Ah – the joys of using a slow cooker.  When the weather is cold and you are looking for something comforting for dinner, bring out your crock pot.  For me, there is nothing quite like the taste of an Old Fashioned Slow Cooker Beef Stew.  

Cooking beef this way ends up in the most amazingly tender beef and flavors that warm you to the bones on even the coldest of days. Crock pot recipes are the BEST!

I don’t know about you but, for me, there is nothing like coming home to a house that smells like dinner. And then opening that crock pot lid and seeing all those healthy veggies swimming around in the beefy sauce?  OH MY YES!!

Do your slow cooker meals end up the way you expect them to?  If you are not satisfied with your results, you may be making one of these crock pot mistakes.

For today’s crock pot recipe my motto is big and chunky, just like mum used to make it.  I used baby potatoes, Brussels sprouts and flavorful scallions and kept them whole.  The carrots and celery are cut into big chunks. And to top it all off, my pieces of beef are kept in very large chunks.  If you have ever eaten beef stew and used a fork to shred the beef, you will know what I am going for.  I want a piece of beef that will really make you excited to stab into with a fork.

This Old Fashioned Slow Cooker Beef Stew could not be easier to make!

Start by coating the pieces of beef and browning them in a non stick pan in some olive oil.  I just added flour to a large zip lock bag, gave it a good shake and then added the beef to the pan.

Vegetables cook best in a crock pot if you place them on the bottom.  You can do this while the beef is browning.

Once the beef is nicely browned, just place it over the top of the veggies.  All the delicious meat juices will drip down over the vegetables to make the most mouth-watering flavor. Then sprinkle over the spices.

The spices for today’s Old Fashioned Slow Cooker Beef Stew recipe are a bay leaf, some fresh rosemary, pink sea salt and cracked black pepper, plus some dried Italian spice (my oregano and thyme are dormant right now but if you use fresh, you can substitute three times the amount of oregano and thyme.)

The last step is to pour over the beef stock and canned diced tomatoes.  The flour that the beef was coated with will act in two ways. It allows the meat to be browned and also acts as a thickener for the gravy that forms during cooking.  

Now the crock pot is ready to take its turn.  All those amazing flavors are going to cook slowly all day, making your house smell divine when you come home.  All that is needed at dinner time is to add the frozen peas 1/2 hour before the end of the cooking time. (This gives you just enough time to make some flaky biscuits!)

Serve the Old Fashioned Slow Cooker Beef Stew with home made biscuits or crusty garlic bread to sop up those amazing beef juices.

This stew is just full of flavor.This hearty, rich meal is packed with juicy, tender chunks of meat, delicious peas and vegetables, and the sauce is rich and thick with a velvety texture just waiting to be sopped up with your bread.

And if the flavor of this Old Fashioned Slow Cooker Beef Stew isn’t enough to convince you, the ease of making it will.  What gets easier than throwing everything in a crock pot and taking the day off?

Looking for more Slow Cooker Beef Stews? Try one of these.

Beef Stew in Red Wine

Beef Stew With Herb Dumplings

Beef Stew with Root Vegetables

 

Yield: 4

Old Fashioned Slow Cooker Beef Stew

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There is nothing quite like the taste of an Old Fashioned Slow Cooker Beef Stew. Cooking beef this way ends up in the most amazingly tender beef and flavors that warm you to the bones on even the coldest of days.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 10 hours

Total Time 10 hours 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 pound of beef stew meat, cut into large chunks
• 2 tbsp of all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 3/4 pound of baby potatoes
• 12 Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed
• 4 medium carrots, cut into large pieces
• 6 whole scallions
• 4 whole cloves of garlic
• 2 large stalks of celery quartered
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, diced
• 1 small bunch of parsley, minced
• 1 tsp of dried Italian seasoning
• Sea Salt and cracked black pepper to taste
• 1 1/2 cups of low sodium beef stock
• 1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes
• 1 cup of frozen peas.
• 1 tablespoon of corn starch

Instructions

1. Place the flour and beef into a large zip lock bag and shake to coat the beef.
2. Heat the olive oil in a non stick frying pan and brown the beef in the oil on all sides.
3. While the beef is browning, cut your vegetables and add them to the slow cooker.
4. Place the beef on top of the vegetables, add the bay leaf and fresh and dried herbs.
5. Pour over the stock and diced tomatoes. Cover and cook on low for 10 hours.
6. 39 minutes before the stew is done, stir in the frozen peas, add a tablespoon of cornstarch some water and stir into the gravy and cover and continue cooking for the last 30 minutes.
7. Stir well and serve with some flaky biscuits to sop up the delicious gravy.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 484Total Fat: 16gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 112mgSodium: 545mgCarbohydrates: 44gFiber: 10gSugar: 9gProtein: 46g

Nutritional information is approximate due to natural variation in ingredients and the cook-at-home nature of our meals.

 

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