Slow Cooker Healthy Beef Stew (Easy Recipe)

When the temperature starts to dip, I always have this healthy beef stew recipe on our weekly meal rotation. Not only is it incredibly easy to make, thanks to the slow cooker, but it’s filled with veggies—and yes, your children will actually eat them!

I love trying out a variety of new recipes with my family, but sometimes I just can’t beat the classic favorites.

In fact, this crockpot beef stew is one of my family’s most requested meals—and happens to be one that my own mother used to make for me! It’s proven its perfection through the generations and was one of the first recipes I added to my recipe binder!

This stew is filled with tender beef, delicious vegetables, and savory seasonings for a satisfying meal that’s perfect at the end of a cold winter day.

Crockpot Beef Stew

The real magic of this dinner is how easy it is to make! As any busy mom will understand, I love that I can put this slow cooker recipe together in the morning and not worry about dinner all day!

I always love recipes that can be made in the crockpot. It almost feels like cheating a bit – all you really have to do is dump the ingredients into the cooker and let it do its magic!

Plus, you’ll have the added bonus of your home smelling absolutely incredible all day long!

Sure, you could cook a healthy beef stew on the stovetop, but that requires hours of hands-on time babysitting the stove—and that’s time I don’t usually have to spare.

Instead, let the slow cooker do the heavy lifting for you! Simply throw everything in the crockpot sometime before noon and come home hours later to a delicious hearty dinner waiting for you, with no further prep required.

Healthy Beef Stew

I’ve made this beef stew with regular potatoes for years, but recently, I converted it to a Paleo-friendly recipe. This healthy beef stew recipe is gluten-free, grain-free, and dairy-free, and uses sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes.

To be truthful, I think this healthy beef stew is even more delicious than the original! But, if you like, you can easily swap out the sweet potato for the regular variety or do a mix of both.

For another hearty meal that’s just as easy, try my chicken and dumplings casserole!

Ingredients

Let’s get cooking! Here’s what you’ll need to make this healthy beef stew:

• Beef stew meat
• Olive oil
• Sweet potatoes
• Chopped onions
• Chopped carrots
• Celery
• Diced tomatoes
• Beef broth
• Garlic cloves
• Parsley
• Basil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Tapioca starch (can be replaced with flour if you are not attempting to avoid gluten)
• Bay leaf

Instructions

Now let’s dive into how to make this yummy dinner recipe! There are just a few simple steps involved.

1. Prep your ingredients

Cut your beef stew meat into 1″ cubes and cook over medium-high heat with olive oil. You’re just looking to brown the meat, not fully cook through.

While the meat is cooking, you can chop the vegetables. You’ll need large sweet potatoes (peeled and cut into 1″ pieces), chopped carrots, and chopped celery.

All of the above can be done the morning you make your stew or even the night before!

2. Add ingredients to the crock pot

Next, put the chopped sweet potatoes into the bottom of your slow cooker. Then, add chopped onions.

I hate chopping onions because it burns my eyes. It literally hurts! So I do what my grandmother did – I simply buy frozen chopped onions. So much easier!

The meat should be browned by now (if it browns before, just turn the heat off). Drain, then place on top of the sweet potatoes and onion.

Next, add the celery, carrots, and minced garlic cloves.

Then, add diced tomatoes and beef broth (this is my favorite brand). You’ll need a total of 4 cups of beef broth for this recipe – you’ll save 1 cup for the next step.

Sprinkle basil, parsley, sea salt, and pepper on top.

3. Thicken the stew

Next, pour the remaining 1 cup of beef broth into a bowl or glass measuring cup. Add the tapioca starch or flour.

Next, mix with a fork. The tapioca will stick to the bottom and be very hard to stir for a few seconds, but then it will suddenly begin to dissolve, and you can stir it easily.

Yes, I make a mess when I cook.

Pour the broth/tapioca starch over the stew.

Put a bay leaf on top (optional).

4. Cook the beef stew

Put the lid on and cook for 4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low. This is the easiest part!

Serve

Before serving, stir to combine all the ingredients. Enjoy!

FAQs

Can I use regular potatoes instead of sweet potatoes?

You sure can! I have made this recipe with sweet potatoes only (my favorite because I like the touch of sweetness!), as well as with just regular potatoes. Recently, I’ve done a 50-50 combo, and that was great too!

How can I make this meal more affordable?

The only downside to this recipe is that beef stew meat can be expensive, especially if you’re on a tight grocery budget.

To make it a bit more affordable, I often buy just 1 pound of stew meat and use more sweet potatoes and carrots to make up the difference. While my husband loves more meat, he knows he’ll get this dinner more often if it doesn’t cost as much, so he’s game too. And the kids don’t notice!

The other trick I do is wait until I see a good deal on beef, then stock up and keep some in the freezer. I usually go ahead and pre-cube it too. Then, whenever I want to make stew, I let the frozen beef cubes defrost overnight in the fridge before adding them to the crockpot the next morning.

More Slow Cooker Recipes

• Easy Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes
• Beanless Turkey Sweet Potato Chili
• Unbelievably Easy Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos
• Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken

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