- 1 round steak (about 2 pounds, trimmed of excess fat)
- 1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 bell pepper, seeded and cut into strips
- 1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce plus 1/2 can of water
- 1-2 teaspoons garlic powder*
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
A-Plus Swiss Steak
A saucy, slow cooker favorite that's delicious over pasta, polenta, potatoes, or with a crusty roll for mopping up every last drop!
Yield: 4-6 servings
Yield: 4-6 servings
Ingredients
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large skillet or the insert of a slow cooker (if your cooker has a browning feature) over medium-high heat, and sear the round steak, 3-4 minutes per side, or until both sides are nicely browned. (I like to add the onions and bell pepper to the skillet or cooker around the meat, after it has been flipped, to sear them a little bit, too.)
- If using a separate skillet, transfer the meat mixture to the slow cooker. Add the tomato sauce, and then fill the can halfway with water**, swirl it around to get all the sauce out, and add to the meat. Then add the onions and bell pepper (if you didn’t sear them with the meat), garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. (I use 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt and about 1/2 teaspoon pepper.)
- Cook for 4 hours on high or 6-7 hours on low. Test with fork and if meat breaks apart easily, it’s done. For a delicious sauce, use an immersion blender to incorporate the onion and green pepper into the tomato sauce gravy, which thickens it nicely. As an option, the mixture could be transfer to a blender.
Notes
- *Margie’s recipe allows for a fairly big swing in the amount of garlic powder. I started with the lesser amount and worked my way up, 1/2 teaspoon at a time, to the full 2 teaspoons, which we think is just right. Err on the side of less if you’re not sure…or use several cloves of minced, fresh garlic if preferred.
- **If you happen to have an open bottle of red wine on hand, try swishing the can out with equal parts water and red wine—still a half can total—to impart an extra layer of flavor.
- Margie dusts the round steak with flour before searing it. While I do sear the meat to give it extra flavor, I take a shortcut and omit the flouring step. The flour will add a little extra thickness to the tomato sauce, however, the puree step at the end thickens the sauce as well. Omitting the flour makes this a gluten-free meal, too. If you do not flour the meat and don’t wish to puree the sauce, there are several options for thickening the sauce. First, whisk in a tablespoon or so of cornstarch that has been mixed with an equal amount of water, or use similar slurry made with flour. As a general rule of thumb, 1 tablespoon of cornstarch will thicken as much as 3 tablespoons of flour. Alternatively, remove the lid from the slow cooker at the end of the cooking time to allow some of the excess moisture to cook off and thicken the sauce that way.