

Warm, comforting beef stew is a favourite in our house. It’s tasty and super easy to make in the slow cooker; it’s one of those meals you can leave to cook away while you get on with the rest of the day. It’s also a go-to store cupboard meal for us, as aside from the beef, we tend to have all of the ingredients ready in the fridge or cupboard.
Serve it with a side of roasted broccoli or some fresh, crusty bread to dip in the delicious beefy broth… YUM.
Easy Slow Cooker Beef Stew
Prep Time15 mins
Cook Time5 hrs
Total Time5 hrs 15 mins
Servings: 4 portions
Ingredients
- 400 g braising steak / beef, diced
- 400 g chopped tomatoes, canned
- 4 large carrots, peeled & sliced
- 1 large onion, thickly sliced
- 1 can button mushrooms
- 1 large can new potatoes, halved
- 400 ml beef stock
- 150 ml red wine (optional)
- 2 tsp garlic powder / minced garlic
- 4 tbsp beef gravy granules
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Peel and slice carrots and onions into thick slices.
- Mix together beef stock, red wine, chopped tomatoes, garlic, salt and black pepper to make the broth.
- Put the beef, carrots, onions and broth into the slow cooker.
- Cover and cook on high for at least 4 hours.
- After 4 hours, drain the mushrooms and potatoes, cutting any of the large mushrooms and potatoes into smaller equal sizes.
- Add the mushrooms, potatoes and gravy granules to the slow cooker and stir well.
- Cover and leave to cook for on high for one more hour.
Tips & Tricks
- Let the beef sit at room temperature whilst you are prepping the carrots, onions and stock; this will help it cook better.
- For the tastiest and easiest stock, I use the Knorr Rich Beef stock pots - mix one with 400ml of boiling water and stir until dissolved.
- I've found the best gravy granules are the Bisto Best Beef gravy granules; they give the broth a really lovely rich beef flavour.
- You can substitute fresh mushrooms for canned. Add them in after 3 hours cooking the rest of the stew.
- Similarly, you can use fresh baby potatoes instead of canned; cut them into halves and add them in at the start of cooking with the beef, carrots and onions.
- You can use 4 tbsp of tomato purée in place of canned tomatoes.
- If you prefer to leave out the red wine, you can swap with a few splashes of Worcestershire sauce for a similar flavour, or just add a little more stock.