Crockpot Beef Stew

Nothing beats a nice bowl of Beef Stew made in the Slow Cooker. Easy to put together this is a staple recipe for making when there is a chill in the air!

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Slow Cooker Beef Stew Recipe

Nothing satisfies quite like a bowl of hearty beef stew. What makes it even better is it is an easy dump and go meal that you can throw in the crockpot let cook all day and be ready when you are ready to eat!

This beef stew was designed to be as simple as possible to throw together in the morning so that you can come home to a ready to eat dinner, but if you are looking for a stovetop version check out this recipe for Dutch Oven Beef Stew.

With big chunks of stew and hearty vegetables and flavorful broth serve with a slice of Rosemary Foccacia Bread and this is one meal that the whole family will love.

Ingredients

• Beef Chuck Roast/Stew Meat –  At the base of every beef stew is chuck roast and/or stew meat. You can buy the meat one of two ways. First you can buy it pre-cut in cubes. When it is pre-cut it is usually marked as stew meat or something similar to that. It usually says that it is chuck roast, if you aren’t sure just ask the butcher. I like buying mine this way so I don’t have to take the time to cut it myself. You can also buy the chuck roast as an actual roast and cut it yourself. This is a great option if maybe your butcher shop doesn’t have pre-cut stew meat for you. If this is the route you’re going, you’ll just want to make sure that you cut your stew meat into about 1 inch chunks or so for the stew.
• Baby Potatoes – In this recipe we opt for baby potatoes for a few reasons. The first reason is I find that it is easier to prepare just by dicing in half or if they’re really big dicing into quarters, there is also no peeling of any skin, and most of the time they come pre-washed. The second reason is that baby potatoes are a lot less likely to get soggy and fall apart in your stew where some potatoes like a russet, might just disintegrate into your stew leaving you with no potatoes to actually eat. I find that I like the red baby potatoes but I have used the yellow ones before too and honestly both work great!
• Carrots – I love love love, chunky carrots in my beef stew. So you will find that I like to leave them a little bit bigger in about 1 to ½ inch sections depending on the size. If this isn’t your jam, you can totally slice them a little smaller, but to me, I love those thick pieces of carrot
• Onions – Stew isn’t complete without some diced onion for this recipe. You can use sweet or yellow onion. Either will work great if you’re not super keen on onions feel free to use a lesser amount.
• Garlic – Just a little minced garlic to help get the stew some flavor.
• Tomato Paste – I think every beef stew should have tomato paste. I think what sets different beef stews apart is the amount of tomato paste used.I like to think this one uses a medium amount just enough tomato paste to give it a good hearty flavor, but without an overpowering the entire stew, since the tomato paste is only 3 tablespoons I often like to use a tube of tomato paste opposed to a whole can since I won’t be using the whole amount.
• Worcestershire Sauce – To add flavor to the broth and the vegetables a little bit of this goes a long way. It helps give it that umami flavor.
• Dijon Mustard – Adding some more savory flavor to the dish.
• Red Wine Vinegar – I found that adding a little bit of vinegar helps keep the beef more tender. The acidity helps balance out the stew a little bit as well.
• Beef Broth – I find it’s best to use a low sodium beef broth since we will be salting this stew ourselves and you want to avoid it becoming too salty.
• Flour – You will use a little all purpose flour to coat the beef before adding to the crockpot. This is the first step to help the beef stew thicken for eating. 
• Salt – When adding the salt to the stew, I don’t want to add too much at the beginning, but I add it directly with the flour and the beef to try to keep the beef as tender as possible. If at the end you feel like that you’re stew still needs more salt go ahead and salt it to taste.
• Herbs – Thyme, oregano, smoked paprika, and bay leaf for flavoring. If possible use fresh thyme!
• Peas – Peas are such a fun part of the stew. You will actually add this at the end about 20 minutes before you are ready to eat just enough time to get them warmed up with the stew. I like to frozen peas, I think they taste the best over canned peas. Also if you try to use canned peas, they might get a little mushy.
• Cornstarch – If you like your beef stew, a little bit on the thicker side, you can add cornstarch at the end. When you add in the peas, you’ll want to make a slurry, which is equal parts of cornstarch and equal parts water.

For a complete detailed list of the ingredients continue towards the bottom of the page.

instructions

Add the cubed beef, salt, and flour to a large bowl. Toss and mix everything together really well so each piece of beef is coated in the flour. Transfer to the crockpot.

Add the potatoes, carrots, onion, garlic, tomato paste, Worcestershire, Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, thyme, oregano, paprika, bay leaves, and broth to the crockpot. Mix everything together well.

Cover and cook on low 7-8 hours.

About 20 to 30 minutes before eating add the peas. If you are looking for a thicker stew make a slurry using the optional cornstarch mixed until smooth with 2 tablespoons of water. Add to the crockpot when add the peas. Stir and cover.

Once peas are cooked the stew is ready for serving.

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