Ultimate Slow Cooker Beef Stew made with chuck roast, Yukon potatoes and carrots for a rich beef stew that is perfect for the cold weather.
Like our Classic Beef Stew this slow cooker version is an easy, comfort food Soup Recipe you can make any day of the week.
Slow cooker meals are so popular and with good reason. There is less time with school and holidays and the weather is so cold everyone wants food that is hearty and comforting. This Ultimate Slow Cooker Beef Stew is the best of all worlds.
Serving suggestion? Just like Slow Cooker Vegetable Beef Soup, you can enjoy this meal with Crusty French Bread Rolls or Garlic Bread and a side salad (a nice lemon/olive oil dressing would be great to cut through all the hearty flavors here). The Beef Stew is great for bread dipping.
How to Make Slow Cooker Beef Stew
Meal prepping this recipe is easy and makes the perfect weeknight meal. To prepare, simply:
- Brown the beef in cubes.
- While beef is browning cut the carrots and potatoes.
- Add in the remaining ingredients.
- Cook on low for 8 hours.
It will cook all day while you’re gone, and when you get home you have the most amazing smell going through your kitchen.
More Beef Stew Recipes
Philly Cheesesteak Beef Stew
Vegetable Beef Stew
Classic Beef Stew
Instant Pot Beef Stew
Frequently Asked Questions
Brown your beef! This recipe uses a chuck roast, seared it well on both sides, then trimmed and cut it into 2-3 inch chunks.
One of the easiest and most delicious ingredients in this stew: Yukon Potatoes! They’re buttery and rich and won’t fall apart after a long day of cooking. You also don’t need to peel these potatoes which will cut down significantly on the work you have to do before cooking.
This recipe browns the beef in a cast iron skillet to get a GOOD crust on both sides with plenty of kosher salt and black pepper. If you have a slow cooker with an aluminum insert, brown the beef in this make this a one pot meal. It also saves all the browned flavor that stays in the pan for your stew.
If not using a base use beef stock instead of broth, and it’s even more important to get a good sear on the meat, then deglaze the pan with the stock to make sure all the beef flavor comes with it.
Instead of crushed or diced tomatoes we use tomato paste, the concentration of flavors without adding additional liquid makes for a more flavorful stew.
In a stew you aren’t looking for the consistency to be that of a soup, so minimizing added liquids is helpful. If using canned tomatoes instead of paste drain the can.
To thicken beef stew you can either mix equal parts of flour/butter together and add it to the last hour of cooking or you can simply mash 3 or 4 chunks of the potatoes well and mix it into the stew for a natural thickener.
Instead of four cups of beef broth add in 3 cups of broth and one cup of red wine and follow the rest of the recipe as written.
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Best Meat for Beef Stew
Chuck Roast: This is the most old-fashioned and classic cut of meat for most pot roasts or beef stews. Use this as a replacement for most recipes that actually call for stew meat because chuck roasts are typically well-marbled, just be sure when buying the meat you look for more even fat distribution.
Stew Meat: This is the easiest way to go, not expensive cut of meat because it is pre-cut. This is generally not high quality though and is usually extra cuts left over that the butcher is looking to sell off. Avoid this cut in the grocery store if possible.
Ribeye: If you want to impress your guests and you are cooking this during the holidays, you may find a ribeye roast is on sale. During the holiday season it usually sells for a VERY low price (comparable sometimes to chuck). When it does, get a 4 inch thick cut and use it to make the best roasts and stews with it, because it will be a luxurious treat with the most tender beef you’ve ever eaten.
More Slow Cooker Recipes
Ultimate Slow Cooker Pot Roast
Ultimate Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches
Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Garlic Chicken
Slow Cooker Roast Beef (Sliceable!)
Tools Used to Make Slow Cooker Beef Stew
Food Flipper: This tool flips the chuck roast easily. You can use this tool EVERY time you cook something that requires flipping, it is amazing.
Slow Cooker: This recipe was made in this slow cooker. This slow cooker is great for how programmable it is. Plus the locking lid makes it a breeze for making a dish that needs to travel.
Aluminum Insert Slow Cooker: You brown the meat in the insert without losing a bunch of the flavor by transferring the meat and leaving the browned bits behind. If you’re thinking of a new slow cooker, consider it if your budget is open.
Cast Iron Skillet: If you don’t have a slow cooker with a stovetop friendly
insert, this is the most used pan in our kitchen, heavy, keeps heat well and gives the BEST sear ever.
Beef Base: You’ll never buy boxes of broth because if you keep the beef, chicken and vegetable version of this Better Than Bouillon on hand.
How to Store Slow Cooker Beef Stew
- Serve: You should never leave meat out for more than 2 hours after cooking it.
- Store: Once the soup has cooled down to room temperature, put it in an airtight container to store it in the fridge. It will keep well for 2-3 days.
- Freeze: You can also freeze Slow Cooker Beef Stew Soup for up to 3 months. Keep it in a freezer bag or other airtight container, and let it thaw in the fridge overnight before reheating it in a dutch oven on the stovetop.
Ingredients
- 3 pound chuck roast , boneless
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 1 yellow onion , chopped
- 4 carrots , peeled and cut into 2 inch chunks
- 4 Yukon potatoes , cut into 2 inch chunks
- 4 cups beef broth *
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1 dried bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 4 cloves garlic , minced
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter , unsalted
- 2 tablespoons flour
Instructions
- Preheat a large skillet or aluminum slow cooker insert on high heat.
- Season the beef with half the salt and all the pepper.
- Add to the skillet and brown on each side for 4-6 minutes or until deeply browned on each side.
- Remove the beef from the pan and add in the onions.
- Cut the beef into 2-3 inch chunks and add it to the slow cooker.
- Cook the onions for 3 minutes, stir then cook another 3 minutes.
- Into the slow cooker add the onions, carrots, potatoes, broth, second half of the salt, tomato paste, bay leaf, thyme, garlic and Worcestershire sauce.
- Stir all the ingredients until well mixed and cook on low for 7 hours.
- In a small bowl mix the butter and flour and add it to the slow cooker and stir.
- Cook an additional hour or until thickened.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Should I melt the butter before mixing with the flour? I find when I try to thicken a stew the flour goes lumpy after I add it, even though I whisk it well Advice please?
You certainly can Patti, I use softened butter as a rule of thumb. Let us know how your beef stew turns out!
I am not a slow cooker lady however i really like Dinner the Dessert site.
loved the flavour and ease of this recipe, so I will dertainly be coming back to the site to explore more slow cooker meals.
So glad to hear you are enjoying the recipes! We have a lot of recipes that do not use slow cookers as well for you to try! Thank you Jacqui for the five star review!
Can I cook on high for the last part of cooking? Or will this mess the recipe up?
last part of cooking?
OMGosh!
This is the mother load of stew recipes! I’ve made this twice now. The broth is the most flavorful. It reminds me of beef veggie soup, the old fashioned kind! I’ve added celery to this both times, a few stocks and it’s yummy.
Thank you so much for sharing this!
It was awesome! Def a fav! I used what I had on hand, small can tomato sauce rather than the tomato paste and beef broth. Cooked on high 5 hrs, turned to low and added butter/flour, cooked another hour or so. Don’t think itbthickened much, but tasted awesome!
We love this recipe! I have made it several times in the crockpot and it has always come out so delicious!
I want to try making this in an enamel dutch oven. Would this recipe work with that? How long and what temp would you suggest?
Hi Mari, thanks for asking! I think you’ll enjoy my Classic Beef Stew recipe
https://dinnerthendessert.com/classic-beef-stew/
Let me know what you think!
This is a great recipe. I made this the other night. I also made a loaf of artisan bread to go with it. I added some barley an hour before stew was done.
With just the two of us, I froze some for later. You cannot go wrong with this recipe. Just delicious!
I love using your recipes!
Your review made me smile. Thanks so much Lynn and thanks for the great review 🙂
Just made this today cause it was raining and needed some comfort. When the wife tried it her response was, “Get rid of all those other stew recipes. This one is a keeper!” Next time, and I’m sure there will be many more, I’m gonna add a touch of wine!
Made this today and it is definitely something I will make again. It’s so easy to make and bursting with flavor!
Thanks Liz! Appreciate the 5 star rating too!
Fantastic stew. One question, if I want to do the slow cooker on high, how long would that take? Also, this stew is a regular occurrence.
Slow Cookers vary as you probably know. Generally around 1 hour less or so. Keep a close eye on the beef, checking for the thickest pieces temperature to be at 165 degrees. Let us know how it turns out!
I followed the instructions to the letter, except for the “Beef Better Than Bouillon”, I substituted “Orrington Farms Broth Base & seasoning”, which is gluten free. Other than that our untraditional Christmas dinner was a great hit with my ex-tended family that visited for the Holiday’s. It was fantastic, it turned out great! Thank you so much for the recipe….I printed out several others that I will be trying in the future. Great web site.
Just wanted to say, I made this on a time crunch last night because I forgot about it in the morning– 4 hours on high, then added the butter/flour and then another 1 hour on high. The meat was just as tender as the 8 hours on low! So so good, a staple for winter.
I have made this twice, really like it, the second time I cut the beef into cubes before searing and seared all sides of the cubes and I felt the meat tasted better with better texture.
I do this as well, mostly because I buy the pre-diced meat from the market labelled for stew lol
For the fourth time I am making this casserole. Some of the vegetables have had to be substituted eg potatoes, onions, by using Aussie vegetables. However, the casserole turned out beautifully. Flavour, texture and aroma is excellent. It has taken me years to find a decent beef casserole and now I have stopped looking. This time around I added red capsicum and brown sugar, just as an experiment and it tested great. The brown sugar helped as I accidentally added a little too much salt. It didn’t detract from the flavour. Thank you for this beautiful recipe. I have now stopped looking for good beef casseroles. We look forward to dinner tonight after the casserole is ready to eat.
Excellent recipe. I add a little red wine for flavor. Also, I cube the meat then brown it as I find it falls apart otherwise.
Do you leave the lid off the last hour it’s thickening?
9am Sunday morning, found recipe & was excited. So it’s on, family have come through saying that looks nice’ so can hardly wait to try it when it’s done. As I’m sure my 97 yr father in law will also.thanks ?
Hi Sabrina. Very excited to make this today! Quick question: After browning the beef in the skillet, it should not be cooked all the way through. Is that correct? Thanks!
I was surprised at the suggestion of 2” chopped carrots and potatoes. Those are pretty big pieces. I’m slow cooking it now – but, worry the veggies won’t be cooked.
I followed the recipe to a “T” and flavor wise it was very good, but after 8 hours in my slow cooker it needed more cooking time and I even turned mine up to High for the last hour after adding the butter/flour combo
I used to have cooking failures too until a bit of research showed it was my fault.
I found that a crock pot or slow cooker needs to be 2/3 to 3/4 full.
Food takes longer to cook if larger amounts are used and trying to make up a too small amount by adding extra liquid not only gives a bland taste but the meat and veg. do not cook properly.
You could try buying a different sized slow cooker or adjust the ingredients to fit your sized cooker. In my case, I make enough of this delicious stew for 10 serves and just freeze the excess in meal sized lots.
This turned out great. The only thing I did differently, is that I mixed the beef broth, tomato paste, garlic, thyme, and Worcestershire sauce together, and then added it to the crock. This is great with some crusty bread!
Can I make this without the worcestershire ? or anything to substitute it ?
Can I add fresh green beans in this stew? If so when do you add them?
Excellent
Love this recipe, very tasty with or without wine and simple as well!
This is our favorite stew! We’ve made it at least ten times. Thanks for the recipe!
I made this at the weekend, it was very tasty
Can this cook on high for 6 hours ?
On high, you probably don’t need it to go that long. I’d say 4-5 hours on high.
I use a cabernet sauvignon whenever I cook this recipe and started wondering if I could make it even better with a different wine, has anyone else experimented to find a better choice? Me and my wife love this recipe so much, thanks guy sharing it, I’ve been making it for almost 2 years now!
I have to cook often for my 90year old father and these recipes are very helpful .Nutritious and easy for me as I have two slow cookers and its getting very cold now so I am sure he will enjoy them
I finally found some one that cooks the way I like food. Thank you Sabrina. HERB
Forgot to thaw my meat can I cook the stew meat from frozen?
No, it’ll release too much liquid and make it soupy. Sorry.
Great recipe— my cattle raising friend gave me a 3 lb 7 bone roast from one of his steers which is basically a chuck roast. Made it exactly to the recipe and it came out great. Made some homemade bread to go with it. I highly recommend the recipe
Sounds like a good friend to have! Thanks for the 5 stars, Brian.
Yikes! I think I just ruined our dinner.. I used red wine vinegar because I misread. I thought it sounded weird but figured I’d try it.. I didn’t use a whole cup, maybe a quarter cup but still?????
If it was just a quarter cup or so of the vinegar, it probably still tasted great! Especially if you consider that the secret behind dishes such as Italian Beef (also on this site) is the vinegar brine (“juice”) that most pepperoncinis are packaged in, or if you take a look at the German Sauerbraten recipe on this site… you might have come up with your own special recipe. 🙂
This turned out great. I was a bit confused on how to mix cold butter with flour but used room temp butter and it seemed to work ok. I also used a whole 6oz can of tomato paste. Putting this in my “keep” folder! Can’t wait to try the leftover’s tomorrow!
Great Recipe, Loved it!
What sides go with this?
We love it with mashed potatoes or egg noodles.
I made this for dinner today for my husband and grandkids. My husband said i outdid myself! He ate two big bowls of it! I personally did not eat it as i am a vegetarian. So i made portobello pot roast in my instant pot. It was like a restaurant in my house with two main dishes being cooked lol!! I will definitely make this again and again! It smelled really good in my house! Thank you for a recipe my husband loved! Do you have any vegetarian recipes? Thanks again!!
I do! Here’s a link to one:
https://dinnerthendessert.com/vegetarian-stuffed-pepper-soup/
You can also use the search bar and find loads of others.
This is maybe a dumb question, but after adding my beef broth and all ingredients, is the liquid supposed to cover the solids (potatoes, meat, etc.) or is it not important if everything is covered in liquid?
No, it won’t be covered completely but the beef will cook down and release more liquid. I find that recipes that cover it, the meal comes out soupy.
Hi Sabrina! I was wondering if beef round cubes would work for this recipe? I have 2 lbs. in my freezer that needs used up. Thanks
Yes, that would work too. Enjoy!
I made this dish exactly as the recipe said, and it turned out amazing. The next time I made it I put my own little twist on it, instead of beef broth/bullion I used vegetable broth. And instead of regular salt and pepper, I used Mrs. Dash no salt Lemon Pepper. The lower sodium content made this already delicious dish even yummier.
It tasted ok with the lemon pepper and beef? Yikes!!!
Great recipe
Am I able to cut the cooking time down in anyway, I didn’t realize the cooking time until after I bought all the ingredients and started putting it together and now if I do 7 hours it will be a really late dinner.
I prefer low and slow but if you’re in a time pinch, you can cook it on high for 4-5 hours.
My husband is a diabetic, so I did a little bit of a change to this recipe. I used vegetable broth instead, and Mrs. Dash no salt lemon pepper. Let me tell you, the lower sodium content made this stew taste even better.
Thanks for the suggestions, Brianna.
I’m happy to add my input anytime. I love your recipes to begin with, so why not try a different twist to it once in a while? It may, or may not, turn out just as good or a little better. It’s all a matter of trial and error.
Can you cook this on high for a shorter amount of time?
I prefer low and slow to get the most tender but you can cook it on high for 4-5 hours if needed. Enjoy!
Can you cook this in cast iron
You can follow this recipe when using a dutch oven:
https://dinnerthendessert.com/classic-beef-stew/
Enjoy!
Tasted great wonderful, recipe, classic and comforting ?
Thanks for the 5 stars, Jennifer.
Best beef stew I ever made! My family loved it, I will definitely use this recipe again.
Thanks for the 5 star rating, Rob.
I added parsnip, cabbage, broccoli, turnip and a strong ale. Wonderful! Had to finish 5 minutes high pressure.
Hi! My slow cooker has low and high setting. Which one would I use?
You’ll want to have this in the slow cooker on low for 7 hours. Add the butter and flour mixture and then cook it an additional hour. Hope this helps clear things up. Enjoy!
Hi! Should I halve the rest of the ingredients for 1.5lbs of chuck beef, or keep the original and perhaps mash some extra potatoes to thicken up the stew?
Either will work, just make sure that your chuck roast doesn’t dry out from overcooking due to it being a smaller size. Good luck!
Hi! Can you use beef stew meat instead of a roast! Does that affect the cooking time? Thanks!! Making today!
It should still work since it’s being slow cooked to be able to be broken down and tender.
Hi love his recipe. What is a serving size??
About 1 cup. Enjoy!
Greetings! This looks delicious!
I’d like to add some mushrooms to this recipe. I’m assuming I can add the raw? At what point do you recommend I put them the slow cooker?
Thanks so much for your help!
I would add them in for the last 2 hours if you can, and yes add them in raw (halved), stir to mix them in.