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
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.
