Crock Pot Cube Steak is an easy recipe that creates the most fork-tender, falling apart cubed steaks ever! Plus they create their own creamy mushroom gravy as it cooks! Serve it over mashed potatoes, rice, pasta, or by itself!
NOTE: This recipe was updated in 2020 to include new images and some extra tips. The recipe stayed exactly the same!
There are a lot of days when I have to help on the farm. By the time I get into the house, I’m tired and hungry. Thank goodness for slow cookers! There’s nothing like coming home to the smell of Cube Steak simmering away in a divine mushroom sauce!
If you’re wondering what to make with cube steak be sure to check out these other cube steak recipes: Slow Cooker Cube Steak Stew or make my Philly Cheesesteak Quesadilla with leftover cube steak.
Slow Cooker Cube Steak is great for busy days
I come from several generations of farm women. My grandma used to work right along with my grandpa. She was an amazing truck driver, cattle worker, bookkeeper, bread baker, and canner, among other things.
It was so cool that she could go outside in her grubbies and work then come home and get dolled up for some occasion. I love to go outside and help the boys on the farm. But I also like to get dressed up, once in a while and feel somewhat pretty.
I will always remember the meals we used to have at Grandma’s house. She always served bread and sliced cheese….at every meal! What a good lady! How different her life would have been if she would have had owned a slow cooker. My family survives because I own a slow cooker.
There are many days when I am working and don’t have an extra minute to think about dinner. When my boys walk through the door after doing their chores, they are HUNGRY! Trust me, something like chicken salad sandwiches is not going to satisfy them.
Why This Recipe Works
There are so many reasons to love this recipe!
- Quick and easy! Although you’ll need to plan ahead because it takes about 6-8 hours for this cube steak to cook in the Crock Pot, you’ll only need about 20 minutes to prepare it! The slow cooker does its magic and when you come home your house will smell divine!
- Inexpensive! Cube steak is an inexpensive cut of meat because it’s made from some of the tougher cuts of beef. The secret to getting tender cube steak is letting it cook low and slow!
- Tried and true recipe! I’ve made this recipe a thousand times and it’s ALWAYS delicious! It’s that old-fashioned cube steak recipe with dry onion soup mix and cream of mushroom soup! It basically makes its own gravy without you having to whisk or stand at the stovetop at all!
All about Cube Steak
I’ve answered all the questions about cube steak in this post called What is Cube Steak! I’ll walk you through how to tenderize cube steak without a meat mallet. I share the best ways to cook Swiss steak. What it’s made of and what cut of meat it comes from.
Seriously, go check it out because it has all my tips on a super quick and easy way to tenderize cube steak! I’ve been using this method for years and it works great. No special kitchen gadgets or tools are needed!
Ingredients
You’ll need simple ingredients to make this recipe. Let’s talk about options for substituting.
- Cube Steak: If you don’t have cube steak you can use round steak. It won’t be the same, but it will still be delicious!
- Cream of Mushroom Soup: Feel free to use cream of whatever soup. Cream of chicken and cream of mushroom are both great!
- Evaporated milk: Since evaporated milk has been heated until about 60% of its water content has evaporated it won’t curdle in the slow cooker. Be sure to use evaporated milk, not whole milk or condensed milk.
- Dry Onion Soup Mix
- Seasonings: This recipe is easy to customize according to your tastes. Adding dry herbs such as thyme, rosemary, and sage are all yummy. Or, you can add garlic powder or onion powder.
- Mushrooms: I like fresh best, but canned mushrooms will also work. If you don’t like mushrooms leave them out or replace them with diced onions.
How to make Crock Pot Cube Steak
If you’re wondering how to cook cube steak so it isn’t tough you’re in the right place! This cube steak crock pot recipe makes the most tender, melt-in-your-mouth, falling apart cubes steak ever!
It’s such an easy recipe because it creates a smothered cube steak without having any extra steps!
STEP 1: Tenderize cubed steaks as I showed you with all the other everything else you need to know all about cube steak! You’re basically going to sprinkle the cube steak with a dusting of flour, salt, and pepper. Then use a meat mallet or cleaver to pound the steak. Flip and repeat. The steak doesn’t need to be super thin. Work it until the flour is pretty much worked into the meat. It’s a bit like dredging steak, but you don’t need to fry it before cooking it.
STEP 2: Make the cream of mushroom, or onion gravy, by mixing onion soup mix, cream of mushroom soup, and a little milk together. It will be lumpy but don’t worry about that.
STEP 3: Layer half of the cubed steaks in the bottom of a slow cooker then add half of the gravy mix.
STEP 4: Repeat step 3 layering the other half of the meat and sauce. Add sliced mushrooms if you’d like.
STEP 5: Cook steaks in the crock pot on high for 4-6 hours or on low for 6-8 hours. Garnish with chopped parsley if you’d like!
Cube steak is round steak of top sirloin steak that has been tenderized by the butcher. This is done by running it through a “cubing” machine or being pounded with a mallet. The process breaks down the muscle fibers in the steak making it more tender.
Cooking cube steak low and slow is what makes cube steak tender. I recommend cooking this in the slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours. The flavors get stronger and the fibers in the meat break down making it extra tender.
What to serve with Crock-Pot Cube Steaks
We LOVE these steaks served over pasta, rice, or my make-ahead cheesy mashed potatoes, or spinach mashed potatoes. It’s also great served by itself with a few sides! These are all great choices.
- Smashes Potatoes – quick and easy
- Cheesy Potatoes – can be made ahead
- Slow Cooker Corn Casserole – creamy and cheesy
- Glazed Carrots – a skillet side dish
- Bacon Peas – easy and flavorful
- Garlic Knots – with parmesan
- Herb Monkey Bread – so cheesy and yummy
- No Knead Wheat Bread – so easy
Get the Crock Pot Cube Steak recipe!
When your crew wants something hearty, something to warm them up. Slow Cooker Cube Steaks in mushroom gravy is one of those recipes that farm women have been passing down over the years.
Comfort food like that hits the spot every time. The longer it cooks the more tender the cube steak gets until it is falling apart. The mushroom sauce is so creamy and delicious it could be eaten alone with a spoon.
Slow Cooker Cube Steak in Mushroom Sauce
Equipment
Ingredients
- 6 whole cube steaks
- 1/4 cups flour
- dash salt and pepper
- 1 packet dry onion soup mix
- 1 teaspoon ground thyme optional
- 1 10.75 ounce cans cream of mushroom soup See Note
- 1 cup evaporated milk
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms
- parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Spray a slow cooker with nonstick baking spray or line with a slow cooker liner.
- Lay cube steaks flat on a cutting board. Sprinkle one side with flour, salt and pepper. Pound meat with a meat tenderizer, or a knife. Flip steaks and repeat on the other side.
- Mix dry onion soup mix, cream of mushroom soup, evaporated milk, and thyme together. Add mushrooms and stir.
- Arrange half of the steaks on the bottom of the slow cooker. Pour half of the mushroom sauce on top. Repeat with the rest of the cube steak and mushroom gravy.
- Cook in a slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4-6 hours.
- Serve over cooked noodles, mashed potateos, or rice.
Notes
Nutrition
laura@lasesana says
Cube steak serve with pasta is great. My family usually have steak on our meal but I haven’t tried slow cooker, I will applied your instruction. Thanks for the recipe.
Amy Engberson says
Cube steaks are a tougher cut of meat and need to be cooked for quite a while to help them become tender. This is our favorite cube steak recipe for sure! Hope you enjoy it!
Lisa Whitlock says
So looking forward to eating this tonight~! I was reading through the comments and noticed a lot of folks asking about how much milk is in a can of milk. The Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup can says 10.5 oz, so when using that can (after soup has been emptied from it), filling it with milk should come out to a little over 1 cup. I prefer using organic condensed soups and those typically come in 11 oz boxes. The consistency is pretty spot on mixed with the soup. Although, I wished I had read through the comments before preparing this … because I wasn’t even thinking about using evaporated milk. Maybe that’s why some folks were asking about how much milk … they can buy similar size can of the evaporated milk? Just a thought.
Amy Engberson says
Thanks for the insights! I didn’t realize organic soups were different sizes than traditional soups. I love adding milk to the emptied soup can because creates less dirty dishes than if I use a measuring cup! I also don’t think the amount of milk in this recipe needs to be exact. I actually have this recipe in my slow cooker right now and I’m planning on updating this post soon! I’ll have to clarify instructions!
habitat says
Great idea! They look really attractive. Best of all, the recipe is great, it makes it easy to do it. Thank you for sharing
rook says
Great to know this. By using slow cooker, I can save time to do other things. The recipe is nice too. I will try to see how it works. Thanks a lot.
Amy Engberson says
Aren’t slow cookers one of the best inventions ever? It’s so handy to throw everything in there and come home to a hearty meal! In fact, I have this very recipe in my slow cooker right now! Enjoy!
popsspot says
Great dish for get energy back after a hard working. I haven’t tried slow cooker, but your post will help much. Thanks for sharing.
Amy Engberson says
Glad you enjoyed it! It’s a great meal for fueling back up after a long day at work! Visit agian soon!
Pauline says
I made this ready for crock pot last night. Turned on when we went to bed in WARM. Cooked all night and all day while at work. Tonight it is amazing. Only thing I would do next time is add onions. (I love onions)
Thank you for sharing
Pauline from Kingston Ontario
Amy Engberson says
Great idea! There’s not much better than coming home to a home cooked meal that’s in the slow cooker waiting for you! And onions, yes to the onions!
Pauline says
Hello from Kingston Ontario. Going to try this dish tonight.
Sounds delicious
Amy Engberson says
Welcome! I’m so happy you’re here! I can’t wait for you to try this recipe! It’s one of my boys favorites!
elaine arnone says
I was very disappointed. After 7 hours in crock pot the cube steaks were raw in the middle. No there is nothing wrong with my crock pot. Won’t be making this again anytime soon. 🙁
Amy Engberson says
Wow! Seven hours is long enough to cook a whole roast. I’m wondering if your slow cooker was set to warm? Seven hours on the low setting should have been long enough to have cooked the steak through. Did the power go out during the cooking time? Were the steaks frozen when you added them to the slow cooker? Having raw steaks after that long of a cooking time doesn’t make sense.
elaine arnone says
After 7 hrs on low thecube steak was red in the middle! Yuck! Tender yes red yes. Will not be using this recipe anytime soon.
Amy Engberson says
You already mentioned that your steaks weren’t cooked through. There is no way they wouldn’t have been cooked all the way through unless something was wrong with the slow cooker. Was it on a warm setting? Does it typically take this long to cook food in your slow cooker? Did it lose power for part of the time? Were the steaks frozen before adding to the slow cooker? All of those could be factors in them not cooking through.
Tiffany@Mickey says
I like dishes with beef, I’ll try your recipe. Thanks for a nice post and photos even you were busy with farm work.
Amy Engberson says
We could be soul sisters! I’m in love with beef! I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do! It’s always busy, but it’s a great way of life!
Lisa@eatfrysmith says
I putted on my noodle and it was delicious. I’ll have a new sauce for my favorite food
Amy Engberson says
Yes! This cube steak is amazing over rice, pasta, and potatoes! My husband is always excited when we serve it over pasta though! Enjoy!
Sue says
I made your cube steak recipe tonight. It was absolutely delicious. I didn’t beat the meat or dredge it in flour. Also, I added about a tbsp. Of minced garlic. It was very tender. Thank you.
Amy Engberson says
Oh yum! Garlic is always a fantastic addition! These steaks are so tender and yummy! I’m glad you enjoyed them as much as we do!
sanchez says
Sound delicious and your picture make me think “I have to taste it right now”. I will try this next week definitely!
Amy Engberson says
I can’t wait for you to them! It’s such a comforting meal!
Kim jones says
Could you put the meat in frozen and cook all day?
Amy Engberson says
I’ve never tried making this recipe with frozen cube steaks. I like tenderizing the steaks before cooking them, and that wouldn’t be possible if the steaks were frozen. So for that reason, I’d recommend thawing them first. Enjoy!
Degascogne says
Hi Amy! This sounds delicious! If I cut the recipe in half, how long would you recommend I cook for?? Thanks, Nha Phong
Amy Engberson says
I’d still cook it for the same amount of time as if I was making the whole recipe. This particular cut of meat needs to be cooked for a long time to allow the connective tissue to break down. It’s worth the wait because they are fork tender when they are finished!
Susan Dubose says
Can the steaks be prepared the night before then put in the slow cooker in the morning?
Amy Engberson says
I actually completely prepare the entire recipe the night before. After you have everything in the slow cooker, put it in the fridge until the morning. All that’s left is taking it out of the fridge and popping it on the slow cooker base! It’s the easiest meal ever! Enjoy!
Morgan S. says
I am once again (4th time) using your recipe for my favorite cube steaks, though I use a beef bouillon in place of Kitchen Bouquet. Always a winner, and a wonderful meal for the next day to boot for the 2 of us.
Amy Engberson says
Yay! I’m so happy to hear you love this cube steak recipe as much as we do! You can’t go wrong with a super hearty dinner like this, especially when it’s this easy! Using beef bullion is a great substitute!
Damon says
What is can of milk???
Amy Engberson says
Hi Damon! I use the empty can from the cream of mushroom soup to measure “one can of milk”. It’s just the right amount of milk and it’s one less dish to wash than if I used a measuring cup! Hope that helps!
Ramon says
Thank you for this recipe,my kids love it.
Keep them coming, thanks again…
Amy Engberson says
Aren’t simple recipes like this one the best? I’m glad your whole family enjoys it! Thanks for stopping by!
Ryan Eschweiler says
Thank you for your efforts:)