Stew is one of my favorite things to cook during fall and winter. Crockpot Tuscan White Bean Chicken Stew, Slow Cooker Irish Beef Stew or Mediterranean Slow Cooker Chicken Stew are all regulars from October to February.
Sitting down to a cozy, home-cooked family dinner is one of my top priorities in life right now. It is good for our children, it is good for our marriage and it is good for me – because it makes me feel accomplished.
Prepping dinner in the morning when the kids are generally in a good mood is the best thing I can do to put a hot dinner on the table, relatively stress free. Hooray for slow cookers!
This crock pot beef stew is a recipe born out of this busy season I’m in right now.
It makes it so easy to put a hot and comforting meal on the table – without losing my mind. And the most magical part?
Sitting down to that steaming pot of fragrant beef stew always feels like a breath of relief – for all of us. We magically relax as a family.
Flouring and browning the meat before you add it to the crockpot will give you a wealth of extra flavor.
It is definitely a step you can leave out if time is very short – but the flavor and consistency of the stew will vastly benefit from NOT skipping this step.
It is important to cut the veggies roughly into the same size chunks, otherwise they won’t cook evenly.
When cut too small, they will dissolve. So you can leave them quite chunky. Just pay attention that you cut them in a way so a regular adult can eat the veggies without having to cut them up.
The great thing about stew is that it’s a rustic dish – so you can definitely get away with rustic chopping, it doesn’t have to be perfect by any means.
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.
What are good sides for beef stew?
Everything you need is right in the stew, but I love adding a side or two to stretch the meal.
Brown the meat: Heat the oil in a large and deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the beef cubes 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 until starting to brown. Stir in the garlic, Italian seasoning and tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, until the herbs are fragrant, about 1 minute. Pour the red wine into the pan, scartching the browned bits off the bottom. Cook until thickened, about 1 minute. Stir in the stock, Worcestershire sauce, maple syrup, salt and pepper. 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, mushrooms, thyme and bay. Very carefully (!) ladle 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.
Please consult the post for additional help to thicken the stew and more cooking tips.
Oh man, this is a great looking fall recipe to warm my belly when it is cold outside.
This is EXACTLY what I’ve been craving since the fall temperatures rolled in! Looks absolutely perfect. Definitely saving this one!
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.
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!
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!
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!
this look amazing!! I can NOT wait to try it.
I also liked adding the flour over the top. Great Stew !!
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!
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.
So glad to hear this, Rachel! And thank you for coming back to leave a review – I truly appreciate it.
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!
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!
Followed the recipe; WAY NOT ENOUGH sauce. Was very dry.
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!
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.
This looks delicious, making it this week! Is it fine to freeze leftovers of a large batch?
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!
Any thoughts on using an alternative to flour like almond flour?
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!
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?
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.
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?
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!
Awesome. Thanks So much for the quick response. I am making it tonight and will let you know how it goes. Thanks again!
My husband and I agree, this is the best beef stew I have ever made. Thank you!
This makes me so happy to read, Kerry! Thanks for coming back to review the recipe, I appreciate it very much.
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?
Hi Denise, unfortunately I have never tried that before, so I really don’t know how well that would work out. Sorry!
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.
So happy to read this, Miriam! It’s one of our favorites for winter.
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.
I’m so happy to read this, Mary! Glad the stew is such a big hit at your house!
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.
More veggies would definitely require more broth, glad to hear you figured it out, Jennifer!