Slow Cooker Beef Stew
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Everyone’s favorite cozy beef stew made in the crockpot! The meat is SO TENDER and the stew is rich, chunky + hearty!
Featured Comment
There is truly nothing more comforting than a hearty beef stew on a cold, cold night. And it’s even better when it’s been simmering low and slow in your crockpot for the last 7-8 hours.
Aside from searing your stew meat to give it that really nice caramelized flavor, this recipe requires zero babysitting (thank you, slow cooker!). All you need to prep is your crusty bread for dipping, a glass of red wine, and a side salad to round out your meal.
If you are short on time, there is a stovetop and an Instant Pot version also available.
Slow Cooker Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 pounds stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 pound baby red potatoes, quartered
- 4 carrots, cut diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 cups beef broth
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon caraway seeds, optional
- 2 bay leaves
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Equipment
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat.
- Season beef with salt and pepper, to taste. Add beef to the skillet and cook until evenly browned, about 2-3 minutes.
- Place beef, potatoes, carrots, onion and garlic into a 6-qt slow cooker. Stir in beef broth, tomato paste, Worcestershire, thyme, rosemary, paprika, caraway seeds and bay leaves until well combined; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Cover and cook on low heat for 7-8 hours or high heat for 3-4 hours.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour and 1/2 cup stew broth. Stir in flour mixture into the slow cooker. Cover and cook on high heat for an additional 30 minutes, or until thickened.*
- Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.
Video
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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Made this for a tense election night and it was a landslide victory for a house full of nervous democrats! Needed more salt than I anticipated, but that was an easy fix. Served it with warm, crusty bread and a few bottles (or maybe 3 or 4) of Pinot Noir.
Yum!! You will not regret making this recipe, it was a hit! I added 1/4 cup of red wine, substituted cornstarch for flour, and a bit of beef bouillon… delicious!
This is an exceptional recipe. I have made many, many stews over the years. I’m not sure which ingredient it was, but my family devoured it like never before. Highly recommend.
Served with some homemade soda bread for dipping. Yum.
The only small change I made was to include flour with salt and pepper in step 2 to coat the meat before grilling, but not sure it matters.
I made this and added a soup bone while it cooked. Otherwise made as written and it was WONDERFUL. Thank you!
I’ve made this twice. Both times I did as another poster suggested and browned the tomato paste and deglazed my cast iron skillet with a bit of dry red wine. Followed the rest of the recipe as written. This stew has a rich flavor that I haven’t found in other recipes. It really is damn delicious! Thanks for sharing it.
Great recipe! Was certainly damn delicious! I used a bag of radishes halved instead of potatoes to keep it low carb. Used 1/2 tsp Xanthan as a thickener at the end. Also, I added celery along with the carrots and radishes.
Question! If we add the flour at the beginning is there a huge difference?
Thanks!
Hi Rene (and others)
You can add flour earlier to a stew
Season your meat with flour salt and pepper (in a bowl t9oss together)
Then fry that off
This works very well and nothing goes lumpy
Cheets
First time to leave a review but just had to for this stew. I’ve never been able to make a successful stew, so I tried this one. Oh my GOSH! I’ve never tasted a more delicious stew! Thank you so much! It not only tastes delicious it also looks amazing! Just as you showed in the recipe. Full of colour to tempt the taste buds! 5 stars isn’t enough!
I made this tonight and it was fantastic. My wife totally loved it. I didn’t have caraway seeds and I screwed up with the flour part – I added it at the beginning with everything else – didn’t seem to matter. Great flavour! A keeper recipe!
Great dinner, we did add mushrooms, great recipe and will make again.
I made this for the first time yesterday, it was insanely good! I added mushrooms and celery, and reduced off about 1/3 cup of red wine to add to it as well. My husband, who is not a fan of stews, said it was amazing and won’t stop commenting on how great it was. I cooked it on the stove top at medium heat for about 4 hours and it ended up flavorful and the meat very tender. Will be repeating this as the weather gets cooler! Thanks again for the recipe!
Hi! Quick question – if I were to dredge the beef in flour and then brown, would I need to do the flour+juices combo at the end to thicken it?
This is so delicious. Very easy to make, followed recipe exactly. Made cornbread with it, and it was perfect!! Will add to my cookbook and make all winter!!
Another damn delicious recipe! Thank you so much. I made it exactly as written except I didn’t add caraway seeds. My husband said it was the best beef stew he has ever had in his entire life.
So easy and delicious. I didn’t have any caraway seeds so I left those out, but added celery I like it in my stew. Also used baby carrots, if I can avoid chopping veggies I will. Stew was a hit with my husband.
Damn good is right. Put everything in the crockpot last night, by morning it was done. Delicious!!!!!! Sharing with neighbors.
Cut the vegetables smaller for my young children but it was a huge hit. Definitely will be making again this winter!
Cut the potatoes in half and add diced turnip and diced sweet potatoes. Also added 3 celery hearts finely chopped. Very good recipe.
The flavor is absolutely delicious and the meat tender. Definitely a recipe I’ll make again.
Beef stew is one of those meals I make because I grew up eating it and my loved ones enjoy it. I’ve never been a fan of it however. Until now! This is the absolute best beef stew recipe I’ve tried, and believe me I’ve experimented with dozens over the years. It was simple to follow and it is absolutely delicious. I even went back for seconds which I’ve never done with beef stew before. My loved ones claimed this was my best beef stew ever. Thanks so much for sharing your recipe it’s a big hit in my house and is now added to my go to list of crockpot dinners.
ONE TIP : When using dried thyme, Use dried thyme LEAVES.rather than ground thyme. OR use less ground thyme, then add in mre IF needed to taste. The reason is just a bit too much dried thyme can easily ruin or overpower the whole dish I learned that the hard way, so I thought I would pass it on.. I too deglaze the fry pan with a little dry red wine,( OR low sodium beef broth) and be sure to scrape up the bits left in the fry pan (called ” fond”) Sometimes, I add the tomato paste to the frying pan and brown it juat for a few seconds, just before deglazing the pan. It adds a nice richness to the tomato paste…Then, I deglaze, as mentioned. We like to add frozen peas at the very last minute… Just enough for that nights dinner. More can be added when reheating, if desired. Aksi, do not “check” the stew for at least 6 hours.. It slows down the cooking time. Good recipe. Definately worh saving.
I agree with you regarding the ground thyme. I wish I had read your comment prior to making my stew. I dredged the beef in seasoned flour prior to browning it as seen in other comments. I also added the flour at the end because it was not really thick but that made it too thick. I should have just left if semi soupy. I really enjoyed preparing the stew. However I am just a little let down because the tomatoe paste and thyme made it taste more like an Italian dish instead of stew. Nevertheless I will give the recipe another try and just change it up a little. Thank you for the recipe!
The first go around I made it exactly like the video. It was good, but no better or worse than any other beef stew I’ve had.
Second time around I added my own little spins. I left out the rosemary and just used thyme. Also instead of three cups of beef stock, I split it in half and replaced the rest of the liquid with a cup and a half of black coffee. I also didn’t sear the meat ahead of time, though that’s just my personal preference because I like when the meat gets shredded in the stew.
Thanks for posting this, I was curious if I really needed to sear the meat beforehand! I, too, like amy meat shredded in my stew ☺️ Thanks, again! Can’t wait to try this one out.