Healthier Slow Cooker Beef Stew Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Is homemade beef stew healthy to eat? ›

It's full of veggies and protein after all. Although traditional beef stew recipes provide more nutrition than many meals, most still plague you with far too much sodium and calories. Make some easy switches to truly have a healthy beef stew recipe you can be proud to share. Most stews use a beef broth for the base.

Add spices such as turmeric, coriander and cumin at the early stage of cooking, when you are frying onions and garlic, to enhance the taste of the beef stew. Fresh herbs like coriander and bay leaves also contribute a distinct flavour without making the dish too spicy for the younger members of the family.

The most important key to making stew meat tender is being sure to cook it for a long time. 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.

Carrots and other root vegetables, onions, chard, spinach, and lettuce are ideal for stewing while potatoes, leeks, cabbage, and porcini mushrooms are optimal for braising.

The essential ingredients for stew -- meat, vegetables and broth -- are healthy stuff. The problem is that traditional recipes call for massive portions of fatty meats paired with super-salty canned broths. Don't be turned off by recipes that use wine; a large portion of the alcohol and calories cook away.

Although I added carrots, little red potatoes, rutabaga and cremini mushrooms, you have plenty of options. Parsnip, turnip, pearl onions, squash and fennel will also work. Stir them in gently and immediately return the pot to the oven for the final hour of cooking.

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.

Cornstarch, potato starch, and chickpea flour are a couple of pantry-friendly ways to thicken soups, stews, and sauces in the slow cooker.

A bit of tomato paste amps up the flavor of beef stew, giving it a richness and a punch of umami that makes the stew truly memorable.

When should celery be added to stew? ›

Once all the meat has been seared and transfered out of the pan, cook the vegetables. Reduce the heat to medium and warm another teaspoon of oil. Add the onions and celery, and cook until the onions are softened and translucent, 8-10 minutes.

Cut the potatoes into bite-sized chunks and add to the already cooking stew about 30 minutes before you stop cooking and plate the stew for serving (If the potatoes cook too long, they'll just get mushy or even fall apart and add nothing but a thickening starch to the sew.

“Beef may be tough in the slow cooker if you haven't added enough liquid, or haven't cooked it for long enough,” Kristen Carli, M.S., R.D., owner of Camelback Nutrition & Wellness, tells SELF. “For cuts of meat, the fattier cuts are often the ones that get juicy and tender.

Make sure to come back and stir it every 30 minutes. If the stew is looking too thick, add in more stock. After the stew has been cooking for 2 hours, now add in the carrots and potatoes. Stir them in, then cover and let cook for an addition 45-60 minutes.

After about 1 1/2 hours of cooking, add roasted veggies and potatoes to the pot and finish cooking. Remove thyme and rosemary bundle and bay leaves, discard. Bring stew to the stovetop if you cooked it in the oven.

This Gluten-free stew recipe is perfect for those on a low carb keto diet. Making beef stew without flour or thickeners reduces carbs while intensifying overall flavor. To make it truly low carb, choosing low carb vegetables is a must (see a complete list of low carb foods here).

intake and health benefits. vitamins (niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, and B6), vitamin E, iron, zinc, and magnesium. safe to eat without cooking. If heated, serve right away or refrigerate leftovers in a container that is not made from metal.

Beef stew, homemade, gravy base with potatoes, with carrots or dark green vegetables (1 cup) contains 16.7g total carbs, 13.9g net carbs, 16.3g fat, 12.9g protein, and 265 calories.

Beef gets an underserved bad rap when it comes to health, especially heart health. However, research shows that a heart-healthy diet and lifestyle that includes lean beef (like in this hearty beef and vegetable stew!) can reduce risk factors for heart disease, including elevated cholesterol and blood pressure.