In the crockpot recipe, rich steak tips are slow cooked until they become fall-apart tender and glazed with a beautiful teriyaki glaze with just the right balance of salty and sweet.
In a small bowl combine the cornstarch with 1/4 cup water until the cornstarch is dissolved. Add the soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, cornstarch, and mirin, if using. Set aside.
Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the steak for about 2 minutes on each side. Remove and add them to the slow cooker. In the same skillet add the remaining tablespoon of oil and turn the heat to medium. Sauté the onions and garlic for about 3 minutes, until slightly softened. Stir the sauce and add it to the pan, and stir to scrape up any browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Pour the sauce over the meat in the slow cooker, and then set the slow cooker to high for 4 hours.
Serve the beef teriyaki over the rice, with the scallions sprinkled on top if desired.
Notes
Browning Steak Before Slow Cooking
It’s true that unless you sear or sauté some ingredients before slow-cooking them, the texture of a slow cooker meal can be somewhat soft and monotonous. But if you don’t mind washing an extra pan you can have the browning and caramelization (the Maillard Reaction, if you want to dig a little deeper) that makes many foods taste oh that much better. And if you have an Instant Pot, then you hopefully know that you can actually brown the meat in the Instant Pot, and then add the rest of the ingredients and change to the slow cooker setting, and have the whole thing happen right there in one pot.