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!
Featured Comment
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
Equipment
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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I changed a few things about the recipe, either because I didn’t have the ingredients or because my husband didn’t like it. Overall, it is an awesome recipe. I plan to follow it to a tee when my husband isn’t in town. First, I didn’t have the tomato paste so I chopped some fresh tomatoes and threw them in. Next I did leave out the caraway seeds. I also left out the flour and the parsley because my husband doesn’t like a gravy base. I added an extra spoon of paprika, and threw in 2 celery stalks, just because I was trying to get rid of them. This is the first recipe that I have tried from this site, but it won’t be the last!
Best beef stew. The meat was tender and the stew was so flavorful. It’s a keeper.
Easy to make, delicious to eat. I’ve made it several times and it has never let me down, I’ve cooked 2 hrs on high then4 hours on low, works for me. I’ve replaced some of liquid with a can of Guinness which gives the gravy a even richer favour. I’ve added sweet potatoes for a fall delicacy. It works every time. So convenient too.
So good! I made it almost exactly as instructed with some modifications. I added turnip and then halfway through I added peas. I used 7.5 cups of Campbells beef broth with red wine, plus added about a 3/4 cup of red wine to taste. Also used cornstarch about 4-6 tbsps instead of flour to thicken so it’s gluten free. I made a double batch and had a big crockpot. So delicious. Cook on low for 8 hours.
Quite good!
I have made beef stew once before and didn’t enjoy it. I decided to try this recipe and it was good!
I followed the recipe except added about 2-3 teaspoons beef bouillon powder for added flavour. I used 1.2-2TBSP cornstarch, instead of 1/4 flour to thicken (mixed the starch with equal parts water). Served with buttered bread.
Great recipe! This is one i’ve made before & decided to come back to because we all liked it so much. I made it as written, except for the addition of 2 celery stalks. I also had 2 yukon gold potatoes to use, so I used a combination of that and a few small red potatoes. Others have suggested adding red wine, which sounds good, so maybe i’ll try that sometime. All-in-all, a great recipe that’s becoming a go-to for us.
Not a fault of the recipe, but if you don’t want to eat really late, be sure to start it early enough to allow for the 7-8 hours on low. I find that cooking on low yields slightly better results, but usually end up going between the two, like 2-3 hours on high and a fee hours on low.
So good. I coated the beef in flour seasoned with pepper and browned the meat first. Cooked on high and the gravy thickened by taking the cover off at the end and stirring. Also didn’t have enough beef broth so I used half a cup beef broth and 1 cup merlot wine. Then served over pastry shells
Sydney, Australia here. My oven stopped working 2 nights ago in the middle of baking potatoes, so yesterday I pulled out the slow cooker and found this recipe. As the saying goes, when one door closes another opens. I had just bought a beautiful big tray of Angus Beef Chuck Chunks that I got on sale for a great price so I followed this beautiful recipe, adding cubes of carrot, parsnip, swede (rutabaga)and celery. I added them to the onions once they onions were cooked. I used 2 3/4 cups of beef stock and 1/4 cup of a delicious red wine I was just dying to open. What I got was a taste from my childhood. Flavours that as a child my Mother excelled at. It was simply delicious. I cooked it for 5 hours but half an hour before it finished I stirred in the flour paste. My stock was hot when i mixed it with the flour, but I used a wisk and put it in bit by bit and had no problem with lumps. It thickened in the last half hour beautifully. The beef was literally melting in my mouth. I’m thankful my oven broke (until I get the bill of course) because it led me to find this recipe. I’ll be making this again. Thank you so much.
I love this recipe. I’ve made it many times with no alterations only peas at the end to give some extra colour. I’m making it today! My go to recipe! I be live in Sydney Australia
Such a lovely stew. Made it 3 weeks ago Making it today for the family. We live in South Africa. Thanks for a great recipe!
I used top of the round instead of stew meat or bottom of the round or chuck, that what was on sale. This recipe is great and has awesome flavor with a few exceptions as to what I had on hand. I used just use plain paprika, didn’t have smokey. One big difference is I browned all in a skillet before putting in slow cooker. I think this makes for more intense flavor. Came out great!
This was very good! I will keep the recipe and make it again! My guests all loved it as well! Thank you for sharing.
It’s pretty good but I suggest leaving out the tomato paste. Gives it too much of a spaghetti flavor.
I am in the middle of making this stew and it looks and smells wonderful after 2 hrs.
And, the flavor is amazing.
I varied the recipe and, it’s obviously not the same as this one.
But, I didn’t have the spices or the crock pot or tomato paste or beef broth.
Just a heavy roaster.
Fried the meat coating it with paprika, s&p and a bag with some flower.
Shook it up. Fried the meat in hot roaster, searing it.
A lot of pan scrapings with that flour cover.
Removed the meat and decided to add the Pinot red wine, at that point.
Removed that sauce.
Then added more olive oil, onions, celery and an entire head of garlic, skin and all – separated cloves of course. (learned that from Ramsey)
After they were nicely seared, added beef and sauce and a big can of tomatoes and a little more wine.
Cooked in 275-300* oven for – I dunno, 4 hrs? I’ll see. This is the first time I’ve bought stew mean as used to cut my own but it was $7.99/# – not cheap.
Turned out “Damn Delicious” .
I’ve saved this recipe for quite a while now & decided to use it today. Modified some ingredients with what I had on hand. Hubby says best stew ever. Thanks for the recipe
I love this recipe always add peas though and have mashed potatoes instead yum
A good hearty stew! One step I do recommend is to brown your beef before you slow cook it. You can also add in some red wine for a kick!
I’m an experienced cook, but I typically make beef stew on the stove top. This time, I wanted to make it in my Crockpot. Tried this recipe and was blown away. It’s now my go-to! I bumped up from the 3 cups of beef stock the recipe called for and used a full 32-oz carton. It felt like the perfect amount of liquid. The teaspoon of smoked paprika wasn’t overly spicy, but it was approaching the limit for me. I might back off a little next time. And a caveat about adding the flour in step five. Don’t just mix the flour with blazing hot stew broth. You run the risk of cooking the flour and making a gloppy mess. Either let the broth cool some, or just use cold water instead. Whisk, then put a lid on it and shake it. No lumps. Pour it in to the slow cooker, stir. Cover and crank that puppy up to high. Make sure it’s boiling around the edges because that’s how real thickening happens. 30 minutes later, take the lid off and stir. Turn the heat back down or even off. Let some off the heat come out so it can set up and finish thickening. Perfect consistency. Thanks for an amazing recipe!
Thank you for this info on step 5.. Much appreciated!
This stew was delicious. I followed the recipe exactly. I do agree with the other comment about the flour mixture. Mine did turn into a gloppy mess. However the stew turned out perfect in spite of it. This is my new beef stew recipe.
It was great! Can I double the recipe and still follow timing on cooking instructions?
I love this recipe thank you. I mix the liquid, herbs and spices together before adding them to the meat and vegies to make sure they’re well mixed. Probably not necessary though.