Slow Braised Barbequed Beef Bites are tender and moist with just the right amount of heat and sweet. This recipe is the perfect way to enjoy deep barbeque flavours without grilling.
What seems like a million years ago, I was married and my now ex wife introduced me to this dish. Slow Braised Barbequed Beef Bites, which she simply referred to you as BBQ Beef, was one of the best meals she prepared. She was a great cook, especially when it came to pasta, but her version of this beef was the best!
When I thought about adding the recipe to the blog and sharing with you, Dear Reader, I knew I needed to have the original recipe. I sent her a text and she replied with a photo of her hand-written recipe from her recipe book. I remembered that she would often say that she would double the sauce recipe, because sometimes it would dry out. I’m a huge lover of anything with loads of sauce, so I followed in her footsteps and doubled the sauce. Look at how wonderfully tender and moist those beef bites look!
Slow Braised Barbequed Beef Bites is one of those dishes that takes 5 minutes to assemble and a longer, lower-temperature cooking time. It’s the perfect mix it and forget about it recipe. I love recipes that are this easy to make, but yield such a deep flavour.
Use the cheapest cut of beef you can find for this recipe. Save your good steaks for grilling. I used stewing beef from Costco. Stewing beef loves to be cooked for long periods of time at a low temperature. The beef will break down and absorb more moisture, resulting in a very lip-smacking, tender piece of meat.
Serve this dish with rice or potatoes. This is certainly not a dish you’d want to serve with salad. By all means, this recipe is most certainly for the meat and potatoes type. I like to serve it with rice because the sauce can be ladled over the rice and creates a wonderful, hearty meal. And, if you really must have a vegetable with it, try serving it with corn. Yum!
Slow Braised Barbequed Beef Bites are perfect for potlucks. As previously mentioned, stewing beef is cheap, and this recipe makes quite a lot. It would be so easy to prepare this dish and then empty the entire cooked recipe into a crock pot. Turn it on the lowest possible setting to keep the beef warm on any buffet or potluck table. Your friends will thank you and love you even more than they already do!
Tangy, sweet, a little spicy, tender, and moist, Slow Braised Barbequed Beef Bites are a go-to recipe you’ll want to keep on hand. Perfect in winter or summer; a dish you’ll no doubt prepare again and again.
Lastly, if you’re into bite-sized meat dishes like I am, please take a look at my Honey Garlic Baked Pork Bites as well!
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Slow Braised Barbequed Beef Bites
Ingredients
- 2 pounds stewing beef, cut into 1-2 inch cubes
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons white vinegar
- 4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 4 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 cup ketchup
- 2 cups water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Whisk together the vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, water, ketchup, salt, paprika, chili powder, and sugar. Set aside.
- Place the beef, in an even layer, into a Dutch oven or roasting pan with a good fitting lid.
- Sprinkle the chopped onion over the top of the beef.
- Pour over the sauce mixture.
- Place a lid on the pan and bake for 2 and a half hours, stirring at the one hour and two hour mark.
- Remove the lid and bake for 30 minutes more.
- Serve immediately.
Nutrition
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Pauline Alua says
Lovely recipe.
byronethomas@gmail.com says
Thank you. 🙂
Lisa Dudley says
I’m trying this recipe out tomorrow. Like you, my husband always wants double the sauce, so I’m glad you stated that it was already doubled in the recipe. I’ve made the sauce ahead of time so it will be ready to pour on tomorrow. It was delicious! Can’t wait to see how it turns out.
byronethomas@gmail.com says
One of my favourite ways to prepare beef, Lisa. Hope you enjoy!
Amber says
Do you do something to thicken the sauce it came out a little too watery its still cooking but it doesnt look as yummy as yours…
byronethomas@gmail.com says
Nothing at all, Amber. The sauce is not overly thick. If you want a thicker sauce, you can certainly bake the beef a little longer with the lid off, but you might run the risk of drying out the beef. I would transfer the sauce to a sauce pan and simmer it on the stove top to reduce the sauce to a thicker consistency and then add the sauce back to the beef and stir to coat.
Deidra says
Can this be cooked in the the crock pot? If so how long?
byronethomas@gmail.com says
Hi Deidra,
I have never used a crock pot in my life! I’m so sorry. But, I really can’t see why not. A braised beef would do perfectly well in a crock pot!
Alene says
Like amber, my sauce is also very watery and does not look anything like your picture . I followed the receipe exactly, don’t know right now that I would make this again, let alone for a “pot luck “
byronethomas@gmail.com says
I’m sorry to hear that, Alene. I’ve never had that experience myself. Maybe try baking the beef without a cover/lid. I wish I had a better suggestion. I’ve made this dish so many times and have never run into a watery sauce.
Kristin says
Could this work for venison? I have a freezer full of venison and I’m still learning what cuts are interchangeable and what cuts may be too lean to cook as you would beef…
byronethomas@gmail.com says
Hi Kristin, I have never cooked with venison. I really don’t know. I’m sorry. 🙂
lucy says
I made it with venison, came out really good if you like that type of meat.
Molly says
I NEVER comment on recipes but wanted to say THANK YOU!!! my 4yo who hates most meat and won’t touch it ate sooo much of this!! Omgg I’m sooo thrilled ! And happy and a good full (very pregnant and not feeling like eating much)
And I was so sick of potatoes and it was amazing on brown rice !! Paired well with broc. Cauli. Carrots and we also had a spinach salad
I basically followed recipe for amounts of liquid. Only difference I did was I had a few different little bits of bbq sauces that I save for marinade, I put my water in there to “rinse” them out – I did the 2 cups of water
And I had one bbq sauce almost empty so I added it to my ketchup – one cup total
I did only 1lb beef and instead of spicy I added a little bit of jerk bc I’m feeding toddlers. It was a perfect kick without the burn and added chopped garlic with the onion
When I took lid off I put my oven to 350 bc it was cooking well, it was only in there for extra 10ish min lol
Maybe I needed more water lol mine was very thick sticky yummy perfect saucey meat (wish I knew how to post a picture )
**Maybe people with too watery sauce had a smaller dish so their fluid didn’t evaporate as much? I used a wider dish so the liquid wasn’t so deep and thickened quite quickly
Thanks again for sharing!
Molly says
I just read recipe again! I had my oven @375 not 325 lol
My sauce was not watery or dry at all!
After 2 hrs, turned oven to 350 and took lid off for 10ish min
Very thick sticky yummy sauce
Will make again! Thanks!
byronethomas@gmail.com says
I’m so glad to hear that you and your family loved it! I have not made this in such a long time. I think I’ll make it this week too. 🙂
Marissa says
I made this tonight and it was delicious. However, my sauce was also very watery, almost soup like. Is it really 2 2/3 cups water or should it just be 2/3 cups water?
I think I will make it again with less water next time to have a nicer sauce.
Stephanie says
In the oven right not…..trying with just 2/3 of water because I think the recipe has a typo…..
Chris says
This receipe came out extremely watery and did not look anything like the picture. Very disappointed in how vinegary it tasted.Would not make this again. I followed the receipe exactly.
byronethomas@gmail.com says
I’m sorry to hear that, Chris. If you followed the recipe exactly, then there should not have been any issue. Was the beef frozen and then thawed? Was there additional water content in the beef?
Chris says
This receipe came out extremely watery and did not look anything like the picture. Very disappointed in how vinegary it tasted.Would not make this again. I followed the receipe exactly. When making this comment it is telling I already have. Doesn’t this mean that I am repeating what others have communicated or that it will not accepted negative feedback?
Tonya says
Can’t wait to try!! Can I substitute the ketchup for bbq sauce?
byronethomas@gmail.com says
Absolutely! Ketchup and BBQ sauce are very similar in terms of consistency and ingredients. Your version of the beef bites will taste a little smokier, but will be delicious, I’m sure!
Hayley says
This was soooo good! I made a few tweaks….used beef broth instead of water and used shallots instead of onions (I had them and thought I’d play around…..but I was going to use red onion before deciding on the shallots), and just a very few personal touches to the bbq sauce. I made them in my Dutch oven and they were so tender and absolutely awesome!
I made smashed garlic potatoes, however, I had made them a bit thin. Well, as awesome as the sauce is, it still is thick like bbq sauce should be, but when I put the beef bites OVER the potatoes it almost created a kind of gravy that the plates were totally cleaned! Lol ….I had a gastric bypass years ago but I still eat less food in a sitting…..I cleaned up my plate and had to go lie down for 30 minutes so my little belly could digest all the bites I kept shoving in my mouth!
With summer just around the corner, I am so psyched about making this for family bbqs! Thank you!!
Hayley says
I just reviewed some of the comments about the sauce being too watery…..one of the “personal” touches I used was adding some molasses to the sauce ….at least a tablespoon or more. My sauce came out thick like bbq should be. I think this would be fabulous on a hoagie roll!! Next time I make this, I’m also going to try Apple cider vinegar instead of the white…..I had no problems with it being too vinegary, I just like apple cider vinegar in my bbq sauce.
Maybe adding tomato paste could help to thicken it, as well?
BLarge says
The best beef ever! I made this for a new mom and her family she couldn’t rave enough about it! So so easy too! My suace was perf!!! I used White wine vinegar, added some BBQ suace, and Montreal steak seasoning! I used 2 cups of water! I’m doing in a crockpot to see if there is a difference! So wonderful! Thank you!
Laura says
You can thicken the sauce by pouring it into a small sauce pot set to medium high and whisking in 1 tablespoon each COLD water and cornstarch that you’ve mixed thoroughly to combine before adding to the sauce. So. As the COLD cornstarch and water “slurry” into the simmering sauce while whisking. It will immediately thicken and gloss the sauce gorgeously. Bubble a minute and serve. Add meat back in or pour over meat. No taste at all from this slurry. Just use very cold water into hot liquid to thicken.
Lisa says
I was very leary about this recipe, due to all of the comments about it being watery. I made it exact to the recipe, but omitted the chili powder… I don’t like spicy. It is my thought that it needs all the water in order to make the meat tender and not dried out while cooking.
Because I wanted a thicker sauce in the end, I simply removed the meat from the pan and used cornstarch and water to thicken. Readded the meat, gave it a stir, and ate to my heart’s content. It’s really good if spooned over mashed potatoes.
This recipe is a keeper!
Jill says
So I am on a keto diet. I made this using a little less water and sugar free barbecue sauce with some keto seasonings I had on hand. It turned out amazing! I poured it over some riced cauliflower for myself and potatoes for the rest of the family.
byronethomas@gmail.com says
That sounds delicious, Jill!
Leyla says
This is amazing! I really didn’t think something so easy would turn out so great. I didnt have enough ketchup so did 1/2 ketchup 1/2 BBQ sauce. Also didn’t use the chilli.
I found I still had too much liquid at the end, so transferred liquid only to a small pot and simmered down lots (maybe 29 mins), then added 2 teaspoons of corn starch/water to get it super thick at the end.
I ended up with medallion sized pieces once and tried them out. They ended up falling apart, so just made shredded BBQ beef. Was also great 🙂
Caroline says
I made this recipe this evening having bought some cheap braising steak. My partner is very anti-beef, but I thought the bbq element would win her over.
It was incredibly tasty. Yes, the sauce was a touch watery but I left it in a bit longer with the lid off, and then added some cornflour to thicken slightly. Next time I’d reclusive the water, but otherwise this worked a treat. Everyone cleared their plates, which is high praise indeed!
Michelle says
Can this be doubled? Does the meat have to sit at the bottom of the dutch oven or can you put another layer of meat on top of a layer of meat?
byronethomas@gmail.com says
Hi Michelle – yes, you can double it. And, go right ahead and pile the meat in! 🙂
Doug says
Very disappointed when I made this recipe. It was so good I didn’t have leftovers!! Next time I will have to make a double batch. Came out exactly like your pictures.
byronethomas@gmail.com says
You scared me when I read that first line! Ha! Thank you so much, Doug. I’m disappointed when there aren’t any leftovers too!
joe says
afte reading comments about the mix being watery i did the following: used one and a half cups ketchup and only one cup of water.
cooked covered for two hours and uncovered for one hour. perfect.
Pat says
The beef came out great however there was too much very thin sauce. It looked nothing like the thick, clingy sauce in the picture. I removed half the sauce and thickened it with corn starch which made it better.
Liz says
Followed recipe exactly as above. Was EXCELLENT !! Looked just like your picture!! Thanks. Will def be a keeper recipe!
kim rose says
I used 1.2 pounds if meat. Cut water to 1 1/2 cups. Kept lid off for last hour of baking. Turned out perfect. So delicious.
Cara says
Amazing! Family loved it! I noticed the comments of it being watery, so I just covered it for the first hour only, then removed the lid for the remaining two hours and it was perfect! Will definitely make it again, thanks for sharing the recipe!
Elaine F Fordham says
OHHHH MYYYY!!! Thank you for sharing this recipe it was DELICIOUS!! Next time I will be Doubling everything so we will have lots of leftovers.
Linda says
Made this today and absolutely delicious. Turned out exactly as pictured. Since it is just my husband and myself, I halved the recipe and still had leftovers.
Kathy says
Absolutely delicious!.. My family loved it.. Easy Saturday or Sunday supper..
Brook says
Delicious and easy recipe that I found last minute and for which I was pleased to have all ingredient on hand. I’d cut back on the sugar next time or perhaps use honey as I like a less sweet dish, but it really hit the spot. Whole family loved it.
Kathy says
My family absolutely loves this recipe, definitely a keeper… I took the lid off after 2.5 hours then turned the oven up to 350 cooked for another 45 minutes the sauces thickens nicely… I have made four times and served with white rice , baked potatoes and a fresh vegetable absolutely delicious .