Easy beef stew recipe for the crock pot

Beef Stew is one of my favorite meals in the Fall and Winter. Not many things taste better when the weather starts to get a little colder. A definite comfort food in my book.

It’s pretty simple as far as ingredients go. Stewing beef, potatoes, carrots, onions, burgundy cooking wine, chopped garlic and beef gravy mix. Not much preparation, that is all I use. Easy recipes rock!!! Let’s get to it…

First you need your meat. Sometimes I slice up a roast, be it chuck or whatever kind. That usually ends up with some really good flavor but is also kind of a pain to cut up. If you freeze it for an hour or two first it definitely helps but I went with a pack of stew meat here and was glad I did. I put the stew meat in a ziploc bag then I added a half cup of burgundy cooking wine. I also threw in a tablespoon or two of chopped garlic. I shook the bag up well and put it in the fridge. I think I only had it in there for a few hours, but overnight would be best.

You can cut the vegetables up first if you want but I usually do it right before I throw them in the crock pot. I usually start early in the morning so it all depends what your schedule is like. Slice up your onions, potatoes and carrots and keep in mind that the thicker the cuts, the longer they will take to cook. I put all of the vegetables into the bottom of the crock, then take your ziploc bag of meat and dump it on top of the vegetables, wine garlic and all. You want the vegetables on the bottom because they take the longest to cook.You want the meat to lay on top out of any liquid because it will cook the best that way. In my experience, NEVER put the meat on the bottom. Especially if you are going to have any liquid in there. When the meat is in liquid for an extended amount of time it ends up boiling more or less and gets tough and flavorless. Let it just lay on the top and turn your crock on low, it will turn out great.

That’s about it. I think I usually turn the crock to high for a few hours to get it going then to low. I’d let it go at least 6-8 hours total if not longer. The longer you let it cook the better it is. The main thing you are looking for here is if the carrots are cooked. They usually take longest in my experience and nothing ruins stew faster than hard carrots in my opinion. I usually taste one to see if they are done.

If your carrots are soft then you are ready for the last step. I mix up a quart of brown gravy just to where it starts to thicken up a bit then dump it into the middle of the crock. Let it cook for another hour or so on low to make sure everything is hot then mix everything up well and serve. I let the meat rest on top of the vegetables like I said before until the end when I mix it.

This turned out to be some of the best stew I ever made and was definitely some of the easiest. Letting the meat rest on top of the vegetables is the key in my opinion.

Easy crock pot recipes are great and ones that taste this good are even better. 

Fantastic!!! Give it a try!!!