Braised Cubed Steak with Peppers, Onions and Olives is a flavorful, budget-friendly and family friendly dish you can make in the Instant Pot, Slow Cooker or in a pot on the stove.
Cubed Steak with Peppers and Olives
Cubed Steak with Peppers and OlivesMy family devoured this, even went back for seconds. I served it over rice with a quick slaw on the side. If you want an easy, budget-friendly, family-friendly dish with a Latin flair, I’m sure your family will enjoy it!
More beef Instant Pot and Slow Cooker recipes I love are Barbacoa Beef, Cuban Picadillo, and Beef Chili.
This is a dish I grew up eating, and always loved. It’s cheap because it’s made with an inexpensive cut of beef and just a few ingredients. My Mom learned this recipe from her Cuban friend which she called Carne Machacada. I saw the cubed steak in the supermarket last week and craved this dish immediately so I called my mom to ask her how to make it and adapted it for the pressure cooker. She makes this on the stove which I have done many times before, but really loved how tender it came out in the Instant Pot.
Cooks Notes:
- This is freezer-friendly, to freeze store in a freezer safe container and let it thaw in the fridge the night before to reheat.
- Dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, whole30 and paleo-friendly.
- Great served over rice, or to keep it low-carb serve it over cauliflower rice.
- This flavor combination would be great with cubed beef for beef stew or even chicken
And since so many are asking, although I have and love my Instant Pot, I still love my slow cooker! I have the 6 Quart Hamilton Beach Set ‘n Forget Programmable Slow Cooker (affil link). I love it because you can adjust the time you want it to cook, and it automatically turns to warm when it’s done. It also has a probe for meat that automatically shuts off when done. I hated my old crock pot, it burnt everything and my food had a weird taste. This slow cooker is so great, I actually own several!
Braised Cubed Steak with Peppers and Olives Recipe (Instant Pot, Slow Cooker and Stove-Top)
Ingredients
- 8 pieces cubed steak, 28 oz total
- 1 Â 3/4 teaspoons adobo seasoning or garlic salt
- 1 8 oz can tomato sauce
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin
- 1 small red bell pepper, sliced 1/4-inch thin strips
- 1/2 medium onion, sliced into 1/4-inch thin strips
- 1/3 cup green pitted olives , plus 2 tablespoons of brine
Instructions
Instant Pot Directions:
- Season beef with adobo or garlic salt.
- Add the onions and peppers to the instant pot. Pour tomato sauce and water over everything and add the olives along with some of the brine (liquid from the jar). Add the beef, cumin and bay leaf.
- Cover and cook high pressure 25 minutes. Natural release then press saute and simmer until it thickens, 5 to 10 minutes.
Slow Cooker Directions (My least favorite way to make this):
- Cook 8 hours on low.
Stove top:
- Add a little oil to a large deep skillet and saute the onions and peppers with a pinch of salt, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the tomato sauce, 1 can of water, olives, brine, cumin and stir then add the beef and bay leaf.
- Cook over low heat for 1 hour, covered until the beef is tender. Uncover, then remove the lid and let it simmer over medium-low until it thickens to your liking.
I made it in crockpot. Very simple to make. Little prep time needed and family loved it. Will make again
My whole family loved this and will be put in our meal rotation. So flavorful and tender in the instant pot.
Thinking of trying this tonite with boneless skinless chicken thighs
For anyone with the issue of the meat being tough – try adding a pinch or two of baking soda to a small bowl of water. Let the cube steak sit in the water for just a few minutes. This tenderizes the meat and and it will melt in your mouth. Tip from a Southern girl who’s made her fair share of country fried steak!
I don’t have an instant pot and you do like a crockpot….how should I cook this?
I thought this recipe was delicious! My picky 12 year old loved it! Definitely will be making this again! I paired it with the cauliflower mexican recipe (also by skinny taste), and was another fantastic dish by the way!
I made this tonight and it was yummy! I will make this again
I use recipes as a base for a meal. I tweak as I like. This recipe I doubled the sauce ingredients because I knew we all would want sauce for our rice.
I made it in the crockpot and added some sofrito (3 tbsp). When it’s almost done I will chop some cilantro and toss that in too.
It smells wonderful we do open slow cooker to look and taste sauce. Looks great? Smells amazing and tge sauce tastes great!! So looking forward to this served with rice and sliced avacado and some hot sauce!
I live in the Phoenix area. I have never seen a piece of cube steak in any place I shop, and I shop a lot! What exactly is cube steak? And is there a way I can Create it at home?
Cube steak is tenderized, fairly thin, round steak.
This was the worst recipe I have ever made off of skinnytaste. It was tough, dry, and inedible. I thought the negative reviews were just being critical but I wish I would have heeded their warning. I have always had great success with the recipes on this website. I don’t know how people cooked this following the recipe and claimed it was delicious. This should be removed from the website.
I can’t find cubed steak. What else would it be called?
Top round or top sirloin, tenderized and flattened by pounding with a meat tenderizing mallet. You want them about hanburger size. Depending on the cut you buy you may need to slice it before tenderizing.
I have to refute the reviews that say it was dry in the slow cooker. I’ve made this recipe multiple times, always in the slow cooker for 8 hours on low, and it’s turned out great with tender meat every time.
Loved it!!!
Anyone add can red beans to this recipe in the instant pot? Do they come out mushy?
This was delicious! I used the instant pot. The sauce was a little thin, but I made a corn starch slurry to thicken a little. Flavor was amazing! I couldn’t find adobo seasoning so I used Lawry’s. Will definitely make this again. Thanks for the recipe!
I have loved almost every single Skinnytaste recipe I’ve ever cooked, which trust I’ve made a lot, but this one really disappointed. I chose the slow cooker as my method for this, and followed the steps to a tee, minus adding in some fresh garlic, and the meat turned out so so so dry. Luckily I tried it with about 1hr left of cook time, or I would have served it as is. The sauce is also really watery and not so flavorful. I wound up salavaging this (somewhat) by adding in about 2TBS of tomato paste, 2 bay leaves and I shredded the meat. I also added more salt because this was very underseasoned based on the recipe instructions.
Its def better on the stove!
I made this the first time in the crockpot and the second time in the instant pot. The meat came out moist and tender both ways so I don’t understand reviewer comments that say it was dry. The second time I left out the olives and just used some of the brine because we weren’t crazy about the texture of the olives. I did make a slurry using some of the sauce mixed with a tbsp of corn starch and used it to thicken the sauce. Delicious!
I am super disappointed! I cooked this in the crockpot for 8 hours and the meat was so dry and the flavor lacked big time. I have made tons of skinnytaste recipes and this one just wasn’t the usual home run.Â
This recipe is worth a try since it’s SO easy to throw together in the Instant Pot and is a great alternative to take out if you don’t have time to cook. I only had garlic powder instead of garlic salt, so I threw in half a packet of Chicken Bullion to flavor the tomato sauce broth. This definitely helped the recipe have more flavor in my opinion. And to save time, I bought a package of fresh onions and peppers sliced up already (my grocery store called it a fajita mix). I bought the veggies near the bagged salad in my grocery store. This allowed me to have it in the Instant Pot and lid on in under 5 minutes. I made white rice on the side and had sliced avocados. My kids and hubby liked it too! Thank you for an easy recipe!
My family loved it! I have very picky kids and one that is gf do it can be tricky to find a meal for everyone. Usually unless it is Mac and cheese, tacos, or hamburgers they won’t eat it. This they gobbled up! The flavors are mild which is what my family liked. I followed the IP directions exactly and the cube steak was fork tender!Â
This was a big hit. I made it in the crockpot with a bag of Birdseye frozen stirfry peppers and onions, 4 cube steaks, and water and tomato sauce, flavored with basil, oregano, and garlic. It was ready in 6 hours on low. My whole house smelled terrific! Served it over rice with steamed zucchini on the side.Â