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This Slow Cooker Beef Stew is a hearty, filling dish perfect for fall weather! Made in the crockpot to keep dinner easy, loaded with tender beef and veggies, and full of comfort food vibes!
Slow cooker beef stew is perfect for a chilly night when you just need a cozy bowl of goodness.
You Asked For It: The Ultimate Slow Cooker Beef Stew!
I get lots of recipe requests, as you might image, and slow cooker recipes are always at the top of the list.
I had quite a few requests for our crockpot beef stew recipe and I’m so happy to share it with you.
The tender chunks of beef. The creamy potatoes that soak up all the flavor of the beef broth.
Don’t forget the slice of beer bread or quick dinner rolls to soak up some broth as you’re eating.
This makes a hearty meal that’s fairly easy to prep if you don’t mind a bit of chopping and it’s the ultimate comfort food on a cool night.
More comfort food bowls of goodness include our cheeseburger soup, white bean soup with ham, and chicken corn chowder!
♥ What We Love About This Recipe:
- Hearty: This is a hearty, filling, and nourishing slow cooker beef stew recipe! When you serve it alongside some bread it’s a complete meal that’ll leave you satisfied and full.
- Easy: The slow cooker makes just about any soup recipe nice and easy while really amping up the flavor as everything slow cooks together.
- Make Ahead: Stew is perfect for preparing ahead of time and refrigerating until you’re ready to serve. Pop it in the microwave for a single serving or warm it back up on the stove to feed the family.
Crockpot Recommendation!
In the market for a new slow cooker? We love this 7 quart Crockpot. It’s simple to use, cooks evenly, and is very budget friendly. Plus, it has a 4 1/2 star rating with over 5,000 reviews on Amazon!
Ingredient Notes:
Beef Stew Meat – You can keep it simple and buy a pack of beef stew meat from the grocery store or you can chop up a chuck roast yourself. I think a chuck roast tends to be better quality, but you can do either.
Veggies – We’re using yellow potatoes, carrots, sweet onion, garlic, and frozen peas. The peas add such a nice pop of color.
Beef Broth – This will be the base of your stew. We like Better than Bouillon.
Herbs & Seasoning – We’re using seasoned salt, black pepper, and a bay leaf plus more salt and pepper to taste.
Tomato Paste – This is basically just concentrated tomato flavor. It doesn’t take a lot of tomato paste to add loads of tomato goodness to any recipe!
Worcestershire Sauce – We love to add this to just about any kind of beef recipe. It really enhances the savory, beefy flavor and it doesn’t take much.
Variations:
- Veggies: There are tons of other vegetables that could be used in this stew. Bell peppers, sweet corn, celery, tomatoes, mushrooms, parsnips, and so much more! Add softer veggies (like tomatoes) towards the end of cooking and harder veggies (like parsnips) in with the potatoes and carrots.
- Herbs & Seasoning: You can use a variety of different herbs and other seasonings in the stew. Some popular options are rosemary, thyme, and parsley.
How to Make Beef Stew in a Crock Pot:
Season and coat the beef stew meat in flour and then sear it in a hot skillet until nice and brown.
Add everything but the peas to the slow cooker, cover, and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.
Remove the bay leaf, stir in the peas, and add more salt and pepper to taste.
Serve immediately or keep warm in your slow cooker until you’re ready to dig in.
Helpful Tip:
Deglaze for extra flavor!
You can use a dry red wine to deglaze the skillet after searing the beef stew meat! To deglaze pour about a cup of wine into the skillet and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer while scraping up all the browned bits of beef in the skillet. Let it reduce by half and pour all that good stuff into the slow cooker with the other beef stew ingredients!
What to Serve with Beef Stew?
The most obvious choice and probably the most popular for serving alongside hearty beef stew is some warm, crusty bread! Some homemade biscuits, sweet cornbread or our jalapeno cheddar bread will soak up all that flavor!
This stew is great with a variety of side dishes too such as mashed potatoes, or just some plain white rice to serve the beef stew over, but we usually just go for the stew + bread and skip any other sides.
Freezing & Storage Instructions:
The stew can be refrigerated in a covered container for about 3 to 4 days. It’ll taste even better the next day, honestly!
This beef stew recipe is also great for freezing! Let it cool completely before transferring to a freezer safe bag or container. It’ll store for up to a few months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and then reheat on the stove or in the microwave.
FAQ’s:
If your stew is not as thick as you’d like, make a cornstarch slurry using equal parts water and cornstarch whisked together. Stir into the stew and continue cooking for 10 to 15 minutes. We start with 2 tablespoons water + 2 tablespoons cornstarch. If it’s still not thick enough, add more. If it’s too thick, thin it out with a bit of beef broth.
Crockpots are made for long cook times, however there is always a risk when leaving them unattended. We are comfortable keeping our newer slow cookers on overnight, but would not do so with older models.
Slow Cooker Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds stew meat see notes
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 tablespoon seasoned salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 medium yellow potatoes
- 4 large carrots
- 1 medium sweet onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 teaspoons black pepper
- 2 cups beef broth
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 cup frozen peas
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add the beef to a medium bowl with the flour and seasoned salt. Stir to coat.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the coated beef and cook until browned, stirring as needed. There is no need to cook the beef through.
- Place meat in slow cooker.
- Peel and dice the potatoes, carrots, and onion. Mince the garlic. Add to the slow cooker with the bay leaf.
- Sprinkle the pepper on top and pour the broth, tomato paste, and Worcestershire sauce into the slow cooker. Stir to combine.
- Cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4-6 hours, until the beef and vegetables are tender. Every slow cooker is different and some run hotter than others so cook time does vary a bit, but stew is very forgiving.
- Remove the bay leaf, add the peas to the slow cooker, and stir well. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed before serving.
Mary Kernaghan says
Crackpot Beef Stroganoff – absolutely adored this recipe – thank you so much.
Karly says
Thanks, Mary!
Jackie says
Loved the flavors of the stew! Cooked on low for 10 hours and the meet totally fell apart, looking like “pulled beef” amongst the veg. I don’t care for the stew beef found in my market so I used cut up chuck shoulder steak…maybe that caused the meat to overcook. Trying again today, but will begin checking at 7 hours and keep an eye on it.
Sadie says
Looking forward to trying this recipe. Does the meat need to be cut up before putting it in the Crock-Pot?
Karly says
Stew meat is traditionally found in a package and is pre-cut. If you’re using chuck roast or something along those lines, yes, you’ll want to cut it into bite sized pieces first.