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!
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.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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My family loved it! I made a few small changes: I coated the meat in small amount of flour and sautéed it with the onion and garlic. Then I deglazed the pan with 1/2 cup dry red wine before adding everything to the slow cooker. Subbed Yukon gold potatoes and fresh herbs.
Will this fit in a 5 quart crock pot? Thanks – thinking of making it for Christmas Eve and that’s the size cooker I have.
(I gave it five stars so I could post my question – based on the other reviews, that’s probably right!)
A little late, but for those who are wondering – this would not fit in my 4-quart crock pot so I used my 6-quart Ninja 3-in-1 cooker on the slow cooker setting. I used top sirloin instead of stew meat – makes ALL the difference! And I found that 2 lbs. of potatoes was just too much. I put in a little over a pound.
I used moose meat instead of beef, and it turned out amazing! This recipe is packed full of flavour, and the meat is very tender!
They only allow me one moose tag per year, so sticking with beef for this one. Need to make sure the moose meat lasts.
We made this tonight for dinner. Delicious! Highly recommend giving this one a try.
Bland, bland, bland. O and tasteless. I needed to add quite a bit of flavor ingredients and I have a feeling it still will be unpopular. Sorry!
@Lynne,
You might want to get a covid test.
You must have done something wrong, because, I made it and my family, and myself, absolutely loved it! I thought it had plenty of flavor. I made it exactly how the recipe read.
Please get checked out for covid…
No, I agree. I’ve made this several times, but always double the tomato, Worcestershire, and herbs.
If you’re someone who eats everything spicy, I would recommend diversifying, or your taste buds are going to be forever ruined.
Absolutely gorgeous, added mushrooms near end of cooking.
I didn’t quite have 2lbs of stew beef, so I added some sliced fresh mushrooms to make up for some of the lost beef flavor/texture. It was a great addition!
Absolutely fabulous, added mushrooms near the end and a few gravy granuals.
Fabulous, my husband really enjoyed it. Had slow cooker on high for 7 hours, then turned down to low, added a few gravy granules at end. Also added mushrooms near the end.
It came out exactly like the picture ! My whole family loved it! I added regular baby potatoes not red ones and definitely add green squash ! So delicious !!! Everything else I followed exactly !
First time writing a review.. ever.
This is perfect. Made it exactly.
I went for the high cook method.. after 3.5 hours the beef was tough and I though “man I messed it up I don’t get why”. Then I tried a carrot and realized it wasn’t cooked enough. Turned it down to low, let it ride for 3 more hours and it came out beautifully. I didn’t salt so I can feed it to my 14 month old, and it’s still delicious. Add a dash of vinegar to your own bowl and it opens up nicely. Add a glass or two of red wine to your meal and there you go.
Definitely will be making again, be sure to choose high quality beef and take your time.
Made this today with a twist used Malbec wine for 1 of the cups of broth. Next time I will sautéed the onion and garlic. But all and all delicious. Love recopies from damn delicious never disappointed
Yep. This was delicious. Thanks for the recipe.
This was absolutely delicious, my new go to recipe. I did also deglaze beef with dry red wine, made a little bit more broth (little less than double) and added mushrooms at the end. Amazing, thanks for sharing
Da Bomb. Did flour meat and deglaze with red wine based upon comments, otherwise to recipe and it is now the beef stew gold standard.
I don’t love beef stew but I do love my hubs and he loves beef stew so I made this for him and it was delicious! Even for someone like me who isn’t really a beef eater. Fabulous and easy. I used more rosemary than it called for because I love rosemary and when I browned the beef I added in Pinot Noir
*chef kiss!* Damn Delicious is definitely one of my go to websites for yummy meals. Thanks, Chungah!
Beef stew and pot roast are my favorite foods in the world.
This one really rocks.
This is the 2nd time I’ve made this stew and it was just as delicious as the first time. I substituted fresh celery leaves for dried parsley as we had none; worked fine. It is 39F here at supper-time this evening and this was perfect. Thank you Chunga!
This was really good, and very easy. I decided to deglaze the browning pan with a splash of red wine and book the tomato sauce in it for a minute. I used half smoked paprika and half sweet – next time will go fully with the smoked paprika – gave it a different, interesting flavor. As always, delicious and easy to follow recipes!
This IS damn delicious!
I decided to make this recipe as it had high reviews and was simple.
I normally like to read reviews before proceeding with making any recipe I find on the Internet. This time I did not, and read after. I would like to share my input. I did similar to the reviews I read adding my own spin. This is what I did differently than the recipe states. Browned meat at super high heat (cooking longer than recipe instructions) and deglazed with red wine vinegar which turned into a reduction sauce coating the meat well!!! Pinot noir would have been a nice touch. I added more broth as when I had put everything in the crockpot it didn’t seem like there was enough liquid to coat most of the vegetables and meat. Because I added more broth than the recipe called for I also had to adjust the flour ratio, which I wanted it to be thick, almost doubling the flour.
I only had one pound of stew meat and added canned mushrooms.
I do think I will make again and would like to try adding diced tomatoes to it.
Delicious
This stew was a hit! My company practically licked their bowls. I’m not one to enjoy cooking and this was super easy! Def making this again!