Tender Slow-Cooked Beef Cheeks

Print Add to Collection

Slow-cooking turns the tough beef cheeks into a wonderfully melt-in-your-mouth, rich and flavorful meat.

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 8 hours

Total Time 8 hours 10 minutes

Servings servings

Calories 354kcal

Author Vered DeLeeuw

Ingredients

2 large beef cheeks around 2 lb. raw weight
1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon ground cumin

Instructions

Place the beef cheeks in your slow cooker. Mix the salt and spices in a small bowl and sprinkle the mixture all over the meat. There’s no need to add liquids. The meat will release liquids as it cooks.
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. When done, the meat will smell amazing and become very tender.
Serve the meat with the strained cooking liquids for dipping.

Optional: Make gravy

When done, transfer the meat to a baking dish, cover it with foil, and place the pan in a warm (150 degrees F) oven. Strain the cooking liquids into a glass measuring cup. Use a spoon to skim off the fat layer that floats to the top.
Pour the cooking liquids into a medium saucepan. Bring them to a gentle boil, then lower the heat and simmer, whisking occasionally, until reduced into a rich sauce, about 10 minutes. Spoon the gravy over the beef cheeks and serve.

Notes

Nutrition info is from myfitnesspal.com.

As you can see, I don't add any liquid to the crockpot before cooking. The meat releases liquid as it cooks. Adding liquid before cooking would result in the meat basically boiling inside the crockpot. That's not what you want. However, there's no harm in adding a small amount of beef broth to the slow cooker pan - no more than ½ cup.

Nutrition