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!
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
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.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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Very solid beef stew recipe. I added about 1/4 cup of heavy cream and a few extra cloves of garlic and it was DAMN DELICIOUS.
This looks delicious. Just wondering if this freezes well? Looking for mid week meals that I can make on the weekend and reheat during the week. Thanks
it will freeze fine. i make many versions of beef stew in my slow cooker and have plenty of batches for the freezer. i just transfer a batch to the fridge the night before re heating. great for quick mid week meals
absolutely amazing just how I remember my nans stew tasting as they say it was banging my mates loved it aswell and there hard to please ☯️
First time making it, I have it in my slow cooker as I’m typing this and my house smells wonderful! Can’t wait till supper!!
Thee nicest stew iv ever made!! All in house agreed thank you
absolutely amazing just how I remember my nans stew tasting as they say it was banging my mates loved it aswell and there hard to please ☯️
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!
Whole family loved it! I don’t usually leave comments, but this was too good not to say anything! I coated the beef with flour before searing as noted by someone and also mixed the flour with softened butter before mixing it into the stew at the end to thicken it up.
Thank You!
I made this for a hungry crowd and it was a great hit! It’s going in my ‘to make again’ book. The meat was tender, juicy and so tasty and we used bread chunks to sop up the gravy so our plates were left clean!
Absolutely DELICIOUS! I didn’t manage to thicken it properly but even just as it is, 10/10!
I’ll DEFINITELY make it again.
The caraway seeds adds so much to the overall taste, I’m glad I was able to add it.
Fabulous! My first time making beef stew and I knew your recipe would be right on. You are my absolute favorite recipe person!
Absolutely loved this recipe! I was concerned because my wife does not like Rosemary or Smoked Paprika. I don’t really measure, but may have used a little less of those. I could definitely taste the Rosemary & didn’t tell her about the Smoked Paprika until she said she loved the stew. I did follow some advice from reviewers & added canned cut green beans & deglazed meat pan with about 1/3 cup of dry red wine. The meat was so tender & the stew just burst with flavor! Also mixed flour with butter to thicken broth. Thanks! A real keeper!
Best beef stew EVER. Everyone enjoyed it which is not always possible with teens. The resident chef (aka my hubby) was super shocked, but pleasantly surprised by the taste. I loved the tangy taste of the sauce & seasonings mixture. The meat was tender & melted in my mouth. I’m looking forward to trying more recipes. Thank you !!!
This. Was. DELICIOUS…
I added mushrooms but didn’t have any paprika. The flour thickened the sauce nicely! I’ll definitely make this again!
Delicious! Thank you for this keeper. I did brown the meat in seasoned flour first, and deglazed the pan with red wine.
Mine took 5 hours on High to completely cook the carrots.
Perfect ! My daughter loves it! Thank you
Delicious Stew!! My grandsons said that it was amazing, to smell as I cooked it and to eat. So I’ll keep it . I didn’t have beef broth so I used chicken broth and added some Better than Broth beef flavoring it was great!
I used to make a beef stew that had tomato soup as the base, and I had to boil the carrots and potatoes before adding to the crockpot because they would never get soft. This time around I wanted a new recipe that isn’t give us heartburn and didn’t require the extra boiling step.
Tried this and it is AMAZING. Definitely a hit in our house and will be added to the recipe book.
My only issue is that it never thickened after adding the flour…but I’ve found that any time I make a recipe that calls for adding cornstarch or flour at the end to thicken, I have the same issue. I think I’m doing something wrong there, but no clue what! In the end it didn’t matter, the stew was amazing anyway!
Charlotte, I dredge the meat in seasoned flour before browning. Then deglaze the skillet with wine or broth and toss all that in the slow cooker. That makes it as thick as I like, but if you want thicker, knead in some butter with your flour before tossing in at the end.
I have not made this yet, but I will this weekend and I know it will be great just from the ingredients and technique. Also the fact that I rely on “damndelicious” for many of the best recipes that I HAVE made. Mostly a word to Jackie; #1 If you don’t care for commentary or tips just scroll down to the recipe, and #2 Do us all a favor and buy a cookbook if you don’t like the blog style. All you accomplished was showing your rudeness. “No thanks!”
I loved that this recipe did not have a lot of sodium in it, and the flavor was on point.
WHY would one LOOK at a “recipe” that takes pages to “describe”! Not me, thanks
Hi Jackie! This is a blog, not a recipe page but if you prefer recipe pages, there are many sources available.
P.S. This is not an airport. Your departure does not have to be announced. Thanks so much for stopping by!
You must be very very unhappy in life!
Previous comment meant for Jackie O’Neill.
Made your stew……was delicious!!!!
Jackie, I am someone who loves cooking and making new recipes. This is a common format. Your mom must not have not taught you “if you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything at all”. The comment section is for CONSTRUCTIVE criticism and questions. Bye Karen.
C U Next Time
Its clear you have to “look” because its equally clear you can’t read. There’s a little option called “skip to recipe” if your brain is incapable of comprehension.