made it? tap the stars to add your rating!
Yield: 6 people
Ready In: 8 hrs 30 mins
You'll love serving up up a cozy meal without the fuss for your family tonight: This crock pot beef stew is the perfect easy comfort food dinner! I love that prepping dinner in the morning when the kids are generally in a good mood (or in school) is the best thing I can do to put a hot meal on the table come 6pm, relatively stress free. Hooray for slow cookers!Stew is one of my favorite things to cook during fall and winter and this right here, or my Crockpot Tuscan White Bean Chicken Stew, Slow Cooker Irish Beef Stew or Mediterranean Slow Cooker Chicken Stew are all regulars from October to February. Try them all – you'll love those cozy recipes!
Recommended Equipment:
Ingredients
For the meat
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1.5 pounds beef stewing meat (in chunks)
- 1-2 teaspoons salt (or less, depending on what kind of stock you’re using)
- Black pepper (to taste)
- 2 tablespoons flour
For the gravy
- 2 large yellow onions (cut into wedges)
- 2 cloves garlic (sliced)
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/4 cup red wine (OR use more stock)
- 2 cups beef stock
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
For the vegetables
- 3 large waxy potatoes (peeled and cut into chunks)
- 4 large carrots (peeled, ends trimmed and cut into chunks)
- 4 large celery sticks (trimmed and thickly sliced)
- 1/2 pound brown mushrooms (cleaned and quartered)
- 1/2 cup frozen peas (no need to defrost)
Prep Time: 30 mins
Cook Time: 8 hrs
Ready In: 8 hrs 30 mins
Instructions
- Brown the meat: Heat the oil in a large and deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the beef cubes, season with salt and pepper and stir. Sprinkle the flour over the meat and stir well. Cook until the beef is browned on all sides (do not stir too much, or the beef will not brown properly). Remove to a 5-6 quart slow cooker.
- Start the gravy: Put the skillet back over medium high heat. If needed, add a little more oil. Cook the onions and garlic until starting to soften. Stir in the Italian seasoning and tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, until the herbs are fragrant, about 1 minute. Pour the red wine into the pan, scratching the browned bits off the bottom. Cook until thickened, about 1 minute. Stir in the stock, Worcestershire sauce and maple syrup. Bring to a boil (this will help the stew start cooking faster once it is in the crock), then switch off the heat.
- Transfer to the slow cooker: On top of the meat, place the potatoes, carrots, celery and mushrooms. Very carefully (!) pour the hot liquid from the skillet into the crockpot, making sure the liquid runs down all the way to the bottom and underneath the meat (stir a little if needed).
- Cook: Cook the stew on LOW for 8 hours or on HIGh for 4 hours. 10 minutes before cooking time is over, stir in the peas. Check for seasoning and adjust if needed. Either finish cooking with the lid open (if you want a thicker stew) OR closed if you want it soupier.
Step by Step Recipe Video
Nora’s Tips
Cooking Tips:
If you want a thick gravy: There are a few different methods to yield a thicker gravy.- The flouring of the meat helps a lot with thickening the gravy later on.
- If you love very thick beef stew, you can add a shredded FLOURY potato in addition to everything else.
- OR you can stir a cornstarch slurry into the stew about 10-15 minutes before cooking time is up and then cook it with the lid off for the remaining time – it’s what I do with my crockpot mediterranean chicken stew.
Our Favorite Side Dishes:
While there is everything you need right in the stew, I still love adding a side or two to stretch the meal. SOME OF OUR FAVORITES:- a crusty no knead bread
- garlic parmesan monkey bread if you don’t have time for a yeast dough
- mashed potatoes – uhm yes, there are potatoes in the stew, but it’s still an amazing combination
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving (1/6) | Calories: 385kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 32g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 70mg | Sodium: 823mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 11g
Join my Newsletter to Get Recipes in Your Inbox
The crock pot is such a big help in this season, and we love this slow cooker stew just as much as we love our Crock Pot Stuffed Peppers, Crockpot Chicken and Noodle Soup and my Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos.
I hope you’ll enjoy this cozy meal just as much as we do – enjoy!
P.S: If you tried this recipe, why not leave me a review below to let me know how you liked it?
More Recipes You’ll Love:
P.P.S: For more stew recipes, check out our collection of homemade beef stew recipes!
MO
Do you think it would be too much as far as flavoring goes if I use beef broth and add a beef stew flavor packet? Thanks!
Nora
I think that would be fine! Maybe cut back on the other seasoning and salt asked for in the recipe. Hope that helps!
Nancy Kastner
Was absolutely delicious!!
Nora
I’m so glad you enjoyed the stew, Nancy! Thanks for coming back to leave a review, I appreciate it.
Shar
First crock pot dish ever made and this recipe made it fairly easy although instead of using beef stock I made my own with browned flour, water and seasonings. Overall it came out amazing!
Nora
Glad to hear it, Shar! And thank you for coming back to leave a review, I appreciate your time.
Dani
So we don’t add in the onions and garlic after cooking it in the beef broth just the sauce?
Nora
No, you add everything 🙂
Ted Noe
I made this once before and my wife loved it. She asked the other day if I would make it again, she stated that the time before it was incredible. So, today I am making it again – it is fun to make and the result is amazing; the only thing I leave out is the wine. It goes great with some crusty bread heated- up in the oven. Thank you for the recipe!
Nora
I’m very glad to hear you like the stew so much, Ted! It’s one of our favorites on cold days.
Jennifer
I too thought my stew needed more broth, so I added more towards the end of the cooking time. The flavor is rich, but a little on the sweet side. Next time I will use a dryer wine. The skimpy broth issue was probably because I used more carrots and one additional potato than the recipe called for. Thank you for a good, different way to make stew.
Jennifer 0
Nora
More veggies would definitely require more broth, glad to hear you figured it out, Jennifer!
Mary Mordino
I have been making beef stew for years. I tried this recipe in January and my husband and I loved it. It’s now March and he asked me when I was making it again. It’s in the crockpot now. The prep takes longer then how I made stew previously but so worth the time. It’s very flavorful. I made it pretty much as you stated but used dry thyme and a bit extra red wine.
Nora
I’m so happy to read this, Mary! Glad the stew is such a big hit at your house!
Miriam
I’ve made this recipe several times now and it’s one of my favorites!! It’s an easy, hearty meal and I love how all of the flavors come together.
Nora
So happy to read this, Miriam! It’s one of our favorites for winter.
Joan pritchard
Great recipe but I did my cooking on a stub cast iron Dutch oven. The cooking time had to be changed to one and a half hours.
Denise
I can’t wait to try this but I have a question. Would the taste or quality of the stew be affected if I were to brown the meat and onions the night before I’ll be making the stew?
Nora
Hi Denise, unfortunately I have never tried that before, so I really don’t know how well that would work out. Sorry!
Kerry Spence
My husband and I agree, this is the best beef stew I have ever made. Thank you!
Nora
This makes me so happy to read, Kerry! Thanks for coming back to review the recipe, I appreciate it very much.
Kay
Hi there. First off – I love this stew recipe. It has become my husbands new favorite dish. My question – have you tried to make this in an Instant Pot? I am making it tonight and my hubby suggested trying it in the IP. I am realitively new to pressure cooking so I am not sure what changes I should make to ensure I get the same rich flavor. Thoughts?
Nora
Hey Kay! So happy to hear this. And yes! I have actually shared the recipe for this in the Instant Pot – it’s right here: Instant Pot Beef Stew. I hope it will turn out just as well as in the crockpot for you!
Kay
Awesome. Thanks So much for the quick response. I am making it tonight and will let you know how it goes. Thanks again!
Allison
I’m going to make this recipe this weekend. Can you clarify one thing for me? Does the recipe call for red wine vinegar or red wine (alcohol)? If alcohol does it matter what red wine is used?
Nora
It’s red wine. It doesn’t matter at all what kind of red wine, though I would preferably use a dry one! Hope that helps Allison, let me know if you have any other questions.
Carmen
Any thoughts on using an alternative to flour like almond flour?
Nora
Hi Carmen, almond flour will definitely help thicken the gravy, but make sure it’s a very finely ground almond flour, otherwise you can get a bit of a gritty texture. I would also maybe rather stir it into the stew at the end of cooking time, so you can better judge how much you need. You could also add a cup or so of extra vegetables. Then once cooking is up, you’d remove about a cup of the vegetables from the stew, blend them and stir them back into the sauce. Hope that helps!
Amanda
This looks delicious, making it this week! Is it fine to freeze leftovers of a large batch?
Nora
Hi Amanda, yes! This freezes very well. The potatoes slightly change their texture after freezing and defrosting, but they still taste delicious it’s not something that ever bothered me. Hope that helps!
Mary
Followed the recipe; WAY NOT ENOUGH sauce. Was very dry.
Nora
Hi Mary, thank you for your feedback. To be honest, I have a hard time believing that.
This stew has loads and loads of great reviews on Pinterest where people even share photos, and I have never received a complaint that this stew is dry in any way. The photos my readers share don’t look dry either, and neither have I ever had issues with this being dry at home.
With 2 cups of broth and all the vegetables and the beef releasing juices during the long cooking time, plus the fact that this is a slow cooker recipe which is a cooking technique that generally makes things more soupy and doesn’t lead to evaporation, this is pretty much impossible to turn out dry.
Are you positive you used the exact ingredient amounts as stated in the recipe? Did you for sure add the 2 cups of broth? Did you stick to the exact amount of potatoes? Did you make this in a slow cooker, with the lid on the entire time? Did you measure out the flour exactly?
I’m happy to help troubleshoot to figure out what went wrong for you!
Ashton
I haven’t made it yet but 2 cups of stock plus 1/3 cup of wine doesn’t seem like it will be enough liquid. I’m planning on adding 4-6 cups of stock.
Valarie
This was absolutely delicious! I followed the recipe except I didn’t have fresh thyme so I used dried and used a bit more meat. It was so flavourful I would definitely make this again!
Nora
So happy to read this, Valerie. I’m glad the stew turned out so well for you, it’s one of our favorite fall and winter dishes. Thank you for taking the time to leave a review – I appreciate it!
Rachel
Delicious!
Nora
So glad to hear this, Rachel! And thank you for coming back to leave a review – I truly appreciate it.
Tammy Ellis
This looks delicious and easy to make.How much flour is needed for the recipe?Or is it just one of those trial and error things? I will be trying this next weekend!Thank you and have a blessed day!
Nora
I’m so grateful you asked this question, Tammy. The flour is completely missing from the ingredient list! It’s 2 tablespoons, I added it to the recipe card. Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention! I hope you’ll love the stew – it’s one of our absolute favorites! Have a lovely week.
Maggie
I also liked adding the flour over the top. Great Stew !!
Nora
I’m so glad you enjoyed the stew, Maggie! Thank you for coming back to leave a recipe review – I appreciate it very much. – Nora x
valerie
this look amazing!! I can NOT wait to try it.
jp rollins
what is the purpose of the maple syrup? I am not a devotee of a sweet/savory dish. this stew/soup looks amazing and i love a good beef stew/beef-vegetable soup!
Nora
Hi! You can definitely leave the maple syrup out if you’re not a fan. It’s not there to make the stew sweet, more to deepen and enhance the flavours. Hope that helps!
Scott
Best stew ever building the flavors for to gravy make all the different flavors blend gave it a deep rich flavor and silk like mouth appeal. This is now my go too.
Nora
Happy to hear this, Scott! Thank you for coming back to leave a review – I appreciate it.
Stephanie E
This is my new favorite stew. It’s savory and has deep, rich flavors. Big hit with my family. On a side note, I liked the method of sprinkling the flour over the cooking meat. I usually toss the cubes in flour before cooking and half of the flour coating falls off. This method was much less hassle and still imparted the nice thickening of the flour.
Nora
I’m so happy to read you and your family enjoy the stew, Stephanie! And yay for the lazy method of flouring the meat 😉 Thank you so much for making the recipe AND taking the time to come back and leave a review. I appreciate it very much!
Karly
This is EXACTLY what I’ve been craving since the fall temperatures rolled in. Made it last night with set wstewing meat I found in the freezer and it was perfect, thanks for sharing!
Ben
this was outstanding!