Better Than Takeout: Just 5 ingredients. Put sliced steak in the slow cooker and let the sauce do the work. It comes out sticky, sweet, and savory without the delivery fee.

For a touch of heat, stir 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes into the sauce before pouring it over the beef. If you like a thicker, almost syrupy sauce, whisk 1 tablespoon of cornstarch into the cold beef broth before mixing it with the soy sauce and brown sugar; the sauce will tighten up more as it cooks and cools slightly. To keep it a true 5-ingredient recipe but add a little freshness at serving time, top the finished beef with sliced green onions or a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds—both optional but highly recommended. If you don’t have beef broth, water works just fine; the soy sauce and brown sugar still create that rich, takeout-style flavor. For meal prep, cook a batch on Sunday, portion it with rice into containers, and refrigerate for up to 4 days; the sauce thickens even more in the fridge and reheats beautifully in the microwave or in a skillet with a splash of water. You can also halve the recipe for a smaller slow cooker or double it for a crowd—just keep the slices thin and avoid overfilling past the manufacturer’s guidelines so the sauce can still bubble and caramelize properly.