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Sweet and Sour Beef is an easy and delicious slow cooker pot roast recipe that’s low in carbs and high in protein. This will be a hit when you need some comfort food; serve with cauliflower mash or cauliflower rice to go with the sweet and sour sauce!

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Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Pot Roast on serving plate with sauce

This Sweet and Sour Beef made in the slow cooker is the kind of recipe that I’d consider to be low-carb comfort food! And I’ve made this quite a few times since I first posted the recipe.

It’s getting cold in Utah, so it’s time to think about foods that help keep you warm! And although I really, really, really hate winter weather, I do love cold weather food!

And I also find that I’m home more during the winter and are more inclined to pull out the slow cooker and let something cook all day and make the house smell good. If you like sweet and sour flavors I hope you’ll give this slow cooker beef roast a try!

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What ingredients do you need?

(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe with ingredient amounts.)

What gives this slow cooker beef the sweet and sour flavors?

This recipe for chuck roast cooked in the slow cooker gets the sweet and sour flavors from Monkfruit Sweetener, unseasoned rice vinegar, tomatoes, and soy sauce.

How low in carbs is the Sweet and Sour Beef?

This tasty slow cooked beef has only 5.9 net carbs per serving with 73 grams of protein!

Sweet and Sour Beef is good for Weekend Food Prep:

Recipes you make on the weekend and freeze for later or eat during the week are in a category I call Weekend Food Prep! And this is a recipe I’d love to make on the weekend, divide leftovers into containers with one or two servings, and stash them in the fridge or freezer . And this Sweet and Sour Beef freezes beautifully!

Low-Carb Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Pot Roast process shots collage

How to make Sweet and Sour Beef in the Slow Cooker:

(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

  1. Trim the chuck steak so most visible fat is removed; you’ll probably have to cut it into pieces to do that. (I save the scraps to make beef stock.)
  2. Rub the pieces of meat with steak seasoning; then brown on all sides. (For best flavor, don’t skip this step of browning the meat.)
  3. Put the browned meat into the slow cooker.
  4. While the meat browns, puree the sauce ingredients, then cook it in a frying pan until it thickens.
  5. It should be thick enough that you can scrape the bottom and the sauce stays together like you see in the photo.
  6. Cover the meat with the sauce and cook on low for 7-8 hours (or a little longer won’t hurt) or on high for 3-4 hours.
  7. Serve hot, with extra sauce on the side.
  8. I love the Sweet and Sour Beef with a little sour cream on top.

Make it a Low-Carb Meal:

Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Beef has a flavorful sauce that would be delicious served with Curried Cauliflower, Easy Cauliflower Rice, or Pureed Cauliflower with Garlic, Parmesan, and Goat Cheese!

Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Pot Roast cropped image of post roast on plate with sauce

Want more Beef in the Slow Cooker?

If you’re a fan of slow cooker beef who’s also watching carbs, you’ll want to check out Slow Cooker Beef Recipes (Low-Carb or Keto).

Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Pot Roast finished dish on serving plate
Yield: 8 servings

Sweet and Sour Beef (Slow Cooker)

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours
Total Time 8 hours 20 minutes

Sweet and Sour Beef will always be a hit when you need some low-carb winter comfort food. And this is a tasty low-carb dinner to make in the slow cooker and your house will smell great!

Ingredients

  • 4 lb. boneless chuck roast, trimmed well
  • 2 tsp. olive oil
  • steak rub, to season meat (see notes)
  • black pepper, to season meat

Sauce Ingredients:

  • 1 T onion powder
  • 1 T garlic powder
  • 2 T ginger puree (see notes)
  • 2 T Monkfruit Sweetener or sweetener of your choice
  • 1/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
  • one 14 oz. can crushed tomatoes
  • 2 T soy sauce
  • 1 tsp. anchovy paste, optional

Instructions

  • Trim as much fat as you can from roast, and cut if necessary to fit into Crockpot. Rub meat well with steak seasoning and black pepper.
  • Heat olive oil in a large frying pan and brown roast well on both sides. This will take a few minutes; don’t rush the browning step. Put browned roast into slow cooker.
  • Deglaze the pan while meat browns, combine onion powder, garlic powder, ginger puree, sweetener of your choice, rice vinegar, tomatoes, soy sauce, and anchovy paste (if using) in food processor. Process several minutes with steel blade until tomatoes are pureed and ingredients are well combined.
  • Put the pureed sauce into the frying pan where you browned the meat and simmer on low heat until the sauce thickens; you should be able to draw a spoon through it and have the sauce stay together.
  • Once it’s thickened to that point, pour sauce mixture over the meat in the slow cooker.
  • Cook on low 7-8 hours (or more) or on high for 3-4 hours,  or until meat is very tender. (If I’m home I usually turn it a couple of times, but it’s not necessary.)
  • Remove meat from slow cooker and keep warm. Skim off any visible fat from sauce mixture if needed, or use a fat separator (affiliate link).
  • Slice the pieces of roast and serve the Sweet and Sour Beef hot, with sauce spooned over meat.

    • Notes

    I used a Crock-Pot 3-1/2-Quart Slow Cooker (affiliate link) for this recipe. The recipe Can Freeze, so if you only have a bigger slow cooker I’d double it and stockpile some in the freezer for quick dinners later.

    I used my homemade Montreal Steak Seasoning. Ginger Puree comes in a jar and in a jar and is also called ground ginger.

    I originally made this with granulated Stevia but now I'd prefer Monkfruit Sweetener. Don't use Seasoned Rice Vinegar which contains sugar.

    If you remove fat with a fat separator as described, fat content will be lower than shown in nutritional information.

    Some ideas for the sauce came from a recipe for Ginger Beef in 500 Low-Carb Recipes. You might want to read How to Make Pot Roast in the Crockpot before you make this recipe.

    Nutrition Information

    Yield

    8

    Serving Size

    1
    Amount Per Serving Calories 725Total Fat 45gSaturated Fat 18gUnsaturated Fat 23.4gCholesterol 242mgSodium 631mgCarbohydrates 7.5gFiber 1.6gSugar 3.4gProtein 73g

    Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.

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    Did you make this recipe? Please leave a star rating (under the PRINT button in the recipe) or share a photo of your results on Instagram! THANKS!

    © Kalyn Denny
    Category: Slow Cooker

    Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Beef on serving platter with sauce in back.

    Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
    This recipe for Sweet and Sour Beef would be great for low-carb and Keto diets, and also suitble for phase one for the original South Beach Diet. South Beach would want beef where the fat is mostly trimmed off.

    Find More Recipes Like This One:
    Use Slow Cooker Recipes to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

    Historical Notes for this Recipe:
    This sweet and sour beef recipe to make in the slow cooker was posted in 2007, and I’ve made it many times since then! It was last updated with more information in 2025.

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