How to Make an Easy Beef Stew (Crockpot)

In this instructable, I will teach you how to make a really easy and super yummy beef stew. When it is cold outside, there is something nice about having a nice bowl of hot stew to warm up the belly. This stew takes little preparation, and if you start it in the morning, it will be ready for dinner. Follow the easy steps below or watch the short video tutorial, or do both! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

4 to 5 potatoes (add potato per person, plus one extra)

1 pound of carrots (baby carrots, or diced carrots, peeled)

1 yellow onion

1 beef stew mix (super cheap usually under a dollar)

celery (optional)

4 to 6 cups of water

salt (to taste)

pepper (to taste)

garlic powder (to taste)

Knife

cutting board

Crock-Pot

Wooden spoon

Basically pour all the ingredients into your crockpot and let it cook on low for 8 hrs or high for 4 hours. Simple as that.

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Step 1: Cut Up Potatoes

First lets go ahead and cup up our Potatoes. I like to make them bite sized chunks, you can dice them as well, make them as large or as small as you want. For every four people you want to serve add an additional potato so a total of 5 potatoes. This is not exact, if you like less potatoes, use less, if you like a ton of potato, use more.

Step 2: Cut Up Onion

Now let's move on to our onion. I cut these up in chunks as well, again, make them the size that you want.

Step 3: Add Potatoes, Onion, Carrots, and Meat

Now lets add our chopped potatoes, onion, carrots and beef to the Crock-Pot.

***If you do not have a Crock-Pot, you can make the stew on the stove top. If you do that, you will want to brown the meat first in a pan, with a little bit of oil. Just sear the outsides.

Step 4: Mix the Beef Stew Mix

Most supermarkets have a Spice Mix area, with all kinds of ready-mixes. They are usually quite reasonably priced. Mine cost something like $0.69. Let's take our mix and add two cups of water to it, and stir. Then pour it onto our ingredients. If you can't find a beef stew mix at your store or online, go ahead and use beef broth, or something similar.

Step 5: Add Additional Water

Next we add about 3 to 4 more cups of water, until it comes up and almost covers the top, then stir.

Step 6: Add Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder

Now we add some salt, black pepper, and garlic powder. Stews can handle a lot of spices. Don't over do it here. You will add more to taste when you serve the stew. I leave it up to the individual to add the additional salt and pepper.

Step 7: Cover and Cook

Now we put on the cover and cook it. If you have a full 8 hrs, set it on low and let it cook the full 8 hours. If you have 4 hours, set it on high. If you have about 6 ours, set it on high for 2 hours, then low the remaining 4. No need to stir it during the process, just let it sit and do its thing. The beauty of the slow cooking method! If you don't have a Crock-Pot, you can make it in a pot, it will take about an hour, and medium high heat. You will want to brown your meat first however.

Step 8: It's Done!

Your stew is done! Serve it up, and any leftovers you can freeze. I like to make a ton of stew, and then store it in little plastic containers in the freezer. When you want some stew, take it out of the freezer and heat it up in the microwave. Works great!

Print the recipe here if you like.