I don’t make a ton of crockpot recipes but when I do, they need to earn their place. This one has absolutely earned it. I’ve made this slow cooker Korean beef so many times that it’s basically a permanent fixture in our rotation and every single time my family loses their minds over it.

The original inspiration came from a recipe I found on instagram per usual but I made it my own swapped the brown sugar for coconut sugar, added gochujang to the sauce because I needed more depth and a little heat, and used ground ginger because honestly that’s what I had and it works perfectly. The result is this insanely tender, slightly sweet, slightly spicy, fall-apart beef that honestly makes you feel like you cooked something really impressive when really you just dumped everything in a crockpot and walked away for 8 hours.

That’s my kind of recipe.

Why This Recipe Works

Chuck roast is genuinely the perfect cut for this because it has enough fat marbled through it that when you cook it low and slow for 8 hours it just completely falls apart and soaks up every bit of that sauce. The gochujang adds this incredible savory depth that you can’t really get any other way and it balances the sweetness of the coconut sugar perfectly.

And the cucumber salad that I serve alongside it? Non negotiable. The rice vinegar and coconut aminos give the cucumbers this almost pickled situation that cuts right through the richness of the beef. It. is. everything.

What You Need

For the Korean Beef:

1 chuck roast, about 3 lbs boneless
½ cup coconut sugar
½ cup coconut aminos (or soy/tamari)
2 tbsp gochujang paste
1 tbsp minced garlic
½ tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp rice vinegar

For the Quick Cucumber Salad:

1-2 cucumbers, thinly sliced
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp coconut aminos
Sesame seeds, generous handful

For Serving:

Jasmine rice
Broccoli, steamed and sautéed in ghee with garlic powder

How to Make It

1. Make your sauce. Mix together the coconut sugar, soy sauce, gochujang, minced garlic, ground ginger, sesame oil, rice vinegar, and onion powder in a bowl until combined.

2. Add your beef. Place the chuck roast in the slow cooker. Pour the sauce over the top and flip a few times to coat.

3. Cook low and slow. Cook on low for 8 hours. That’s it. Don’t touch it, don’t rush it. Low and slow is everything here — when you come back to it the beef will literally fall apart and the sauce will be this incredible sticky glaze situation.

4. Shred. Once done, shred the beef right in the slow cooker and toss it in all that sauce. At this point you can add a cornstarch and water mixture if you want a thicker sauce — totally optional but really good.

5. Make your cucumber salad. While everything comes together, toss your sliced cucumbers with the rice vinegar, coconut aminos, and a big handful of sesame seeds. Give it a few minutes to sit — the longer it sits the more that pickled situation develops and trust me you want that.

6. Cook your broccoli. Steam your broccoli until just tender then finish it in a pan with a little ghee and garlic powder. Simple, perfect.

7. Build your bowls. Rice on the bottom, beef piled on top, broccoli on the side, cucumber salad alongside. Eat immediately and try not to make this every single week. You probably will though.

Tips

The gochujang is important: don’t skip it. It’s what takes this from a sweet beef recipe to something that actually tastes complex and interesting. You can find it in the Asian Section of almost every grocery store.

Leftovers: make tacos the next day. Your favorite Tortillas, the shredded beef, cucumber salad on top, a quick cilantro slaw with a little guachang, mayo and lime — it’s honestly even better the second day and it’s a whole different meal. Recipe coming soon. 👀

Storage: keeps in the fridge for up to 4 days. The beef gets better as it sits in the sauce overnight.