This Healthy Beef and Broccoli is a delicious, paleo meal made in your crock pot. Naturally whole30 and gluten free – it’s easy and yummy!
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You know those meals that you eat and go: “WOW that was really good” ? Yea, that’s this Healthy Slow Cooker Beef and Broccoli! It is SO yummy and really simple to make.
This is not an authentic beef and broccoli recipe, but a lighter version of one of my favorites foods that has been made paleo, gluten free, dairy free and nut free for everyone to enjoy.
Ingredients for Healthy Beef & Broccoli
To make this healthy beef and broccoli you’ll need:
- fresh ginger
- pepper
- garlic
- coconut aminos
- honey
- toasted sesame oil
- rice wine vinegar
- broccoli
- cauliflower rice
- beef steak tips
If you haven’t tried ButcherBox – you really should. They have an awesome deal going on right now!)
I combined the steak tips with a few of my favorite pantry+ fridge staples… and the result was epic. Here’s how we made it.
How to make Healthy Slow Cooker Beef and Broccoli:
- Gather all of your ingredients
- Whisk together your marinade
- Add your marinade + beef together in the crockpot. Cook on low for 6 hours.
- When you’re ready to eat, steam your broccoli + drain the liquid from the crockpot into a pan on the stovetop
- Bring the sauce to a rolling boil for 15 minutes until it thickens
- Add meat into thicken sauce, toss to combine + gently shred the meat by pulling it apart!
What’s the best meat to use for beef and broccoli?
- We used steak tips to make this, but you can use many different kinds of beef in this recipe
- Thinly sliced skirt steak, flank steak, or sirloin cut in small 1 inch cubes will all work well
- The steak tips got so tender they literally fell apart, which made this more of a shredded beef and broccoli vs the traditional takeout style that has strips – we liked it so much better that this is the only way we will make it now!
Can you make this recipe in the instant pot?
I haven’t tried this in the instant pot but I’d be worried that the sauce would burn. If you try it, let me know! If you’re looking for other instant pot beef recipes – check out this Instant Pot Beef Stew
Can you make this recipe on the stovetop?
I don’t recommend making this on the stovetop. Cooking the meat low and slow lets it get really tender + delicious, and since it is made with tougher cuts of meat – you need the crockpot to cook it!
Substitutions for this recipe:
You can easily substitute many ingredients in this recipe.
Coconut Aminos– Coconut aminos can be substituted with soy sauce or braggs liquid aminos. Use 1/2 the amount because both are much saltier
Broth – Chicken or vegetable broth will also work in this recipe.
Cauliflower Rice: You can definitely serve this over regular rice or quinoa if you prefer
Steak Tips/Beef: You can use steak tips, thinly sliced skirt steak, flank steak, or sirloin cut in small 1 inch cubes
Honey : You can sub maple syrup for honey. Do not add honey or maple syrup to this if you are doing a whole30. Make sure to sub in apple juice per the recipe card.
Other healthy takeout inspired recipes:
- Healthy Orange Chicken
- Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry
- Chicken Pad Thai
- Sweet and Sour Chicken
- Lighter Chicken Fried Rice
- Healthy Sesame Chicken
- Slow Cooker Beef and Broccoli
- Healthy Shrimp Stir Fry
Other healthy slow cooker recipes:
- Whole30 Lemon Rosemary Crockpot Whole Chicken
- Ground Beef and Sweet Potato Chili
- Paleo Beef Stew
- Slow Cooker Chicken Stew
- Paleo Turkey Chili
- Healthy Crockpot Pulled Pork
- One of the 15 Easy Paleo Slow Cooker Recipes in our Ebook!
Healthy Beef and Broccoli
Ingredients
- 2 lbs beef You can use: steak tips, thinly sliced skirt steak, flank steak, or sirloin cut in small 1 inch cubes
- 12 oz broccoli
- 3 cups cauliflower rice
For the Marinade:
- 1/2 cup coconut aminos
- 1/2 cup beef broth
- 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 1/3 cup honey* *Sub 100% apple juice if doing a Whole30
- 1 tablespoon fresh garlic minced
- 1/2 tablespoon fresh ginger grated (or 1 tsp ground ginger)
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds optional
Instructions
- In a bowl mix together marinade. Pour marinade in slow cooker. Stir in beef until coated.
- Cook on low for 6 hours.
- Once cooked, remove the liquid from the slow cooker and pour into a large pan over the stove. Bring the sauce to a boil. Boil on high for 15 minutes. The sauce should be at a rolling boil bubbling the entire time. Whisk occasionally to prevent sauce from burning.
- While sauce is boiling, cook broccoli. Place in a microwave safe dish with ¼ cup water and microwave on high for 3-4 minutes.
- While broccoli is cooking, lightly sauté cauliflower rice in a pan with 1 teaspoon olive oil.
- Once sauce has thickened add in cooked meat to the pan, stir to coat with sauce. You can break up the steak by pressing them gently as you stir if you’d like more shredded beef. It should easily fall apart.
- Assemble bowls with cauliflower rice, broccoli + beef.
Notes
- Cauliflower Rice – You can definitely serve this over regular rice or quinoa if you prefer
- Steak Tips: You can use steak tips, thinly sliced skirt steak, flank steak, or sirloin cut in small 1 inch cubes
- Honey -You can sub maple syrup for honey. Do not add honey or maple syrup to this if you are doing a whole30. Make sure to sub in apple juice per the recipe card.
Jessica
Made this for dinner tonight after seeing it in your email yesterday. OMG. So good!! Better than takeout!
The Clean Eating Couple
So glad you liked it, Jessica!
Lily
DELICIOUS! This has become a new favourite, so easy to prepare and so so yummy.
The Clean Eating Couple
So glad you liked it, Lily!!
Teresa @ Simply Made Fun
Made this tonight and it was delicious! We’re dairy and nut free so finding things we all can eat together is hard. I was excited to try this! Even my 4 year old who spits out steak whenever I make it gobbled it down.
The Clean Eating Couple
I’m so glad you and your family liked it, Teresa! Thank you so much!!
Brandi
Wow this recipe was incredible! My family cannot go back to the old way now either, thank you for sharing. It’s amazing what can be conjured up when feeling creative in the kitchen. This one is award worthy!
The Clean Eating Couple
Thank you so much, Brandi! I’m so glad you liked it!
Kristie Vang
I made this tonight and it’s good! The sauce from the slow cooker did not thicken on the stovetop but it didn’t stop from tasting so good. Thank you for sharing. I didn’t have apple juice and I used whatever compliant juice blend I had. It didn’t change the sweet and tangy flavor.
The Clean Eating Couple
So glad you liked it, Kristie! Sorry that it didn’t thicken for you – it could’ve just been the ingredients that you used!
Vicky
We’ve made this twice now, both times with chuck roast and both times it came out soooo tender and delicious! The only change we made was cut back the honey to less than half the amount and it’s still very sweet (but so good though)! Highly recommend!
The Clean Eating Couple
Thank you so much, Vicky! Great idea to cut back on the honey. You can also make it with apple juice which we like too!
Hayley
Super yummy and easy dinner! Our whole family enjoyed it and I’ll definitely be making it again! I doubled the sauce/marinade because my family always asks for extra of every sauce and we really didn’t need the extras! You also have to be ready to be patient for the sauce to thicken! It took about 15-20 min just as the recipe said (which can feel like a while when you’re standing there waiting)! So flavorful and well worth the patience, though!!
The Clean Eating Couple
So glad you liked it, Hayley! It’s definitely worth the wait 🙂
Katie
My Chinese takeout loving family was so excited about this when I made it. It had so much flavor and was so easy to make. Highly recommend!
The Clean Eating Couple
So glad you liked it!!
Tara
Perfect weeknight dinner! Threw everything in the crockpot before work and getting everything together was a breeze! So easy and so delicious!
The Clean Eating Couple
Thank you so much, Tara!
Hayley
Absolutely delicious and so easy! My whole family loved it!
The Clean Eating Couple
So happy you liked it!