Savory Beef Stew Recipe for your Slow Cooker

Step-by-step recipe for beef stew. If you've been looking for a good slow cooker recipe I suggest you try this one, works great for a beef roast too. 

Oh la la - my taste buds were doing the happy dance, this is my new favorite recipe for beef stew. I wish I could let you taste for yourself how delicious and full flavored this easy recipe turned out.

With the first whiff of cooler air here in Florida, for us that is 65-70 degrees Fahrenheit, I made my famous Texas Chili, but then my inspiration deserted me. Until I spotted this recipe, posted by RedBird. The ingredients consisted of all the things we know and love in a stew, but it had a few surprises, like Allspice which made all the difference.

Click here

or here

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474980757683 

for the original recipe by RedBird, posted Nov 12, 2011, she called it - A very easy Beef Stew Recipe - and it is:).

 Of course I had to tweak the original recipe to our taste and the ingredients I had on hand. Different enough to have come into it's own - so following is my version.

I should mention that I actually used it for my beef roast. However, this tasted even better as a stew - duh:) - when we cut the roast up on the second day.

Here is my new go-to

BEEF STEW RECIPE for the SLOW COOKER

Ingredients

• Beef Roast or ready cut beef stew - any kind - about 3-4 pounds
• One pkg frozen baby carrots - toss in frozen
• Four small onions - chopped bite size - I used our Florida "spring onions" in season now -see picture
• Three heaping teaspoons roasted garlic (comes in a jar - in olive oil)
• One teaspoon pepper - I used only one half - you can always add more before serving
•  Four small cans of V-8 juice - I used one hot and three mild low sodium cans. (V-8 is a tomato based veggie juice
• One tablespoon sugar
• One - two bay leaves
• One half teaspoon Allspice - I used a level teaspoon, but if you really like the flavor of allspice you could go to a heaping teaspoon - if you have large teaspoons stick with a level teaspoon. This is the one ingredient you cannot skip if you want the wonderful savory flavor of this stew.
• About six stalks of fresh celery - chopped bite size
• One to two cups of sour cream - we love sour cream, so I went with two cups of sour cream and set some out on the table too. It really enhanced the flavor!

 OPTIONAL: Add a good half a cup of fresh chopped (I prefer just pinched off) parsley right before you serve it up. Do not cook it in the slow cooker:), just add and stir it up once before serving.

DIRECTIONS - PREPPING:

STEP ONE:

Place roast or stew in your slow cooker or crock pot. 

STEP TWO:

Slice and dice your veggies bite size - if you leave the frozen baby carrots as is, they will be slightly al dente. Add to crock pot and add two cups of water.

STEP THREE:

Combine all spices and the V-8 - stir until spices are dissolved. Pour over roast and veggies in crock pot.

TIME AND TEMPERATURE 

Set your timer on high for four hours and 30 minutes.

Serve with potatoes - egg noodles - rice 

SIDES: We had steamed potatoes with butter and parsley and cucumber salad on the side - a perfect combination:)  

GRAVY:

A good gravy makes or breaks the stew in my opinion.

You don't need to add anything, you'll have plenty of sauce right from your crock pot/slow cooker. However, if you like it thicker like us - stir about five tablespoons cornstarch with enough water to make a paste - then add to your liquid from the slow cooker. 

Cook on medium to hot until thickened, around three to five minutes.   

Season to taste: Add extra salt - pepper - sweet paprika to taste at the very end. I added only a pinch of salt, but suit yourself:) 

  BON APPETIT!

Try it - you'll like it,

it's the perfect slow cooker recipe for the cold days of winter!

Thank you for the inspiration RedBird!

Nov 18, 2011 © Rose Hill All Rights Reserved

All images copyright - © Rose Hill