view our boxes here
Batch Cooked Slow Cooker Meals
One of the easiest ways to simplify your weeknight meals is to slow-cook a big batch of protein and turn it into multiple dinners. This Slow Cooker Classic Beef is the perfect base, tender chuck roast cooked with veggies and herbs until it’s fall-apart delicious. From there, you have three fantastic options: a comforting Beef Pot Roast with Gravy, a rich Shredded Beef Ragu with Pasta that tastes like it’s been simmering all day, and cheesy Beef Quesadillas for a fun mid-week meal.
Simply cook the beef once, portion it up, and you’ve got flexible, hearty meals ready to go whenever you need them. Pure batch-cooking convenience!
Slow Cooker Classic Beef (Base Recipe)
Ingredients :
Cooking notes:
- 2kg beef chuck roast
- 3 tbsp plain flour
- 2 brown onions
- 4 carrots
- 3 celery stalks
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 4 bay leaves
- 1 tbsp dried thyme
- 2 beef stock cubes
Method
- Season beef well with salt and pepper, then coat with flour. Heat a frypan over medium-high heat with oil. Add beef and cook until browned on all sides.
- Slice onions, carrot and celery. Add to slow cooker as you go.
- Add beef, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, dried thyme, crumbled stock cubes and 1L water. Season well with salt and pepper, and mix to combine.
- Set slow cooker to high heat and cook for 4-5 hours until the beef is tender.
- Cook on low for 8 hours (or high for 4–5 hours) until the beef is fall-apart tender.
- Remove beef from the slow cooker and portion: For meal 1, reserve roughly half of the beef (to be eaten the same day) along with 2 cups cooking liquid.
- Shred the remaining beef and divide into two containers for meals 2 and 3. Store in the fridge for up to 4 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
- Add 1 cup strained cooking liquid to containers with shredded beef to keep it moist and add flavour to other meals.
Want to make this at home? We used Mondo Butcher & Grocer Beef Chuck, Celery Sticks and Urban Forager Organic Beef Stock from the Dinner Twist Marketplace.
Meal One:
Beef Pot Roast with Gravy
Ingredients :
Serves 4-6
Cooking notes:
Serves 4-6
- 1kg baby potatoes
- 3 parsnips
- 1 bunch Dutch carrots
- 1 bunch broccolini
- 2 cups reserved cooking liquid
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- 1/2 cooked beef
Method
- Set oven to 200ºC. Add potatoes to a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes until tender. Drain potatoes.
- Spread potatoes on the lined oven tray. Gently crush with the back of a large spoon or bottom of a clean cup until slightly flattened and the skins split. Drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 25-30 minutes until potatoes are golden and crispy.
- Cut parsnips into angular pieces, and trim and scrub carrots. Toss on a second lined oven tray, drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 20-25 minutes until golden and tender.
- Heat frypan over medium-high heat with oil. Trim broccolini (halve if desired). Add to pan along with 1/4 cup water. Cook, covered, for 3-4 minutes until stems are just tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Add cornflour and reserved cooking liquid to a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk continuously until a thick gravy texture forms. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Serve beef, roasted vegetables, crushed potatoes, broccolini and gravy tableside.
- For extra crispy smashed potatoes, make sure they're well-drained and fully dry before crushing. A generous drizzle of oil and plenty of seasoning goes a long way!
- Swap or add to the roasted vegetables based on what's in season or what you have on hand! Pumpkin, sweet potato, beetroot or turnip all roast beautifully.
- Leftover beef is great shredded cold in a sandwich with seeded mustard and pickles.
Meal Two:
Beef Ragu with Pasta
Ingredients :
Serve 4
Want to make this at home? We used Garlic, Global Spices Thyme, and Small Things Wine Cabernet Sauvignon from the Dinner Twist Marketplace.
Serve 4
- 1 brown onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 carrot
- 100g tomato paste
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1x 400g tinned cherry tomatoes
- ½ cup red wine
- 1/3 cooked beef
- 500g pappardelle
- Grated parmesan and fresh parsley, to serve
Method
- Dice onion and carrot, and crush garlic.
- Heat a large frypan over medium-high heat with oil. Add onion, garlic and carrot. Sauté for 4–5 minutes until softened.
- Add tomato paste and dried thyme and sauté for 1 minute.
- Add the shredded beef, tinned tomatoes and wine. Cover and bring to a rapid simmer. Reduce to medium heat and simmer gently for 15–20 minutes until rich and thickened.
- Bring a saucepan of water to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to packet instructions or until al dente. Reserve 1 cup cooking liquid and drain pasta.
- Toss the pasta through the ragu, adding a splash of cooking liquid to loosen the sauce as needed. Remove from heat and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Finely chop parsley leaves. Garnish pasta with parmesan and parsley. Serve tableside.
Cooking notes:
- No red wine on hand? Swap it for extra beef stock or even a splash of balsamic vinegar for a similar depth of flavour.
- Pappardelle is a classic match for a chunky beef ragu, but rigatoni, fettuccine, tagliatelle or spaghetti all work wonderfully. Don't want pasta? Serve the ragu over creamy polenta or mashed potato.
- Top with fresh ricotta or a dollop of mascarpone in place of parmesan for a creamier finish.
- The ragu can be made ahead and stored in the fridge or freezer; it tastes even better the next day! Freeze separately from the pasta and cook fresh on the night. Reheat gently on the stovetop with a splash of pasta cooking liquid to loosen the ragu.
Meal 3
Beef & Cheese Quesadillas
Ingredients :
Cooking notes:
- 1 red capsicum
- 1 corn cob
- 1x 400g tinned black beans
- 2 tbsp Mexican spice mix
- 1/3 cooked beef
- 8 large flour tortillas
- 180g shredded cheddar cheese
For the guacamole: - 2 avocados
- 1 tomato
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 lime
To serve: - 1 jar salsa
- 1 lime
- 1 bunch coriander
Method
- Dice the capsicum, remove corn kernels from cob, and drain and rinse black beans.
- To make the guacamole, add lime zest and juice. Add to a bowl along with roughly chopped avocado, diced tomato and crushed garlic. Use a fork or potato masher to mash to desired consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside in the fridge until ready to serve.
- Heat a large frypan over medium-high heat with oil. Add corn kernels and capsicum. Sauté for 3-4 minutes until capsicum begins to soften. Add shredded beef, Mexican spice mix and 1/3 cup water. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 4-5 minutes until the beef filling is warmed through. Remove to a bowl and season with salt and pepper.
- Arrange wraps on your bench. Add even amounts of beef filling and cheese to one half of each wrap and fold over.
- Wipe pan clean and reheat over medium-high heat with oil. Add quesadillas (in batches), pressing them into the pan with a spatula. Cook for 1-2 minutes on each side or until golden and cheese has melted.
- Cut quesadillas into wedges. Serve on a platter with guacamole, salsa, coriander leaves and lime wedges.
- If you don’t have Mexican spice mix, you can make your own! Combine 1 tbsp smoked paprika, 1 tbsp ground cumin, 2 tsp ground coriander, 2 tsp dried oregano, 2 tsp garlic powder and 2 tsp ground cinnamon.
- The beef filling can be made ahead and stored in the fridge or freezer. Simply reheat in a pan before assembling.
- Swap the flour tortillas for corn tortillas for a gluten-free option; they're slightly smaller, so you'll get a few extra quesadillas out of the batch.
- You can cook the quesadilla in a sandwich press if you have one! also work brilliantly in a sandwich press; great for kids and even less washing up!
- Quesadillas can be assembled ahead of time and stored in the fridge or freezer. Stack them between sheets of baking paper to prevent sticking. Cook straight from the fridge in a sandwich press for 3–4 minutes, or from frozen for 6–8 minutes, until golden and the cheese has melted through.
Want to make this at home? We used Ceres Organics Black Beans, Kitchen 2 Kitchen Shredded Cheddar Cheese, and Crunch Preserves Jalapeño Relish from the Dinner Twist Marketplace.
