Slow Cooker Beef Stew Recipe
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Crock-Pots, the original slow cooker, were practically invented to make beef stew: The gentle heat eases the tough meat into tender, flavorful bits. A little wine, mustard, and mushroom enhances the deep, meaty flavor, while peas and herbs add a burst of freshness. May we suggest some bread to sop up the sauce.
Game plan: This recipe can be prepared through step 1 the night before, cooled, and stored in the refrigerator. The stew can also be cooked on low for about 8 hours.
This dish was featured as part of our Slow Cooker Recipes photo gallery.
INGREDIENTS
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 medium celery stalks, medium dice
- 1 medium carrot, peeled and medium dice
- 1 medium yellow onion, medium dice
- 2 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 cup dry red wine
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more as needed
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed
- 1 (3-pound) boneless chuck roast
- 1/2 pound cremini mushrooms, cleaned, stems trimmed, and quartered
- 1 1/2 cups low-sodium beef broth
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
INSTRUCTIONS
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat until shimmering. Add the celery, carrot, onion, garlic, and thyme and cook, stirring occasionally, until the carrots just begin to soften, about 10 minutes. Add the tomato paste, stir to coat the vegetables, and cook until it’s no longer raw-tasting, about 3 minutes. Add the wine and mustard, stir to combine, and bring to a simmer. Cook until the wine reduces by roughly half, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. (At this point the mixture can be completely cooled and refrigerated up to 12 hours until ready to continue.)
- Place the flour, measured salt, and measured pepper in a large bowl and whisk to combine; set aside. Trim the roast of excess fat and sinew and cut it into 1- to 1-1/2-inch cubes. Place the meat and mushrooms in the flour mixture and toss to coat. Pour all of the meat, mushrooms, and loose flour mixture into the slow cooker. Add the vegetable-wine mixture and stir to combine. Add the beef broth and bay leaf, tucking the bay leaf into the broth.
- Cover and cook on high, stirring about every 1 1/2 hours if possible (if you can’t stir it that often, it’s OK), until the beef is tender and can easily be pierced with a fork, about 5 hours. Add the peas and parsley, stir to combine, and continue to heat until the peas are warm, about 5 minutes. Taste and season with more salt and pepper as needed.
Hi everyone, We were able to test this recipe on the LOW setting for 8 hours and it came out great, so we added an additional note under "Game plan" at the top of the recipe. If you make it, let us know how it turned out for you! Christine Gallary, CHOW Test Kitchen
I LOVED this stew!!! I made it EXACTLY as the recipe is, with the exception of the garlic. I served it with a salad and over mashed potatoes. OUTSTANDING!!!
hismeans, that's right. Traditionally, you would coat the meat in flour then brown it, but here coating the meat and mushrooms in this step keeps the flour from forming into lumps (as opposed to just throwing it in at the end or having to make a slurry) and cooking it for the duration keeps it from tasting raw and also help to thicken the sauce. Amy Wisniewski, CHOW test kitchen
I just want to make sure I understand. You coat the meat and mushrooms in the flour mixture, but do not brown it before putting into the crock pot. Is that correct?
Mr. Haney, I did test without the frying step because I also find it repetitive to cook before you slow cook. However, the result was better-tasting in a few ways- the vegetables' flavor are deeper and more developed as well as their texture is less "boiled" and more sauteed. The wine reduces and adds another dimension of flavor and the final stew tastes less of "raw" wine. If you want, you can certainly throw everything in the slow cooker at once, but the flavor is not quite as complex. Amy Wisniewski, CHOW test kitchen
This looks delicious, but I wonder if it would work without the frying step. When it comes to Crock-Pots, I just hate cooking before I cook.
charleshrooneyjr, I used a 5-quart Crock Pot model SCR500-SS. Amy Wisniewski, CHOW test kitchen
There are many Crock Pots to use and most are all pre-set at different temperatures. I was wondering what was the model of Crock Pot you cooked this recipe with?
Really, life can be simpler. I have been making stews in crock pots for forty years without browning the meat first. My generic recipe starts with 1/2 cup flour in the dry crock, to which I add any other dry ingredients whether curry powder, paprika, dry onion soup etc depending on objective. Then I usually stir in an 8-oz can of tomato sauce and then the liquid (beer, wine, stock, tomato juice). Then I put in the (beef,lamb, chicken) and the (potatoes, carrots, onions, etc). Curry gets a bag of frozen peas. Beef burgundy gets wine and dry onion soup mix. Beef stew gets onions, carrots, potatoes, bay leaf. Carbonnades flamande gets beer, onions, and mushrooms. Goulash soup gets sweet red pepper, potatoes, onions, carrots. It all turns out great.
MandalayVA, We actually tested this in a brand new Crock Pot slow-cooker. True, you can set it to "low" and let it stew for longer if you like, but set on "high" for 5 hours did the trick for our model. You make a good point about the variance of slow cookers, as all are a bit different when it comes to temperature control, especially older vs. newer models. Amy Wisniewski, CHOW test kitchen
This recipe would be a waste with newer slow cookers, which run about 40 degrees higher than the older models. Cook it on LOW for five or six hours and you should be okay.