Easy Crockpot Beef Stew Recipe
What’s not to love about beef stew. Tender, fall-apart chunks of beef loaded with potatoes, carrots and the most flavorful gravy there is. Totally delicious and a true comfort dish. Beef stew is perfect for slow cooking, giving the beef enough time to get super tender and melt in your mouth delicious. I learned this recipe from my mother and the beauty of it is that it really is versatile. I like to make this dish in the crockpot now that I’ve turned this recipe into my own little creation as it ensures that our beautiful stew will cook low and slow. This is a perfect recipe for winter, giving you a comforting beef stew loaded with flavor and providing you with lots of leftovers but don’t let that stop you from making it on a particularly rainy day during the spring or summer! So get ready to curl up with a big comforting bowl, it’s exactly what the doctor ordered after a long day.
Stew Base
Flour – You have to dredge the beef through flour to brown it in a skillet, an important step flavor wise! Olive oil – To brown up our beef in the skillet. Liquids – Low sodium beef broth and Worcestershire sauce add tons of flavor and some needed liquid to this stew. Tomato paste – This will give a rich flavor bomb to the dish and will cook down low and slow better than say diced tomatoes. Spices – Cumin, smoked paprika, dried oregano. Seasoning – Salt and pepper.
Beef Stew
Beef – Cut into 1 inch cubes with the fat trimmed, I’ll include a section below detailing what kind of cuts you can use below. Veggies – Potatoes, carrots, green beans. Garlic – Use as much or little as you like.
This simple stew recipe is a cinch to make! Once you brown the beef and make a broth, everything goes into the crockpot to finish cooking. It’s a fantastic, effortless meal! To begin, you need to prep the meat before browning. To do this, put the cubed meat in a ziplock bag. Then sprinkle the flour over the beef, seal the bag, and shake it until all the cubes are fully coated in flour. However, if needed add more flour to the bag. Once you’ve coated the meat in flour, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Then add the beef to the pan in batches and brown it evenly on all sides. It’s important not to crowd the pan so that the meat can brown properly. Before putting everything in the crockpot you need to make the savory broth. Add the beef broth to the skillet and then scrape all the brown bits off the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Next, stir in the Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, salt, pepper, paprika, cumin, and oregano. Now, bring the mixture to a boil and then remove it from the heat. First, add the chopped onion, garlic, potatoes, carrots, and green beans to your crockpot. Then add the browned beef along with the seasoned broth we just made. Now, stir the vegetables together with the meat so that the ingredients are evenly distributed. With all the ingredients now in the crockpot, it’s time to start slow cooking! Put the lid on the crockpot and cook the stew on low for 8 to 10 hours or high for 5 to 6 hours. While the stew is cooking you don’t have to do a thing and can go about your day. This step is optional. However, you can thicken the stew if you like. Just remove 1 cup of the broth from the crockpot about an hour before the stew is done and whisk it together with ¼ cup of flour. Then pour the mixture back into the crock pot and let the stew finish cooking. And there you have it! Ready to eat crockpot beef stew! To serve, fill your favorite bowls with the yummy stew, garnish it with some freshly chopped parsley, and serve with some homemade crusty No Knead Bread.
What Is The Best Cut Of Beef?
Usually you can find stewing beef in your grocery store, and it comes already cut into cubes. You want the tough, lean cuts. However, they have collagen which breaks down over long cooking resulting in fork tender meat. Moreover, look for chuck roast, top round, rump roast, chuck shoulder or eye round roast.
How Else Can I Make Beef Stew?
Oven
You can definitely make this stew super easily in the oven! Follow the directions just as above but pop the ingredients in a dutch oven instead and cook at 350 F degrees for 2 – 2½ hours.
Pressure cooker
Your Instant Pot is perfect for making beef stew. Check out my Instant Pot Beef Stew recipe for detailed instructions on how to make it.
Other Ingredients You Can Use
There’s lot’s you can incorporate into this stew! It’s a blank canvas for whatever you’d like to use up in your pantry or fridge, so feel free to have some fun with it.
Veggies
Cauliflower Peas Broccoli Zucchini Celery
Meat
Lamb Pork Chicken Turkey
Using other proteins may effect the cooking time so just keep that in mind when incorporating other meats into your stew.
Storing Leftovers
Allow the stew to come to room temperature but don’t leave it out, unrefrigerated for more than two hours. Store it in airtight containers in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.
Freezing
You can freeze this stew for up to 6 months. Simply transfer it to airtight containers or resealable freezer bags and pop them in the freezer. Just allow to thaw overnight in the fridge and warm back up to temperature over the stove when ready to eat.
