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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I have made this stew about 20 times and it never fails,Winter or Summer,the caraway seeds is a super touch. I think it was nearly the first stew I made in my slow cooker when I got it and opened up a whole new word of how good and uncomplicated great recipes for the slow cooker are. Many thanks Chungah.
Thank you for your feedback, Lorraine!
Had some difficulty in getting Worcestershire sauce, dried rosemary and Kosher salt, I used Iodised salt in place of Kosher salt, Added more stew spice in the beef, the meat came out testy, cant say much for my cooking skill.
Made this today, but didn’t use the rosemary or caraway seeds since I didn’t have them handy. It turned out lovely nonetheless, with just the thyme, parley, paprika and pepper for seasoning, and then all the other ingredients as listed. A delicious stew! Very happy to have come across this recipe – its going to be a keeper 🙂
This is the best beef stew I’ve ever had and it totally hit the spot today!! Thank you!!!
Made this the second time. Excellent!!! This time, didn’t need the flour to thicken it. I added extra potatoes and figured we could mash them to thicken the stew if needed.
Hubby is a more patient cook, so he watched over it. He checked the water level twice. He added powdered beef bouillon and a little boiling water. Amazing!!
Thanks for another great recipe!!!
This stew came out great! I used a 2lb blade roast and “little gems” mixed mini potatoes since they were on sale. I followed the recipe exactly as written minus the caraway seeds (I don’t like caraway seeds tbh). I seared the meat in a very hot cast-iron pan, and used the meat temperature probe attachment on my slow cooker so it cooked on low to a max of 165F over 8hrs. The inside of the beef cubes were still pinkish (but cooked), and really tasty. I ate it with a garlic-buttered, toasted french baguette and paired it with a cheap pinot noir – Everyone loved it!
P.S – I tried this recipe because I find that most beef stew recipes are really bland, so all those people commenting with their crappy bland beef stew recipes can buzz off. Write your own recipe and stop suggesting changes to this one, we’re here because we don’t want bland stew 🙂
This may sound like a crazy question but here goes – – If the recipe makes 8 servings, is it safe to say that the recipes yields 8 cups of stew? One cup per serving? Or 10 cups of stew & a serving would then be 1 1/4 cup servings. In order to server 8 equal servings one would need to know the total yield of the recipe.
Carol, each serving is roughly 1-2 cups.
I am wondering if I can make this a freezer meal after cooking in crockpot?
Unfortunately, we cannot answer this with certainty as we have never tried freezing this ourselves. Please use your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
I regularly freeze stews (as I did with the leftovers of this one) but, I own a vacuum sealer. I basically put 2-cups in a vacuum seal bag, pop it in the freezer for about 45 min (so the liquid is frozen), and then vacuum seal it. It’s mealed sized and convenient. I’ve eaten 1 year old stew that was preserved this way and it tasted fine…. Not sure how it would hold up to regular freezing though (sorry).
Chiming in….. I just put all this my 6 qt. Crock, left out the rosemary, as not too big a fan. It smells divine, will pipe up later when done and let yall know what the family thinks. Just saying, sure smells delicious so far.
I made this tonight but in the Instant Pot! I followed the instructions as written but I did not add the onions, carrots or potatoes at first. I used the meat/stew button, waited for natural release. Then I added the veggies and the flour slurry (and another cup of broth as it didn’t seem to have enough) and set it for manual, 4 minutes, quick release so the veggies wouldn’t overcook. Delicious!
I made this stew using the 3-4 hour option and the carrots and potatoes were still raw, I would have pre cooked them had I known. The instructions also didn’t go into detail about the size of the potatoes or if to cut them. Otherwise it was good though.
Chungah, all of your recipes are excellent! I have a Pinterest board just for your recipes. Thank you for sharing your cooking expertise!
Simply delicious. Followed directions, easy and quick. Put together at lunch, and it was ready to eat when I got home for dinner.
hi! this may seem like a silly question but I am a vegetarian and cooking this for family who are not.. I was wondering if anyone could suggest how much salt and pepper they put in this recipe
Made as written, including the caraway seeds and it was great! I think I may use a bit less of each seasoning next time and then taste test as something, maybe the thyme, seemed too strong. I don’t like things thickened in the crockpot so I drained the meat and veggies, put the liquid in a pan and thickened from there, making a mix of corn starch and a bit of water instead of flour. Excellent and will be made again!
The hubby ratings are in. A+!
Followed the recipe to a “t”. Seemed a bit bitter to me. But maybe because of rosemary and/or thyme which I don’t usually care for. Added some dried prunes and a little cinnamon in an effort to sweeten. Helped somewhat. At the end of the day it’s still a nice recipe. But if the final result isn’t perfect it’s no doubt due to my own tweaks. Still quite edible however and my husband is going to rave about it anyway. Getting ready to dish it up in about 15 minutes.
I don’t usually make crockpot recipes that I won’t be home in time for. If it’s left on warm for an hour will that change flavor or over cook it?
*Also your recipes have made me look like I know what I’m doing in the kitchen, everything always turns out amazing!
The warm setting should work just fine!
Lovely recipe, tender meat, but WHY do my tatties never ever cook in the slow cooker? I always follow the recipe and my tatties come out rock hard. 🙁 does the same on other recipes so it isn’t just this one. Any tips? I might just have to start par-boiling them.
Perhaps they are cut too large?
Wow that is making me hungry! Looks so flavoursome (: