Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Beef

Print Recipe

5 from 8 votes

Prep Time10

Slow Cooker Time8

Total Time8 10

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bbq beef, beef roast recipes, easiest barbecue beef, easy slow cooker recipes, gluten free slow cooker recipes, pulled bbq beef recipe, school night dinner ideas, shredded bbq beef, shredded bbq beef recipe, weeknight dinner ideas

Servings: servings

Author: Renee Kohley - Raising Generation Nourished

Ingredients

2 tbsp butter or olive oil to cook in
2-3 lbs beef roast or stew beef
2 tsp sea salt
1 onion diced
6 cloves garlic minced
1 cup ketchup
3 TB blackstrap molasses
1/4 cup mustard
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp chipotle powder You can add more if you like more heat
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup chicken or beef broth or water

Instructions

I like to use my Instant Pot slow cooker feature for this recipe so that I can start out by searing the outside of the beef, as well as the sauteing the onions and garlic to pull out more depth of flavor. If you are using a regular slow cooker, you can skip this step, or you can sear your beef and saute your onions and garlic in a saute pan and transfer them to your slow cooker.
Turn the saute feature on your Instant Pot and add the butter into the pot to melt. While the pot is heating up, salt the outside of the beef. Add the beef to the hot Instant Pot to sear for about 3 minutes. Turn the beef to the other side to sear for another 3 minutes. Take the beef out of the pot, and saute the onions and garlic in the leftover fat for a good 3-5 minutes until soften and golden.
Turn the saute feature off, and stir in all of the rest of the sauce ingredients to the sauted onions and garlic.
Add the seared beef to the sauce. Use the slow cooker feature on "low" to slow cook the beef for 8-10 hours.
When the beef has finished slow cooking, use forks to pull the beef apart into shreds. Alternatively, transfer the beef to a cutting board to chop, then stir back into the sauce. You may have to turn the saute feature back on for a few minutes to reduce the sauce so it is thicker for sandwiches.

Notes

You can absolutely make this with leftover beef roast from your Sunday dinner too! I like to make 2 roasts for Sunday dinner, then shred up the leftovers to make this bbq beef. You'll just need to add all of the ingredients to your Instant Pot as listed above, and it will only need a few hours on low to slow cook since the beef is already cooked!