Delicious Easy Beef Stew Recipe for the Crockpot

This easy beef stew recipe is delicious, hearty, and a perfect weeknight family meal! Just set it to cook in the crockpot or slow cooker and you’ll enjoy the heavenly smell of simmering stew all day until dinner. Read on for the recipe!

Let me just start this post by saying: if you don’t eat meat, I apologize profusely. Not only for the fact that this is a meaty post, but for the fact that you mouth will be missing out on this absolutely delicious easy beef stew recipe. For the rest of you, prepare yourselves for the best stew in the whole world.

Psst — before you read on, be sure to book mark this kale soup if you need another incredible winter or fall recipe! And our easy-to-make beer bread goes particularly well with both recipes, too.

If you love these recipes, be sure to sign up below for our VIP group, where I’ll send more like this right to ya!

The Stew We’ve Made for a Decade

Ryan and I started making this recipe when got married because we got a crock pot for our wedding and it seemed like the right thing to do when you have a crock pot. Ya know. Make stew.

And once we had it we couldn’t quit it. This recipe comes out every fall and stays in heavy rotation until the weather gets warmer again. Over the years we’ve tweaked it to make it faster, easier, and more delicious (in the opinion of my humble taste buds).

Now don’t get scared about the list of ingredients when you see it. Because they’re common spices, you probably already have most of them in your cabinets. Also, once you make the base seasoning you can keep a little jar of it and you won’t have to make it every time.

Why We Love a Slow Cooker or crock Pot Stew

Aside from the obvious reasons to love cooking stew in a crock pot (it’s so easy and fast to put meals together!), I personally feel that it enhances flavor.

The slow cooking aspect allows the spices and ingredients to marinate together as it cooks, resulting in a richer and heartier flavor, especially for this stew.

The Crockpot I Love

We registered for a small 6-quart crockpot at our wedding and still own and use it 10 years later.

We did, however, upgrade the size to an 8-quart crockpot with digital programming capability as our family grew to four people. While the smaller crockpot was great for two of us, the larger one cooks for a whole family and allows for leftovers as well.

Here’s the one we use for larger meals.

Easy Beef Stew recipe

Ingredients for Stew Seasoning

• 2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme

Ingredients for Stew

• olive oil
• 2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon Stew Seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 8 oz sliced mushrooms
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 3 cups beef stock, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 pound small (golf ball size) potatoes, quartered
• 1 cup diced carrots
• 1 cup coarsely diced onion
• 1 cup frozen green peas
• a few sprigs fresh parsley

Make Time: 10 Minutes Prep, 8 Hours Cook Time

Beef Stew Seasoning

First, mix up your stew seasoning.

Note! We made the seasoning the first time we ever cooked the stew and found that it lasts for at least a year. You’ll just need to do this once in a blue moon. If you don’t want a ton of leftover seasoning, cut the measurements down.

Personally, I recommend mixing the amounts in the ingredients list and keeping it around. It’s great to have on hand and makes cooking this stew incredibly fast and easy. You can mix the spices and just pop them into an empty spice jar like these.

Alternatively, you can use a small mason jar or even a Ziploc baggie.

Quick-Prep Slow Cooker Stew Instructions

Sautee all meat in a pan with a splash of olive oil and a tsp of salt, a tsp of creole seasoning, and 1/2 tsp of pepper. Don’t cook your meat all the way through; just brown it for a few minutes on each side.

Into the crock pot, put butter, mushrooms, flour, beef stock, tomato paste, herbs, spices, and browned meat. Then cover and cook on high for one hour. Next, add potatoes and carrots, stir, cover, and cook for another six hours.

Add diced onions, stir, cover, and cook for another hour. Finally, during the final few minutes, stir in the peas. When you serve, sprinkle with parsley (or you can chop and mix it in when you add the peas).

Serving Beef Stew

Take it to the next level with some rustic bread that you love. I love it with olive bread or this beer bread.

This stew is also really great with a glass of your favorite red wine. It’s the perfect winter meal, guys!

Hope you try it out. And if you have another favorite stew recipe, leave a link in the comments! xoxo