This slow cooker 5-ingredient Amish green bean beef is the kind of cozy, practical dinner that fits right into a busy weeknight routine. It leans on simple pantry staples and a low-effort layering method: beef flank steak on the bottom, canned green beans scattered over the top, and a few more everyday ingredients to bring everything together into a tender, savory meal. It has that old-fashioned, stick-to-your-ribs comfort that makes it especially welcome on chilly evenings or on days when dinner needs to cook itself while everything else is going on.
Serve this hearty beef and green bean dish with mashed potatoes, buttered egg noodles, or fluffy white rice to soak up the savory juices. Warm dinner rolls, applesauce, or a simple side salad also round it out nicely, and if you want a true comfort-food plate, a spoonful of the green beans and beef over mashed potatoes is hard to beat.
Slow Cooker 5-Ingredient Amish Green Bean Beef
Servings: 6
Ingredients
1 1/2 to 2 pounds beef flank steak
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) green beans, drained
1 packet onion soup mix
1 can (10.5 ounces) condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup beef broth
Directions
1. Lightly coat the inside of your slow cooker with nonstick spray if desired. Lay the flank steak flat in the bottom of the slow cooker.
2. Scatter the drained green beans evenly over the beef, covering most of the surface.
3. In a small bowl, stir together the onion soup mix, cream of mushroom soup, and beef broth until mostly smooth, then spread the mixture over the green beans.
4. Cover and cook on low for 7 to 8 hours or on high for 4 to 5 hours, until the beef is very tender. Lift the beef out carefully and slice or shred it against the grain.
5. Return the beef to the slow cooker or plate it with the green beans and spoon the savory juices over the top. Serve hot.
Variations & Tips
Add potatoes: For an even heartier one-pot dinner, add 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of peeled and chunked potatoes under or around the beef. They soak up the flavorful juices and make this feel like a full Sunday supper with almost no extra work.
Swap the cut of beef: If flank steak is what you have, it works well here, but chuck roast is another great option and becomes especially tender in the slow cooker. If using chuck, keep the cook time on the longer side and shred it before serving.
Make it extra savory: A splash of Worcestershire sauce or a spoonful of minced onion adds a little more depth without changing the simple nature of the recipe. This is one of those easy tweaks I use when I want it to taste like it simmered all day with more ingredients than it actually did.
Meal prep tip: You can assemble the green beans, soup mixture, and beef in the slow cooker insert the night before, cover, and refrigerate if your insert is refrigerator-safe. In the morning, set it in the cooker base and start cooking, which makes this especially helpful on busy workdays.
Texture tip: Canned green beans become very soft after a long slow cook, which is part of the old-fashioned comfort of this dish. If you prefer the beans a little less soft, cook the beef first and stir in the green beans for the last hour on low.