Best Slow Cooker Beef Stew Recipe Ever

Here’s an easy slow cooker beef stew recipe you can make in your Crockpot, Instant Pot or stovetop stew too. Tender beef loaded with vegetables and a flavorful sauce too. Total comfort food.

Thick Beef Stew Slow Cooker

There were two things my mom made from scratch growing up, beef stew and banana bread…don’t ask me why. I guess in the 80’s and being midwestern it was just “one of those meals” everyone made.

Now that I have kids of my own this is one of my go to meals because we are always trying to eat more veggies and stew meat is pretty darn cheap! That is a win win in my book as a twenty dollar meal that all 4 of us loves is the goal.

FIRST – You should sign up for my free newsletter so you get new posts emailed to you twice a week and never miss out on anything! Let’s talk a little bit about slow cooking shall we?? First off I have a few different varieties and I love them all. Each one has an occasion to be used like….

1. This is my favorite 6 quart programmable one with a locking lid so it’s great for bringing to a potluck too.
2. If you just want to serve a few appetizers you should get this one that sit side by side one another.
3. I prefer not to use liners, but rather just spray olive oil inside before adding my food for easier cleanups.

Let me give you a peek of my pretty thang I bought recently. It goes with my kitchen so I can just leave it out on the countertop all the time. 😉

Traditional Beef Stew Recipe

Now there are tons of variations out there, this is the basic one if you ask me. From there you can tweak it with different cuts of meats, adding beans, etc. Take a peek at our Crockpot Brunswick stew recipe for a good example of one that is a bit more outside of the box.

• I have made stew many different ways other than the Crockpot too. First one I shared on The Typical Mom was my dutch oven stew and even my kids said it came out fabulous!

Super rich sauce and was as easy as this one just done in the oven in my cast iron dutch oven. If you don’t have one of those I highly recommend it, things come out great that way!

Best Slow Cooker Beef Stew Recipe Ever

This method uses a crock pot (this is the one I have). There are directions below to make stovetop beef stew and in the Instant Pot as well. It is fun to mess around with different methods, and sometimes one is a must when you have forgotten to prep food in the morning.

Slow Cooker Beef Stew with Wine

Of course with any type of stew you should add the vegetables you want. If you really don’t like peas then omit those at the end, if you love carrots then double the amount here. It’s totally up to you but here is a generally easy recipe to follow and customize to your personal tastes.

I personally don’t add much salt while cooking, I’d rather salt to taste when it is done, but that is up to you too. There is nothing worse than a great meal but it turns out to be too salty and nobody can eat it. Be gentle at the beginning and adjust when it is done and it’s served up to everyone.

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

You can dice or slice these, the larger they are the more they will stay in tact. Either way they will become really tender and pretty much fall apart so it’s really for flavor.

Beef Stew Ingredients

Like I said, there are many ways to substitute this or that if you don’t want to use red wine let’s say and just add broth. I will say that both of these add a ton of flavor and the alcohol will cook off almost entirely so I wouldn’t worry about that aspect. Vegetables should be cut into large chunks so they don’t fall apart.

• Cut of beef of your choice in large bite size pieces like stew meat, diced chuck roast or beef tips
• Onion
• Tomato paste
• Red wine
• Beef broth
• Vegetables
• Flour to thicken the stew
• Spices, if you love onion try our slow cooker beef stew with onion soup mix
• Red potatoes and carrots (whole fresh green beans would work too)
• Worcestershire sauce can give it a bit more of a kick
• Bay leaves are optional

Bay leaf is optional of course and make sure you remove it before serving and eating so keep it whole so you can find it easily at the end. You could also use shredded beef in this if you had leftovers of that from the night before.

Stovetop Beef Stew Recipe

If you want to use a large pot or dutch oven on your stove you can. For me it just takes more of my attention this way so I’d rather just throw everything into a pressure cooker or Crock and forget it.

1. In a bowl add 1/4 c. of flour and 1 tsp of salt, pepper, mix those together.
2. In small batches add your meat and toss so each piece is coated with flour.
3. Heat a pan on your stovetop with 3 tbsp. of olive oil and add your meat.
4. Brown the beef on all sides. Then remove and put more in so each piece is browned.
   1. Add more oil if needed to finish.
5. Remove meat and add onions to your same pan. 
6. Add 1 tsp of salt and saute on medium high heat for about 2 minutes.
   1. Add in your garlic.
7. Cook for about one minute and add in 2 tbsp. of flour into your mix and cook for about a minute.
8. Add in your tomato paste and mix together.
9. Pour in your red wine. Scrape the bottom so you get all browned bits mixed in.
10. Cook until flour is smooth and red wine has reduced.
11. Add in broth, herbs, and beef. Cook uncovered for one hour on low.
12. Then add your vegetables other than your peas.
13. Cover and cook for 55 minutes cooking time, occasionally stirring.

In the last 5 minutes add your defrosted, formerly frozen, peas. Stir.

Obviously slow cooking is a lot less work than if you use a pot but that is up to you. Using your pressure cooker is even easier though!!

Crock pot Beef Stew

You just throw it all in, cook on high pressure and in about 30 minutes flat you’ll be ready to eat. But then again everything is faster using this method. Even an entire pot roast takes NO time at all!

If you want to make Instant Pot stew here’s a great method.

• We called it pressure cooker beef pot pie soup but it’s really the same thing.
  • There are lots of other Instant Pot beef recipes here as well
• This beef stew casserole is a great twist on the traditional too.
• Ninja Foodi stew in your pressure cooker

Instant Pot Stew Meat recipes are the bomb too. You can even use frozen stew meat for this one with a gravy and pour that over rice or noodles for a complete meal. A great one to keep in your back pocket for when you have had a forgetful morning.

Best Slow Cooker Stew with Potatoes

I do offer a printable recipe card at the bottom of this post to keep handy or you can just come back time and time again. We don’t want you to disappear completely as we love “seeing you” on our site. 😉 Nutritional information is included with saturated fat etc. Keep in mind all meat varies slightly.

• Spray inside of your slow cooker with non stick spray or use a liner.
  In a bowl whisk together your flour and beef stock.
• Put meat into crockpot and pour beef stock mixture on top. Stir to coat meat.
• Add carrots, potatoes, and celery on top of that. Whisk together your wine, spices and tomato paste in another bowl. Pour this liquid mixture on top.
• Close lid and set to high for 4-6 hours.
• About 15-20 minutes before serving add your defrosted, formerly frozen, peas.
• Stir into mix and put top back on for remaining time. Serve.

How to Save Leftover Stew

I mean you can’t throw this goodness away if you have some that hasn’t been eaten. Instead, wait until it has cooled completely. Then spoon it into a container with a lid and into the fridge it goes for up to 3 days. When you reheat it do so in the microwave for about 1.5 minutes stirring every 30 sec. or on the stovetop.