Honey Garlic Steak Bites 🥩🍯🧄 (2024)

Honey garlic steak bites are yummy tender bits of beef cooked in a sweet & savory honey soy glaze & topped with sesame seeds and green onion.

This recipe for sticky honey garlic steak bites can be made in the slow cooker, instant pot, or oven. It’s so simple to make and tastes great with your favorites easy sides like roasted broccoli and sesame noodles or a baked sweet potato!

Honey Garlic Steak Bites

Why you’ll love these tender honey garlic steak bites!

📌 Tender fall apart meat in a rich flavorful sauce.

📌 Easy to make a double batch and save half for later.

📌 Sweet and savory flavor hits all the right notes!

Honey Garlic Steak Bites Ingredients

• Beef – Cut into bite sized pieces. Pictured is stew meat but you can use any cut of steak. Top round, bottom round, eye of round, or beef tip are also great and inexpensive options.
• Sesame oil – This imparts a nice flavor but you can substitute for olive oil or another vegetable oil if you don’t keep sesame on hand.
• Garlic – Minced. Fresh minced will give you the most flavorful result but jarred will work in a pinch.
• Honey – Any kind of honey will work, we love to buy local honey when we see it for sale, but the squeezy bear honey is great too!
• Ketchup – I’m a Heinz gal, but I won’t judge if you use Huntz.
• Soy sauce – Coconut aminos can be substituted if you’re avoiding soy.
• Oregano – Dried oregano. If you don’t have plain oregano, swap for an equal amount of Italian seasoning.
• Water – Cold filtered water.
• Cornstarch – Mixed with an equal amount of water, for thickening, if desired.
• Garnish/finishings – Sesame seeds, fresh chopped green onion, scallions, or parsley.

How do you make steak bites with honey garlic glaze? (step-by-step directions)

⭐ First, heat oil in a large skillet and, working in batches, brown the beef pieces on all sides. Make sure not to crowd the pan. Add beef, to your cooking vessel.

⭐ Then, in a bowl, whisk together the garlic, honey, ketchup, soy sauce, and oregano. Pour over meat. Add water and stir to combine everything.

⭐ Next, cover and cook using desired method.

⭐ Finally, stir in cornstarch slurry and mix until thickened. Finish with sesame seeds and chopped green onion.

Scroll down to the printable recipe card toward the bottom of this article for ingredient measurements and detailed cooking instructions.

Cooking Methods

Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Steak Bites

To make this recipe in the slow cooker, brown the meat in a large skillet then add meat and all remaining ingredients (except cornstarch and garnish) to the crock pot. Stir well to mix.

Cook 4 – 6 hours on LOW (we do not recommend cooking this recipe on high as it may cause the honey to burn).Check after 4 hours. If your meat is tender and you want to thicken the sauce, then stir in your cornstarch slurry. Finish with your desired garnishes.

Full detailed directions are provided in the recipe card toward the bottom of this article.

Instant Pot Honey Garlic Steak Bites

To make this in the instant pot, sear the steak pieces using the pot’s sauté setting (or you can use a large skillet on the stove top). After browning add remaining ingredients (except cornstarch and garnish) to the inner liner of your pot. Stir well to mix.

Cover and set to ‘sealing’. Cook on high (manual) for 20 minutes. Allow a natural pressure release of at least 10 minutes. Remove lid and turn on sauté mode. Stir in cornstarch slurry to thicken. Finish with your desired garnishes.

Full detailed directions are provided in the recipe card toward the bottom of this article.

Dutch Oven Honey Garlic Steak Bites

Place dutch oven on the stove top and brown steak pieces in sesame oil over medium heat. Deglaze the bottom with water, then whisk in remaining ingredients. Cover and place dutch oven in a 250F degree oven. Cook for 2 – 3 hours, until meat is tender. Stir in cornstarch slurry to thicken. Finish with your desired garnishes.

Full detailed directions are provided in the recipe card toward the bottom of this article.

Preparation

What cut of steak for honey garlic steak bites?

This is a low and slow recipe intended for tougher/less expensive cuts of meat. Pictured we used stew meat, but you can also use top round, bottom round, eye of round, or beef tip. Save your expensive steaks for our grilling recipes!

Can I use pork or chicken?

Absolutely, this recipe would work well with chicken breast, chicken thighs, cubed pork shoulder, or cubed pork loin. Chicken will take less time to tenderize so you’ll want to modify the cook time.

Do I have to sear the meat first?

Confession – I don’t always sear my meat before adding it to the pot. It still tastes great. That said, it definitely tastes BETTER if you take the time to sear the meat first. So, yes. You probably should.

If you use chicken or pork, the searing step is less important.

Storage and leftovers

How long do honey garlic steak bites last?

Leftovers will keep 3 – 4 days in the refrigerator or longer in the freezer.

Can you freeze this recipe?

Yes, allow it to come to room temperature then store in a freezer safe air-tight container.

How to reheat?

The easiest way to reheat is in the microwave, but you could also reheat in the slow cooker or instant pot if you prefer.

If reheating in the instant pot, make sure there is enough liquid to avoid a burn error.

Tips, tricks, and frequently asked questions

✅ Serve over your favorite starch like instant pot rice, baked potatoes, or cauliflower rice.

✅ Add veggies like broccoli, bell peppers, water chestnuts, green beans, or sugar snap peas (do this 15 – 30 minutes before the end of your cook time so they’re not mushy).

✅ Make it spicy with pickled jalapenos or red pepper flakes.

What to eat with sticky honey garlic steak bites (serving suggestions)

Serve this over egg noodles, stir fry noodles (or coconut rice!) with a side of crispy air fryer roasted broccoli. For dessert make a quick batch of cherry fluff!

More delicious steak recipes

• Steak tostadas
• Cilantro lime steak
• Grilled flank steak
• Steak sliders
• Chimichurri steak
• See all our awesome beef recipes!

Other awesome slow cooker recipes

• Slow cooker turkey breast
• Crockpot stuffed shells recipe
• Slow cooker pork and sauerkraut
• Hawaiian chicken recipe
• See all our crockpot dinner recipes

More yummy instant pot recipes

• Instant pot corn on the cob
• Instant pot white rice
• Instant pot Bailey’s cheesecake
• Instant pot BBQ chicken
• See all our instant pot dinner ideas!

Tools we love

• 7 Quart Crock Pot Slow Cooker– I’ve had this slow cooker since my husband and I were married in 2003!
• Instant pot pressure cooker– Mine is a 6 quart basic model, but there are lots of bigger, smaller, and fancier options to choose.
• Enameled dutch oven – I actually have two of these because I use them so often!

How to Make Honey Garlic Steak Bites