Crock Pot Beef Stew
Traditional Beef Stew the easy way - in a crock pot! You can prepare it the night before and it cooks while you're at work.
Traditional Beef Stew the easy way - in a crock pot! You can prepare it the night before and it cooks while you're at work.
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 2 medium onions chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup celery chopped
- 1 lb beef cubes, i usually cut them even smaller than they come from the grocery
- 1 16-oz can diced tomatoes
- 1 tbl tomato paste
- bay leaf
- 4 potatoes peeled and cubed (up to 5)
- 4 carrots sliced (up to 5)
- 1.5 cups water the water won't increase s
- Carbohydrate 36.2243833333333 g
- Cholesterol 49.896 mg
- Fat 13.42045 g
- Fiber 6.17116676906745 g
- Protein 18.69223 g
- Saturated Fat 5.322415 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (449g)
- Sodium 130.001666666667 mg
- Sugar 30.0532165642659 g
- Trans Fat 1.77290333333333 g
- Calories 337 calories
Step-by-step
- Add all ingredients to a crock pot and cook on high or medium (depending on what settings your crock pot has) for at least 6 hours.
- I usually set mine up when I leave for work and when we get home, dinner is ready.
Liquid Ratios and Starch Release
Swapping water for low-sodium beef broth alters the foundational depth of the dish, providing immediate savory development that plain tap water cannot match. Slow cookers trap moisture rather than venting it, meaning initial liquid volumes remain static throughout cooking. Adding too much liquid creates a watery broth rather than a velvety sauce, so keep the water or broth constrained to the specified 1.5 cups to account for the moisture naturally released by the onions and canned tomatoes during the six-hour simmer.Controlling Beef Toughness
Cutting the beef cubes smaller than standard butcher size ensures proper heat penetration and tenderization over the long cooking cycle. Tough cuts rich in connective tissue require sustained low heat to break down collagen into gelatin, a process that takes a minimum of six hours on medium or high settings. Rushing this window by turning up external heat sources will only seize the muscle fibers, resulting in dry and stringy meat.Starch Management and Vegetable Integrity
Peeling and cubing potatoes uniformly ensures they soften at the same rate as the sliced carrots, preventing half-raw centers alongside disintegrated edges. Starchy potato varieties release enough amylose into the surrounding liquid to naturally thicken the stew without requiring an added flour slurry. Keep the slow cooker lid firmly closed during the cooking process to maintain a consistent internal temperature of roughly 200 degrees Fahrenheit, which is required to fully gelatinize those released starches.
