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
Servings 8 1.25 cups eachIngredients
- 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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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!
Hi! I was just wondering what size crockpot I would need to make this stew.
It looks amazing!
Probably a 6 qt or larger. It makes a lot! :)
Best stew recipe I have ever tried! So much flavor!!
I just wanted to say THANK YOU! This recipe tasted amazing and I don’t say that about a lot of recipes I tend to find online. You saved my boring lunch/dinner syndrome lol.
Just made this and it was amazing. Licked the bowl clean. =P
I did have to make a few changes since I’m living abroad without my usual kitchen tools and food selections. This soup does just fine in a big, stovetop pot on the lowest flame manageable. The cooking time was less, of course (about 2 hrs), but the meat was still very tender and juicy. Thanks for the great recipe!!
My husband is not a huge fan of rosemary, can I leave it out or reduce it and still have a great beef stew? I love rosemary, but marriage is about compromise… right lol?
I think the stew would still have quite a bit of flavor without it. Compromise is good. :)
You could consider sage instead of rosemary. Same family of flavors, but none of that pine taste that some people hate. I find that rosemary, thyme and sage are equally great in a stew like this.
This seriously looks amazing and I would love to try it..
But I’m an impatient and extremely grumpy person when I’m hungry, so I prefer something that cooks a bit quicker than four hours.
Do you know if a high pressure cooker will work with this recipe?
Unfortunately, I’ve never cooked with a pressure cooker, so I’m not sure. From what I’ve heard it seems like it would, but I can’t really give guidance. :(
I have been salivating over this recipe since I first laid eyes on it a few months ago. Finally broke down and prepared it last night before bed, so that I could pack it in my husband’s lunch. Making this has brought me to the following conclusions:
1) My Mother really was a horrible cook, and stew was truly the worst of her concoctions.
2) Never, and I mean NEVER put this in the Slow Cooker before bed and expect to get a decent night’s rest with the AMAZING smell filling up your home while you sleep. You will want to wake up and eat at 3am!
3) I have never purchased dried rosemary, as I’ve always felt like it has the feeling of pine needles in my mouth when added to food. I added fresh, and what do you know? It was fan-friggen-tastic and I find it easy to eat.
Beth, you rock! I had a hot bowl of this delicious stew at 548am. Just a small bowl, but a bowl none the less. and guess what? I’m going back for seconds!
I know what you mean about dried rosemary…to avoid it feeling like pine needles, I crush it up with a mortar and pestle. It helps tremendously :)
I do that too, mortar and pestle. I usually give it a few good whirls no matter what dried spice is required; it smashes up the leaves a bit, really bringing the fragrance out.
this was AMAZING thank you
Um.. Really, really delicious. It filled my crock pot to the top, so I don’t know if that has something to do with the longer cooking time it seems to need. Either way, I just tried a small bowl and the flavour is incredible. I never comment on sites, but this recipie deserves some more recognition. I will definitely make it again.
I had it set for four hours on high but my veggies are still pretty hard. I don’t have to serve it until much later so that is not a complaint. Serving it with some tea biscuits. :)
Nice recipe- I really liked the flavours. I was tempted to cut back on the Dijon, but I am happy I didn’t. I love Rosemary, easily one of my favs. We are looking forward to leftovers today, stews are even better the day after, of course!
My only fault with the recipe was that I found there wasn’t nearly enough broth to make a stew. Although the veggies did release quite a bit of water, I still added 2 cups of broth at the end. Perhaps my veggies in winter cold storage were less juicy.
I also added turnip and parsnip to the stew, because I had some in the fridge, but next time I will leave them out or add them and omit the sugar. My bad, and the result was just a little too sweet. I just wasn’t thinking.
Thanks, great site. This was my first time on it, won’t be my last.
I have made this 4 times now and since I RARELY make the same recipe more then once because I love cooking and trying new recipes, but this particular recipe has gotten so many rave reviews from family and friends I can’t help making it over and over. I am finding that your recipes do this crazy thing to me that I am not use to which is making the same recipe more then once. Yum!
I made the stew for a lady and I got laid. Need I say more? Fine, I’ll clarify: this stew is easy, fantastic, and apparently an aphrodisiac. You have given a man the gift of stew for life.
Beth, your cooking advice has helped me win more friends and lovers than any lousy self-improvement book. I don’t know if you fully understand how much you’ve changed some of your readers’ lives.
5/5, would stew again.
Hahahahha best review ever. And it’s true, nothing is sexier than a man who can cook! Hopefully the trend catches on. :P
I have a 6 qt. roaster with a slow cook setting @ 200 degrees….Is that hot enough? I put everything together per your instruction but I’m afraid it won’t be ready for dinner:( Help!
I believe 200 degrees is what the “low” setting for most slow cookers is, so you’ll need to cook it for 8-10 hours at that temp.
Can I just brown the the meat without the flour and use cornstarch at the end of the cooking.I’m trying to avoid gluten.I can follow the rest of the steps.
That might be the best bet. It still won’t be exactly the same, but it’s the closest that I think you’ll get. :)
Thanks for this great recipe. I was idly looking through slow cooker stew recipes on a flight, looking for something a little different than my usual recipe. Saw this, gave it a try and it is GREAT! I had always tossed my beef in a bag with the flour, but browning and then deglazing is brilliant! I had never thought of it, so I am glad you did! Cooked high for four hours as instructed and then turned to low until dinnertime, about three hours. When my husband and his brother arrived for dinner, the house was filled with the succulent aroma. Just to meet our personal taste, I doubled the garlic, added a can of diced tomatoes, a pinch of red pepper flakes, a few tbs of bold red wine to the reduction and threw in a bay leaf on top when starting the cooking. Other than that, followed instructions to the letter and got a fantastic result. Thanks!
Will this freeze well? If so, how would you freeze it in portions?
Tawni was just posting a comment and saw your question. I haven’t frozen THIS stew in portions but I have frozen other stew in portions. When I make stew in order to freeze or can it, I leave out the potatoes. Potatoes do not respond well to freezing and reheating. They will turn to mush. I make it just as I normally would without the potatoes. If I’m not canning it, I place it in the containers for the serving sizes I want. After it is frozen, I run the container under hot water, pop the stew out and vacuum seal it. This will help it freeze better and will also save freezer space. If you make sure and double seal each end of the bag, you can reheat by dropping the entire frozen bag in boiling water to reheat. You can also reheat in the slow cooker. Make sure and add about 1/2 cup extra liquid if you do. You can add canned cooked potatoes when reheating either on the stove or in the slow cooker. This has always worked well for me. Truthfully, since I discovered pressure canning, that is my preference. It’s so simple I can easily can just one or two jars of leftover stew while I’m cleaning up after dinner AND it will keep on the shelf for a year. Hope this helps!