Some where around here I have a great beef stew recipe. Unfortunately it’s very labor intensive. Dutch over on the stove, then in the stove, this thing cooked then discarded… lots of moving parts and ingredients. I would like to have a quick crockpot beef stew recipe. I don’t mind an extra step or two like browning the meat but it should be mostly throw it in the crockpot and forget for a few hours. Please and thank you.
All my Crockpost stuff ends up tasting the same…
When I make stew, I brown up a bunch of cubed “Meat” (use whatever you want/got), toss in cut up veggies, add a bunch of red wine and bring to almost a boil. Drop the heat to low as it’ll go, put the mushrooms in at that point. Salt, pepper, some bullion, maybe a bay leaf and allspice. Pretty easy.
Let it sit for a few hours, add barley for about the last 45 minutes. Enjoy!
Crockpot version, I don’t bother browning. And I’ve never tried it with the last barley step. Not sure if it would give it enough time to do it’s thing.
I toss in the meat (not browned first, because it’s faster), carrots (I prefer regular chopped, peeled carrots, but baby carrots are faster), onions etc along with a random amount of tomato paste and whatever seasonings/salt I want. Then just about cover it with half beef broth and half Guinness. When it’s done, I thicken it with Wondra (very fine flour that’s less likely to clump and dissolves quickly so you can add it directly to the stew without mixing it with water first) and it’s done.
Also, I typically don’t add potatoes and instead pour it over some instant/microwave mashed potatoes. Sometimes I add a can of Rotel tomatoes to give it some kick.
It’s not bad considering it takes about 5 minutes to toss everything in the crock pot.
Whatever you end up doing, I’d suggest trying out Guinness or even a good brown beer. IMHO, that makes it considerably better. For a long time I used all Guinness, but I found that going roughly half and half with broth was better, again IMHO.
First off, maybe a useful tip — when I make beef stews, I use a shortcut here. The point of browning, obviously, is not to start cooking, but to put some actual brown color on the outside, for texture and flavor. When the meat goes into the stew for a few hours (or into the pressure cooker for an hour), it tenderizes and falls apart, and the browned bits add layers of flavor into the broth.
But I don’t bother with the half hour or more, sauteeing the chunks in batches, laboriously rotating them through (because you can’t crowd them, or they don’t brown). I just lay them out on a sheet pan, give them a quick dust of salt and spray of oil, and stick them under the broiler for five or ten minutes, while I chop the celery and carrots and onion and stuff. You do have to keep your eye on it, because it’ll go from perfectly browned to burned inside a minute, but the result is perfectly serviceable for stew purposes, and a lot less effort. You’ll also end up with a bit of cooked-out liquid in the sheet pan that you can pour into the stew pot.
For the recipe itself, I’m going to suggest a highly simplified version of a classic boeuf bourguignon. If you’ve ever seen Julia Child’s classic recipe, you know there’s a ton of steps, which is the opposite of what you’re asking for. But you can cut a bunch of corners and still get within throwing distance of the original.
I don’t really have a formal recipe, but here’s the basic overview.
- Chop some bacon (or buy pre-cut lardons).
- Per the above, start browning the stew meat under the broiler, including the bacon.
- Dice a big onion; wash and chop celery; peel a couple carrots and cut 'em into bite-size chunks.
- Slice some mushrooms (or just buy 'em pre-sliced and save an additional five minutes).
- (Optional: If you have the time, roast the mushrooms ahead to reduce liquid and add another layer of flavor. I also add the onion here to eliminate the need to saute it separately. Since I work at home two days a week, I can toss 'em in the oven pretty much any time, and they’ll be ready when I need 'em. The recipe works basically the same without this step. Up to you.)
- The beef is probably browned at this point, so pull it out.
- Saute the onion with a pinch of salt for a few minutes until soft.
- Put everything above in the crock pot. Edit to add: with salt & pepper to taste of course.
- Add 1 tbsp fresh thyme finely chopped (or 1 tsp dried).
- Optional: Add some baby potatoes (see note below).
- Optional: Add any other ingredients to preference/taste (e.g. thin ribbons of kale or chard).
- Add a generous cup of red wine along with liquid to cover (I go half stock, half water).
- Cook for a few hours per usual crock pot method.
- At end, thicken sauce per your preference (bring to boil for several minutes, or add a corn starch slurry and boil briefly, as you like).
Re the potatoes: You can optionally serve this stew over a starch, like separately cooked pasta or mashed potato. If you do that, omit the potatoes from the stew.
Serve alongside a roasted vegetable (I like Brussels sprouts with this) or green salad.
It’s a very basic beef stew method. Adding the wine and mushroom makes it “bourguignon.” 
If I skip roasting the mushrooms ahead, I can get all the pre-work done and have the stew in the cooker inside half an hour.
Here you go:
https://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/moms-slow-cooker-beef-stew/
This one works, and I speak from experience. It doesn’t require a lot of time or effort, the ingredients are either likely in your kitchen already, or easily available from the local supermarket on your next shopping trip. Basically, you spend 20 minutes browning the beef and cutting vegetables, then let it cook in the slow cooker for 7 to 8 hours.
Like I said, it’s easy and it works.
I appreciate the replies. I don’t consider myself a cook. I follow directions well. I need a recipe that is step by step with specific amounts. The only thing I cook that isn’t measured to exact amounts in a recipe is my mother’s (tomato) sauce. That I can just wing it.
I wound up having to go shopping before there were any replies so I went with a simple one off of the internet. I will look at other suggestions for the future. This is the one I used:
I’ve always made stew with potatoes. I also like eating it over egg noodles. I’m sure it’s against some culinary law to have potatoes and noodles together but they’ll have to catch me first.
Zoop:
Browned meat
Chunked up root veggies
Can of rotel.
Garlic and mushroom.
Bayleaf.
Water or beef broth to cover.
Crock for 4-6 hours.
A suggested modification from my experience - the broiler hack is indeed, a help, but I also prefer to broil some of my veggies, especially the onion at the same time. I normally just quarter the onion and remove the papery layer before tossing it into the pan (or a bag of frozen peeled peal onions for a faster option), and I always remove any flavorful liquid from the browned beef and veggies to the insert.
Speaking of beef, assuming you’re using a boneless chuck roast or something similar, I do want some extra collagen. So some homemade chicken or beef stock from my freezer, or paying a bit more and add some oxtail, short ribs, or even flanken. If so, make sure to remove after about 4-6 hours and remove any possible bones.
I normally like an inexpensive beer for my liquid, such as Shiner Bock, but definitely something with a bit more presence than a light lager.
Slow cook on high for 2 hours, slow for 6 after. If there is a flavor element you really like in the stew (black pepper, onions, garlic, etc) add a supplemental amount in the last two hours because a long slow cooker can dampen the intensity. Similarly, slow cooking tends to reduce the “brighter” flavors, so I suggest adding cider vinegar to taste in the last 30 minutes, along with any supplemental salt and pepper.
Upthread, mentioned Guinness or a brown beer. One of my favorite brown beers, though they only have it in rotation from time to time, is New Glarus’ Fat Squirrel (only available in Wisconsin).
At work, back when we/I used to make our own soups, I’d make beef stew with that. Unfortunately, the powers that be wouldn’t let me call it “Squirrel Stew”.
You are correct in your prior mention, and I endorse you being able to call it Fat Squirrel Stew, but for me only, I find Guinness is a bit too strong for a beef stew as a standalone dish. If I were making a beef and stout Pie, where the crust tends to deaden some of the flavors, then hell yes, but just too much of a good thing when it’s a dish of stew.
YMMV of course!
That’s brilliant!
I gave away all our crock pots (we were given three as wedding presents. It was the in thing) because nothing from the Crock-Pot ever tasted very good. The veggies were undercooked, the meat was cooked to hell, and nothing tasted “browned”. But this (and @ParallelLines addition of also browning the veggies a bit) could fix a lot is the problems.
Crock pot recipes always taste crock pot-tey to me, no matter what’s made in them. It’s an off taste I can’t get past.
I have a dandy, easy beef stew recipe that I make in a slow oven that’s very low effort/high reward, but that’s not what the OP asked for.
Still, if anyone’s interested, I can share the recipe with specific ingredients and instructions. I make it in a 5-quart stainless saucepan with enough surface area to maillard-brown 3 pounds of cubed beef in one go, saute some chopped onions in the same pan, stir in some flour and brown it briefly, add the other ingredients (beef stock, red wine, tomato paste and seasonings), bring to a simmer then bung it into the oven for about 2 hours. Pull it out long enough to stir in cubed potatoes and sliced carrots, back into the oven for another hour, then stir in some frozen peas at the end. Easy as hell and – best of all! – no crock pot taste! Makes enough for 6-8 servings, so plenty to freeze for another day.
I do understand what you mean by “crock pot” flavor, but I only found it with meat dishes, and I associated it with excessive cooking time. When I make slow cooker saag, or slow cooker steel cut oats, I don’t get that sort of flavor.
I do rather wish I had a more granular temperature setting and stability from the slow cooker. Yes, I know such features are available, at least on very high end slow cookers that double as sous vide, but I’m not spending that much on a new slow cooker.
Well, and to be fair, I have 2 crock pots, one small and one large, both from the time when crock pots were the Brand New Thing. Each is at least 45 years old. I use them now mostly to keep things hot I made on the stove for potlucks (beans or chili, e.g.). I’m sure newer ones are much better at temperature control and have largely eliminated the taste I dislike. I just find them superfluous. Like you, I’m not interested in spending a bunch more money for a tool I’ll only rarely use – if ever.
I do have a really awesome coconut rice pudding recipe I still make in my large crock pot. No off taste with that one. Super yummy! But that’s about it for crock pot stuff now.
I have 3 that I all bought for myself.
A tiny 2 qt model (good for making batches of queso, overnight oats, and slow cooker Boston beans), a 5qt model that I use for the slow cooker saag, slow cooker “pulled pork” and other stewed critters, and an 8 qt that I only use for rendering full sized turkey remnants into stock.
But back to the crock-pot flavor, I normally only got that from cook times over 8 hours. So I no longer do overnight loads.
My crockpot beef stew recipe is 2 cans of Progresso french onion soup, 1 lb stew beef with each piece cut in half if needed, a couple of potatoes cut up into cubes, baby carrots cut in halves or thirds depending on size, water added if needed to cover everything, a can of whole kernel corn and a can of cut green beans added about a half hour before supper time, and my “secret” ingredient, a can of Coca-Cola Classic or Dr. Pepper.
I will substitute Campbell’s condensed french onion soup if Progresso isn’t available but I prefer the larger onion pieces of Progresso.