Need help with Beef Stew slow cooker recipe?

Question

I've never used a slow cooker. Any tips? I read that I should spray with PAM.
Also I read that you should pan fry the meat first so that it looks better before placing in the crock pot. Is this true?
Also, what should I put in the recipe. I was just going to put the meat, potatoes, carrots, water, italian seasoning, and some gravy if I had some at home ;)
Help me I am so lost, and wanted to make this tomorrow ;)

Answer 1

Check out this page: http://busycooks.about.com/od/slowcookerrecipes/Crockpot_Recipes_Slow_Cooker_Recipes.htm

I go there all the time for recipes and tips for slow cooker cooking.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

You could probably add some beer or wine to this recipe, if you wanted. Oven/slow Cooker Beef Stew 1 ½ lbs. stew meat/hamburger meat/cheap cut up steak 1 can ginger ale---yes, this is not a misprint 1 envelope dry onion soup ½ bag or 1 small box frozen mixed vegetables 1 can diced tomatoes (optional) 1-3 peeled cubed potatoes Preheat your oven to 400 degree. Mix all ingredients in a covered roaster and mix well. Wait for oven to get really hot!! Cook for 1 1/2 hours. If you do the slow cooker version, combine all the ingredients and set on low-med before you get your day started. By the time you get settled for supper, you'll have a great stew that serves about 6-8 hungry people!! Sometimes I leave out the potatoes and fix fresh rice to ladle the stew over. Other times I don't even add potatoes or fix rice and just eat it as is. This is a no mess up recipe and there are literally zillions of ways to mix and match ingredients. Hope you enjoy this as much as my daughter and I do. Have a great day!!! Katherine Source -- Servings/Yield --

Answer 4

Peoples: You should search here.. this was someone's question yesterday.

Yes... best to brown the meat well first. You could spray with Pam, but the pot is usually very easy to clean. I've never found it to be necessary. I don't know about Italian seasoning though. Beef stew isn't an Italian dish and shouldn't taste like one. We have to be careful with our favorite seasonings. We've all been tempted, I'm sure, but at some point all your dishes can start to have too many similarities. Dont add packaged gravy if you can help it. Read my simple recipe below. Browing the meat VERY well (longer than you might think), and adding water to stir up the juices from browning will give you a very good base for making a gravy once your stew is cooked. You have the right idea though.

Brown your meat in a few tbs. of oil REALLY well on a med-high heat. After it's good and browned, cover with water and stir well to soak up the drippings for a nice brown gravy later. Throw all that in the crock pot with, salt and pepper, bay leaf, a few tbs. of ketchup, baby carrots (or cut up regular carrots.. cut in half), peeled potatoes, pearl onions. Let that simmer in the crockpot for several hours. Then mix flour and water to thicken the juices for gravy. Add more water as needed.

Answer 5

I have had a slow cooker for ever! and have never used Pam spray or anything else...you don't need to put much liquid in it...maybe a cup or cup and a half...you can braise the meat first but it isn't really necessary...personal choice....I always use half red wine and half water....and lots of garlic and rosemary sprigs (a recipe I got from a chef in the Chianti hills in Italy)...if you have a choice of temperatures on your slow cooker, use the lowest and go longer. I try to keep mine cooking for at least 8 hours on LOW. if you have a higher temperature pot then 6 hours is probably good enough.

I grill crusty bread, slather it with garlic infused olive oil and chunky sea salt and serve that with the stew...

I hope this helps a little! don't be afraid of your slow cooker it will quickly become your best friend!

Answer 6

First, grab a zip-loc or some sort of decent sized plastic bag you can close. Put in 1/4 c. of flour of each pound of meat, some salt and pepper, some thyme and marjoram and possibly some rosemary and shake a little to mix that up. Then put the meat in and SHAKE! Remember the "Shake and Bake ads?" Same idea.
Next step, add some olive oil or vegetable oil in a medium to large frying pan and heat to medium high. Place the coated meat in the pan and fry lightly until it's browned on all sides. You need to pay attention and keep stirring. Once it's all browned, slide EVERYTHING from the pan into the crock pot.
Add about 2 - 3 cups of beaf broth. If you use boullion, don't add any more salt, that has plenty already. Then add your veggies and cook on low for 6 hours or High for 3 hours.

The reason you brown the meat before is because it won't brown in the crock pot. Adding a coating of flour and spices before hand, makes an excellent gravy. You can still add the Italian seasoning, but I would skip the Marjoram in the first step if you do.

Answer 7

I love using my slow cooker -
beef stew - beef cut into 1" pieces 2 tbsp. of flour
salt & pepper
tomato paste or puree
potatoes
carrots
minced onion & garlic
1 cube of chicken or bef stock disolve in hot water
*** Season the meat, put it on a ziplocbag and add flour shake well to cover all meat pieces, then add some olive oil in a fryuing pan once is very hot ( almost about to smoking point) add the meat in batches and brown it on all sides, take meat out and add to slow cooker,(cover meat w/ potatoes & carrot, once you've done all the meat add the onion & garlic to the pan and sautee for a minute then add the broth and tomato paste or puree and deglaze the pan then add this on top of the meat & potatoes, put the lid on and let it go for a couple hours on high then come back stir, add salt & pepper if needed.

Answer 8

First of all, to pan fry meat is not to make it look better, it's
to make it tender only. And you don't need to pan fry your
beef stew meat at all if your going to put it in the crockpot?
Heck no! A crockpot is suppose to cook your food all day.
That's what a crockpot is, or you can call it a slow cooker.
Cooking it all day will make it tender and the vegetables too.
And some people do spray it with oil, but I don't think it's necessary if it cooks all day. It won't stick and everything will
be nice and tender when done. I know, I have fixed beef stew
many times in my day. Iam 44 years old. Here is a good beef
stew recipe, if you want to try it.
1 pkg. Lipton onion soup mix
1 cup of water or 1/2 cup of water, depending on size of your
crockpot.
1 can of whole tomatoes with juice
3 large carrots
3 large potatoes
1 small onion
and ofcourse the beef stew meat.
Mix the water with the onion soup pour into crockpot
Add meat
Cut up vegetables into bite size pieces, add all to crockpot.
Cook on high for 3 hours or until meat and vegetables are tender and flavorful. Add the can of tomatoes the last 1 hour
of cooking. Make sure your liquid is two and half inches from
the top of the rim of crockpot. Also at the last hour, you can add 1/2 teaspoon of garlic salt or 1/4 teaspoon of garlic
powder. And a pinch of pepper.Stir everything together once.
Let continue to cook for another 30 minutes, or until everything is really tender and flavorful. Don't put any gravy in it. If you do, you will ruin it all. You can add your seasonings
after you have already poured in the liquid and meat, if you
want to do it that way. It really doesn't matter to add your seasonings in the begining or in the last hour of cooking. It all
will turn out good any way you do it. Everything will be fine. Make sure you read all of the directions first before you start
anything. Make sure you have everything ready and available.
If you follow the directions step by step and word for word,
you won't have any problems. Also, it makes your house smell
sooooo good when people come in. Oh, I almost forgot, test
your meat and veggies after 3 hours of cooking with a fork.
If the fork goes through the meat and veggies real easily, then
everything is done. ENJOY. Again, make sure you read everything carefully. What I said in the begining about pan frying your meat does make it tender, after it's tender then you roast in oven. But your not going to do that. Just follow
the directions about the beef stew, you won't have any problems. Good Luck! Wow! That's alot of typing. I never thought I ever get done typing this up for you. This is not from a recipe book. It is thought out in my head. Honest! Again,
Good Luck! I look forward to hearing from you in the future,
to let me know how it turned out. I never heard of using red wine, you can if you can afford it, but I would'nt. And, no! You
don;t brown the meat for beef stew, no flour either! I'm telling you this, because I just read those above me and some don't sound good. They are teenagers.

Answer 9

Yes, brown your meat first. It just gives it a better look. Be sure to check your slow cooker instructions. Some you can put on low and forget it for 8 to 12 hours. Or you can put it on high for shorter cooking time.
You don't need to use Pam. Slow cookers don't burn food. It is easily cleaned. Even easier if you have one that lifts out. I have had cheap ones. They are good standbys. They do the job. I have a new one and it is huge. The directions for it is different than my one piece. This huge one lifts out and it cooks on high rather than low.
Once you use it a few times you will love that slow cooker.

Answer 10

Pam the pot and lid, yes.

Pan-searing the meat first dpends upon the meat. Ground Beef? Cook first. Chicken? No need, let the crockpot cook it. Beef hunks? your choice.

You may want to save your carrots and potatoes until there are a couple hours left of cooking time, THEN add them... this way they won't fall apart into mush, as they won't take the heat as logn as meat will.

I'd put the meat, a bay leaf, a can or two of tomatoes w/ juice, maybe a can of cream of something soup, salt and pepper, maybe a packet of beef gravy mix if you have it, or real gravy if you have it. If no beef gravy, toss in a couple beef boullion cubes. No more than 1 tomato can of water. A splash or two of red wine would also deepend the flavor.

Cook for 6-8 hours on LOW, covered, stirring if you can every couple hours (but if you're at work adn can't, no biggie).
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A couple recipes, just to use as a guide:

Beef With Red Wine Sauce
--Southern Living, FEBRUARY 2006

Prep: 15 min., Cook: 6 hrs.

3 pounds boneless beef chuck roast, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 medium onion, sliced
1 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 (1.61-ounce) package brown gravy mix
1 (10 1/2-ounce) can beef broth
1 cup red wine
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
1 bay leaf
Hot cooked egg noodles or rice
Garnish: chopped fresh parsley

Place first 3 ingredients in a 6-quart slow cooker.
Whisk together gravy mix and next 3 ingredients; pour evenly over beef and vegetables. Add bay leaf.
Cover and cook on HIGH 6 hours, or LOW for 9 hours. Remove and discard bay leaf. Serve over noodles. Garnish, if desired.

Yield: Makes 6 servings

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Easy Crockpot Beef Roast

1 chuck or rump Beef Roast (sized for your crockpot)
1/2 Cup of Water
1 Packet of Ranch Dressing Mix
1 Packet of Italian Dressing Mix
1 Packet of Brown Gravy Mix

Put roast in crockpot, pour water around the base. Sprinkle all 3 dry seasoning packets over roast. Cover and cook for 6-7 hours on low. Remove roast to cutting board and let sit 15 minutes; slice thinly across the grain (electric knife works best).

It makes great tasting gravy too, that tastes like you browned it and simmered it all day on the stove. Doesn't taste AT ALL like salad dressing!!!

Answer 11

Beef Stew No Flour