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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Can’t wait to make this recipe tomorrow! I have a really old recipe from the New York Times and it is quite similar. It will be the first time doing it in the crockpot and I will do it for the longer period that some people say on low. I will be serving this over egg noodles and will leave a real review when I am done. 🙂
Just WOW…Damn delicious!
Chef’s kiss! This was delicious and so easy. I doubled the spices, and also added a few shallots and some peas at the end. This will be my staple beef stew recipe from now on!
I’ve made this stew recipes many times! The best. I use about a pound more meat, a bit more potatoes and carrots and add a cup of a big red wine. So good!
This is the only recipe I use for Beef Stew. I have not used caraway seeds, but the other seasonings add just the right amount of flavor! Thank you for a wonderful recipe!
Make it all the time. It’s damn delicious honestly
Love making dinner recipes from your site! Made this tonight and it was wonderful!
I look forward to trying out this recipe sson! My only question is I do not currently have a cast iron skillet, what would you recommend to precook the beef a bit in substitution?
Thank you!
Should the meat & veg be covered with liquid at beginning of cooking or will the meat provide more juices/liquid? asking for a friend bad cook here
This recipe does not work on high. Slow only.
This is delicious!! I followed the recipe but did not add the rosemary. Easy to make and everybody loved it!!!!
The recipe should specify that you only put 2.5 cups of broth in with the beef in the slow cooker and set aside another half cup for the flour slurry.
Outside of that, this recipe works very well both on low (@8 hours) and high settings (@ 4 hours), but if you’ve got the time go with low.
Sorry disregard the comment about the broth – I misread that it was the stew broth, not beef broth. This is a great recipe and would recommend!
This stew is absolutely delicious. I followed the recipe, but increased the spices by half a teaspoon each And added a little extra garlic and onion powder. I didn’t even need to thicken the stew. It cooked up perfectly rich and hearty. I let it cook for 7 1/2 hours in my crockpot.
I really loved the recipe. The caraway seed is an awesome spice to add to this stew! I have been trying to identify that spice ever since I tasted it in Montreal Spice Mix. Now I found it, and it is so perfect with beef! Thank you for the recipe!
This is the best Crock Pot Stew I’ve ever made! Thank you so much for the recipe! I opted not to include the Caraway seeds, and I left out the smoked paprika. However, the only other difference was deglazing the pan (after searing the beef chunks) with some red wine and pouring that into the pot. I cooked it on high for 3.5 hours and then an additional hour on low. It was delicious!
Amazing recipe! I made this using elk meat and it did not disappoint. I did sub Campbell’s beef broth with red wine instead of just regular beef broth which gave it a slightly richer flavour. Perfect blend of flavour with the spice combination!
This didn’t work out as well as I expected given all the amazing reviews. I made it as written, without the optional caraway seeds. If I made it again, I would do only one bay leaf because my husband and I both agreed the bay leaf flavor was too strong. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. After 4.5 hours on high, the potatoes and carrots weren’t completely done.
This stew was “The Best Beef Stew” ever! Fantastic recipe. Will definitely make again.
This was absolutely delicious! It has to be the best beef stew recipe I have ever made! (Or my husband made)
Very good
Though I might add devaluing the pan you browned the meat in with some of the stock
Just made this . I am not a normal beef stew maker . Actually this is my best and one of only a few attempts. My previous attempts were fails mainly due to being watery or tough meat and off flavors .
1) the meat was very tender !!! Finally! And no I don’t cook with wine .
2) flavors are spot on . ( when I don’t add salt and pepper to my food it is spot on !)
3) the thickening to make the gravy really worked out well perfectly.
Thanks so much for a wonderful meal on a cold snowy night.