Slow Cooker Beef Stew is one of my favorite comfort meals. My family loves it. I will only make beef stew in my slow cooker because the beef and veggies become really tender. I love the beef in my stew to almost melt in your mouth. In addition, it also allows the flavors and seasonings to really come together. I have a 7 quart slow cooker so keep that in mind when reading how I make my beef stew.
What You Need
- 2 Pounds Beef Chuck or Boneless Beef Sirloin
- Olive Oil
- Salt and Pepper
- 1.5 Pounds Potatoes**
- 1 Pound Carrots (Approx 5 Carrots)
- 2-3 Medium Celery Stalks
- McCormick Beef Stew Seasoning Mix (2 packets)**
**When it comes to potatoes, you can use your favorite potatoes. However, I just use regular white potatoes because those are the only kind my family likes. I usually use 3 or 4 white potatoes depending on their size.
**I like to use McCormick Beef Stew Seasoning Mix because it includes a really great seasoning blend and it’s very flavorful. It also takes care of my beef gravy/broth needs. Some people like to make their own gravy and add their own seasoning and fresh herbs. If you use fresh herbs, I would suggest herbs such as rosemary, thyme, and parsley.
Preparation
Peel and dice potatoes into approximately 1 inch cubes. Peel carrots and cut them into approximately 1 inch chunks. I don’t use the thinner parts of the carrot. The last time I made beef stew, I cheated with the carrots. I had forgot carrots at the grocery store and sent my husband up to the store we have close by. They don’t have fresh veggies so I had to settle for pre-sliced uncooked carrots instead.
Chop up the celery. You can chop these however you like them. However, I usually like to cut them into half inch pieces. My kids don’t like cooked celery. They love it raw but refuse to eat cooked celery. I like to have bigger pieces so that they can pick the pieces out.
After preparing your veggies, you can prepare your gravy/broth mixture. With the McCormick Beef Stew Seasoning, you just add water per the directions and mix it up. As previously mentioned, it already has a seasoning blend in it.
Preparing Beef
You definitely want to use Beef Chuck or Beef Sirloin. I prefer to use sirloin because most of the time it’s easier to trim and remove excess fat from it. After trimming, cut the beef into 1 to 1.5 inch cubes. This next part is optional but I recommend not skipping this next step. What I like to do is brown the beef in a skillet with a little olive oil. I will add a seasoning blend of rosemary, thyme, and parsley. No need to cook it all the way through. Just enough to brown it. Then you place it in your slow cooker.
Cooking
After placing the beef in the slow cooker, place potatoes, carrots and celery in the slow cooker as well. Then pour in your gravy/broth mixture over beef and veggies. Cover your slow cooker and set it to low heat and let it cook 7 to 8 hours.
Over time the gravy/broth mixture will thicken up. It won’t turn into a thick gravy-like mixture though. The broth always comes out perfect which is another reason why I love using that McCormick Beef Stew Seasoning.
I love making this slow cooker beef stew too because it doesn’t take long for your whole house to smell delicious. However, it does make me hungry and looking forward to dinner all day long though! I am not sure how many servings this makes but it is always enough for all 5 of us to have a good size bowl of stew with about 2 to 3 bowls leftover. I like to bake some fresh bread to go along with this beef stew too!
Check out some of my other recipes and baking posts!
