Crock Pot Cube Steak With Rich Mushroom Gravy

Table of Contents

1. Ingredients For Crock Pot Cube Steak
2. Substitutions and Additions
3. How To Make Crock Pot Cube Steak
4. How Long to Cook Cube Steak in a Crock Pot
5. What to Serve With Crock Pot Cube Steak
6. Storing and Reheating
7. Cube Steak FAQ
8. JUMP TO RECIPE

Crock pot cube steak quietly makes a cheap cut of beef taste like you spent a lot more money on dinner. It cooks down slowly all day in a creamy mushroom and onion gravy, and by the time you lift the lid, the steak is tender enough to cut with the side of your fork.

Cube steak needs a long, gentle cooking time to get to that place where it's fork-tender and absolutely delicious. It's a lean, hard-working cut of meat, and the little dimples pressed into the surface come from the tenderizer it goes through at the grocery store. That helps make it more tender, but it's still not quite enough on its own.

What really softens cube steak is a few unhurried hours in plenty of liquid, which is exactly what a slow cooker is good at, and what creates the magic with this recipe.

Is Cube Steak Salty?

It doesn't have to be, and this version is nicely balanced.

A lot of crock pot cube steak recipes rely on seasoning packets and canned soup to carry all the flavor. This one starts with a sliced yellow onion, sliced cremini mushrooms, and fresh minced garlic layered across the bottom of the pot. Over the cooking time, the gravy ends up rich and genuinely savory.

Saltiness is worth mentioning, because it's the most common frustration people run into with slow cooker cube steak. It usually comes from recipes that layer an onion soup packet, a brown gravy packet, and a can of condensed soup all together. There's just one packet here, and the fresh vegetables do a lot of the flavoring, so the gravy becomes flavorful without relying heavily on salt.

Here's everything you'll need to make slow cooker cubed steak with gravy:

• 1 large onion - Sliced rather than diced, so the pieces hold together through the long cook time, and turn silky instead of disappearing into the gravy.
• 8 ounces cremini or baby bella mushrooms, sliced - Fresh mushrooms give the gravy an earthy depth that canned ones can't quite match.
• 1½ to 2 pounds cube steak - Look for pieces that are similar in thickness so they finish at the same time. If your steaks are on the thicker side, lean toward the 2-pound package.
• 1 (1-ounce) packet onion soup mix - This one little packet carries a lot of the savory flavor, but it's also the saltiest thing in the crock pot.
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup (10.5 oz) - The condensed kind, straight from the can with no water added. It's what gives the gravy its creamy body.
• 1 cup of water - Just enough liquid to keep everything gently simmering without thinning out the gravy.
• ½ teaspoon each black pepper and seasoned salt - This is all the salt the recipe needs. Between the soup mix and the condensed soup, there's plenty already, so it's best to hold off on adding more until you taste it at the end.
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic - I'd say fresh garlic is worth using in this recipe. It's a simple recipe, so a few fresh ingredients go a long way.
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tablespoon of water - This gets stirred in near the end to thicken the gravy.

Substitutions and Additions

SOUP: Cream of celery makes a good stand-in for the cream of mushroom, and it gives the gravy a slightly lighter, more savory flavor. Cream of chicken works nicely too if that's what's in your cupboard, and it comes out a touch milder and creamier.

LOWER SODIUM: A reduced-sodium cream of mushroom soup is the simplest way to bring the salt down.

MUSHROOMS: Cremini and baby bella are the same mushroom sold under two names, so either package works. White button mushrooms are perfectly good here as well, with a slightly milder flavor.

GARLIC: Jarred minced garlic keeps things quick, though fresh cloves have a rounder flavor if you'd like to mince your own. Two teaspoons works out to roughly four medium cloves.

FIRST STEP: Scatter the sliced onion and mushrooms across the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker, then lay the cube steak on top of them. If you have more steak than surface area, it's fine to overlap the pieces a little.

SECOND STEP: In a separate bowl, whisk together the onion soup mix, cream of mushroom soup, water, black pepper, seasoned salt, and minced garlic until it's smooth.

Mixing everything separately is worth dirtying the extra bowl. If you spoon the condensed soup straight into the crock pot, it tends to stay clumpy. So whisking everything together beforehand will help give you a smooth gravy at the end.

THIRD STEP: Pour the soup mixture evenly over the cube steak.

FOURTH STEP: Cover and cook on low for 7 hours.

FIFTH STEP: After 7 hours, whisk the cornstarch together with the water in a small bowl, then stir it into the gravy in the crock pot. Turn the slow cooker up to high.

The gravy will look thin right up until this step, which is normal. Cornstarch needs heat to activate, so the thickening happens fairly quickly once it's stirred in and the temperature comes up.

SIXTH STEP: Let it continue cooking for another 30 minutes to an hour, until the gravy thickens.

How Long to Cook Cube Steak in a Crock Pot

Cube steak needs 8 hours total, and I highly recommend not trying to rush it.

You've really got to break down the connective tissue when you cook cube steak, and it's a process that requires time and heat. Shortcuts might cook the meat, but they won't make it tender.

So technically, you can cook this meal in 6 hours on high, but I wouldn't expect the same tender result. If fact, you'll likely find the meat is very tough.

How to tell when it's ready: the steak should give easily when you press a fork into it and pull, but the pieces should still be holding their shape in the slow cooker. That's the sweet spot.

If it runs quite a bit past the 8-hour mark, the pieces can start to loosen and shred apart. It'll still taste yummy, and plenty of people enjoy it that way over mashed potatoes, but it won't look like a plated steak anymore.

If you have to cook beyond the 8 hours, turn the slow cooker to the warm mode.

What to Serve With Crock Pot Cube Steak

The gravy is really the thing to plan around with this meal, because you'll want to eat plenty of it. Anything that soaks it up or scoops it up belongs on the table

For the base:

• Creamy or cheesy mashed potatoes are the classic pairing, and the gravy settles into them beautifully
• Buttered egg noodles come together in about ten minutes while the gravy finishes thickening
• Rice works well if you'd like something a little lighter underneath
• Split-top rolls or a crusty loaf are worth having on the table either way

For a vegetable alongside:

• Try smothered beans - you really can't beat the flavor with this gravy
• Honey butter skillet corn, which suits the sweetness the onions develop over the long cooking time
• Glazed carrots for something a little sweeter next to the savory gravy
• A simple green salad with a sharp vinaigrette complements the warm flavors of the steak

A note on leftovers: the gravy is genuinely good the next day, and one of the nicest things to do with it is an open-faced sandwich. Lay a slice of soft bread on the plate, pile the warmed steak and gravy over it, and add a spoonful of mashed potatoes on the side.

Storing and Reheating

MAKE AHEAD: This one keeps well if you'd like to cook it a day early. Let the steak and gravy cool to room temperature first, then transfer everything to an airtight container and refrigerate until you're ready to reheat.

IN THE FRIDGE: Leftovers keep in an airtight container for two to three days. It's worth storing the steak in the gravy rather than separately, since the gravy keeps the meat from drying out.

IN THE FREEZER: Cube steak and gravy freeze nicely for up to one month. Cool it completely first, then label the container with the date so you know when to use it by.

REHEATING: Any of these three work well, so it comes down to how much you're warming up.

• Microwave: Place a portion on a microwave-safe plate, cover it, and heat in 30-second bursts, stirring between each one, until it's warmed through.
• Oven: Preheat to 350°F, put the steak and gravy in an oven-safe dish, cover with foil, and bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Stovetop: Warm it gently in a skillet over medium-low heat with a splash of water or beef broth stirred in, which keeps the gravy from tightening up. Stir now and then until it's heated through.