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There’s nothing quite like walking into a kitchen filled with the aroma of a slow-cooked meal, and this Crockpot Italian Beef Stew delivers on flavor every single time. It's one of the easiest comfort food recipes you can make, requiring quick prep before the slow cooker takes over the heavy lifting.
The prep is quick, and once the ingredients are in the crockpot, it frees you up to do all your other things while dinner finishes cooking. As the stew cooks, the smell in the house is truly amazing! This is a rich, flavorful dish that is perfect poured over egg noodles, mashed potatoes, or rice.
Why Pre-Browning the Beef is Worth It
While this is not technically a “dump-and-then-run” recipe, the slight extra effort pays off. You could probably skip the dredging and partial cooking part if you were truly pressed for time—recipes are easily adapted!
However, the reason we recommend the dredging and partial cooking of the beef is that it adds incredible depth. It helps meld the flavors of the garlic, onions, peppers, and floured meat together, resulting in a much richer stew.
You could even finish cooking this on the stovetop if you wanted to. If you prefer a faster, more hands-on method, [find our Stovetop Italian Beef Stew recipe here]. With all this said, let me share how easy it is to cook this incredible slow-cooker beef stew recipe.
Italian Beef Stew Ingredients
1-1/2 to 2 lbs.stew meat, lean
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
Olive Oil
1/2 onion chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 red pepper chopped
1 poblano chili pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 bag mini carrots
1 tsp. Italian spices
1/2 tsp. thyme
3 bay leaves
1- 14.5 oz. can tomato sauce with green peppers, celery, and onion (or plain)
Maderia Wine, half a can measured from your emptied stewed tomatoes
1-14.5 oz. beef broth
How to Make Italian Beef Stew in the Crockpot
Step-by-Step Instructions
Prep and Braising the Beef
Using aChef's knife, prepare veggies per recipe directions, set to the side.
Then add the beef, flour, salt, and pepper to the gallon-size plastic bag. Shake until the meat is fully coated.
Heat olive oil in the pan and add the meat to a large non-stick skillet.
How to braise beef for stew
The braising process and these steps are the same whether you make the beef stew on the stovetop, crockpot, or slow cooker.
Cook meat on medium/low heat. Add the garlic and onions.
Next, cook in oil by turning with a spoon so as not to scorch. Add a little more oil if needed.
Add peppers and cook for 5 minutes on low.
Add beef broth to the pan. Mix, let it cook for 5 minutes, and then pour it carefully into the crockpot
Italian Beef Stew - This recipe can be made in the crockpot, slow cooker or Instant Pot on a crock-pot setting. Easy to make, flavorful dish that can be served with noodles, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, or rice. DearCreatives.com
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time4 hours
Total Time4 hours30 minutes
Ingredients
1-1/2 to 2 lbs. stew meat lean
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
Olive Oil
1/2 onion chopped
4 cloves garlic chopped
1 red pepper chopped
1 poblano chili pepper seeded and chopped
1/2 bag mini carrots
1 tsp. Italian spices
1/2 tsp. thyme
3 bay leaves
1- 14.5 oz. can tomato sauce with green peppers celery and onion (or plain)
Maderia Wine half a can measure from your emptied stewed tomatoes
1-14.5 oz. beef broth
Instructions
Wash and chop all your veggies keep garlic and onion together in one bowl, add peppers in another bowl.
Take beef from package dump into a plastic baggie with flour, salt, and pepper.
Start to heat about 3 tablespoons olive oil.
Add the floured meat mixture to the heated pan, then cook a bit.
Turn and add garlic and onions, continue cooking on a med./low heat.
When slightly browned add the peppers cook about 3-5 more minutes.
Then add beef broth. Stir together then add entire pan to the crockpot.
Next, add the stewed tomatoes. Use the empty can to measure Mederia Wine half-filled into can.
Pour measured Maderia into the crockpot.
Add the rest of the spices.
Then add carrots.
Cook on high 4 hours. *see notes
Notes
Cook on high at least 4 hours. Check for meats tenderness. If the internal temperature has not been met it needs to be cooked longer. It will be finished when the meat is a tender and the internal temperature of 160F has been met. Serve with noodles, potatoes, rice or bread.
Optionally you can add potatoes into your stew as shown in the video tutorial.
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