Crock Pot Beef Stew Recipe | Savory Nothings (2024)

FAQs

What can I add to my beef stew to give it more flavor? ›

There are flavors in tomatoes that are alcohol-soluble, so adding red wine along with tomato paste also helps to enhance beef stew." Laurence has a few other tricks I've borrowed to create the best beef stew, including adding Worcestershire, which gets a serious umami punch from anchovies.

"Soups and stews really need to simmer for long periods to allow the ingredients to meld together. Taking that a step further, most soups and stews are better if you prepare them the day before serving. Allowing them to cool and then reheating them really helps bring out the flavors and textures."

Not cooking the stew long enough.

If you want super tender beef, you'll need to cook it on a low heat in a Dutch oven on the stove or a slow cooker for at least a few hours.

If your meat is still tough, it may simply need more time for the collagen-rich connective tissues to break down fully. Ensure you follow recipe guidelines for cooking times but remember, these can vary depending on the specific cut and size of the meat. Finally, check if your slow cooker is on and hot.

Personally I would add as many aromatics and flavor enhancing substances that I like. If the stew is already finished, then you can sauté onions, garlic peppers, celery and carrots then add them to the stew. I would also add some herbs and finally salt and pepper to taste.

Adding some fresh thyme in the last 30 minutes of cooking can brighten up the stew as well. But a squeeze of lemon juice at the very end can do wonders. Think of the way osso buco is traditionally served with a gremolata of fresh parsley, lemon, and garlic. It enlivens the palate rather than putting it to sleep.

Beef Stew Tips

The red wine adds flavor to the stew, but its primary purpose is to tenderize the meat's tough muscle fibers. Adding a little vinegar will introduce the same level of acidity to the simmering broth.

Add Vegetables For More Flavour

Try baby marrows, diced carrots, red onions, cauliflower, and sweet potato for a hearty stew flavouring with a lot of personality. In this Beef and Red Pepper Stew we used red pepper for sweetness, but any pepper will add flavour to your stew recipe.

The choice becomes easier when you realize that simple baking soda can be an ideal meat tenderizer that helps to bring out all the aromas and flavors in every sizzling beef stew or charburger.

When to add carrots to stew? ›

The idea is to cook the carrots and potatoes at the end of the simmering process, so they don't become mushy. Just make sure to keep an eye on the stew to see if you need to add additional broth or water to keep it from drying out.

You use the wrong cut of meat for beef stew

Instead, you should look for a heartier, tougher cut of beef. You want meat that has a lot of collagen-rich connective tissue, which will break down over the low and slow cooking period, leading to chunks of beef that are unctuous, tender, and flavorful, not dry and tough.

Cornstarch, potato starch, and chickpea flour are a couple of pantry-friendly ways to thicken soups, stews, and sauces in the slow cooker. Just a tablespoon or two of any — added towards the end of cooking — will thicken sauces especially well.

Stick to the cook time indicated on your recipe

Most slow cooker meals take 8-12 hours on low or 4-6 hours on high, but there are also recipes for slow-cooked meat that take up to 24 hours. If you want to avoid overcooking your dish, follow the given guidelines as closely as possible.

Simply add the meat to your slow cooker with aromatics, stock and sauces and cook either on High for 4-5 hours or on Low for 5-8 hours. How do you make meat tender in a slow cooker? Choosing a cut of beef best suited for low and slow cooking is the ideal way to get extra tender meat.

You can add many vegetables to your beef stew to balance out the meatiness of the dish. On top of the list, of course, are potatoes, carrots, and onions. But you can also toss mushrooms, winter squash, and cauliflower into stew recipes.

Because of beef's hearty, robust nature, flavor-forward spices like garlic and onion or herbs like rosemary and oregano are the best choices for an unforgettable beef dinner. An important thing to consider when selecting seasonings for your meal is that you should be seasoning beef based on the cut.

Beef tastes great when seasoned with oregano, rosemary, sage, garlic or a combination of these seasonings. Poultry gets an added burst of flavor with spices like paprika, lemongrass and saffron. Fish can be made more flavorful with dry mustard powder, thyme and turmeric.