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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.
Tasia says
First off, can’t wait to make this! And second I have to get up in the morning really early for work and really don’t want to brown the meat then put it all together before I leave, will it still turn out the same if I just put in the meat in raw??
Karly says
I think it’d turn out fine, but haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure.
Cassie says
Haven’t eaten it yet but have this recipe in the crock pot right now and my house smells amazing! Only 6 more hours to go 🙂
Amber Bennett says
I started the stew this morning on LOW instead of high (on accident) it’s been cooking on low for 3.5 hours…. if I switch it to high how many more hours should I turn it on?
Karly says
I’m really not sure. You’ll just want to keep an eye on it and check the meat and vegetables to be sure they’re tender before serving.
Tisha Russo says
Mmmmm mine used to be that way about many things, and he was in the military (I thought they would eat anything if it didn’t moo when you poked it with a fork..) and refused to eat several things that just happened to be on the very short list of the things of my cooking skills. So he had a choice, he could eat, not eat, eat on the ship, or cook… 3 things didn’t appeal to him at all… he learned to like what I cooked or maybe he doesn’t say anything any more.
But he now eats things he never thought he’d ever eat..
Tracy | Pale Yellow says
Yum! This sounds so delish! I can’t wait to make myself a batch!
Karly says
Hope you all enjoy!
Carlee says
My husband will eat onions or soup… but soup is NOT dinner, so don’t get that confused! As long as I don’t try too often I can get away with soup as long as I make him a grilled ham and cheese to go along with it. It must be something in that missing half a chromosome. Maybe we can get a study funded?
Karly says
I’ll get to work on that! haha!
Maureen says
Sorry that I posted twice. Didn’t know that it went through the fist time.
Maureen says
We all love beef stew. My hubby is not hard to suit. He will eat anything I put on the table. Love using the crock pot as you fix it in the morning or the night before and go about your business the next day and come home to a wonderful aroma in the house. Add a salad and some rolls and it’s dinner
Karly says
Hope you give this a try and enjoy it, Maureen! 🙂
Maureen says
We love beef stew. My hubby will eat just about anything I prepare. Love using the crockpot. Put every thing together and can go off for the day and have dinner waiting when I return home. Fix salad or coleslaw and it’s dinner. Maybe some rolls. Trying to stay away from breads.
Will certainly give this recipe a try.
Lexi says
Oh my goodness, no soup OR onions?! I can’t imagine life without either one! 😉 This Slow Cooker Beef Stew looks lovely – I especially love the big chunks of stew meat (I’m all about the meat)!
Karly says
It’s rough, for sure. 😉
Cathy | whatshouldimakefor.com says
I am a soup and stew girl through and through and beef stew is definitely one of my favorites. You recipe sounds divine!
Liz says
Mmmm….so easy, so tasty! I have to do the same thing with mushrooms! But I’m happy to eat my hubby’s share 🙂 Have a great weekend!!!
Karly says
I’d be the whiny one about the mushrooms. Ha!
patty says
This looks amazing! Just one question does it really call for 1 tbsp of season salt? Wanted to make sure before I make it this weekend can’t wait to eat it.
Karly says
It really does! Remember, it’s seasoning a whole pound of meat, along with a bunch of potatoes and carrots. All that seasoning on the meat melds with the rest of the ingredients while it slow cooks. You can reduce it if you like, but I didn’t find the finished product too salty at all. 🙂
Stephanie says
Yeah seriously, WHAT is wrong with these men!? Mine doesn’t appreciate a good ol’ onion in anything and soup is like “eh” to him. I’m sorry, soup is the best invention ever. PERIOD. Especially when there’s beef and a crock pot involved.
PS- This pic? TO DIE.
Karly says
Thanks, Stephanie!
Julie Evink says
Are we married to the same person?! HA! At least my eats soup, but onions. Life is coming to an end when I pull them out!! I’ll come over and eat soup with you any night!