Boneless Chuck Roast Slow Cooker

Traditional and Flavorful Chinese Traditional Brisket Made Easy

Boneless chuck roast slow cooker recipe is a comforting slow cooking meal.  The complex flavor is great for pairing any kind of side dishes of your choice. People think that you spend a full day making this dish.  Nobody knows that it is all the work from your slow cooker.

Total Time: 8 Hours 25-30 Minutes
Prep Time: 10 Minutes  
Active Cook Time: 15-20 Minutes  
Inactive Cook Time: 8 Hours  
Serving: 6-8

This Chinese traditional brisket recipe reminds me of 2 people in my life.  One is my father and the other is my father-in-law.  

My father is the “King of Brisket”.  He loves beef so much that he would eat any part of the beef.  Well, don’t get me going…..It sounds crazy.  I know.  

But when we were young, he literally took us to almost every Hong Kong restaurant, small or big, specializing in cooking brisket to try out their own renowned Chinese brisket.  In my memory, he always loved the one with very simple flavor that the spices do not overpower the natural taste of the brisket.  

To top it off, he always put a heaping teaspoon of Chiu Chow (a town in Mainland China where my father’s family came from) chili oil.  To me, it just hits the spot.  It feels like HOME.  

This is the way how my mom used to make at home.  I replaced brisket with chuck roast and substitute daikon radishes with regular radishes.

CHEF NOTES

The cut of meat used in the authentic Chinese version has plenty of fat and tendon. But in North America, brisket tends to be very expensive. The next alternative you can use is chuck roast.  That’s what I picked.

With that said, pick the meat with the marble grain which is more flavorful and tender.  But beware that there is definitely more fat in the meat.

Traditionally, this boneless chuck roast slow cooker recipe uses Daikon radish.  But it is difficult to find in any regular grocery stores.  Even if it is available in your closest Chinese store or Asian market, it is very seasonal.  Therefore, the best alternative is regular radishes.  

Warning: If you had never cooked radishes of any kind before, you will smell something different in the house once the vegetables get heated up.  You may wonder if there is any problem in your septic.  But it is not.  The smell is from the radishes.  When the brisket is cooked, the smell will eventually change to the aroma that you start to fall in love with.

After cooking for 4 hours in the slow cooker, the radishes lose their vibrant red color.  But it absorbs all the yummy flavor from the beef and the broth.  Besides, it gives another layer of deep dark color to the meat.  I remember the first time my father-in-law tried the cooked radishes.  Man….didn’t he go nuts for this root vegetables.  Not only he didn’t get enough of it, but also he raved about it for days.  You can imagine how good it is.

This is a great one dish recipe if you know that there are visitors coming.  It is low maintenance and can serve a big crowd with a lot of rice on the side.  Spaghetti is another great alternative of the Thai rice noodles.

If you like it hot and spicy, put in 1-2 pieces of small dried chili pepper together with other seasonings in the slow cooker. 

You can even replace the Chinese 5 spice powder with curry powder.

Purely Chinese Traditional Brisket

If you want to skip the radishes and noodles, please feel free to do so.  It is very versatile.  That's the beauty of this boneless chuck roast slow cooker recipe. 

Of course, you can pair it with other side dishes.  Just pay attention to the total active cook time of the side dish(s) and prepare it or them before dinner.

Hope you will enjoy this Chinese traditional brisket recipe as much as my father and late father-in-law.

Boneless Chuck Roast Slow Cooker Recipe and Directions

Ingredients
2.5–3 lbs (1.1-1.3kg) Beef Boneless Chuck Pot Roast
24oz (680g) Radish (trim both ends and discard)
4 Scallions (optional; chopped for garnish)
1 Bag (16oz / 454g) Thai rice noodles straight cut (I use the brand “Taste of Thai” which is available in almost every grocery stores in the United States)

Seasonings
1 teaspoon Chinese 5 Spice Powder (McCormick is good.  If you can get one from a Chinese store, it is even better, but not a must.)
1 Star Anise (optional; this is a very traditional ingredients in many Chinese dishes.  But if you don't have it, it is ok to skip it.)
8 Whole Black Pepper Corns
3 Cup (21oz / 605g) Boiling Water
¼ Cup (1.7oz / 50g) Superior Lite Soy Sauce
1 teaspoon Superior Dark Soy Sauce (Refer to Hong Kong Stir-Fry Beef Spaghetti for the details about soy sauces)
½ teaspoon Sugar
1 tablespoon Light Cooking or Canola Oil
1 teaspoon Salt

Directions

1. Put the brisket in the middle of the slow cooker.
2. Surround the meat with radishes.
3. Add Chinese 5 Spice, pepper corns, boiling water, soy sauces and sugar into the crock pot.
4. Cook 8 hours in slow cooker at low heat.
5. Hold the salt before serving.
6. About 30 minutes before serving, bring a pot of water to a boil.
7. Put noodles in a big heat resistant bowl with salt.
8. Pour the boiling water into the bowl with noodles and add oil.
9. Stir the noodles for a minute and put it aside for 10 minutes.
10. (Refer to Thai Chicken Noodles for the hits, tips and techniques of preparing the Thai rice noodles)
11. While waiting for the noodles, take out 1 to 1 ½ cups (7-11oz / 202-302g) of broth from the slow cooker and transfer to a big soup pot or Dutch oven. (Use fat separator if needed) Bring it to a boil.
12. Drain noodles and immediately transfer to the boiling broth.
13. Stir regularly until the broth is all absorbed by the noodles.
14. Add scallion for garnish and serve immediately.

Boneless Chuck Roast Slow Cooker Steps with Photos

Trim both ends of radishes

Radishes are ready and put them aside for now

If you can leave as much fat as you can with the meat, that will work better with this dish.

Cut meat into halves, if necessary, to fit into a slow cooker

Spices to add on top of the meat

Soy sauce and boiling water mixture going into the crock pot as well

Meat, radishes, spices and soy sauce mixture all in the slow cooker.

Brisket/chuck roast with radishes after 8 hours of cooking in low heat.

Use fat separator for the sauce, if necessary

Brisket/chuck roast and radishes garnished with scallions and ready to serve as is

Brisket/chuck roast and radishes served with rice noodles. ENJOY!

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