 cup sugar
4 Tbsp potato starch
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp salt

1. Optional: Line crock pot with crock pot liner
2. Place pork at bottom of crock pot.
3. In a large bowl, combine the remaining ingredients.
4. Pour apple mixture over pork.
5. Cook on low 6-8 hours or high 3-4 hours. 

Cooked Millet

1.5 cups dry hulled millet
6 cups chicken broth or water

1. Run your hands through the millet to look for little rocks. Toast the millet in a nonstick pot over medium heat for a few minutes, stirring often. 
2. Add the liquid and cover. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Lamb Roast and Lamb Broth

I picked up a 1 lb lamb shank a while back since it looked good but I really didn't have any plans for it. Last night we had a crock pot lamb roast with veggies. And then overnight I made more broth out of the lamb bone and a leftover pork bone that I had in the freezer. The lamb roast was soooo good. My only complaint was that the lamb shank was small so there were no meat leftovers. I served it with my Corn-Free Cornbread. We're still not sick of that cornbread. 

The broth tastes a whole lot like my chicken broth. Oh well, it'll still be good. Just not quite the meaty broth taste I thought it might have. I happened to have a can of beef broth in the pantry and just looked at the ingredients. It includes things like MSG and caramel color. No wonder my homemade broth tastes different. I'll just have to get a little creative to make French Onion Soup taste like it was made with beef broth.

Lamb Roast

1 onion, diced
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
3 ribs celery, sliced
1 lb lamb shank
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp minced garlic
2.5 lbs russet potatoes, peeled and chopped

1. Layer the ingredients in a crock pot in the order listed.
2. Cook on low 7-9 hours.

Lamb and Pork Broth

1 bone from a lamb shank
1 bone from a pork picnic roast
3 ribs celery
2 carrots
1 onion
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp dried rosemary
1/4 tsp dried thyme

1. Combine all the ingredients in a crock pot. Fill with water. Cook on low overnight (10-12 hours).
2. Let cool.
3. Strain the broth and discard the solids. Refrigerate or freeze in 1 and 2 cup containers.

Apple Pie Pork Chops

This was one of our family crock pot recipes a couple of weeks ago, courtesy of our cousin Courtney. It was so good that we made it again tonight. The pork and apples turn into a delicious sweet sauce. It's great over rice or cooked millet. With this much pork, I would use 1.5 cups of hulled millet and 6 cups of water in the Cooked Millet Recipe. 

Tommy was literally licking his bowl clean when he was done. 

Apple Pie Pork Chops

2 lbs boneless pork loin chops
12 small or 8 medium gala apples, cored and sliced
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp potato starch
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp salt

1. Optional: Line crock pot with crock pot liner
2. Place pork chops at bottom of crock pot.
3. In a large bowl, combine the remaining ingredients.
4. Pour apple mixture over pork.
5. Cook on low 6-8 hours or high 3-4 hours. 

Asian Style Pork Lettuce Wraps

This week our family crock pot dinner is Asian Style Pork Lettuce Wraps. I found a recipe online that looks good, but I had to make a few modifications to fit in Tommy's diet. So my version is below. This meat is delicious. It would be fantastic on top of rice or millet too. It was sweet with a little spice. And it created a great sauce. Plus the house smelled wonderful all day while it cooked. 

Asian Style Pork Lettuce Wraps

2 lbs boneless country style pork ribs
4 Tbsp gluten free soy sauce
2 Tbsp soynut butter
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1.5 Tbsp honey
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Lettuce leaves
Red bell pepper, sliced (Optional)
Broccoli slaw (Optional)
Radishes, slices (Optional)

1. Optional: Place crock pot liner in crock pot.
2. Place pork at bottom of crock pot.
3. Whisk together the soy sauce through cayenne in a small bowl. Pour over pork.
4. Cook on low 4-6 hours.
5. Shred pork and serve on lettuce leaves with the toppings of your choice, like broccoli slaw and sliced red bell peppers

Easiest Chicken Ever

Some of my family members and I started a crock pot cooking club. Each Thursday someone picks a recipe to share. This week my mom shared her's friend's recipe for a crock pot chicken and stock. I simplified the recipe a little. I've cooked whole chickens on the rotisserie on the grill and in the oven, but I've never made one in the crock pot before. I can't believe it's taken me this long to try it! 

I used to pick up a cooked rotisserie at the grocery store on a semi-regular basis, but I don't know what they use for seasoning so I'm hesitant to give those to Tommy. Cooking the whole chicken in the crock pot was just as easy as picking one up at the store and it was much more moist. Plus, the crock pot was already dirty, so it was really easy to make stock from the chicken bones.

Now I have a bunch of leftover cooked chicken and homemade chicken stock with ingredients I know Tommy can eat! I'm already looking forward to chicken pot pie tomorrow and using the stock in turkey tetrazzini tonight.

I served the chicken with Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage and Panzanella. It was a beautiful night so we ate outside on the deck. It sure felt like fall with my kitchen filled with delicious smells and the crisp clear air outside. 

Easy Crock Pot Whole Chicken

2 tsp salt

1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp dry basil

1 tsp dry rosemary
1 large roasting chicken
1 chopped onion

1. Remove giblets from chicken and clean chicken.
2. Place chicken in crock pot. Top with remaining ingredients.

3. Cook on low 4-8 hours.

Easy Crock Pot Chicken Stock

2 carrots, peel and cut into large chunks

2 stalks celery, chopped

Pan drippings and bones from Easy Crock Pot Whole Chicken

Water

1. Add bones back to crock pot.
2. Add carrots and celery.
3. Fill crock pot with water. Leave on low overnight.
4. In the morning, strain and refrigerate or freeze the rich broth.

Lamb and Vegetable Roast

We are in the process of trialing lamb with Tommy, and so far so good! I made a lamb and vegetable roast and it was super easy and delicious. Tommy seems to like the lamb ok so that's a plus.

I served the lamb and veggies with Brittany Angell's Sorghum and Teff Dinner Rolls. The rolls had a nice moist springy texture. I was worried that there would be trace amounts of wheat left in the muffin tins from the last time I made wheat muffins, so I thought the liners would be perfect. Unfortunately the rolls completely stuck to the cupcake liners. Oh well, at least they taste good.

Lamb and Vegetable Roast

4 lb lamb roast

1 large onion, diced

4 carrots, peeled and sliced

4 celery stalks, sliced

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

1 Tbsp chopped garlic

2 tsp dry rosemary

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1. Put lamb roast in crock pot.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients.

3. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

Crock Pot Liners (Pork Pot Roast)

One of my favorite products is the Reynolds Crock Pot Liners. They’re heat safe plastic bags that you put in your crock pot before you add all your ingredients. It makes cleanup super easy. And according to the Reynolds website they’re BPA free.

I love cooking roasts in the crock pot, but I used to dread the cleanup. The watery/fatty liquid leftover after cooking a roast was too watery to go in the trash and too fatty to go down the drain. Sometimes in the winter I would leave the crock pot outside so the fat would harden. But then you have one or two day old nasty crock pot mess. 

But now with the crock pot liners, I just tie them up and put them in the trash. It’s a sad day when I forget to use a liner. The liners do sort of leave a white stain on the black crock pot, but it's a small price to pay for the easy cleanup.

Before the Cooking

Throw the Yucky Baked on Grease Away

After. It's Almost Clean Enough to Not Need Washing. Almost.

FYI, this is not a paid endorsement. I just really love this product.

Tonight we had pork pot roast. It was easy, delicious and made the house smell good all day. I served it with some Tommy safe rolls and we all gobbled it up. I love the crock pot.

Pork Pot Roast

2 lbs. boneless, lean pork roast

½ tsp garlic powder

½ tsp salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

½ tsp dried rosemary

3 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1 inch chunks

2 medium onions, diced

3 carrots, peeled and sliced

14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained

1. Place pork roast in slow cooker.

2. Sprinkle with garlic, salt, pepper and rosemary.

3. Add remaining ingredients.

4. Cover. Cook on high 4-5 hours or on low 7-8 hours.