Easy Slow Cooker Beef Stew Recipe

What is better than a delicious slow cooked meal! I absolutely love making beef stew in the slow cooker. You get succulent pieces of tender meat that melts in the mouth.

The stew is filled with chunky pieces of carrots, onion and potatoes. And you get the beautiful aromatic smell from the herbs and spices added to this simmering pot of goodness.

It’s a hearty meal your family will love, super easy to throw together and just let it do its thing until dinner.

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Why Make Beef Stew In A Slow Cooker?

I personally love using my slow cooker whenever I get the chance. It’s a one pot meal, easy to clean, easy to throw ingredients in and forget until dinner time.

Slow cooking meals like beef stew allow the meat to become really tender and melt in your mouth. It also allows the flavour to develop and deepen as it’s slowly cooking in your slow cooker.

The best thing I like about cooking in a slow cooker is it doesn’t matter if you take it out a little earlier or you leave it a little longer than a recipe calls for.

You have some grace with a slow cooker unlike an oven or pot where it can burn, and you have to constantly mix as well. If you don’t have a slow cooker, I recommend buying one it’s so worth it. Here’s a really good slow cooker that’s super affordable.

Tips For Making The Perfect Beef Stew

There are definitely some things you can do to really take your stew up a notch!

1. Use a flavourful base. Now I actually always use chicken bone broth as that is what I make. But making your own beef or chicken broth takes the flavour of any dish to the next level. If you want to learn how to make your own here is my super simple Chicken bone broth recipe!
2. Use the right cut of meat for slow cooking such as diced or cubed beef or chuck steak.
3. Season your steak with some spices and flour and it will thicken the stew slowly as it cooks. Plus, taste delicious with those extra spices.
4. I don’t personally do this, but you can quickly sear your pieces of steak as well after coating in spices and flour to lock in the juices in your meat cuts.
5. Thicken the stew by adding flour to the cuts of meat or making a flour and water slurry near the end of the cooking time and adding it into your stew.

Slow Cooker Beef Stew Ingredients

There are a few key ingredients you will need to make beef stew which I will list below.

1. 1kg of beef cubes already bought or slice beef chuck.
2. root vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, onion and garlic
3. Spices which include paprika, bay leaves, salt and pepper
4. Bone broth preferably homemade but a store bought one will do.
5. Worsteshire sauce
6. Flour for thickening

How To Make This Beef Stew Recipe

You are going to love how incredibly easy it is to make this delicious beef stew! I like to make everything as easy as possible, with minimal delicious so enjoy!

1. Pre-chop your carrots, potatoes, onion and mushrooms.

2. Place all ingredients except for the flour into the slow cooker, give it a good mix and cook for 7 hours on low.

3. At around the 7 hour mark take about 1 cup of liquid from the stew out and mix 1/4 of starch or flour into it ensuring there are no clumps.

4. Pour the thick mixture into your stew and allow give it a mix. Let it cook for about 30 more minutes.

5. Turn it off and you can serve right away as is or with sides! Remember it will be hot and don’t forget to remove the bay leaves when you find them!

How To Store Beef Stew

You can store this beef stew several ways. Let it cool first and place it in an airtight container in the fridge. It will last 3-5 days this way.

Or you can store it in an airtight container or ziploc freezer bag in the freezer for a quick freezer meal. It can last a good 3 months in the freezer.

Just remember if you are storing it in a glass container to leave an inch or so of headspace as liquid will expand!

How Long Does It Take To Make Beef Stew In A Slow Cooker?

I always set my temperature on low, and it takes about 8 hours to cook on low in a slow cooker. If you cook it on high you can cut the time down to about 4 or 5 hours. You just want to make sure if you are cooking it on high to give it a mix once or twice so things don’t stick to the bottom.

How Can You Thicken Beef Stew?

You can thicken beef stew several different ways.

1. First make sure not to add too much extra liquid to begin with. The juices from the meat and vegetables will increase the water content in the stew.
2. You can flour the pieces of meat before throwing them in the slow cooker and it will naturally thicken the sauce as it cooks.
3. Another way to thicken beef stew is to get some water and flour, mix together until there are no clumps. Then pour into your stew about 30 minutes to 1 hour before it’s done cooking.

What To Do With Left Over Beef Stew?

If you have left over stew and you just don’t feel like eating the same thing the next day don’t worry! Some of the ways I use extra beef stew is turning it into a pie.

Simply thicken the mixture a bit more with flour and water slurry or add gravy powder to your stew. Using pie crust or whatever pastry you desire place into a casserole dish, add the beef stew, put pastry on top and stick it in the oven until it’s golden. It’s so delicious this way!

Another way my kids like it is with pasta and cheese. Just cook up some pasta and throw some of that delicious, warm and thick stew on top. Top it with cheese and yummy! It is so good!