Beef Hot Pot Slow-Cooked To Perfection: A Hearty, Soul-Warming Feast

A hearty and delicious meal, beef hot pot is the perfect comfort food. This one-pot dish is easy to prepare and can be left to cook slowly throughout the day, ready for dinner. With tender beef, crispy sliced potatoes, and a rich gravy, it's a true British classic.

Preparing the ingredients

The first step in making a delicious beef hot pot in a slow cooker is gathering and preparing the ingredients. Here's a detailed guide to help you get started:

Meat and Vegetables

Begin by selecting your choice of meat. You can choose from braising beef, cubed beef steak, or rump, ensuring it's lean and trimmed of excess fat. Cut the meat into bite-sized chunks or cubes. For a frugal option, you can also use stewing steak.

Next, prepare your vegetables. You'll need onions, carrots, and potatoes as a base. Peel and chop the onions, and dice or cut the carrots into small pieces. For the potatoes, peel and thinly slice them. You can decide whether to leave the skin on or off. Additionally, you can include celery sticks, diced into small pieces.

Seasoning and Flavourings

To enhance the flavour of your beef hot pot, you'll need a few key ingredients. These include beef stock, which can be prepared using stock cubes dissolved in boiling water or heated through in a saucepan. You'll also need some Worcestershire sauce and English mustard. If you want to add a splash of colour and extra flavour, consider including tomato puree or paste.

Optional Extras

While not mandatory, you can elevate your dish by including some optional ingredients. A few suggestions include frozen peas, dried thyme, black pepper, bay leaves, and a splash of red wine or Worcestershire sauce if you prefer a non-alcoholic option. You can also add garlic puree and tinned tomatoes.

Quantities

The quantities of ingredients will depend on the number of servings you wish to prepare. Here's a general guide:

• For a family meal serving 2 adults and 2 children, use 600g of beef, 3 medium-large potatoes, 2 medium onions, 4 medium carrots, 2 celery sticks, and adjust the other ingredients accordingly.
• For a larger group, simply double the quantities and use a bigger slow cooker.

Browning the beef

In the same pan, take advantage of the juices and flavours left behind by adding in your chopped onions. Fry until softened, then add flour and mix until well combined. You can also add dried thyme at this stage for extra flavour. Keep stirring to avoid lumps of flour forming.

Now it's time to add liquid to the pan. Pour in your chosen stock—beef or vegetable—gradually, stirring continuously. You can also add a splash of red wine or Worcestershire sauce for an extra kick of flavour. Keep stirring and bring the mixture back to a boil.

Once it's boiling, you can transfer this onion and sauce mixture into your slow cooker, pouring it over the beef and any vegetables you may have prepared.

Cooking the vegetables

The beauty of a slow cooker is that you can leave it to do its thing while you get on with your day. But before you set it and forget it, there's a little prep to do. First, chop up your veggies. For a beef hot pot, you'll want to use a combination of onions, carrots, celery, and potatoes. You can also add other vegetables like swede, parsnips, or peas if you like.

Once you've chopped your veggies, it's time to start cooking. Heat up some oil in a large frying pan and add your onions. Cook them until they're softened and just starting to turn golden. Then, add your other vegetables (except the potatoes) and give them a good stir. You don't want to cook these for too long, just enough to give them a bit of colour.

Now it's time to build your hot pot in the slow cooker. Start by adding the beef to the slow cooker, then top with the vegetables you just cooked. Next, thinly slice your potatoes and layer them on top of the meat and veggies. Make sure the potatoes overlap so that none of the other ingredients are showing through. Press the potatoes down into the slow cooker and add your stock, ensuring that it just covers the top layer of potatoes.

Finally, set your slow cooker to low and let it do its magic for 7-8 hours. When it's done, the potatoes should be nice and tender, and your beef should be melt-in-your-mouth tender.

Layering the potatoes

First, prepare the potatoes by thinly slicing them. You can leave the skin on or peel it off, depending on your preference. Aim for about 700g of thinly sliced potatoes.

Next, in a separate pan, cook the beef, onions, and other vegetables in oil until browned. Add in the stock, Worcestershire sauce, tomato puree or paste, mustard, and rosemary, stirring to combine.

Now it's time to layer the potatoes in the slow cooker. Place the potatoes on top of the meat mixture, ensuring they overlap and cover the meat completely. Gently press the potatoes down into the stock. This layering technique will help the potatoes cook evenly and absorb the flavours from the stock.

Cover the slow cooker and cook on low heat for 7-8 hours. The long, slow cooking time will ensure that the potatoes become tender and infused with flavour.

Once the cooking time is complete, carefully remove the inner pot from the slow cooker. If desired, you can add a few knobs of butter on top of the potatoes and place the dish under a hot grill to brown the potatoes further. Alternatively, use a kitchen blowtorch to achieve a similar effect.

Serving suggestions

With Potatoes

You could serve your beef hot pot with potatoes in a few different ways. If you haven't already included sliced potatoes in your hot pot, you could serve it with creamy mashed potatoes, chips, or crusty bread. If you want to get fancy, you can make air fryer frozen French fries or air fryer pull-apart bread.

With Vegetables

You could serve your beef hot pot with extra vegetables on the side. Some recipes suggest serving it with peas, either frozen or fresh.

With Bread

As mentioned above, crusty bread is a great side for mopping up the delicious gravy of your beef hot pot. If you want something a little different, you could try pull-apart bread or beer bread.

With Dairy

Some recipes suggest adding a few knobs of butter to the top of your beef hot pot and placing it under a hot grill to brown. You could also sprinkle cheese on top.

With Herbs

Chopped parsley is a great garnish for your beef hot pot, adding some colour and freshness to the dish.

With Alcohol

If you're looking for a more grown-up flavour profile, you could try adding a splash of alcohol to your beef hot pot. A capful of red wine or a splash of Worcestershire sauce can add a nice kick to the dish. Just be sure to cook off the alcohol first so it's safe for the whole family to enjoy.

Frequently asked questions