Do you ever get tired of making the same recipe or meal from a specific ingredient? That’s how I felt when I created these Beef and Carrot Noodle Bowls.
When it comes to beef chuck roast, which is one of my favorite cuts of beef, I tend to make one of two things with it.
I either make my 5 Ingredient Beef Pot Roast, which is always a family favorite, or I make a simple beef and veggie stew, which I have yet to post a recipe for! (I’ll try to fix that soon!)
Both of these are good options and my family likes them both, but I found myself making these meals a lot this winter (because, Cold. Iowa. Winters!). No one was complaining, but I just needed to switch things up.
Traditional beef noodle bowls usually use a cut of beef that cooks really quickly, like beef sirloin steak or top loin steak. You cut the steak into super thin strips, and it cooks in 2 to 3 minutes. Very fast.
Beef chuck roast doesn’t work like that, but instead, needs a long cooking time to get tender. That’s why it works so well to cook it in an instant pot or slow cooker.
While it may seem that the long cooking time required for the beef chuck roast will mean that these Beef and Carrot Noodle Bowls take a long time to make, they don’t because the roast gets cut into bite size pieces for cooking. This cuts down on the cooking time significantly.
What ingredients are in Beef and Carrot Noodle Bowls?
I tried to keep the ingredient list for these Beef and Carrot Noodle Bowls as short as possible without sacrificing flavor. (I try to do that in all my recipes, by the way!)
You’ll need 12 total ingredients if you want to make the full recipe, including all the optional ingredients. I didn’t count the water, but I think that’s okay, right?
Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make this recipe:
- Boneless beef chuck roast
- Toasted sesame oil
- Onion
- Low-sodium chicken broth
- Coconut aminos
- Fresh ginger root
- Carrot
- Fresh broccoli or Brussels sprouts
- Crushed red pepper (optional)
- Wide rice noodles, basmati rice, or soba noodles (optional)
- Fresh cilantro (optional)
- White and/or black sesame seeds (optional)
What are coconut aminos?
Coconut aminos is a common substitute for soy sauce in gluten free recipes. It’s made from fermented sap from coconut palm trees.
It tastes very similar to soy sauce, in that it’s salty with a good dose of umami (which contributes to more flavor and balance overall), but, unlike soy sauce, coconut aminos taste slightly sweet. You won’t taste any coconut flavor in coconut aminos.
You can find coconut aminos in most major grocery stores or health food stores. If you can’t find coconut aminos, you can use gluten free soy sauce instead.
Can I use a different cut of beef than beef chuck roast?
I tested this Beef and Carrot Noodle Bowls recipe with beef chuck roast, beef arm pot roast, and beef petite tender steaks.
The test when I used the beef chuck roast turned out the best, with the beef being the most tender and juicy, which is why I call for that cut of beef in this recipe.
If you can’t find beef chuck roast, you can use beef arm pot roast, or beef petite tender steaks.
Next time you’re in the mood to do something different with beef chuck roast, make these Beef and Carrot Noodle Bowls! If your family is anything like mine, it will quickly become a family favorite recipe!
Beef and Carrot Noodle Bowls
Ingredients
- 1 ½ to 2- pounds boneless beef chuck roast
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
- ½ cup chopped onion
- 3 cups water
- 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 3 tablespoons coconut aminos
- 1 1-inch piece fresh ginger
- 1 large carrot
- 2 cups fresh broccoli florets or trimmed and quartered fresh Brussels sprouts
- 1 tablespoon peeled, finely chopped fresh ginger
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)
- 2 ½ cups cooked wide rice noodles, cooked basmati rice, or cooked soba noodles* (optional)
- Chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
- White and/or black sesame seeds, lightly toasted (optional)
Instructions
- Trim fat from beef and discard. Cut beef into 1 ½-inch pieces. In a 6-quart heavy pot cook half the beef in 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium-high heat for 6 to 8 minutes or until beef pieces are well browned, stirring occasionally. Turn heat down to medium if you feel beef is browning too quickly.
- Using a slotted spoon, remove beef from pot. Add remaining oil, remaining half of beef and the onion to the same pot. Cook 6 to 8 minutes or until beef is well browned, stirring occasionally.
- Add all beef back to pot along with water, broth, and coconut aminos. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 40 to 45 minutes or until beef is tender.
- Meanwhile, peel the carrot. Trim off ends of carrot and discard. Using a vegetable peeler, make long, very thin strips of carrot by peeling the carrot. Turn carrot occasionally so you peel the carrot evenly. When you can no longer get good strips off the carrot, stop peeling. Place the long strips of carrot in a bowl and set aside.
- Thinly slice the remaining part of the carrot that you didn’t peel. Remove and discard the piece of ginger from the beef mixture. Add the thinly sliced carrot, the broccoli, chopped ginger, and crushed red pepper (if using) to the pot with beef. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 4 minutes.
- Stir the very thin carrot strips into the beef mixture. Cook, uncovered, for 2 minutes.
- To serve, ladle beef mixture into shallow bowls. If desired, add noodles or rice to bowls. Sprinkle with cilantro and/or sesame seeds if desired.
Notes
