Paleo
Dairy FreeEasy Crock Pot Sweet and Sour Hawaiian Beef! This slow cooker hawaiian Beef recipe is perfect for meal prep or feeding a crowd. It’s simple to make, paleo friendly, and full of flavor! This crock pot beef is also freezer friendly so you can make a bunch and save some for later. ALOHA!!
Happy Aloha Friday y’all! ALOHA is definitely the theme for this crock pot Hawaiian Beef. And I can totally say that because we used to live in Hawaii. You guys knew that right? Yep, lived there, worked in the fitness/triathlon industry. Spent all my money on food and gas (because it’s SUPER expensive). Got married on my father in law’s coffee farm and totally enjoyed LIFE! Haha. Those were the days! But back to my Aloha Friday … it’s the real deal. Aloha Friday basically means everyone can be super casual and where there aloha shirts. It’s funny though because Hawaiians are already super casual. Which is why I love them!
Now, I don’t know about you, but come Friday, almost all my cooking efforts are getting depleted and I so need my crock pot to help with the cooking. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE cooking, it’s my passion, but I don’t want to do more dishes! You know you can relate! In order to clean less, I opt for the crock pot, eat out, or make a mug cake, right? Just kidding, it would take about 10 mug cakes to make a dinner for my husband. Haha.
But back to my Aloha Friday recipe…let’s play along with this catchy phrase and keep today’s post super casual. In fact, you can even stay in your pj’s while you read this, sound good?
So here we go. Aloha kākou (welcome) to a recipe that is super satisfying, quick, helping and amazingly delicious! Yes, Crockpot Sweet and Sour Hawaiian Beef.
This sweet and sour crock pot Hawaiian beef is probably the easiest and most flavorful dish I made in a long time. I mean like a real dish. One that Martha would approve that. Because it looks fancy, doesn’t it? You know me, I fake my way fancy with recipes (ahem, like scallops).
All you need is a bunch of red onions, pineapple, beef, apple cider vinegar, gluten free tamari, red pepper, and a little bit of honey. Just mix and dump (hate that word) into one crockpot! And it’s PALEO friendly. YEA for Healthy easy peasy meals!
See, super casual crock pot Hawaiian beef recipe and very much aloha themed. Now if only this crock pot dish could be enjoyed in Hawaii at this very moment…and maybe with a Mai Tai….. . But I digress
Where was I? Oh yes, so the secret to the easy peasy crock pot Hawaiian Beef is in the sweet and sour sauce. Not gonna lie, I used canned pineapples (in their juice) and saved the juice. That my friends is called being budget friendly.
So you save the juice, mix it with apple cider, tamari, honey, and maybe a wee bit of coconut sugar. You cover that all over that BEEF and add in your onions and more pineapples and red pepper.
Then you flip on the crock pot wait for your house to smell like a Lua! And it will. Haha.
This dish was awesome served up with a bowl chopped cauliflower and steamed greens.
Crockpot Sweet and Sour Hawaiian Beef
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 4 hr
- Total Time: 4 hrs 10 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 1x
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Slow cooked Sweet and Sour Hawaiian Beef {Paleo friendly}
Ingredients
Sweet and Sour Pineapple Sauce
- 16 ounces (two 8 ounce cans) of crushed pineapple (in juice not syrup) – drained and reserve juice in a small bowl.
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup gluten free tamari or coconut aminos for paleo option.
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp of fresh grated ginger or pinch of ground ginger (optional but delish!)
For the Slow Cooker/Crockpot:
- 2 lbs boneless beef loin cut into 1–2 inch pieces, or you can purchase stew meat precut. Best to trim excess fat for before cooking. See notes for other meat options.
- 2–3 tbsp Oil to brown meat
- black pepper to taste
- kosher salt to taste
- 1–2 tsp crushed red pepper
- 1 cup chopped red onion
- 1 bell pepper – diced, seeds removed. (see notes for substitutes)
- For plating – chopped green onion and/or cilantro to garnish. To serve with rice or cauliflower rice.
Optional Slurry to thicken:
- 1 tbsp Arrowroot starch
- 2 tbsp cold water
Instructions
- Drain the canned pineapple and reserve the juice. Place pineapple aside and juice in a small mixing bowl.
- Next, whisk together the pineapple juice, cider, gluten free soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and honey. Whisk until honey is combined (dissolved) with other ingredients. Set aside.
- Heat a medium size skillet with 2 tbsp oil. Lightly sprinkle the diced beef cubes with coarse kosher salt and pepper. Place meat in the pan and then brown meat on medium high, turning beef cubes to brown all sides. About 3-4 minutes.
- Place the browned meat in the slow cooker and sprinkle crushed red pepper flakes on top.
- Add the chopped onion and sweet and sour pineapple sauce to the crockpot/slow cooker. Mix together.
- Cover and cook on low setting for 5-6 hours or on HIGH heat for about 3 hours, or until the meat is cooked through and tender.
- After the meat has been cooked, mix in the crushed pineapple and bell pepper. *Note – if you would like thicken the stew/meat mix, add the arrowroot starch slurry here. First dissolve the arrowroot starch and cold water in a small bowl to create a slurry then mix into slow cooker.*
- Cook on high for additional 20-30 minutes or until peppers have softened and juice has thickened.
- Spoon meat and juice over rice or cauliflower rice. Garnish with chopped green onion and/or cilantro.
Notes
Feel free to use pork or turkey stew meat or pork loin as a beef substitute. Cooking times may vary.
1 cup diced celery may be used in place of pepper if desired.
- Category: dinner
- Method: slow cooker
- Cuisine: american
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 5 ounces
- Calories: 240
- Sugar: 12
- Sodium: 587 mg
- Fat: 7 g
- Saturated Fat: 2 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 15 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 26 g
Keywords: beef, slow cooker, crock pot, meat, gluten free, dinner
It may be ONLY (almost) Spring, but your house will smell like summer sweetness! Not a bad thing, right?
I highly recommend making a big batch so you can freeze some for later. I froze the rest and used it in a taco dish this past week.
Now that I think of it, that’s pretty darn genius. Aloha Friday turned into Taco Tuesday. Gah, sometimes I surprise myself!
Haha. Okay, enough patting myself on the back. Let’s ALOHA it up in here this FRIDAY!
Ever made Hawaiian Beef?
Scratch that–> Favorite HAWAIIAN meal? Yes, that’s a better Aloha Friday Question.
Cheers! I mean Aloha!
Hi, I’m Lindsay! Gluten Free Nutrition Specialist, food photographer and author of 
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I wish I was still in my PJs while I’m reading this! Consider it made 🙂
★★★★★
yea PJ day! do it! <3
I don’t know that inhale a favorite Hawaiian meal? But the coffee is the bomb!
inhale? you mean aloha? hehe
I meant I have but aloha would worn too!
i think we need to escape to hawaii. OUr brains need it
Mmmmm…this is my kind of dinner! Slow cooker and EASY! Plus, the combo of the sweet pineapple with the savory/salty ingredients is SO good, I’m sure. Looks delicious!
you know it lovely!
I want to adopt Aloha Friday!! This sounds amazing! Oh man the chance to live in Hawaii sounds like perfection! I guess if we can’t move there, we can still eat like we do! And this pineapple recipe sounds right up my alley, simple and flavorful. I’m about to leap into a new business adventure and I think we are going to need some slow cooker meals to get through long days! Thanks for sharing!
How incredible does this look?! I can’t even! Love everything about it and want it for dinner ASAP!
Ahlohaaaaaaa crock pot! I love everything about this. I so rarely cook a whole loin (that sounds wried…) but in a crock pot is the only way to do it.
My friend reposted her sister’s ad renting her house in Hawaii. I almost tagged you.
MMM these make me feel warm even though it’s cold outside. Thanks for bringing some color to my day!
I have been living off Hawaiian chicken for dinner but I think it’s time to whip out the crockpot- This looks amazing!!!! I’m craving beef like cray!
The colors in your photos are gorgeous! I’ve been a huge pineapple kick lately since it’s been coming in so fresh to the stores, so this looks extra tasty to me!
yes! me too! pineapple LOVE. feels so right, doesn’t it?
All you had to do is put Hawaii in the title for me & I am not even a beef eater! 🙂
Soooooo thought of you!!!! Let’s move
Oh heck yeah to this slow cooker meal…I am so the same way when it comes to cooking at the end of the week…done with it all, but then come Sunday I am ready to cook again. I keep forgetting that you lived in Hawaii…That island makes Nantucket look cheap! 🙂
Love the flavored for this recipe!! I’m into crockpot recipes these days, that’s for sure!