Easy Beef and Noodles Recipe

One-Pot Easy Beef and Noodles Recipe with tender beef pieces and homemade egg noodles cooked in a delicious broth that makes its own gravy. 

This recipe is one of my all-time favorite classic comfort foods.  It smells great will it’s cooking and it is a hearty rib-sticking meal that you can serve with just bread and butter for a full meal.  This freezes well too so you can cook it up and serve a crowd or you can freeze some for quick meals later.

How to Make

I don’t think that any single company has quite mastered beef broth yet so I start with a combination of 2 cans of condensed beef broth, 4 beef bouillon cubes, and a 1 tablespoon of a beef enhancer like Gravy Master or Beefer-Upper.

I like adding about 1 teaspoon of seasoning salt, but this is totally optional.

Add 2 pounds of cut-up beef and 1 small onion cleaned and diced.  Add enough water to completely cover the beef pieces and bring it all to a full rolling boil then reduce the heat to medium-low or whatever temperature your stove needs to maintain a gentle simmer.

Allow the meat to simmer until tender, about 2 to 4 hours.  This will depend on the type of meat you used.  Stew meat will take longer than something like a chuck tender roast.

While the beef is simmering, make your homemade egg noodles and set them aside to dry a bit.  If you didn’t have time to let them dry it will be OK.  I make them both ways.  It depends on how much time I have during the cooking process.

Once the meat is tender, add enough water to the broth to completely cover the beef again.  Taste the broth and add more water if it is too salty.

Bring the liquid back to a boil and add the noodles a small handful at a time and stir in between additions.  This prevents the noodles from sticking to each other and making a gooey mess.  The idea is to let the liquid come back to a boil before adding more noodles so that the ones in the pan can start to firm up and form a kind of protective outer layer.

Once all of the noodles have been added, reduce the heat to a low boil and continue cooking and stirring frequently until the noodles are done.  This will take longer for thicker noodles.

The broth will start to thicken up as the noodles cook.  It will also thicken up considerably as it starts to cool.

If it starts sticking to the bottom of the pan, add a cup of water and reduce the heat.

Serve as soon as the noodles are done.

These beef and noodles are great by themselves served a side of bread and butter but they can be served over mashed potatoes if you are having a carb-y kind of day.

Homemade Egg Noodles

Homemade egg noodles are simple to make.  It just takes a couple of common ingredients; flour, eggs, milk, and baking powder.  Baking powder doesn’t even have to be used, it just makes the noodles a little thicker.

Combine 3 cups of flour and 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder in a large bowl.  There is no salt added to these noodles, they will pick up the flavor and salt from the broth.  In a separate bowl combine 3 eggs and 3/4 cup of milk.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well.  It may take some kneading to get it all mixed in by hand.

I use the food processor.  I add the four and baking powder to the bowl and turn it on.  With the processor running I pour in the egg and milk mixture.  Process just until a ball forms.

Sprinkle a work area with flour and roll the dough out into the thickness you want.  If you used baking powder they will be almost double the thickness you have rolled them, so keep this in mind as your rolling.

You may need to add a  bit more flour to the work area if the dough starts to stick.

Cut the noodles into strips about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick slices, then cut those into desired lengths.  I like them to be about 3 to 4 inches long.  I pizza wheel cutter works great for this job!

Toss the noodles with any excess flour from the work area or lightly coat with additional flour and toss.  Set the noodles aside until you are ready to use them.  These noodles can be allowed to dry for up to 6 hours.

Egg Noodle Substitutes

Frozen egg noodles can be used in place of homemade noodles.

The next best alternative is thick dried kluski noodles if you are lucky enough to have them in your area.

If all you have are the skinny thin egg noodles like the ones people use in soup the cooking time will be super short for the noodles and you will need to thicken the broth at the end.  Be careful not to overcook these noodles.  Follow the package directions for cooking time.  Alternatively, cook those kinds of noodles separately, thicken the broth with a cornstarch slurry and serve over the cooked noodles.

Crockpot or Slow Cooker

A slow cooker can be used for this recipe, but be warned, the temperature needs to be blazing hot to cook homemade noodles at the end.

Combine the beef pieces, beef broth, bouillon cubes, beef enhancer,  onions, and extra water in the crock and set to high for 4 hours or low for 6 to 8 hours.

Once the beef is tender, kick it onto high and when the broth starts to bubble around the edges toss in the egg noodles and give it a stir.

Put the lid on and continue to cook on high, stirring occasionally until the noodles are tender.

Do not stir them as often as you would when cooking on the stovetop because you will destroy the noodles.  The timing on this will vary depending on the thickness of the noodles you used.

Leftovers

Beef and Noodles can be refrigerated in a sealed container for up to 4 days or frozen for up to 3 months.

Allow to frozen noodles thaw before attempting to re-heat or the noodles will break apart as you stir.

The best way to reheat them is to warm some additional beef broth or water in a pan, bring it up to a simmer and add the noodles to the pan. This will help loosen the noodles and prevent too much breakage.

Microwaving is faster, but dry out some of the noodles on the edges of the bowl.  Heat for a minute and stir, then heat for another minute.

Any way you choose to reheat leftover beef and egg noodles will benefit from the addition of some added liquid.

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