A really good Slow Cooker Beef Stew

5 from 3 votes

A really good Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Recipe video above. You know how when you make some things in the slow cooker you sacrifice a some flavour for convenience? That's the case with my beef stew if you use it verbatim but use a slow cooker instead of the stove. It lacks caramelisation on the surface and edges of the sauce, and the liquid doesn't reduce and intensify in flavour so it's thinner and not as rich.

Good, but not as great as it could be - so use this recipe instead! It just takes 2 little tweaks - massively reduce the red wine before adding it into the slow cooker, and add a beef bouillon cube (do not skip this!). The sauce is rich, dark and deeply savoury, and the beef is absolutely fall-apart-tender.

TIP: Assemble this fully in the slow cooker tonight, keep it in the fridge then pop it into the slow cooker before you leave for work. Imagine walking in the door to this after a long day at work!

Prep Time20

Cook Time10

Total Time10 20

Course: Main, Slow Cooked, Slow Cooker

Cuisine: Western

Keyword: Beef Stew, slow cooker beef stew, slow cooker recipe

Servings: - 6 people

Calories: 617cal

Author: Nagi

Ingredients

Thickened stew sauce:

3 cups beef stock/broth , low sodium
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 cup plain flour / all-purpose flour (Note 1 for gluten-free option)

Stove -> slow cooker:

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1.25kg/ 2.5lb chuck beef , cut into large 4cm/ 1.6" cubes, excess fat trimmed - start with around 1.4kg/2.8lb (Note 2)
3/4 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt (halve for table salt, +50% for flakes)
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 large onion , halved then sliced into 1cm / 0.4" slices
2 garlic cloves , finely minced
2 cups red wine (I use pinot noir), substitute 0% alcohol wine or more beef stock (Note 3)

For the stew:

1 beef stock cube (bouillon cube), crumbled (Note 4)
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves , preferably fresh else dry
3 sprigs fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt (halve for table salt, +50% for flakes)
1/4 tsp black pepper
3 carrots , peeled, cut into equal size chunks ~ 1 x 3cm (0.4 x 1.2")
2 celery sticks , cut into 4cm / 1.6" pieces (cut thicker end in half horizontally so they're all about the same width)
400g / 14oz small cocktail potatoes (or halve or quarter larger ones) (Note 5)
1 cup frozen peas (still frozen fine)

Cups - Metric

Instructions

ABBREVIATED RECIPE:

Mix 1 cup stock with tomato paste and flour in slow cooker, then mix in remaining stock. Brown beef, put in slow cooker. Sauté onion and garlic, reduce wine by 75%, add to slow cooker. Add herbs, Worcestershire, salt, pepper, stir, then add carrot, celery and potato. Slow cook 10 hours on low or 6 hours on high, serve over mash!

FULL RECIPE:

Sauce thickener first - Pour about 1 cup of beef stock in the slow cooker with the flour and tomato paste. Mix to combine until lump free using a rubber spatula - it will be a thin batter consistency. Pour in remaining beef stock and mix (if you see pesky lumps, use a whisk).
Sear beef - Sprinkle and toss the beef with the salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large non-stick pan over high heat. Brown the beef aggressively in 2 or 3 batches (don't crowd the pan). Transfer straight into the slow cooker, leaving the fat behind.
Sauté onion - Add the onion and cook, stirring regularly, until softened. Add garlic and cook for another 30 seconds until it's golden and smells amazing.
Massively reduce red wine (flavour flavour flavour!) - Pour the wine in slowly (careful, it will sputter). Simmer rapidly, stirring every now and then, until reduced but 75%, about 1/2 cup. Pour wine and onions into slow cooker.
Everything else - Add the stock cube, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, thyme, salt and pepper. Stir well, then add the carrots, celery and potato. Do your best to stir again (it's hard, there's a lot of stuff!)
Slow cook - Push any exposed beef under the liquid, any veg above the liquid will mostly be submerged by the end (liquid level rises plus meat / veg soften). Slow cook on LOW for 10 hours or HIGH for 6 hours. (Note 6) The meat should be fork-tender.
Finish and serve - Stir peas in, leave for 2 minutes to thaw and heat up (they're already cooked). Serve stew over mash!

Notes

1. To make this gluten free, use cornflour/cornstarch instead, as follows: Mix 1/4 cup cornflour/cornstarch with 1/4 cup water until lump free. Stir it in at the end with the peas, then put the lid on and slow cook on HIGH for 10 minutes or until it thickens. Note: 8 hours will likely be long enough for meat to be tender as it cooks faster in thinner liquid, but 10 hours won't hurt, just be extra gentle with the beef pieces.

I recommend cornflour over using gluten-free flour because some gluten free blends containing lots of rice flour can occasionally taste a little grainy.

Make sure your Worcestershire sauce and beef stock cubes are also GF, not all brands are.

2. Beef chuck is the best cut of beef for stews, in my opinion. Look for a piece nicely marbled with fat, and use a single large piece so you can cut it into large pieces, or buy very thick cut chuck steaks (carried at some grocery stores and butchers). Start with ~1.4kg/2.8lb, after trimming large chunks of fat you should end up with 1.25kg.

3. Wine - Any red wine that is not too oaky and not sweet will work here. Don't waste your money on expensive wine, get heavily discounted end-of-line bottles!

4. Beef stock cube - I use OXO brand which crumbles easily. If you have a rock hard one, dissolve it in some hot beef stock.

5. Potatoes - Use small potatoes with the skin on so they hold together for the cook time. Ideal size is small whole ones ~2.5cm/1" wide. Don't use large potatoes peeled then cut into chunks, they will disintegrate and make the sauce grainy.

6. Cook time notes - 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high is typical for stews but this takes a little longer because the sauce is thickened (meat takes longer to cook in thickened sauces).

Pressure cooker - 45 minutes on high should be sufficient, I haven't tried but it's based on my standard conversion.
Oven or stove - Use my classic Beef Stew recipe, exactly the same dish just designed for a different cooking method.

Leftovers will keep for 4 days. It's even better on day 2! Can also freeze for 3 months.

Nutrition per serving assuming 6 servings, excluding mash.

Nutrition