This easy Shredded Beef recipe only needs a handful of ingredients and then the slow cooker does the work.
If you’re looking for an easy way to get delicious shredded beef, you’ve come to the right place. We’re using the slow cooker and a limited ingredient list to get amazing beef that’s mostly hands-off in about four hours. Great for meal prep and delicious in tacos, sandwiches, and more. (Note: There are instructions for making shredded beef in the oven and in the Instant Pot below as well).
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
Best Beef Cuts For Shredded Beef
Like with my Slow Cooker Beef Roast recipe, my favorite meat for slow-cooking is a chuck roast. It has a nice beefy flavor, and a good amount of marbling so it’s nice and juicy. With a couple tweaks, and pulling it apart with forks instead of slicing, you get tender and delicious shredded beef.
Any cuts of beef that you like to use for pot roast will also work though. When developing my favorite (and truly THE BEST) pot roast recipe, I tested a variety of cuts and found which ones work best for braising, and those will all be good here. I’m summarizing those results here for you:
- Brisket is a always a good choice for shredding, and for other braises and slow-cooking methods since it also has that marbling. It can be pricey though. Here’s how to cook Brisket in the classic way, and then it’s sliced, not shredded.
- A Round Roast (Rump Roast or Bottom Round Roast) can be used in this shredded beef recipe. It’s much leaner though and can end up dry, even when braised. The leanness means that it will slice well though. Shredding can be a bit trickier. If you go with a round roast, make sure to add the braising juices mentioned at the end of the recipe to help with the dryness.
- Eye of Round, but it’s lean like the above Round Roast and will have similar issues.
- Beef Shanks will work, but you have to remove and discard the bones before shredding. And I should say that I truly prefer beef shanks that are braised and then served whole, like this Beef Shanks recipe.
- Oxtail can also work but it’s pretty pricey and I advise that you save that for a classic Oxtail Soup or beautifully braised oxtails, which are served whole, not shredded.
- Short ribs will work as well, but you’ll need to remove the bone before serving. They’re also quite pricey for this technique and are best served whole, not shredded. Here’s how to cook short ribs the classic way, and here is how to cook them in the Instant Pot. They do sell boneless short ribs, but those are even more expensive so you definitely don’t want to just shred those up!
Cuts To Avoid For Shredded Beef
Cuts that you don’t want to use for shredded beef are those that are very lean and/or already very tender. If the roast is already very tender (think of filet mignon) it won’t benefit from the braise and actually gets stringy. Lean roasts should also be avoided because, without the fat, nothing is melting into the meat as it cooks to make it more tender. Both types are best cooked quickly with high heat to a medium (or lower) temperature, and then sliced thinly. Large roast-like cuts that you should avoid for shredded beef are:
- Top round, which is used for the classic London Broil
- Top sirloin, best used for making steak tips and beef tips
- Flank steak, grill it or cook it in a skillet
- Tri-tip, it’s best to grill tri-tip or to cook it in a skillet
- Skirt steak, best grilled or cooked in a skillet. Try it for making Carne Asada, so good!
- Beef tenderloin, best done as a dry roast or cut it into filet mignon steaks like this
Once you have your meat chosen, you just need a few other ingredients to make this easy recipe. We’re going to slice up an onion and then use broth and salsa for lots of flavor with no fuss.
How To Make Slow Cooker Shredded Beef
Season your roast all over with salt and pepper. Put a sliced up onion and some salsa into the slow cooker, then nestle in the roast. Next, pour some beef broth over top.
Cook the beef on low for six hours or high for four hours. Once cooked, remove the roast from the crock pot and use two forks to shred the beef. Scoop out some of the onion and salsa mixture and stir it into the shredded beef. I like to use a slotted spoon for this so that I’m not getting too much of the juices, just all the onions and also the veggies and flavorful pulp from the salsa.
Taste and season with additional salt and pepper if needed. That’s all, easy shredded beef in the slow cooker that’s perfect for an amazing dinner or for meal prep for the week.
Shredded Beef In The Oven
To make shredded beef in the oven, you can actually do the exact same thing as in the slow cooker. The only difference is that you’ll cook it in a covered baking dish at 300F for 2 hours. So, season your roast with salt and pepper. Then put some sliced onion and salsa into a baking dish. Nestle in the roast. Pour beef broth over top. Put the lid on, and then bake it for 2 hours.
Instant Pot Shredded Beef
Can you make shredded beef in the Instant Pot? Absolutely. If you don’t have a slow cooker or just need the easy shredded beef to be ready quicker, you can use the Instant Pot instead with a couple minor adjustments. It takes about 75 minutes total this way.
Instant Pot Shredded Beef Recipe
- 2.5 lb. chuck roast
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1 cup salsa
- 1 onion, sliced
- Cut beef into 4 pieces.
- Measure the broth and salsa into the Instant Pot. Put the beef pieces in and turn them to coat. Top with the sliced onions.
- Seal the Instant pot. Set to high pressure for 40 minutes. After the pressure cooking has completed, allow the pressure to release naturally for 15 minutes and then turn the pressure valve to release any remaining pressure.
- Remove meat from IP. Use 2 forks to shred meat. Use a slotted spoon to scoop some of the cooked onion and salsa vegetables from the Instant Pot. Stir into the shredded meat.
- Season meat with salt and pepper to taste.
Note that I did not include salt and pepper in the ingredient list for the Instant Pot, but instead added it at the end. Why? With this method, I found that the salt from the broth and salsa provided enough seasoning. Also, any seasonings added seem to wash off into the liquid anyways and don’t stay on the roast. It’s best to just leave off the seasoning and add them at the end, if needed.
You also may have noticed that I didn’t sear the beef first. Why not? I did a test searing the beef first compared with not searing it and I found that there was not a significant difference in flavor. If you want to get a bit of a crust and caramelization, you can quickly broil it afterwards. That actually works better than searing it first, as you may have learned from my wonderful technique for roasting pork.
Ways To Use Shredded Beef
Since I’ve used salsa in this beef recipe, I especially love to use the meat for shredded beef tacos or burritos. Or break out the tortilla chips and cheese and use this beef to make my infamous Beef and Cheese Dip (you’ll start at step #4 since the beef is already cooked). You could also make a tasty rice bowl dish like this beef bowl with chimichurri sauce, or use it for beef sandwiches.
Podcast Episode About Making Shredded Beef
Listen to me explain briefly about how this easy shredded beef, along with some other great tips, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
PrintEasy Shredded Beef Recipe
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 hours 30 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours 35 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Slow Cooker
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
This easy Shredded Beef recipe only needs a handful of ingredients and then the slow cooker does the work.
Ingredients
- 2.5 lb. boneless chuck roast
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
- 1 large onion, sliced
- 1 cup salsa
- 1 cup beef broth
Instructions
- Season roast all over with salt and pepper.
- To the slow cooker add the onion and salsa. Stir. Nestle the roast into the onion mixture. Pour the broth over top of the roast.
- Cook on LOW for 6 hours or on HIGH for 4 hours.
- Remove roast from slow cooker. Use two forks to shred beef into strands. Use a slotted spoon to scoop some of the onions and salsa veggies out of the slow cooker, and then stir them into the beef to moisten it to your desired amount.
- If the beef was a lean cut and seems dry, stir in some of the braising liquid. Season beef to taste with salt and pepper.
Love this recipe? I’d appreciate it if you could scroll down and add a *5 star rating* to help others know they’ll love it as well!
Rose says
Delicious!! It had so much flavor! I am watching my sodium intake so totally left that out and never even noticed!!
Christine Pittman says
That’s great to hear, Rose! Since you loved it, I’d really appreciate you adding a 5 star rating if you have a moment which helps others find this recipe too. Thanks!
Cheryl says
Whole family liked it and we used it in a few different things. It’s a keeper for sure!
Elizabeth says
wow wow wow wow! Made this for “taco Tuesday” and I’ll definitely be making it again! This was incredibly easy and had so much flavor.
Christine Pittman says
Thank you so much, Elizabeth! Glad you enjoyed this for tacos.