How to Make Beef Stew in the Slow Cooker
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Learn how to make beef stew in the slow cooker with this easy beef stew recipe. Loaded with vegetables and flavorful seasonings, this ground beef stew is the perfect hearty and filling comfort food dish.
I’m a big fan of slow cooker stews when the weather gets cooler and this easy beef stew is one of my favorites. It’s so easy to make, as it uses frozen vegetables, packets of seasoning, and tender beef. All you need to do is add all of the ingredients to the crockpot and go about your day. You will come home to an easy but delicious gourmet meal. How good does that sound?
Each spoonful of this flavorful goodness warms my belly and my soul. The combination of crushed tomatoes, beef broth, ranch dressing mix, and Italian dressing mix takes the stew’s flavor over the top – trust me. I just know your family will love this slow cooker beef stew as much as mine. It’s hearty, filling, scrumptious, and such an easy comfort food main dish to serve for supper when you’re busy during the week.
Alright, let’s learn how to make beef stew in the slow cooker.
Recipe Ingredients
- Lean ground beef
- Frozen stew mix (veggie mix) or gumbo mix
- Frozen butter beans or baby lima beans
- Small onion
- Chopped crushed tomatoes
- Beef broth
- Ranch dressing mix
- Italian dressing mix
How to Make Beef Stew in the Slow Cooker
Dump everything except the meat into the slow cooker/crock pot.
Take your meat and pinch off bits at a time to add to the crock pot, until it is all added. As discussed below, if I am using ground beef I add it raw. But if I am using larger chunks of meat I will sear it first in garlic and then add the to the .
Give this a little stir and turn it on. You’ll want to cook your beef stew on low for 7 to 8 hours or high for 3 to 4 hours.
Go about your day and get ready for a delicious supper!
Oh my. This crockpot beef stew is such a soothing bowl of deliciousness with flavors that hit all the right notes!
Enjoy! And hey, if there are any leftovers, it’s even better the next day.
Storage
- Store stew leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop.
- Beef stew also freezes beautifully, so I usually make extra and freeze it in single servings for my family to heat up or to take to friends who just need a little act of kindness for the day. Thaw in the fridge before reheating as above.
Recipe Notes
- You can use any type of beef you like to make this flavorful dish. If you use ground beef, you are going to add this ground beef uncooked. This adds more flavor to your stew. If you use larger chunks of cubed stew meat (opt for beef chuck roast), I like to sear the beef cubes in a little garlic butter before adding them to the stew. Searing the adds a whole bunch to the flavor.
- I buy the boxes of ranch and Italian dressing mix that has three or four envelopes in them and use one envelope per recipe. It’s cheaper to buy it this way.
- For the beef stock, you can also use two cups of water and two beef bullion cubes.
- Substitute the frozen butter beans for baby lima beans or the vegetable of your choice. Carrot, potato, celery, and frozen peas are stew favorites.
- Many recipes use to add , but I like the combination of the crushed tomatoes with the packets of beef stew seasoning mix in this instance.
Recipe FAQs
What is frozen stew mix?
A couple of people asked what this is so I came back to clarify. Frozen stew mix is just a mix of frozen veggies in a bag that you buy in the freezer section. Usually, it’s green beans or okra, corn, chopped onions, and sometimes tomatoes and such. It can be any blend of frozen veggies you like, though. I love the type that has okra in it for this stew.
What do you serve with this ?
Serve your stew with crusty slices of bread, cornbread, crackers, or homemade buttermilk biscuits to soak up the juicy broth. You may also want to serve it with cauliflower rice, quinoa, brown rice, mashed potato, or mashed sweet potato.
Can you put raw beef in the slow cooker?
Yes, you absolutely can! I break up my uncooked ground beef and add it to the slow cooker as is. You can do the same if using beef chuck pieces. However, searing it just adds to the depth and flavor of the stew, so I highly recommend it if you have time.
How to make ?
If you want to cook this in the , first place it on saute to sear the with the onion and . Then add the remaining ingredients, seal the , and high- the for 35 minutes. After, allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes and then your will be done.
Check out these other sensational stews:
Ground Beef Stew (With a Secret Ingredient)
Beef and Smoked Sausage Stew in the Crockpot
Our Family’s Southern Chicken Stew Recipe
Lentil Stew (Budget Friendly & Delicious)
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef uncooked (or seared beef chunks)
- 1 bag frozen stew mix or gumbo mix 12-ounce
- 1 bag frozen butter beans 12-ounce, can substitute for baby lima beans or veggie of your choice
- 1 chopped small onion
- 1 can crushed tomatoes 29-ounce
- 2 cups beef broth
- 2 cups water
- 1 package ranch dressing mix 1-ounce
- 1 package Italian dressing mix .7-ounce
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a 6-quart slow cooker except the beef. Using your hands, pinch off bite-size pieces of beef and drop them into the slow cooker. Beef doesn’t have to be uniform or done a certain way, it just needs to be in smaller pieces.1 pound lean ground beef, 1 bag frozen stew mix or gumbo mix, 1 bag frozen butter beans, 1 chopped small onion, 1 can crushed tomatoes, 2 cups beef broth, 2 cups water, 1 package ranch dressing mix, 1 package Italian dressing mix
- Stir ingredients together. Cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.
Notes
Nutrition
Love is when the other person’s happiness is more important than your own.
~H. Jackson Brown
When my only child, a son, went off to college (less than 100 miles away mind you) I cried like a baby every night for two weeks. It wasn’t just that I missed him-obviously I did-it was that I realized the chapter of him living at home was over. I was happy for him to move along to a good life but I do remember how it felt to have him safely at home with me for his first 17 1/2 years. I was wishing he started kindergarten later and could have been home for ‘just one more year’ instead of a couple more summers.
I know your son Brady is top quality and will be a success but you’ll miss him.
Christy ,
I read your post this morning with bittersweet tears flowing down my face. I am in a similar season to yours and am so proud to watch them getting their wings yet so sad to watch them fly !
Just keep an open mind and heart as he will likely change some at college….challenge his ideas and values, but that’s what they’re supposed to do. When you raise them up right like you have, they always come back around to their ideals and values. My nephew, who is like my de facto son, is going through this right now….he just turned 20 and wrapping up his sophomore year.
I have three who “have flown the nest”. I’m fortunate that my one daughter lives within 10 minutes of our place. My other daughter 2 hours and my son 15 minutes (but seems like 15 hours). Watching them leave the roost one by one was pretty hard. However, the girls eventually returned home if not physically but at least with their hearts. My son was quite different and for years stayed away as much as possible unless there was a problem. We did help out when we could but not too much – he had to learn to live life on his own. He’s matured quite a bit and is now quite grown up though his heart still remains far away. No, there’s no girl friend. He just prefers it this way. All this to say, things will work out, slowly sometimes but they do. Daily prayer and friends are a big help.
Many thanks to all you do for us.
Expect a big change! Especially in your daily life. One of the hardest things at first was giving up knowing exactly what our daughter was doing, where she was and who she was with. Trust took on a whole new meaning when she went away to college at 18. But after a few weeks of adjusting to the phone not ringing constantly in the evening( no cell phones then) , no doors slamming shut and not needing to prepare that third serving of dinner, we actually began to relax because we were not responsible for all her daily activities. And, knowing she was happy and doing well helped a lot. But, I must be honest and tell you I had to close the door to her bedroom for the first six weeks. I just could not look in on my way down the hall to my laundry room. I would dissolve in tears if I did open the door. It was just so empty! But, that feeling did pass. She as away at a college close to home – only an hour and 15 minutes away. So we could drive over, take her and sometimes a friend, too, to dinner and then be home by bedtime. That was very comforting. Prayer was a wonderful consolation in those days. Prayers for you and your husband and Katie Rose, too. I promise it won’t be all bad!
Hi Christy,
You are entering the most difficult time of parenting. It is, however, so rewarding and your heart will be so proud of your baby (we will always call them that, right). The hardest part of my journey in adult parenting has been how much to be involved while at the same time wanting to be all up in their business still, lol! My boys have not hesitated reminding me they are “grown” now and it took me a long time to realize that; so hard to not want to still take care of them, give them advice they did not ask for, worry when you don’t hear from them for a few days. I think I drove myself and them crazy those first few years about that! The one important lesson I had to learn was to let them go and let God direct their lives. If we dont, we are in God’s way for doing all the wonderful things he has in store for them. It has been a rough road to do that and I constantly have to remind myself although my last child left the nest 10 years ago. I Just recently got a book by Stormie O’Martian “The Power of Praying for your Adult Children” and it is helping me tremendously right now. I was doing really good until my youngest son, 33, started having anxiety issues. I think it is more like stress overload as he just made Major in the USAF and very successful in life. So I almost felt like I have gone back to square one lately. I am praying so hard for this child. I really feel like I cant be happy unless all my children are happy but God is there, I know. And I am depending on him to handle my son right now. All this is to say, a Mama’s heart is never free from her child’s heart. God gives us a strength beyond understanding for handling it all though. So I pray as you enter this chapter of your life….stay close to God and you will survive it.
TRUST it is all about trust. You trust yourself that what you learned from your parents helped make you the person you are today. And you trust that you have my word and deeds have passed that on to your children. And now the hard part you have to trust that they heard you and will pass that on in thier words and deeds and a life well lived. Remember you are still there he knows where to find you if he has doubts ,and from what you have written and told us about you and your values, he will come if he needs a bit of advise or guidence. TRUST