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.
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This was the best beef stew that I have ever tasted! Unlike other recipes, it is full of flavor. The only thing I added was celery and some red wine. My picky son even enjoyed it! Thank you!!!’
This was the best beef stew that I have ever tasted! Unlike other recipes, it is full of flavor. The only thing I added was some red wine and celery. My picky son even enjoyed it! Thank you!!!!
All my life I said I don’t like beef stew. My mom’s was terrible. (sorry Mom) I saw this and it sounded interesting so I decided to give it a try. It is absolutely fabulous. I have make it several times and have shared the recipe with friends. LOVE IT!!! I don’t change a thing in the recipe.
I have made this recipe so many times! This was my first beef stew i have ever made! me and my boyfriend both love it. It is so tasty! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Can i cook the beef the night before?
Yes!
Wow. Awesome recipe. First time in a while my wife finished the bow before I could. She raced over it. Will be making this again. SOON.
I’ve made this twice and both times it was delicious!
I have tried a few beef stew recipes and I always seem to get it wrong. My problem is, I neve know how much water should go in the slow cooker. Should all the meat me submerged or not? One time the meat submerged in the broth was tough but the pieces that was not was fine. So confusing!
You don’t need to submerge all of the meat. Just follow the recipe.. it should turn out wonderful!
I used leftover pot roast that had potatoes, onions and carrots. I just added the seasonings to the broth, cooked on high for 2 hrs, thickened and added frozen corn and peas. It was amazing and enjoyed by all. Thx for being my reliable go to!
Very delicious. My husband ate half the pot before I came home
Very disappointed in the recipe. It was very bland. The only thing I didn’t add was carrots. I used sweet potatoes instead. Would not make again.
you screwed it up who would put sweet potatos in! Don’t dog the recipe when you messed up the ingredients.
I was thinking the same thing.
I added corn, mushrooms, & french style green beans. Was wonderful!!!
Perfect reply Mark. Don’t blame the recipe for altering ingredients. You’ll never find a stew recipe with sweet potatoes.
Wow! seriously!? You change it and then complain about it?
This was so good! Replaced some of the broth w red wine and added some celery and red pepper flakes. Anytime I am looking for a recipe i use one from damn delicious if available because it is always damn delicious!! Thank you!
Thinking same thing to add..hpw much red wine did you add?
Allycat, substitute 1 cup of a good red wine for 1 cup of broth. Deepens the flavor tremendouly
Very flavorful! I opted for the long-cook option, but after 8 hours, the potatoes weren’t cooked enough, so I put on high cook for 90 minutes. Next time, on high for 4 hours will probably work better.
Delicious. Made this for Sunday dinner on a cool fall night and it was a hit. Hubby and Toddler loved it!
I thought this was delicious, the best recipe I’ve had!!
Fantastic! I had a partial bell pepper that I had already chopped, as well as some celery and tomato sauce that I added to it. I actually threw everything into the crockpot and put on low for 8 hours. Wouldn’t change a thing!
Made beef stew for the 1st time ever.
I had more meat. It was more then 3.5 lbs but less then 4. Used 4 cups of beef bone broth, a whole small bag of baby carrots, 5 golden potatoes cut into fours, 4 stalks of celery, more smoked paprika (don’t remember how much more), more garlic (don’t remember again), also added garlic powder too and lots of kosher salt & pepper. All the other seasonings I used same amount as written. Only thing I didn’t have was fresh parsley.
Cooked on low for an hour then changed it to high for 4 hours because I didn’t want to wait long.
10 mins before I turned it off, I took out some juice to mix it with corn starch then added it to pot to thicken.
Everything came out perfect. Potatoes & carrots perfectly cooked, not mushy at all and the meat very tender.
Thanks for the recipe.
Delicious!! I made this in my Instant Pot on the slow cook option. First time I have tried the slow cook option. Worked great. I added extra carrots and potatoes cuz my kiddos love carrots and potatoes. They gobbled it up. Also added an extra cup of broth. Was still a bit runny after adding the flour so added a TBSP of corn starch diluted in 1 TBSP of water, which did the trick. If it’s too runny you could also puree some potatoes and carrots and add it back into the stew.
Can i half this recipe and still cook for 7-8 hrs or should I reduce the time?
Cooking time will probably have to be reduced, A Le.
A few months ago I made a stew recipe I found online, it sounded really good but ended up being way to overpowering for my taste buds. I found another recipe today but it seemed very time consuming cooking pretty much everything before putting in slow cooker. Then I found this recipe. I am so glad I did. It was fabulous. I did add some celery and forgot to add parsley at end but it was damn delicious. All those other beef stew recipes are out. This will be my #1 beef stew recipe here on out. If I could have given a 10 I would have.
This was absolutely delicious. My daughter asked for the recipe.