A hearty slow cooker beef stew with fall-apart, melt-in-your-mouth, tender chuck roast, potatoes and carrots. Here’s a comforting, warm meal that’s a perfect antidote for the cold weather.
It’s mighty cold! So today we’ll be doing a slow cooker beef stew to warm ourselves up. This is the perfect time to break out the crock-pot and let it do the cooking for you while you reward yourselves at the dinner table later.
With chuck roast, potatoes, carrots and onions and some seasonings, you’ve got yourself a meal that goes well with some crusty bread to help fill you up. The meat is melt-in-your-mouth tender. So tender, I had to be careful ladling it into bowls to not break them apart. Sounds good?
Let’s begin.
SLOW COOKER BEEF STEW RECIPE TIPS
The bulk of the work comes from all the chopping and cutting. You’ll need the carrots and celery cut into 2″ pieces so they don’t disappear into nothingness when cooked long and slow. By the same reasoning, the potatoes should be quartered to help them retain shape. Use potatoes like Yukon gold or red potatoes so they don’t crumble too much in the stew. The same goes for the beef. Big chunks so they retain their shape!
One of the best seasonings you can use for the stew is allspice. Contrary to its name, it is not a combination of spices but has a combination flavor of cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. If you don’t have allspice ready, you can use these seasonings instead. It gives the stew a unique taste and adds a wonderful flavor. I used to use whole allspice but used ground allspice for this recipe to make this spice a little more approachable. I know some people can get weirded out seeing things you aren’t used to in their food!
There are two ways you can do this. You can skip the searing and sauteing of the beef, onions and garlic and throw everything in the slow cooker and call it a day if you’re short on time. The other way is to dust the beef cubes in flour and pan-sear them all on both sides to bring out more flavor.
Sauté the onions and garlic to bring their flavor out as well then deglaze the pan with wine (optional) and broth. THEN you chuck everything in and call it a day.
I went with the slightly longer version. It’s about an extra 20 minutes of cooking time but my reasoning was if you’re going to spend all that time slicing and dicing veggies, you might as well try to make the best stew you can!
And that’s about it. Ladle them into bowls and serve with some crusty bread. Enjoy!
MORE SLOW COOKER SOUP RECIPES TO TRY
- Slow Cooker Chicken Gnocchi Soup
- Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini Soup
- Slow Cooker Pasta e Fagioli
- Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili
- Slow Cooker Cream Cheese and Potato Soup
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Slow Cooker Beef Stew
- Total Time: 9 hours
- Yield: 6-8 1x
Description
A hearty slow cooker beef stew with fall-apart, tender chuck roast, potatoes and carrots. A comforting, warm meal perfect for the cold weather.
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
- 2 lbs. beef chuck, trimmed of fat and cut into 2″ cubes
- 1/4 cup flour
- 6 yukon gold potatoes, peeled and quartered
- 3 large carrots, cut into 2” pieces/8 oz. baby carrots
- 4 stalks celery, cut into 2” pieces
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 8 oz. mushrooms, sliced (optional)
- 1 cup red cooking wine (optional)
- 2 cups beef stock/broth
- 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, drained
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Toss the beef cubes in flour until fully coated on all sides.
- Over medium-high heat, sear the beef cubes in some oil until browned. Remove and set aside.
- In the same pan, add more oil and sauté the onions and garlic until fragrant.
- Pour in red wine and beef broth. Scrape off any browned bits from the pan into the broth. Simmer until broth begins to boil
- Layer bottom of slow cooker with potatoes, carrots and celery.
- Add in seared beef cubes, onions and garlic broth and diced tomatoes.
- Season with bay leaf, parsley, allspice, Worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper to taste.
- Cook on low for 8 hours.
- Dish and serve hot with crusty bread.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Add 1-2 cups more beef broth if you prefer your stew soupier.
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 8 hours 30 mins
Comments & Reviews
Very yummy ! I cooked it on high for 4 hours , recipe was halved and I added another cup of beef stock .I didn’t have diced tomato so I used 1 cup tomato sauce – it was perfect . ! Very tender
Thanks for sharing, Cindy! Glad to hear it’s still tender on 4 hours.
Eating this straight out of the cooker or with the sauce poured over rice or noodles
Haha, glad you love it so much!
Can I cook this on high?
I haven’t tried the high setting yet for this recipe but the typical rule is 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high. If you do decide to try it on high, please let us know if that was enough time for the beef chuck to tenderize. Good luck!
I LOVED the recipe. Cooked it on high fir 5 hours. I did think it looked a bit dry half way through, so I added another cup of beef stock. It was perfect. The meat was tender, and the flavors melded beautifully. The allspice really gave the dish that “sumpin’ sumpin’.”
Thanks for trying it out Kathleen. It’s also good to have some feedback on how it did cooked on high. I went ahead and changed the beef stock quantity in the recipe based on all the feedback I’ve been getting. Answering this comment also made me miss this, so I think I may make it again soon but this time with whole allspice!
I layered everything as it was noted in the recipe. The beef and the seasonings are on top. Is that correct or should I have stirred the beef and the seasonings in?
That’s correct. You can mix up the seasonings with the broth and pour it in on top of the layered veggies and beef as well. Good luck!
Thank you so much
If you don’t use the wine do you replace it with stock or water?
You can just omit it out. The wine usually mostly evaporates anyway and does not add to liquid volume content. It’s there just to deglaze the pan and add a little flavor but the beef broth can do just as good a job in deglazing it after the onions and garlic. Good luck!
I made this dish today and it was super delicious. My husband liked it very much. Thanks for sharing this beautiful recipe.
Thank you for trying it out, Melania! I always appreciate hearing back from folks who’ve tried it out 🙂
This looks great! I will prepare it for my children……..Thanks for sharing
I hope they enjoy it!
The recipe that I can see doesn’t mention anything in the direction about the worcestershire sauce? I added it with the herbs.
Thanks! It’s fixed now. I appreciate you pointing it out, it was supposed to go with the rest of the seasonings.
Lovely
Thank you!