Beef Stew is a scrumptious and soothing dinner perfect for a Sunday night family meal. It is one of the most loved comfort foods. This flavorful stew is one of my favorite dinners. It is loaded with vegetables and is tender and light on your tummy. It is your best choice if you want to dig into a classic comfort food after a really long day!
Thank you, Sophia, for this wonderful guest post! 💚
This beef stew recipe calls for a hearty beef chuck roast and various vegetables cooked until tender. This slow-cooked beef stew is a fantastic "set it and forget it" meal! Since it is cooking for hours, the beef becomes fall-apart tender and juicy.
As the stew cools down low and slow, the flavors from the ingredients merge, making the stew precisely what it needs to be — extraordinary. The broth is vibrant, and the vegetables become tender and delectable.
Slow Cooker Beef Stew is a satiating meal that will please anyone who enjoys a home-cooked meal. Since it is slow-cooked, it is ideal for those chilly winter months when you want something warm and inviting.
Yummy Crockpot Recipe for beef stew
🥘 Slow Cooker Beef Stew Ingredients
- Onion and Garlic: These aromatic ingredients contribute a savory base coat of flavor. Cut the onions. You can chop it into smaller pieces or larger slices per your choice.
- Celery, Carrots, and Potatoes: These are traditional beef stew vegetables. Yukon gold potatoes provide rich flavor and creamy texture. Other potatoes, like baby potatoes or red potatoes, will also work.
- Tomato Paste: The tomato paste will thicken the beef stock. Don't worry; it will not turn your beef stew into tomato sauce.
- Worcestershire Sauce: Worcestershire sauce adds oodles of flavor, but you can remove it if you don't like it. You can get it from an oil and vinegar store near you.
- Flour and Olive Oil: You should brown the beef, onion, and cloves in olive oil. After that, add these ingredients to the cooker. The flour coating creates a flavorful crust on the beef as it roasts in the skillet. The flour thickens the broth as the stew cooks in the slow cooker.
- Seasonings: Season the beef stew with Italian flavoring, dried thyme, bay leaf, salt, and pepper.
- Beef Broth: To control the amount of salt in your finished dish, use a low-sodium beef broth. After the stew has cooked, you can always add more salt to taste.
- Boneless Chuck Roast: Boneless beef is the best for this stew.
See the recipe card for quantities.
🔪 Instructions
How to Make Slow-Cooker Beef Stew recipe
- Mix the beef chunks in flour, salt, and pepper. Shake the beef, flour, salt, and pepper in a large zip-top bag, or stir them in a large mixing bowl.
- Sauté the ground beef. It is essential to brown the meat in a frying pan before adding it to the slow cooker. This step creates a mouthwatering thick layer on the beef pieces and sears in the meat juices. Place the beef cubes at the bottom of your slow cooker after searing them.
- Sauté the onion and garlic. Because you have a hot skillet, searing the onion and garlic in the beef drippings for a few minutes is easy. You're adding delicious flavor layers to your stew.
- Now add all the other contents, like vegetables, into the pot.
- Seasonings should be tasted and adjusted. Always start with less salt. If required, add the salt once the beef stew is fully cooked.
- The cooking time varies from 7-8 hours (when cooked on low heat) to 3-4 hours (when cooked on high heat).
- Serve hot, and relish the taste in your mouth!
How to Thicken the Beef Stew
This recipe uses flour and tomato paste to thicken the beef stew. As the stew cooks slowly, the broth thickens and continues to thicken as it cools. This stew is thick and hearty, but if you prefer an even thicker gravy, stir in 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and add two tablespoons of water. Cook for another 20-30 minutes on high flame.
🌡 Storage and Reheating
If you keep the beef stew in an air-tight container, you can refrigerate it for up to 3 days. The stew can also be frozen and reheated, though the potatoes may break down slightly. Allow the stew to cool before keeping it in the deep freezer, where you can store it for around three months. Thaw frozen stew in the fridge overnight or microwave it on low power before reheating.
To reheat the beef stew, place it in a pot, cover it, and warm it over medium flame until it is heated. You can reheat beef stew in the microwave. Stir the stew occasionally as it reheats to ensure even heating.
💭 Beef Stew Crock Pot Recipe Notes
- If you cut the beef cubes too small, they will fall apart before absorbing all of the flavors from the slow cooking all day.
- Cook the beef! Browning the beef before adding the rest of the ingredients is the secret! To enhance the flavor, create a nice crust on all beef pieces. This extra measure is necessary to improve the taste!
- You can take baby potatoes and peel them if you want, but it's not really necessary with baby potatoes. If they are bigger, you may want to quarter them.
- If you don't have beef broth, use chicken broth, though the flavor will be less
📖 Recipe
How to Make Slow-Cooker Beef Stew
Equipment
- 4- to 6-quart Crockpot
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Chef's knife and cutting board
- Large skillet
- Tongs
Ingredients
- 2 pounds beef stew meat cut into 1-inch pieces
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 ½ cups beef broth
- 4 medium carrots sliced
- 3 medium potatoes diced
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 stalk celery chopped
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce and Tomato Paste
- 1 teaspoon ground paprika
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 large bay leaf and dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
Instructions
- Mix the beef chunks in flour, salt, and pepper. Shake the beef, flour, salt, and pepper in a large zip-top bag, or stir them in a large mixing bowl.
- Sauté the ground beef. It is essential to brown the meat in a frying pan before adding it to the slow cooker. This step creates a mouthwatering thick layer on the beef pieces and sears in the meat juices. Place the beef cubes at the bottom of your slow cooker after searing them.
- Sauté the onion and garlic. Because you have a hot skillet, searing the onion and garlic in the beef drippings for a few minutes is easy. You're adding delicious flavor layers to your stew.
- Now add all the other contents, like vegetables, into the pot.
- Seasonings should be tasted and adjusted. Always start with less salt. If required, add the salt once the beef stew is fully cooked.
- Serve hot, and relish the taste in your mouth!
Notes
How to Thicken the Beef Stew
This recipe uses flour and tomato paste to thicken the beef stew. As the stew cooks slowly, the broth thickens and continues to thicken as it cools. This stew is thick and hearty, but if you prefer an even thicker gravy, stir in 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and add two tablespoons of water. Cook for another 20-30 minutes on high flame.Nutrition values are estimates only, using online calculators. Please verify using your own data.
⛑️ Food Safety
- Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
- Wash hands after touching raw meat
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
For further information, check Safe Food Handling - FDA.
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