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!
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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.
Video
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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Made this recipe this morning. I didn’t have beef broth so I subbed chicken broth. I also didn’t have caraway seeds, but I used all the other spices. It turned out amazingly delicious. In fact, damn delicious!
This came out very good! I always brown/sear meat before adding to the crockpot. I usually don’t add the flour and I think it makes a really good texture to coat the stew. I still have fresh herbs growing in my garden (rosemary, thyme, parsley, etc) so
I cut some of each and added them. I also would use real carrots vs baby carrots. The recipe calls for big carrots and I used to grab the baby ones and I’ve come to realize how much better standard carrots taste. I will definitely be making this again!
After browning the beef I de-greased the pan and added some beef stock to de-glaze the pan. The only other addition was
adding 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and some frozen peas during the last 1/2 hour of cooking. I did not add the
caraway seeds.
Best beef stew I’ve ever had! Cooking it for the second time, made a few modifications based on what I had. I used red curry paste instead of tomato paste. Thinking of adding chick peas this time too.
It was amazing! I have made beef stews before with different recipes, but this was much much better. The beef was so tender! My husband seemed surprised that I made it haha.
Will definitely be keeping this one.
To note: I didn’t use any Worcester sauce or thyme/rosemary (didn’t have any!).
Made this tonight and holy moly! It was so good! Made it nearly true to the recipe other than not having caraway seeds and subbing mostly veggie broth (only had half cup of beef stock left and I live 30 minutes from the store). I also sautéed the onion and garlic in a bit of ghee and the meat juices from cooking the beef, and then added to crockpot with everything else and stirred. Salt was to taste and between salting the meat and adding salt to the pot I would say I used about a tablespoon, which was perfect for my taste. Next time I’ll use all beef broth but even with mostly veggie it turned out incredible! Thank you for the recipe!
This was fabulous – I took other’s advice by coating the meat in flour and then browning, which I do often when cooking in the crock pot. I also did what Hilda did and used wine for 1/2 cup of the broth. Did not use caraway seeds. I cooked on low for about 6 or 7 hours. Next time I will turn the crock pot off after about 4-5 hours as the meat got a bit shredded and some of the liquid decreased, but I just added more and it still came out great. This was perfect for an unusual chilly night in Miami and husband loved it! Thanks Chungah!
Great recipe, will add like others that when seasoning your beef prior to searing, add the flour to the beef, toss to coat. In your hot fry pan add oil and a pat of butter then when foaming add beef. Once caramelized, remove just the beef to the slow cooker, put pan back on the stove top and you could add your onions here to get a bit of color. Then de-glaze with red wine if using or if not some of your beef broth. This will add to the depth of taste to your stew.
Please note, do not de-glaze if you burned the heck out of the bottom of your fry pan, burnt bits will just make your dish bitter
One word scrumptious! Reminded me of my mom’s stew, but hers took forever to make and cook. I loved putting everything together in my slow cooker and leaving it to do the work. I did add extra meat because we like it meatier. I also added some sliced mini tomatoes at the end and it all turned out wonderful. Thanks for a warm fall inner recipe! I will be using it again!!!
Simple to make and absolutely delicious.
You tell the recipes very well. Your contents are easy to understand. The details, tips and photos are great. Thank you for all the recipes.
Fantastic, and we’ll balanced.
Has anyone added dumplings? Looks like a great recipe but my family likes dumplings in their stew. Thanks
Hi I added dumplings the last 30 minutes when thickening the broth. Amazing, everything was wonderful. Loved the recipe, I did add a handful of mushrooms as well. Will be keeping this recipe handy. Thanks.
What kind of dumplings did you use? I love dumplings!
Thank you
Yummy! First time making this and was very pleased.
I did substitute one half cup of the broth with red wine.
This recipe has a little different taste than the usual beef stew recipe which is nice. My husband said it was “damn delicious.”
Loved the results , but did not use caraway seeds and skipped step 5 .
Searing the beef took way more then 2-3 minutes, very well seared. I brown the onion in the same oil that fried the beef. I seared a day before cooking.
Made it…loved it…will certainly make it again…absolutely fantastic
Very robust. Think I’d cut back on tomato paste and only 1 bay leaf. I added rutabaga also. Yum
Followed everything as instructed, but what we got was not the flavourfull stew that was promised. It ended up being so bland that no amount of salt or pepper could save it. Added some ketchup, and that helped a little. Still, not what we were expecting, and a disappointment of a dinner.
Andrew,
post: 11/12/19 ketchup? Seriously??
should’ve added a can of uh-oh spaghetti O’s…
Had you have followed the recipe, it would have been a “flavourfull” stew.
Might I suggest you just buy Dinty Moore.
Best wishes to you in the kitchen 2020,
The Sarcastic Chef
If you flour the beef prior to browning it, you can skip adding flour and water in the latter part of cooking.
Fantastic! Thank you for the recipe!