Whoa. Just, WHOA. I’ve never smelled anything as lovely and drool-inducing as this Slow Cooker Beef Stew. The incredible aroma had my mouth watering for hours as the tender chunks of beef and vegetables simmered away in the flavorful gravy. I couldn’t wait to lift the lid and take a quick taste. And when I finally did? INCREDIBLE. This crockpot beef stew recipe is one you’ll definitely want to make before winter is over!
Ingredients for Beef Stew
Beef stew, in its most basic form, is really simple. It’s just chunky pieces of beef, vegetables, broth, and some herbs and spices, all cooked down until it forms a delicious cozy gravy. But I took this beef stew recipe up a few notches with some extra special ingredients that add more umami and flavor to the stew gravy. The ingredient list may look long, but I promise it’s worth it. Here’s what you’ll need for the most incredible crockpot beef stew ever:
- Beef Stew Meat – Stew meat, which is usually cubed chuck steak, tends to be a tougher cut, but it softens to an extremely tender texture when cooked low and slow (like in a slow cooker).
- All-Purpose Flour – Lightly coating the stew meat in flour and then searing it before it goes into the slow cooker increases the Maillard reaction and deepens the flavor. The flour also helps thicken the stew’s gravy.
- Vegetables – We use a hearty and flavorful mix of carrots, onions, celery, and potatoes to create a naturally flavorful gravy. The vegetables also help thicken the gravy as they break down into the broth.
- Beef Broth – Broth acts as the base for the gravy and provides a nice moist environment for the meat to cook to tender perfection. Make sure to use a broth with great flavor. We like to use Better Than Bouillon to make our broth.
- Seasonings – This is where we really take the flavor to the next level. For this recipe, we combined garlic, Dijon, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, rosemary, and thyme to make an over-the-top good gravy that is full of layered flavor and umami goodness.
How to Thicken Beef Stew
There are multiple ways to thicken a beef stew, but I prefer to allow the stew to thicken naturally as the vegetables cook and begin to break down into the broth. The stew may look a little watery when you first lift the lid, but once you begin to stir, the starches in the vegetables will begin to thicken the liquid into a gravy-like consistency.
Alternately, if you prefer a firmer vegetable, you can add them in the last hour of cooking and then use a cornstarch slurry (3 Tbsp cornstarch + 3 Tbsp water) to thicken your stew. Once the cornstarch is mixed into the broth and brought to a boil, it will thicken into a gravy. This method will result in a less flavorful gravy and a slightly glossy appearance.
What Else Can I add?
This slow cooker beef stew is pretty lush as is, but there are always options if you want to add more! Try adding 8 oz. mushrooms with the vegetables in the beginning (sliced in half) for more vegetable goodness. If you have some red wine on hand, deglaze the skillet used to brown the beef with the wine before proceeding with the gravy. Want it to look extra fancy? Sub 8 oz. pearl onions in place of the chopped onion in the recipe below.
Tips for the Best Beef Stew
- Sear the meat first. Browning the beef gives it an extra deep flavor that can’t be achieved in the moist environment of the slow cooker alone.
- Add extra umami. Adding ingredients to the broth that contain a lot of umami, like Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce, ramps up the flavor in the stew and makes the flavor extra “meaty”.
- Don’t rush it. Stew meat needs to cook low and slow for a long time in order for the tough connective tissues to break down and become tender. If your stew meat is tough, reduce the heat and cook it a little longer.
- Don’t skip the veggies. Including a variety of vegetables in your stew not only adds texture and color, but the vegetables also add a ton of extra flavor to the gravy, so you’ll get a delicious, multi-dimensional flavor in the final stew.
What To Serve with Beef Stew
This crockpot beef stew is a pretty well-rounded meal on its own, but you’ll want to sop up every drop of that deliciously thick brown gravy. I suggest serving your Slow Cooker Beef Stew with some bread on the side, like my Focaccia Rolls, or over a bowl of Creamy Polenta, warm rice, or egg noodles.
Love Beef Stew? You’ve got to try my Chicken Stew next!
Slow Cooker Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. red potatoes ($2.40)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.37)
- 3 carrots ($0.44)
- 4 stalks celery ($0.44)
- 4 cloves garlic ($0.32)
- 1.5 lbs. beef stew meat ($11.24)
- 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour ($0.03)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp Freshly cracked black pepper ($0.02)
- 2 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.08)
- 2 cups beef broth ($0.27)
- 2 Tbsp Dijon mustard ($0.13)
- 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce ($0.06)
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce ($0.06)
- 1.5 tsp brown sugar ($0.02)
- 1.5 tsp dried rosemary ($0.15)
- 1.5 tsp dried thyme ($0.15)
Instructions
- Dice the onion and red potatoes. Slice the carrots and celery. Mince the garlic. Place the prepared vegetables in a four or five quart slow cooker.
- Place the stew meat in a bowl and sprinkle the flour, salt, and pepper over top. Toss the meat until it's evenly coated in flour.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high. Once very hot, add the cooking oil and swirl to coat the surface of the skillet. Add the stew meat and cook, without stirring, until browned on the bottom. Stir and then allow the beef to brown on a second side. Transfer the meat to the slow cooker.
- Turn the heat under the skillet down to medium-low. Add the broth, Dijon, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, rosemary, and thyme to the skillet. Stir and cook over medium-low until all the browned bits have dissolved off the bottom of the skillet.
- Pour the broth over the ingredients in the slow cooker and everything a good stir.
- Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for four hours or low for eight hours.
- After cooking the meat and vegetables should both be tender. Stir the stew well to allow the potatoes to slightly break down and thicken the gravy. Taste the stew and adjust the salt or other seasonings to your liking. Serve hot!
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Equipment
Nutrition
How to Make Slow Cooker Beef Stew – Step by Step Photos
Prepare the vegetables for the stew first. You’ll need to dice 2 lbs. red potatoes and one yellow onion, slice 4 stalks of celery and 3 carrots, and mince 4 cloves of garlic.
Place all of your chopped vegetables in a 4 or 5-quart slow cooker or crockpot.
Place 1.5 lbs. stew meat (beef chuck) in a bowl. Sprinkle 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour, ¼ tsp salt, and ¼ tsp pepper over the meat. Toss the beef until it’s evenly coated in flour, salt, and pepper.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high. When it’s very hot, add 2 Tbsp cooking oil and swirl to coat the surface of the skillet. Add the stew meat and let it cook until browned on the bottom, then stir and allow it to brown on the second side again. Do not stir often, or the beef will not have a chance to brown. Transfer the beef to the slow cooker.
Reduce the heat under the skillet to medium-low and add 2 cups beef broth, 2 Tbsp Dijon mustard, 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 Tbsp soy sauce, 1.5 tsp brown sugar, 1.5 tsp dried rosemary, and 1.5 tsp thyme. Heat and stir the ingredients until all of the browned bits are dissolved off the bottom of the skillet.
Pour the broth over the ingredients in the slow cooker. It’s okay if the broth does not fully cover the ingredients in the slow cooker at this point.
Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for four hours or low for eight hours.
After four hours on high (or eight hours on low) the stew should look a little like this. The meat and vegetables should both be tender. The gravy may look a little thin at this point, but don’t worry…
Give the stew a good stir and the potatoes will break down a bit and thicken the gravy into a nice rich consistency. Depending on the type of broth used, you may want to taste the stew and add salt to your liking (I did not add any).
Serve the Slow Cooker Beef Stew as is or spooned over a bowl of hot rice or pasta. THIS will keep you warm and full on cold winter days!
Really yummy, I added smoke paprika, celery salt and turmeric and used fresh rosemary-family loved it!
OMG…this beef stew is so delicious. The first time I made this I cooked on high for 4 hours. It was good but the beef was not as tender as I would like. Tonight I made this again cooked on low for 8 hours. The beef was so tender. My husband said this beef stew is the best he ever had. We serve this with toasted bread.
Thank you for the recipe.
Hi! I am planning on doing this recipe and was hoping to get it set up tonight and plugging it in tomorrow. When you cooked for 8 hours did you precook the beef with the flour like the recipe calls for? I’m trying to figure out if I can skip that part so it’s easier tomorrow morning! Thanks in advance for any guidance!
Best beef stew I have ever made. I make it in the instant pot so I’ve modified how I do it. I find the veggies cook so fast in there so I’m cutting them into much bigger pieces. The flavour is fantastic and I don’t think I will ever try another stew recipe again! Just got your app and am looking forward to having all these recipes on my phone!
I’ve done a few modifications on this recipe. Substituted half of the stock with red wine. The alcohol evaporates while deglazing, so no issues there. I aslo let my meat sit overnight is a mixture of plain greek yogurt, rosemary,thyme garlic and basil. Rinse completely before using. The cultures in the yogurt break dowm the toughness of the beef and it truely is melt in your mouth. I use fresh herbs, but give them a couple rolls with a rolling pin to bring out the natural oils. This truely is a fantastic family favorite!
This was simple and amazing. I agree with Anna, that the beef needed more time to get really tender. I used fresh rosemary and thyme sprigs because I had them, and needed to use them, and just pulled them out at the end. They impart their flavor without needly rosemary leaves left behind. Those are the only changes I made ย and this was anything but bland. Whoever said that maybe didnโt add salt to taste at the end. ย My biggest challenge was not eating three bowlfuls in one sitting.
Cooking as advised โON HIGHโ is a gross misdirection: four hours at top temp. will produce a gastronomic Hiroshima. Yes, at the start of cooking the process gets a kick start by turning the temp. up but ONLY UNTIL THE LIQUID STARTS TO BUBBLE…….then, bring it right down to about 180*F. for the recommended four hours.
ย A momentโs reflection makes it clear that a โslow cookโ is impossible โon highโ – if that means top temp.
For most slow cookers, the “high” setting is equivalent to only about 250ยบF. If this were cooked on the stove top or in the oven, you would be correct. This is cooked using a slow cooker, which do not get very hot, even on the high setting.
This recipe is SO GOOD. I followed the recipe almost exactly except I didn’t have thyme (not my favorite herb anyway). I went looking for a stew recipe because it was one of my favorite comfort foods as a kid and this recipe fits the bill perfectly. It does have a LOT of potatoes, which I have absolutely no problem with, but cutting the amount a bit would probably yield a more conventional ratio of ingredients. Will be making again for sure.
Can i get everything into slow cooker night before and then cook next day? So brown meat and make sauce night before.
Or will that ruin it?
Hmm, honestly I don’t know how that would turn out. I’ve never done it that way before.
I do this all the time. I prep everything and place it in the slow cooker insert and store in fridge overnight to cook on low for 8 hours the next day. Works perfectly every time!
This really didn’t have much flavor to it all. Pretty bland.
Any thoughts on how to improve flavor?
Add 1 cup of Guinness instead of the second cup of beef stock. Also fresh rosemary added near the end gives it quite a kick.
How would I make this if I do not have a slow cooker?
I’d need to do some testing to get the process just right for stove top, but it would involve slowly simmering the ingredients over low until the beef is tender.
I’ve had some luck making this in a dutch oven (cast iron) that I put in the oven at 300 for 4+ hours. Turns out great! You may need a little more liquid if your lid isn’t perfectly sealing.
Just made this tonight with venison and thr flavors paired beautifully! I didnโt have just thyme on hand so I used herbs de provence which has rosemary, fennel, thyme and lavender. It was incredible! Thank you for a great stew recipe!
Would I be able to make a double batch of this or would the cooking time/temp be off? I am thinking of making this for a christmas party because my husband and I love this! I have never made a double batch of it tho.
I’ve never tried a double batch either, but you’ll definitely need a very large slow cooker. Mine is about 6 qt and it was very full.
This is by far the best beef stew Iโve ever had!!! I made this a couple weeks ago, had some leftover so I saved it in the freezer until I warmed them up for a quick dinner after midnight to finish my long workday today …and the decadent smell was still there, my mouth was revitalized by the bursting flavor and it completely blew away my fatigue!! Iโm definitely making these again. Thank you so much for sharing this great recipe!!!
If I were to use a pressure cooker (instant pot) for this recipe, how long would I need to cook it and do I still follow the recipe as it calls for?
I haven’t tested this recipe with the IP, but my first guess would be to just use the stew preset and see how it goes. :)
How did it go in the instant pot???
This is so good! I made this a year or so ago and was a bit underwhelmed, but I’ve learned from my mistakes. First off, I only used 3 red potatoes – the first time I made this as written, it seemed like way too many potatoes. Second, I used crushed dried rosemary, and used a little less than called for because the crushed/broken needles take up less space than the whole needles. The first time I made this with whole rosemary, the needles were really annoying and poked my mouth, but the crushed kind is less sharp and gets soft over time. Lastly, I get better results with beef (and pork) if I cook for 8 hrs on low instead of 4 hrs on high. Everything still cooks after 4 hrs on high, but I only get tender, fall-apart meat after 8 hrs on low. With those tweaks, it was awesome! I served it over egg noodles.