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There is nothing better on a cold day than comfort food. Our go to comfort food is this Quick & Easy Crock pot Beef Stew Recipe and its one of my favorite slow cooker recipes.
Crock pot Stew Recipe:
I love making stews in the Fall and Winter time but they can be a lot of work to make on the stove top. Making a beef stew in the crock pot is simple and easy to do and the flavor is even better!
It is a simple beef stew that can be thrown in the crock pot and slow cooked all day. You come home to a house smelling of this amazing crock pot recipe. It is the perfect meal on a cold and chilly day. My family loves this recipe.
Easy beef stew:
Making easy beef stew recipe in the crock pot is one my favorite meals. It is so filling that you really don’t have to plan on sides when you make this meal. The stew is filled with stew meat, potatoes, carrots and green beans. It is the best comfort food on a cold, fall day.
The best part is that the crock pot does all the work for you. This easy beef stew in the slow cooker is on my meal rotation in the fall. Try one of our other Beef Stew Meat Recipes.
Slow Cooker Beef Stew Ingredients:
Ingredients for this beef stew are hearty and filling.
- Stew Meat – The best meat for this stew is chuck steak. I like finding the stew meat that is already cut up, and it will specifically say on the package stew meat.
- Frozen Green Beans – You can also use frozen peas.
- Whole Carrots – Chopped in bite size pieces. You can also use the baby carrots.
- Russet Potatoes – Cut in small pieces. You can also use red potatoes or yukon gold potatoes.
- Onion, chopped – You can chop these onions in smaller pieces or larger slices. It is up to you. My kids prefer that they are cut in smaller pieces.
- Bay Leaves
- Salt
- Pepper
- Crushed Tomatoes – You can also stew tomatoes as well. Use what you have.
- Water
- Worcestershire Sauce – This adds a some extra flavor. You can always omit this ingredient if you don’t have any.
That is all you need to make this delicious and easy crock pot beef stew.
How to make crock pot beef stew:
- First in a 6 quart crock pot, place the stew meat and the potatoes on the bottom. Then place the green beans, onions, and carrots on top.
- Pour the crushed tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce and the water on top. Next season all the ingredients with the salt and pepper.
- Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. Each crock pot cooks differently so watch it closely toward the end of the cover cooking time. You’ll know it’s ready when the beef is tender and the potatoes are soft.
- Allow the beef stew to sit in the crock pot for a few minutes before serving.
- Serve warm and enjoy. That’s all that is needed to make this quick and easy beef stew recipe.
Do you have to brown stew meat before putting it in the crock pot?
The meat does not need to be browned before it’s added to the slow cooker. Some people think that coating the stew meat in a flour mixture and browning it (and deglazing the pan) before adding it to the crock pot adds a flavor to the stew and the flour thickens the sauce.
I have tried it both ways and I don’t think it’s worth the time and dishes that it takes to brown the meat before adding it to the crock pot, so I skip this step.
If you have a multi-cooker slow cooker that works as a stove top and crock pot than it would be easy to brown the meat on the sauté setting, then add in the other ingredients after you have browned the beef and switch it to the slow cooker setting.
I have a few of these multi-cookers and I love them.
How much water do you put in a slow cooker for stew?
I use 2 cups of water in the slow cooker for this easy beef stew recipe. I don’t like my stews to be soupy but I do want some liquid in the meal so through trial and error I have found that this is the just the right amount of liquid for the stews I’ve made.
This recipe is packed with flavor so I generally just use water for this recipe. However, its a great idea to add in beef broth, beef bouillon, or red wine to add more flavor to this stew recipe.
How to cook stew meat in the crockpot?
You can definitely cook them stew meat in the crock pot. The longer you cook stew meat in the crock pot the more tender the meat will be become. If the stew meat is too tough, it needs to be cooked longer in the crock pot.
I have tried to make a beef stew on the stovetop in under 30 minutes on low medium heat and the meat was too tough. Using the crockpot it needs to cook on low for about 8 hours to get tender and the slow cooker is the best way to do that.
The meat comes up so tender, it just melts in your mouth.
However, with this recipe, you want to cook the stew long enough for the meat to be tender but you also want the vegetables to not turn to mush.
The potatoes and carrots will get very soft as they cook, cut them into large pieces so that they can cook longer to allow the meat to become tender but the vegetables to not get too soft.
How to reheat stew?
We like to reheat the stew on the stovetop if I am reheating a large quantity. You will simmer in a saucepan over medium heat until it is heat thoroughly.
If I am heating a bowl for myself, I will just reheat in the microwave. It takes about 2 minutes and I can enjoy a warm beef stew.
Tips and Tricks:
- I usually use stew meat for this recipe, but you can also use chuck roast diced into 1 inch pieces if you your grocery store is out of stew meat.
- Also, use whatever veggies you love and have on hand. I love using carrots, potatoes and green beans. But this recipe would also be delicious with sweet potatoes or peas instead.
Note: If you use peas, put them in the crock pot just for the last 30 minutes of the cook time so that they don’t turn to mush.
You can cook this stew recipe on high heat in the crock pot but I prefer to cook it on low. The meat becomes more tender when its cooked on low for a long length of time.
How to thicken crock pot beef stew recipe
Once the stew is done, if it’s too watery, add a cornstarch slurry to the crock pot to thicken beef stew. To make the corn starch slurry, I combine approximately ¼ cup of cold water with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch.
Then stir this mixture into the beef stew, cover and cook on high for 30 minutes to thicken the stew. Then serve the thickened beef stew over your favorite corn bread and enjoy!
Also, this recipe can be made in an electric pressure cooker, Instant Pot Beef Stew Recipe is perfect for when you forget to throw the ingredients in the crock pot that morning.
What to serve with Beef Stew:
I love serving this delicious and easy beef stew recipe with my easy cornbread recipe. This recipe is simple to throw together in no time at all. There is nothing better than serving a perfect beef stew over a piece of cornbread.
I love cornbread so I have more than just one recipe.
Here are some other delicious and easy cornbread recipes that you can make to go with this stew recipe.
- Sweet Honey Corn Bread Recipe
- Cheddar Jalapeño Cornbread
- Easy Cornbread Muffins
- Gluten Free Jalapeño Cheddar Cornbread
However, if you’re not a fan of cornbread, this would also be delicious served with homemade dinner rolls or these delicious Kings Hawaiian Rolls.
Leftover Crockpot Beef Stew:
We love leftover beef stew. I think all the flavors really marinate well together making the next day beef stew even better. The beef stew will last about 3-4 days in the refrigerator in a airtight container.
You can also freeze your leftovers. I try to plan for extras as the beef stew makes for a great lunch for my husband. It will last about 4 months in the freezer so I know that I can plan on him having a great lunch.
Print this easy beef stew recipe:
Quick and Easy Crock pot Beef Stew Recipe
Ingredients
- 2.5 lbs stew meat
- (1) 16 oz frozen green beans
- 3 whole carrots (peeled and sliced)
- 3 russet potatoes peeled and diced (peeled and diced into large pieces)
- 1/2 onion (chopped)
- 2 bay leaves
- (1) 14 oz can of crushed tomatoes
- 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 2 cups water
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Pepper
Instructions
- In a 6 quart crock pot, place the stew meat and the potatoes on the bottom.
- Place the green beans, onions, and carrots on top.
- Pour the crushed tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce and the water on top. Season with the salt and pepper.
- Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours, or high for 3.5-4 hours.
- Allow it to sit for a few minutes before serving.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Facts
More stew meat crock pot recipes:
- Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken Stew Recipe
- Crock Pot Ground Beef Stew Recipe
- Slow Cooker Pork Stew Recipe
- Crock pot Chicken Stew Recipe
- Mexican Beef Stew
- Crock Pot Sweet Potato Stew
- Instant Pot Chicken Stew Recipe
- Instant Pot Ground Beef Stew
Delicious as well as easy. Thank you for this recipe! I consider this a keeper!
Hi Carrie! I wanted to ask if you can cook this in an instant pot. What the time be? I love your recipes; most of our weekly meals & menu is made from your recipes. Thank you for sharing! Have a great day.
So glad you loved it!
I really loved this recipe! It’s very clear, easy to get, easy do make! Thank you very much!
I’ve tried several beef stew recipes over the years and this is by far the best one. Thanks for sharing.
This recipe is so yummy! I always make enough for leftovers because it is THAT good!
Thank you so much! I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it!
Made the beef stew for the first time, it was AMAZING!!! I shared it with a few people and was told it was the best they have EVER had!!! Definitely a keeper in my recipe book! Thanks for sharing!!!!
This beef stew is delicious!
I really enjoyed this recipe. On a weight loss journey and I was great for meal planning portioning
Just a simple prep to give multitude of flavors with a fantastic aroma as it slow cooks all afternoon.
Made this last week during our snow storm and it was a huge hit!! Super easy to make. I left out the green beans and onions and it was still amazing! I’m not sure what I did before stumbling across this website for recipes!
I love homemade crockpot beefstew infact i just made a full crockpot beefstew a few days ago it was sooo delicious!! Rating 10
This stew is so good!
Love this on our soup fridays
My favorite beef stew recipe of all time.
I made this for the first time and omg easy and delicious ?. I highly recommend this. I did sub the green beans with zucchini and it was good to cook all day with everything else, I thought it was going to get mush but it didn’t.
Will be making again! ?
Thank you so much for letting us know! I have corrected the recipe.
Is there a typo in the recipe. It says add plenty of salt and pepper.
This can’t be right.
structions
In a 6 quart crock pot, place the stew meat and the potatoes on the bottom.
Place the green beans, onions, and carrots on top.
Pour the crushed tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce and the water on top. Season with salt and pepper and add plenty of salt and pepper.
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4 hours.
Allow it to sit for a few minutes before serving.
You can if you prefer but we have tried it without and still think the meat is tender and delicious in the recipe with the less work. Thank you!
You don’t need to flour and brown the meat ahead of time? Most stews I’ve made I’ve had to do that before to help make the meat more tender.
Family loves it and it is in our weekly rotation! This was delicious and stew meat was so tender. Easiest recipe with the most flavour!
This was so yummy, we are making it for Christmas Eve dinner!
Instead of water can wine be used?
This is the best easiest beef stew recipe ever! I used fresh green beans, and added them in the crockpot half way through cooking time because I wanted them to have a little crunch and not be soggy. The potatoes and carrots were perfect-not mushy at all! The beef was so tender. Oh and also, I didn’t have regular diced tomatoes on hand so I used diced tomatoes with green chiles. This is a must have recipe, and the house smells AMAZING too 😉
Do I stir this up right away or wait till it has cooked some?
Thanks for your time and help!!!
I haven’t tried that before but it sounds delicious!
I don’t think you would need any more liquid if you add additional potatoes. If you add peas instead of the green beans, I would add in for the last hour of the cooking time only as they might become over cooked. Thank you.
Yes, definitely. That would still taste awesome!
It should fit in the 8 quart crock pot fine and the cooking time would be the same. Thank you!
It’s 1/6 of the entire recipe. Thank you.
The potatoes are soft. Add them later if you would like them firmer. Thank you!
Yes, it should be plenty. Thanks.
I’m making this for the first time and I’m curious if the two cups of water is enough to make juice? I won’t be home today and just making sure it won’t be too dried out. Thanks
Do the potatoes become to soft if cooked 7-8 hours on low? I like texture to my potatoes in soup and not soft. Sounds delicious especially this time of year!
Is there anything else you could use instead of the tomatoes? Maybe jarred beef gravy in the sane ounces?
We love potatoes and would like more in our stew. Would I have to add more water or broth if i added some potatoes. also think we would like green peas instead of green beans. Thanks,
I salt and pepper to taste. Start with approximately 1/2 teaspoon, taste it and add more if needed based on your preference. Thank you!
How much salt and did you put in ?
Sounds great, can’t wait to try it!! I don’t have many people in the household just me and my husband. Is it okay to cut the recipe in half and not make as much?
How large is a serving size for the nutritional info?
If i double this recipe will it fit in a 8 quart pot instead of 6 and will it take more time to cook ?
Yummy! That sounds good. Thanks for sharing.
Instead of frozen green beans I added a bag of frozen mixed vegetables.
You can use soy sauce instead. Thank you.
Is their anything I can use in place of the Worcestershire we are not fans of it. Thank you..
Goood!!!
Yes, canned green beans would work and yes, I remove the bay leaves prior to serving. Thank you!
For the instant pot, I would cook on high pressure for 35 minutes with a quick release. Also, you can sauté your stew meat in the instant pot if you preference it slightly browned before cooking it. Thank you and let us know how it turns out!
Great suggestion. Thank you!
Substitute radishes for the potatoes and eliminate the carrots for a low carb stew
Do you know how to edit this to make in an instant pot?
If you don’t have frozen green beans on hand can you use canned green beans, also do you remove the bay leaves after the stew is done cooking?
Thank you Wanda!
I made this for my family yesterday as my Sunday dinner. It was a big hit for all except for my daughter but she had an upset stomach. I had to make my own gluten free Worcestershire Sauce but i would have made it long ago had i known it was so easy. I might add beef broth or beef bone broth next time instead of the water. I did omit the bay leaves since I didn’t have any on hand. I love all of your dishes and videos. You are a ray of sunshine and a joy to watch. Your kitchen is to DIE for too or at least the part I have seen.
Prayers to you and yours,
Wanda
P.U.S.H.
Pray Until Something Happens
What cut of roasy does stew meat come from
I had a few changes to this, but I loved this recipe very easy to follow and excellent flavor. I added a small can of tomato sauce and an extra cup of water. I also only used 12 oz green beans instead of 16. It was cooked in a pressure cooker because I forgot to put it on in the crock pot ? but it worked just as well. Very good. I give it a 5 stars definitely!!!
I love your recipes! They are always so good! Can you use deer meat in this? Do you have any good venison recipes?
Looks delish, so gonna have to try it out soon…very soon
Making this for the second time. Substituted low so beef broth for water and peas for the beans. Great recipe. This one will be our go to for stew. Thanks!
Great recipe! I did add a couple of beef bouillon cubes. Thanks for sharing!!!
I love your recipes ,I love one pot healthy dishes that I can freeze into separate servings , especially recipes that are easy and usually have most of the ingredients
What happened to the bay leaves? They were not mentioned in the directions! I can’t wait to make this delicious looking beef stew!!
I love your recipes they are so good and my family enjoys them.
You can also add cabbage to it.
can you use frozen meat or does it have to be thawed?
looks luscious
Thanks! Super easy recipe that tastes great. Took me 10 minutes to prep and left it to cook overnight.
would like more easy crock pot receipes