Pepper steak is usually a fast stir-fry. This is not that. Two pounds of chuck in inch-and-a-half pieces spend five hours on Low, which turns them into braised chunks that fall apart under a fork rather than thin strips.
The vegetables arrive last. An hour is enough for the pepper chunks and onion wedges to soften, and not enough for them to disappear into the brown sauce.
Why This Recipe Works
- Browning the beef first is the only source of colour in a six-hour covered cook.
- A third of a cup of soy in a cup and a half of beef broth gives the sauce its savoury depth without making it salty.
- Tomato paste adds body and a background sweetness that balances the soy.
- The cornstarch slurry goes in for the last fifteen minutes so the sauce coats rather than thins.
Ingredient Notes
- Beef chuck
- Two pounds in 1 1/2-inch pieces. Chunks, not stir-fry strips — the six-hour cook is built around them.
- Green and red bell peppers
- One of each, cut into chunks. Both colours, and both go in with an hour left.
- Yellow onion
- One large, in wedges rather than slices, so it stays in identifiable pieces.
How to Make It
Brown the beef
Brown the beef in the oil and transfer it to the slow cooker.
Braise five hours
Add the broth, soy sauce, Worcestershire, garlic, ginger and tomato paste. Cover and cook on Low for 5 hours.
Vegetables for the last hour
Add the peppers and onion and continue cooking about 1 hour, until the beef is fork-tender and the vegetables are tender but still visible.
Thicken
Stir the cornstarch and cold water together and add for the final 15 minutes to give the brown sauce body.
Serve
Serve beside white rice.
Six Hours, Three Additions
Only the beef and the liquid are in the pot for the whole cook. Everything else arrives on a schedule, and the schedule is what keeps the vegetables visible.
Before anything
2 lb beef chuck in 1 1/2-inch pieces, browned in 1 tbsp oil
The only browning the dish gets. Six hours under a lid will add none.
Hour 0 to 5, on LOW
1 1/2 cups beef broth, 1/3 cup soy sauce, Worcestershire, garlic, ginger and 1 tbsp tomato paste
The braising liquid, doing its work on the chuck undisturbed.
1 hour remaining
1 green and 1 red bell pepper in chunks, 1 large onion in wedges
Long enough to turn tender, short enough that they are still pieces rather than part of the sauce.
15 minutes remaining
2 tbsp cornstarch whisked with 2 tbsp cold water
Gives the brown sauce the body to coat the beef and vegetables.
At the plate
Cooked white rice, alongside
Served beside rather than on top, as the finished dish shows.
Success Tips
- Cut the beef into even pieces so they reach fork-tender together.
- Cut the peppers and onion large. Small pieces will not survive even an hour.
- Add the slurry at the fifteen-minute mark, not earlier — the sauce needs to be at full volume first.
Serving Ideas
Six servings beside plated white rice, with the pepper and onion pieces clearly visible in the brown sauce.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should the beef be sliced into strips?
No. It stays as braised chunks; strips belong to the stir-fry version of this dish.
Can the peppers go in at the start?
No. Six hours would dissolve them, and they need to remain visible.
The sauce is thin. What now?
The cornstarch slurry is what gives it body, and it needs its full fifteen minutes.
