• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Sign Up for Emails
  • Recipes
    • Main Dishes
    • Sides
    • Cocktails
  • Instagram
  • Contact
    • About
    • Work With Me
  • Privacy Policy

Basil And Bubbly logo

menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • Sign Up for Emails
  • Recipes
  • Find Recipe from Instagram
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • ×

    Home » Company-Worthy Slow Cooker Beef Stew

    November 11, 2014 Beef

    Company-Worthy Slow Cooker Beef Stew

    572 shares
    • Share
    • Tweet
    • Email
    • Print

    Company Worthy Beef Stew

    Jump to Recipe

    I really, really want to love my slow cooker.  Who am I kidding -- my three slow cookers.  It seems like such a miraculous appliance: plug it in, throw in a slew of ingredients straight from the fridge ( or even the freezer ), turn it on low, and come home 9 hours later to an amazing, warm home-cooked meal.  But does it ever turn out like that?  Not in my experience.  Most slow cooker meals seem to have that ... welllllll ... slow cooker taste to them.  A little mushy, a little bland, a bit watery, and a whole lot of leftovers. Who wouldn't want seven quarts of that?!

    The recipes people make for the poor slow cooker really don't help, either:  My personal favorite is the "beef tips" recipe that calls for cubed meat, 1 gravy mix packet, 1 onion soup mix, 1 can cream of mushroom soup, and a cup of ginger ale.  Does that even count as cooking? Is it... is it even food? Reviewers of that recipe say things like "Use Diet Ginger Ale to save calories!".  Nothing says "Delicious!" like a bunch of processed ingredients simmered in aspartame.

    So after sludging through endless recipes on the internet, I decided to do what I would do with any other type of food I wanted to make, and wing it based on my own experience.  I'm no slow cooker expert, but I love my dutch oven, and the two really aren't so different.  So I started to think -- if I were to make a recipe for my dutch oven that were super simple to throw together and needed no intervention while cooking, what would I make?

    Well, I'd make a stew.  That crock pot classic:  beef stew, in fact.  The number one offender of watery "gravy", mushy vegetables, and generic bland flavor.

    But mine would not be allowed to taste like the classic.  It would need the varied textures that composed dishes contain.  It would have to taste every bit as flavorful as something carefully constructed in my dutch oven.  It would have to be company-worthy.  Yes, company-worthy.

    And do you know what? I succeeded.  This beef stew is rich, with a luxuriously smooth sauce and vegetables that still have just the right amount of bite to them. I would never have guessed this came from the crock pot, had I not ladled it out myself.  So break out your crock pot, go to work, and come home to a fabulous gourmet meal.

    Beef Stew

    Company-Worthy Slow Cooker Beef Stew

    A rich, thick-sauced beef stew good enough to serve to dinner guests!
    5 from 4 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Slow Cooker
    Cuisine: American
    Prep Time: 30 minutes
    Cook Time: 6 hours
    Total Time: 6 hours 30 minutes
    Servings: 8 servings
    Author: Basil and Bubbly

    Ingredients

    • 2 ½ - 3 lb beef chuck roast cut into 1" chunks, fat trimmed off.
    • 8 ounces mushrooms quartered
    • 8 carrots peeled and roughly cut ( approx ¾" pieces )
    • 1 stalk celery sliced
    • 2 medium potatoes peeled and roughly chopped ( approx ¾" pieces )
    • 2 small onions roughly chopped ( approx ¾" pieces )
    • 1 Tablespoon black pepper
    • 1 Tablespoon parsley
    • 1 Tablespoon dried rosemary
    • 3 cloves garlic finely diced
    • ½ cup red wine
    • 4 cups beef broth
    • 1 cup flour
    • 1 Tablespoon salt
    • 1 Tablespoon dried thyme
    • 2 Tablespoons olive oil

    Instructions

    • In a large bowl, combine the flour,salt, and thyme. Toss the beef chunks in the flour to thoroughly coat the beef.
    • Add the olive oil to a large pan set over medium heat, and brown the beef in batches. As each batch is finished browning, throw it in the slow cooker. Once the last batch has been browned and moved to the slow cooker, sprinkle the remaining flour mix on top of all the meat.
    • Add 2 cups of the beef broth to the pan you browned the meat in, and use a spatula to scrape up any bits and pieces left after the browning, and mix it into the beef broth. ( This is called deglazing the pan. )
    • Layer all of the remaining ingredients in the slow cooker, in the following order: meat (should already be on the bottom), potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, mushrooms, spices, and pour the liquids over the top last.
    • Cover and cook on high 6 hours. For the last hour of cooking, leave the heat on high high and take the lid off the crock pot.
    Tried this recipe?Mention @basilandbubbly or tag #basilandbubbly!

     

    Beef Stew

    slow cooker beef stew recipe
    « Yellow Cake Mix
    Roasted Bacon Brussels Sprouts »

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Lisa says

      January 06, 2020 at 5:43 pm

      5 stars
      This is super yummy and I really loved it, perfect cold weather meal. Thanks for sharing. How do I keep the flour from clumping while it cooks? I sprinkled the excess flour over the meat before the veggies as described. Any advice would be great.

      Reply
      • Marianne says

        January 06, 2020 at 8:47 pm

        The fat from the flour and liquid from the vegetables will stick to the flour and should prevent it from clumping. An alternative to thicken the sauce would be to not do the sprinkling, and add a slurry of corn starch and water to the final product.

        Reply
    2. Martha E. Allen says

      October 17, 2019 at 12:45 pm

      When do you add the wine and garlic?

      Reply
      • Marianne says

        October 25, 2019 at 6:47 am

        During the forth step - pour the wine on top and toss in the garlic as well

        Reply

    Please share your thoughts on this recipe! Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    Heyyyyyyy!

    My name is Marianne, and I'm two parts food, one part booze, and a dash of snark. I live in Atlanta, GA with my two cats. My personal motto: Champagne and stretchy pants. Sign up for my mailing list to keep up with the new and seasonal recipes!

    as seen in

    Recent Posts

    • Pineapple Infused Vodka (Stoli Doli)
    • Roasted Peruvian Chicken with Aji Verde
    • Air Fryer Onions
    • Espresso Martini
    • Buffalo Shrimp Tacos

    Most Popular

    Southern Baked Macaroni and Cheese

    Perfect Southern Baked Macaroni and Cheese

    air fryer sweet potato fries

    Air Fryer Sweet Potato Fries

    Sweet Potato Casserole Bites

    Sweet Potato Casserole Bites

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

    Copyright© 2023 · Cookd Pro by Shay Bocks