Indulge in the savory goodness of Crockpot Philly Cheesesteaks
- 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons butter
- salt + pepper
- 1-2 sweet onions thinly slice (i used 1)
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 2 pounds round sirloin steak or skirt steak thinly sliced (use 1 1/2 pounds new york strips or ribeys for the stove-top version)
- 1 teaspoon garlic power
- 8 ounces button mushrooms sliced
- 2 poblano peppers or green bell peppers sliced
- 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
- 2 1/2 - 3 cups beef broth
- 1/3 cup fresh cilantro or parsley
- 4-6 hoagie rolls
- 6 slices provolone cheese
- Carbohydrate 9.3692844483634 g
- Cholesterol 44.2315625065405 mg
- Fat 17.0071630070137 g
- Fiber 0.482252620964866 g
- Protein 12.7533230307874 g
- Saturated Fat 10.8262332846983 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (347g)
- Sodium 690.198109935814 mg
- Sugar 8.88703182739853 g
- Trans Fat 1.01150589124754 g
- Calories 239 calories
Step-by-step
- In the bowl of a crockpot, toss together the onions, brown sugar and worchestire sauce. Add the butter and steak. Sprinkle the steak with garlic powder and then generously sprinkle with salt and pepper. Nest add the mushrooms and bell peppers and then pour in 2 1/2 cups of beef broth. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hour or on high for 5-6 hours, stirring once or twice throughout cooking if possible. If the liquid get too low (if the steak is not mostly submerged in beef broth), add the remaining 1/2 cup of beef broth.
- Once the steak is finished cooking, stir in the cilantro. Taste and adjust salt + pepper to your liking.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Stuff equal amounts of the steak mixture into each hoagie roll and then generously top with provolone cheese. Wrap each hoagie in foil and place in the oven for 5-10 minutes or until the cheese has melted. Serve warm with jalapeños + french fries if desired.
Standard recipes rarely warn about the moisture trap inherent in slow-cooking sliced beef with high-water vegetables like mushrooms and bell peppers. Beef broth combined with the natural juices released from onions and fungi during a six-hour simmer creates a liquid excess that rapidly dissolves sandwich rolls from the inside out. Controlling this outcome requires managing the volume of added stock tightly, ensuring the meat stays moist without turning the slow-cooker vessel into a soup pot.
Selecting the right cut of beef dictates the final texture since round sirloin or skirt steak contains less intramuscular fat than ribeye, making it prone to toughening when subjected to prolonged wet heat. Slicing the meat uniformly across the grain before cooking shortens the muscle fibers, which prevents the beef from pulling apart into unchewable strips. Browning the meat briefly in a separate skillet prior to the slow-cooker stage triggers the Maillard reaction, developing savory compounds that raw simmering liquids fail to produce on their own.
Wrapping assembled hoagies in aluminum foil and baking them at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for five to ten minutes achieves dual objectives: the enclosed steam softens the crumb of the bread while radiant heat melts the provolone cheese into an adhesive layer. Stacking the sliced vegetables at the bottom of the slow cooker insert beneath the beef acts as a thermal buffer, shielding lean cuts from direct heat contact against the ceramic walls.
