Slow Cooker Beef Stew
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This easy Slow Cooker Beef Stew is loaded with tender beef, carrots, celery, and peas in a rich, savory gravy. It’s the kind of cozy, stick-to-your-ribs dinner that’s perfect for a chilly fall or winter day, and after a few minutes of prep, the slow cooker does most of the work for you!
This recipe is a combination of my mom’s trusty beef stew and my Sunday Pot Roast, and it has become a family favorite around here. The beef cooks low and slow until it’s incredibly tender, the vegetables soak up all that delicious flavor, and the gravy becomes rich and comforting. If you love easy chuck roast dinners, my Slow Cooker Italian Beef recipe is another true dump-it, set-it, and forget-it meal you’ll want to try.
Now, here’s the slightly unusual part: I don’t put potatoes in my beef stew. I know! Instead, I serve the stew over a big pile of creamy mashed potatoes, specifically my recipe for healthy mashed potatoes. You still get that classic beef-and-potatoes combination, but the potatoes stay creamy instead of disappearing into the stew. Eric thought I was completely nuts until he tried it, and then declared it the best beef stew I’d ever made. So just trust me on this one!
Let’s getcha in the kitchen!
Chop about 4 ribs of celery into chunky pieces.
Chop and peel 4 large carrots into chunky pieces.
Roughly chop a few cloves of garlic.
and finally roughly chop an onion into chunky pieces. Perfection is not needed in Beef Stew. At least not in my Beef Stew world… It’s a rustic dish and I think that’s why I like it so much!
Now take a Chuck Roast and cut into bite size pieces. (Trimming the fat as best you can as you go)
Sprinkle some kosher salt on top ‘o the meat and some pepper. I’m pretty generous with the kosher salt. I know I shouldn’t be, but I am. My sister told me the other day she forgot to buy salt at the store one day and hasn’t used it in weeks now. I audibly gasped at such a thing.
Add a few tablespoons of white flour.
Stir until the beef is coated completely.
Also, some of you may ask why I don’t sear the meat first. I do sometimes. You can too obviously. Honestly, I taste the slightest difference…. and the slightest difference does not make me want to wash another dish. It’s my blog and I’ll break aaaaaall the rules if I wanna! haha!
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Add all the chopped up veggies and a few sprigs of thyme. Yes, the thyme is important.
Add a small can of tomato sauce, a cup’a low sodium beef broth, a tablespoon of brown sugar (white sugar will work too), and a few tablespoons of worcestire sauce! (Don’t forget 2 bay leaves. I actually did until about an hour into cooking time hence no photo of’m!)
Stir it up real good and pop that cover on the slow cooker! Cook on low for 8-9 hours or High for 5-6. ‘Slow & Low’ results in much more tender beef.
And come home to or back to this pot full of yum.
Now add some corn and stir it in.
Hands down the worst photo I’ve ever taken. Why didn’t I grab a different colored bowl? Oh well. You win and you lose sometimes. This is 3 tablespoons of flour and 3 tablespoons of water. Whisk it together well. You’ll add this to the stew to thicken it up a bit and give it that stew-y feel.
Actually, this might be the worst photo I’ve ever taken of food. Haha! Some things just don’t photograph well. Add in the flour and water mixture and stir really well into the stew until it feels thickened up. Continue to cook the stew after this for about 30 minutes. This will cook down the raw flour taste. Remove bay leaf and thyme sprigs. You could also do what my mom used to like to do.. leave the bay leaves in and if your bowl has a bay leaf you’re the lucky one who gets to do the dishes! (This was not a fun game. I feel like I always got the bay leaf.)
Ta-da! All done. Oh my gosh. It’s just so pretty and so delicious. (And yes I’m using these bowls again. I LOVE’M!)
And Yeeeeep, piled high on top’o my Homestyle Cauli-Tater Mash! Delicious perfection.
Ah…
“the perfect bite” shot is one of my favorite things.
I hope you love this hearty stew as much as we do. Make it soon, y’all!
With love from my kitchen to yours,
Star
Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 2 lbs beef chuck tender roast, raw trimmed of fat and cut into 1″ cubes
- 4 stalks celery chopped into chunky pieces
- 4 large carrots chopped into chunky pieces
- 1 medium sweet onion chopped into chunky pieces
- 2 cups corn canned, fresh, or frozen
- 3 cloves garlic roughly chopped
- 6 tbs flour divided
- 1 cup low sodium beef broth
- 3 tbs worcestchire sauce
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 tbs brown sugar
- 8 oz tomato sauce canned
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions
- Add raw beef chunks to slow cooker. Salt and pepper the beef chunks well. Sprinkle three tablespoons of flour over the meat and stir until the meat is completely covered. (reserve the other 3 tablespoons for later)
- Add chopped celery, onions, carrots, garlic, thyme, bay leaves, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar. Stir together well. (Do not add corn)
- Cook on low for 8-9 hours. Slow and low is the best method for tender beef, but you can cook on high for 5-6 hours.
- When the stew is done cooking add the corn and stir together.
- In a small bowl add 3 tablespoons of flour and 3 tablespoons of water. Whisk together until there are no clumps. Add into the stew and stir together until the stew feels thicker. Continue to cook on low for about 30 minutes to ensure the raw flour flavor is cooked off. Salt & Pepper to taste!! Remove thyme sprigs and bay leaves.
- For maximum deliciousness serve stew over mashed potatoes or my favorite Homestyle Cauli-Tater Mash! Enjoy!
Notes
254 calories, 6.5g fat, 2g saturated fat, 20g carbohydrates, 2.2g fiber, 7g sugar, 26g protein WeightWatchers Points: 5 Points
Made it with the cauli mash- my husband asked me to make it every week!
Hi Miss Star, making your beef stew this morning, and I noticed that the beef broth isn’t in the actual directions portion of the stew recipe. It’s in your write-up above, but there’s no instructions of when to add the beef broth. I referenced your narrative and found it, so it’s no problem, but I thought you might want to add it to the recipe portion. Thanks so much, you’re awesome, I’ve done so many of your recipes and look forward to eating this one tonight!
AMAZING! Now that potatoes are 0 points for me, I added potatoes (and mushrooms). My husband ate thirds! It was delicious! Definitely making this again! Thank you Star ♥️
Another winner! My husband told me it was the best stew he’s ever had!
Have you ever made in the instant pot?
Sorry I haven’t
Would it be possible to make this in the instant pot?
I made this tonight and it was absolutely delish !!!!!
Hubby loved it too .
This ones a keeper for sure !
Yay! Happy you and the hubs enjoyed, Brenda. It’s a total winter staple here!
We’re having a gathering and all of the food is going to be chili, soups and stews with the trimmings. I’m going to make this, I know it will be a hit.
I always left the bay leaf in, we had the same game!! Great memories, thanks Star for all you do.
I hope you and everyone else enjoys this so much!
Cold weather is upon us and I just bought two (buy one, get one free) beef chuck roasts at the store this morning. Your Beef Stew recipe showed up just in time for me to make it this coming week. I will have to put a few potatoes in in (to satisfy my former-farmer husband), but the idea of serving over cauliflower mashers sounds great especially since I’m on Weight Watchers (down 30 lbs. since March). As a former Home Ec. teacher, I love your recipes.
Thanks for another amazing recipe! Both my husband and I devoured it. I also made the cauli-mash and it was perfect with the stew. This is going into our dinner rotation!
I’m so happy y’all enjoyed it!