This Slow Cooker London broil recipe takes very little effort, but you will end up with a very flavorful, tender beef roast along with a delectable gravy that's great served over my Cheesy Mashed Potatoes or sopped up with some homemade bread like my wildly popular Easy Homemade Biscuits!
So Fork-Tender and Delicious! and the perfect solution for busy weeknights since it just calls for a few simple ingredients and minimal prep. Then, you just let your slow cooker do the rest!
Great paired with my Sauteed Broccoli, delicious Creamed Peas, Creamy Scalloped Potatoes or Gouda Mac & Cheese.
💖 Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Fork-Tender Pulled Beef - As you can see in the pictures, the meat is fork-tender and falls apart easily. No real need to cut with a knife. In fact, if you wanted to you could pull it all apart - I like to call it my slow cooker pulled beef. Then you can use it in soup or served mixed in with mac and cheese or mashed potatoes. Check out more of my beef recipes.
- Easy Crock Pot Meal - Just put all the ingredients in the slow cooker and let it cook while you go about your day. Prepare the rest of your dinner around the time your meat will be done.
- Adaptable - You can use any cut of beef for this recipe, especially if it tends to be a tough cut - these tend to be more flavorful and work great for slow cooking, which tenderizes the meat and makes it fall apart.
🥘 Ingredients For Crock Pot London Broil
Ingredient Notes:
- Beef roast: London broil is the same as top round, bottom round, top blade, or flank steak. Use a low-fat 2-pound beef roast that typically would turn out tough unless cooked slowly.
- Broth: Feel free to use beef or chicken broth or stock. I have used them both, and this recipe turns out delicious with either.
- Herbs: If you don't have thyme or marjoram, feel free to substitute with other similar herbs such as oregano, basil, or your favorite Italian seasoning blend.
(Complete ingredient quantities found below in the recipe card.)
📖 Substitutions
Fried Onions - If you don't have fried onions or can't find them (the typical brands are Durkee or French's), then you can substitute dry onion soup mix instead (one packet). Don't substitute with fresh onions, as you won't get the benefit of the "gravy" at the end. The gravy is produced by the extra broth along with the thickening agent in the onions (they are coated with a flour mixture).
Meat - You can use another cut of meat if you'd like. London broil is also called bottom round, top round, top blade, or flank steak. I like to use a cut of meat that's typically tough, yet it has lots of flavor and is lower in fat. These cuts are typically cheaper, and the slow cooking process does magical things to tenderize the meat and make it fall-apart tender.
🔪 How to Slow Cook London Broil
Step 1: Add oil to the slow cooker and place the beef roast on top and then flip it over to get oil on both sides.
Step 2: Add thyme, marjoram, fried onions, salt, pepper, and broth and mix it all around a bit to coat the meat.
Step 3: Cover and cook on high 4-5 hours or low 6-8 hours, checking every few hours if possible (it won't burn if you're unable). Make sure that it's fork tender before you consider it done.
Once the meat is done and tender, turn off the heat and let the roast sit for 5 minutes or so to let the gravy thicken slightly.
Step 4: Serve on a platter with the gravy, slicing or pulling apart with a fork portion sizes for each plate.
Great paired with sauteed broccoli (pictured) or other vegetable of choice. Serve over or alongside potatoes, rice, or noodles if desired.
(Scroll down for printable instructions and ingredient quantities.)
💭 Expert Cooking Tips
- Adding the French fried onions is the secret to ending up with an automatic gravy when your London broil is done. A flavorful, saucy gravy to serve over the meat, over mashed potatoes, over biscuits - over veggies. Yum!
- If you use a larger cut of meat (larger than 2 pounds), you may need to cook the London broil longer. The roast is done when the meat is fall-apart tender.
- You will also want to add more seasonings if your roast is larger. For example, if your roast is double in size, then I would recommend doubling the other ingredients.
- If you have any leftover meat, it stores well up to 3 days in the refrigerator. Reheating is simple by adding the meat to a medium-sized pot and adding a bit of water or broth while heating slowly.
- For reheating, note that the gravy tends to thicken more upon refrigerating, so just eye-ball the amount of liquid so you recreate a bit of broth like you had when the meat was freshly cooked. Also, if you break the meat apart into smaller pieces, it will reheat more quickly.
🧐 Recipe FAQs
No - not with this recipe. I like to make my recipes as simple as possible. This includes dirtying as few dishes as possible. I really don't like to have to cook anything on the stove top before slow cooking.
Browning can increase the depths of flavor due to caramelization, so you can certainly do this extra step if you have time. However, I don't believer you'll miss it since this recipe is very flavorful, fall-apart tender, and easy as written.
Yes, typically meat will get more tender the longer you cook it in a slow cooker. Low and slow is the way to go.
However, you need to make sure to have plenty of liquid in order for the meat to not dry out. This also depends on the tightness of your slow cooker lid. If steam is escaping, the liquid in the pot will leak out and cause the meat to dry out.
No, it's not recommended to cook frozen meat in the slow cooker due to safety concerns. Since the meat will be warming slowly, there is a danger for bacterial growth. Thawing the meat before cooking decreases the risk of food-borne illness and ensures even cooking of the meat.
You don't need to fully submerge the meat - just make sure the lower portion is in the liquid and try to flip the meat over some time during cooking if possible.
The meat will somewhat steam based on the heat and liquid on the bottom of the pot as long as you have a good seal on your lid.
🍲 More Recipes to Love
If you tried this Slow Cooker London Broil recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
📋 Recipe
London Broil Crock Pot Recipe
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
Ingredients
- 2 pounds London broil or other lean beef roast
- 2 tablespoon olive oil (or oil of choice)
- 2 teaspoon dry thyme
- 2 teaspoon dry marjoram
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup French fried onions (like Durkee - I used a store brand), lightly crushed
- 2 cups beef broth (or chicken)
Instructions
- Turn crock pot to high heat and add oil to bottom.
- Place London broil on top of oil move it around a bit to coat, then flip over.
- Add thyme, marjoram, salt, pepper, fried onions, and broth. Mix around a bit to coat.
- Cover and cook on high 4-5 hours or low 6-8 hours, checking every few hours if you're home (don't worry if you can't check - it won't burn). Make sure to cook until fork tender, even if you need to cook longer than stated.
- Once meat is cooked and tender, turn off heat and let sit uncovered for 5 minutes or so for gravy to thicken slightly.
- Serve on a platter with the gravy, slicing portion sizes for each plate. Serve with the broccoli pictured or other vegetable of choice. Serve over potatoes, rice, or noodles if desired.
Notes
- The roast is done with the meat is fall-apart tender.
- No need to brown the meat on the stove top before adding to the slow cooker.
- If you don't have fried onions, you can use a packet of dry onion soup mix, or you can chop up a fresh onion and add ¼ cup flour (to thicken the broth).
- London broil is also called top round, top blade, or flank steak. Can use any lean, very-little-fat roast.
Linda says
I made this tonight. Absolutely delicious! I cooked on low for 7 hours. At the 3 hour mark I added baby carrots and Yukon gold potatoes to the pot. The meat just fell apart. There was so much flavor in the carrots and potatoes. My London broil must have had a little fat because there was a layer in the pot and the gravy never really thickened. I made a slurry and tried to thicken it some to have that delicious flavor from that gravy. Definitely a keeper recipe!
Sally says
Awesome Linda! Thanks for letting me know!
Teresa says
I've got a 2 1/4 lb London broil I want to cook in crockpot. Can't I cook small potatoes & mushrooms and vegetables in with it?
Sally says
You absolutely can! Sounds delicious! Let me know how yours turns out, Teresa!
Jamie Timmons says
Classic! My mom always does the halved onion under roast method, but I didn’t want our small house to smell like onion for 3 days, so i used the mckormick montreal steak rub which has dried onion in it & the end result was the same as if I had used the raw onion. I found that I needed to cook this on high for around 7-8 hours to get the fork tender (my london broil was almost 4lbs lol). Yum!
Sally says
Fabulous Jamie!
Chastity says
What if you do not have marjoram?
Sally says
Thanks for your question, Chastity. Oregano is a good substitute for marjoram.
Heather says
I subbed dry onion soup mix and chicken stock since that's what I had on hand. Turned out great! Will definitely make this again.
Sally says
Perfect Heather! Great substitutions!
Richard says
Wow This is a keeper !
Sally says
Thanks Richard - glad you liked it!
Joe says
Does this come out as well done, or no pink in the center? Do you have a suggestion for reduced cooking time/temperature if one is going for medium rare or medium?
Sally says
Thanks for your question, Joe. It does come out well done, but not lacking in flavor like a steak would be. The goal with this recipe is tenderness and fuss-free cooking. If you cooked it less, it might be less tender - I'm not sure, though. Not sure you would get the red center anyway, since the heat is surrounding the meat instead of cooking one side at a time. Instead of this being steak-like, it's more of a roast when cooked. Give it a try and let me know how it turns out.
John Fowler says
I have everything for the recipe but the thyme and marjoram, is there something else I could use or should I just wait until I can get it?,
Sally says
Thanks for your question John! If you have a poultry seasoning or Italian seasoning blend, this would also work. Otherwise, just use oregano or wait till you can get the thyme and marjoram. Let me know!
Angie says
Delicious!!! If I wanted to double the recipe would I just double all ingredients? Would it need more cooking time? Thanks!
Sally says
Thanks for dropping by, Angie! Yes, you would just double the ingredients. You may want to bump the time up an hour or two in order to get a tender roast. I haven't tried it, but you wouldn't over cook it if you cooked for another hour or two. Just make sure it's tender. Let me know how it turns out!
stephanie says
So tender and full of flavor.
Sally says
Thanks for letting me know, Stephanie!
Krissy Allori says
I couldn't believe how tender and flavorful this meat was. The gravy was so good on the mashed potatoes I made to go with it. My husband wants me to save the recipe.
Sally says
That's great, Krissy! I love to hear that!
Laura | Wandercooks says
So very tender!! Really easy to make as well. Will be having this recipe on repeat 🙂
Sally says
Thanks Laura! We love it too!
Taylor Kiser says
This was so tender and delicious! I'll definitely keep this recipe around for future dinners!
Sally says
Thanks Taylor! We love it at my house!
Shinta Simon says
That meat is so tender! I don't have a crock pot, but perhaps can make this in the Instant Pot? Love the sound of that gravy too
Sally says
Yes, it is very tender, Shinta! I don't have an Instant Pot, so I wouldn't know how to tell you to cook it. Thanks for stopping by!
Kenneth McKethan says
Foolproof, idiotproof and absolutely delicious. Amazed at the gravy yield.
Definitely a regular from here on.
Thanks!
Sally says
Awesome Kenneth!
Sally says
Oh my! I forgot to say, didn't I? You add the fried onions at the beginning with everything else. Thanks for your question, Amanda! I'll go fix it in the recipe card right now!