I pThe best beef stew I have ever had. It is thick, meaty with excellent taste plus it’s simple and easy to make. I love beef. I like pork and chicken, but I LOVE beef. Too much Iowa in me I guess. While it’s still winter here, it’s a very good time for an easy slow cooker beef stew.
Rating
An easy 5. We loved it with seconds all around.
I started with an American Test Kitchen recipe, but I think it is unrecognizable now. It would feed a large army. I wanted only the small army size please (read “For Two with leftovers”). Also, lots of fuss as usual from Cooks Illustrated. I keep a little fuss at the beginning that I thought would enhance taste with browning the onion, but I used the time to cut the other veggies and trim the meat so really no extra time, just one dirty pan. You could probably skip this extra work and just dump the ingredients in, but I think the taste was great and worth the little extra work.
Notes
About 30 minutes of preperation time and an 8 hour cooking time. If you want, use 3 lbs of a leaner beef you want healthier. Or buy that pre-cut “stew meat” at the store if you’re lazy.
Mince onion. Prep garlic. Heat oil over medium-high heat in the large nonstick pan to a shimmer. Add onion, garlic, tomato paste, and 1/2 tsp salt. Cook until onions are soft and lightly browned. About 10 minutes
While #1, scrub potatoes and cut into chunks. Peel carrots and cut into 1/2 inch thick medallions. Trim meat of any trim-able solid fat and then cut into about 1-inch chunks.
When onion is ready, add beef broth to the pan and scrape any brown bits from the bottom of the pan.
Add all ingredients except the peas in the crock pot, stir well and set to 8 hours on low. At hour 7, add frozen peas.
- 3 lbs boneless beef chuck-eye roast trimmed and cut into 1 inch chunks
- 1 tbs vegetable oil
- 3 onions medium minced
- 6 cloves garlic minced or pressed
- 3 oz tomato paste
- 14 oz low-sodium beef broth
- 1 lb red potatoes cut into 1-inch chunks
- 4-6 carrots pealed cut into 1/2 inch medallions
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons Minute tapioca
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon thyme leaves minced fresh
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 1/2 cups frozen peas
- Mince onion. Prep garlic. Heat oil over medium-high heat in the large nonstick pan to a shimmer. Add onion, garlic, tomato paste, and 1/2 tsp salt. Cook until onions are soft and lightly browned. About 10 minutes.
- While #1, scrub potatoes and cut into chunks. Peel carrots and cut into 1/2 inch thick medallions. Trim meat of any trim-able solid fat and then cut into about 1-inch chunks.
- When onion is ready, add beef broth to the pan and scrape any brown bits from the bottom of the pan.
- Add all ingredients except the peas in the crock pot, stir well and set to 8 hours on low.
- At hour 7, add frozen peas.
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All nutritional information are estimates and may vary from your actual results. This is home cooking, and there are many variables. To taste ingredients such as salt will be my estimate of the average used.
If you like this recipe or find it useful, the pleasure of a nice 4 or 5 rating would be greatly appreciated. Rating is done by clicking on the stars above.
Last Updated
June 16, 2016
Hi All, I'm DrDan and welcome to 101 Cooking for Two. We present some of the best recipes with easy to follow step by step photo instructions to make your everyday cooking needs easier. 
Jeffrey and Juli
Juli here. I totally agree with you that Cook’s Illustrated Recipes are completely fussy and overly complicated. Jeffrey thinks the fussiness is worthwhile, but it would absolutely make me crazy to cook the way CI does every day. Your beef stew looks great! Thanks for the recipe variation for the crock pot.
Martha (MM)
Thanks so much for linking up your slow cooker recipes for my slow cooker recipe index. I have to say that yours look so appetizing! These are just the kind of meals I was looking for!
Linda
My husband and I just love your recipes. We especially enjoy the instructions and the pictures which make preparing the food easy. And the occasional misspelled word makes us chuckle and wonder if it’s on purpose!!!
DrDan
Thanks for the comment. This misspells are me at full speed. I need to slow it down a bit at times…
Nikki
I just made this and it was the best stew ever. I substituted half homemade chicken broth and half red wine for the beef broth, because that is what I had in the house. Just delish, and I never, ever comment online. Even my super picky oldest child, who eats nothing, pronounced it good.
DrDan
This is one of my most under-appreciated recipes. I do really like this one also.
Thanks for the note
DrDan
Backi
I’m not sure where the tapioca goes? I’m a novice :)
DrDan
Just add it at the beginning and it will be fine. If you skip it, it will be a little thinner.
DrDan
Lamia
Can you sub cornstarch for the tapioca? And if so, how much do you recommend? Thanks!
DrDan
Yes and no… The corn starch thickens nicely BUT it tends to break down with ongoing cooking and does not reheat well. So yes if you do it at the end and eat the whole thing. Not good otherwise. I have no luck with flour and crock pots at the end of cooking but here I brown the meat so coating with flour prior to the browning is also an option. Potato flakes are another possibility.
DrDan
Jill
When did you brown the meat? Before the onions?
DrDan
In the recipe and at ATK the meat is not browned. However I now usually brown the meat after the onion. I remove the onion then add the meat to get some nice searing then deglaze. Not really necessary but I think a little more taste.
Susan
Sure did love this beef stew. It had been too long, and I had never used the crock pot! Just for fun, sometime, steam some frozen Brussels sprouts till ready to eat and add with/or instead of the peas. It’s a family favorite around here and the only way SOME people will eat Brussels sprouts (I cut them in half BTW). Kind of like adding cabbage to veg. soup. Cheers!
Darlene
Would you have a recipe for dumplings to go with the stew? I’m not sure if they would be doable in a crock pot.