Hearty Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Hearty Slow Cooker Beef Stew is a simply 1-pan meal that needs no stirring or monitoring. What could be simpler than preparing your stew the night before or morning of your meal and then place it in your slow cooker, go to work or school, and return to a hot meal?

Cooking time depends on whether you use the low or high setting. The high setting usually cooks foods in about half the time. Good for meals you want to serve in 4 to 6 hours. Foods left on low setting can take 10 hours or more hours to cook. Follow your cookers instructions to determine the correct setting.

Use this recipe as a baseline to prepare dozens of variations by adjusting the amount of each ingredient or adding other ingredients like corn, mushrooms, turnips or spinach. There is no limit to the number of variations.

Substitutions

1. Substitute chicken or pork for the beef.
2. Omit the meat for a vegetable stew.
3. Substitute turnips for all or part of the potatoes.

Ingredients

• 1 lb (450g) extra lean beef chuck or stew meat cut into 1-inch (2.5cm) pieces
• 2 tablespoons (30ml) all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon (5ml) Kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon (2.5ml) ground black pepper
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon (1-2.5ml) crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon (2.5ml) dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon (5ml) Worcestershire sauce
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 bay leaf (fresh or dried)
• 3 (175g) carrots, sliced about 1/2 inch thick
• 1 large (250g) onion, coarsely chopped
• 2 stacks/ribs (125g) celery, coarsely sliced
• 1 cup (130g) frozen green peas
• 1 medium (300g) russet or other potatoes cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 cup (240ml) water
• 1/2 cup (120ml) dry red wine
• 1 tablespoon (30ml) corn starch to thicken liquid (optional)

Method of Preparation