Slow Cooker Beef Stew {with Rich Gravy}

A slow cooker pan filled with cooked beef stew with a rick gravy and vegetables.

5 from 162 votes

Slow Cooker Beef Stew {with Rich Gravy}

Slow Cooker Beef Stew or Slow Cooker Beef Casserole? Whatever you call it, it’s comfort food at its very best. A hearty meal packed with flavour, vegetables and rich gravy for the whole family.

Prep Time15

Cook Time6

Total Time6 15

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Family Food

Servings: People

Author: Sarah Rossi

Ingredients

1 kg Beef cubes See notes
3 tbsp Plain flour
2 tbsp Sunflower oil
1 Onion See notes
3 Cloves Garlic See notes
600 ml Beer See notes
3 Carrots Peeled and chopped
1/2 Swede Peeled and chopped. (Rutabaga if you're in the USA)
2 Beef stock cubes No need to dissolve in liquid, just as they are.
3 tbsp Tomato puree
3 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Imperial - Metric

Instructions

Coat the beef in the plain flour until it's well covered.
Heat the oil in a pan (or in your slow cooker pan if it's the type you can use on the hob) and brown the beef, in batches, don't overcrowd the pan, until it's browned and golden.
Add all of your other ingredients, with all of the browned beef, into the pan. Remove from the heat (or transfer to your slow cooker pan if you have used a different pan for the browning).
Pop the lid on and cook in the slow cooker for 5-6 hours on HIGH or 8-9 hours on LOW (this will vary slightly depending on the size of the cubes of meat and vegetables but don't worry, it's difficult to overcook this!)

Notes

Beef:

I use 'Braising Steak', which is the name supermarkets and butchers use for a few different cuts of beef that need slow cooking. These include chuck, skirt, leg and flank. It's also sometimes labelled as Stewing Steak.

Onions and garlic:

I use pre prepared frozen, chopped here. An onion weighs about 150g, so replace with that pre chopped weight. Garlic is about 5g per clove so I use 15g (3 teaspoons).

Beer:

Any ale/bitter is fine for this. If you don't want to use alcohol, you can replace it with beef stock (in addition to the cubes mentioned). Also, if your bottle of beer has less than 600ml (some are 500ml) just make up the difference with stock.

Nutrition