This Paleo beef stew recipe is simple to make and can be tossed in the slow cooker and cook all day while you have fun! Oh, wait. That's not what you do all day? Well, maybe not every day but hopefully some days.
For now, let's just pretend you have a busy day of fun playing in the snow with family or friends and you don't want to have to cook when you get home and you are super excited to come home to a home-cooked meal all ready to eat when you get home. This recipe totally fits the bill!
I love how good this tastes and it is so simple to make. It truly is a one-pot meal and it has your meat and vegetables in there already so you don't need a ton of food to go with it on the side.
Ingredients
- This stew gets a special touch from parsnips. I wanted to keep it looking traditional, so I swapped out potatoes for parsnips. The nice thing is that they give it a little sweetness, almost as if you had used wine in the broth.
- This is simple to make and is good comfort food for someone living a Paleo lifestyle. And if you don't Paleo, I still encourage you to try this recipe with the parsnips. You just may be surprised by how good they are and wonder how you have never tried them before.
- Beef broth may be subbed for the beef stock.
- Sweet potatoes may be subbed for the parsnips and are really good.
- We often sub the thyme with fresh rosemary from our garden or rosemary we have dried ourselves and have on hand. Rosemary and beef seem to have been made for each other.
- I often use frozen stew meat for this and haven't really noticed that it takes any longer.
- The tapioca flour * really isn't necessary. If you want your stew to be thinner and more like a soup, just go ahead and leave it out.
- What I really love to do is make my own stew meat. It potentially saves lots of money and potentially tastes lots better. From what I understand, when you buy stew meat from the store it is just all their leftover pieces they accumulate and put together in one package and charge up to $2 more a pound. It also seems to be hit and miss on the quality and cuts of meat. They tend to be the leaner cuts of meat as well. What we prefer to do is get a good chuck roast with good marbling and without sinew on a good sale and cut up a bunch all at once with our electric knife * and freeze it in whatever size batches we think we will use it in then pull out a package when we need it. We save a lot of money this way, we know what we are getting and it tastes better. It is a little more work but we can plan ahead a bit and do the work on a day when we know we will have time.
- Notice something that's not in the recipe? Tomatoes. It makes it more like an Irish stew but I love it this way. It makes it a bit more brothy but it also allows the full flavor of a good quality beef stock to shine through.
How to Make
Time needed: 6 hours and 50 minutes
This meal is so hearty and I love how the entire meal is in one bowl. It is also fantastic to make extra and freeze in individual portions.
- Brown the meat
Brown some stew meat in a frying pan if you want. Sometimes I am feeling lazy or skip this step or sometimes I use frozen stew meat and it is all stuck together and I don't have time to bother unthawing it so I just put it directly in the slow cooker.
- Add ingredients to the slow cooker
Place the stew meat and the other ingredients, except the tapioca starch and water in the slow cooker.
- Cook
You can cook it on high for 6 hours or on low 8-9. These two options provide some flexibility in preparing dinner. Some cuts and quality of meat are really tough and take longer and some slow cookers cook really hot, etc. so you will need to adjust your cooking times accordingly.
- Add veggies and/or tapioca starch
Sometimes I wait and add the carrots and other veggies the last hour or two so they aren't too mushy if I know I will be home.
At this point, you can at the tapioca starch and water if you want and let it thicken then adjust the seasonings a bit. - Serve
Serve it and enjoy! It really is so easy and requires little attention.
Recipe
The Best Ever Paleo Beef Stew Slow Cooker Recipe
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 6 hours 30 minutes
- Total Time: 6 hours 50 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Main Course
- Cuisine: Paleo
Description
This recipe gets a special touch from parsnips. I wanted to keep it looking traditional, so I swapped out potatoes for parsnips. My husband had no idea, haha. The nice thing is that they give the stew a little sweetness, almost as if you had used a wine in the broth.
Ingredients
- 2 Tbl Avocado Oil
- 1 ½ lb Stew Meat (beef cubed)
- 2 Large Parsnips (peeled and cut into a large dice (use favorite potato if you don't eat Paleo)
- 8 Carrots (peeled, cut into large chunks)
- 1 Large Yellow Onion (cut into large chunks)
- 2 Bay Leaves
- ½ tsp Peppercorns
- 2 tsp Coarse Real Salt * *
- 4 Cups Beef Stock
- 1 Tbl Fresh Thyme (roughly chopped)
- ¼ Cup Tapioca Flour * (use corn starch if you don't eat Paleo & omit for Keto and Whole30)
- 2 Tbl Water
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan over high heat. Add the beef chunks and brown on all sides, about 3-4 minutes. Add beef to a slow cooker. Top beef with the parsnips, carrots, onion, bay leaves, peppercorns, salt, thyme, and beef stock.
- Cook on high for 6 hours (8-9 on low), or until beef is very tender.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the tapioca starch and water. Pour into the stew and gently mix with a large spoon, until the mixture is distributed through the broth. Let cook for 30 more minutes, until the broth thickens a bit. Check seasonings and add more salt, if necessary.
- Remove bay leaves and serve. Salt and pepper to taste.
Notes
* The amount of salt for this recipe was based off using homemade beef stock with no added salt. If you use a commercially prepared beef stock or bone broth with salt in it, decrease the salt you add by the amount that's in the stock.
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Maria
Thank You! Entering supermarket now to buy all the ingredients, looks so yummy!!
Rebecca
I hope you like it. I would love to hear how it turns out!
Megan Barnes
Can I use frozen stew meat for this recipe?
Rebecca
Sure. It won't even take any longer. I do that quite a bit.
Lou Lou Girls
I'm loving this!
Tabitha Blue
This just looks so comforting and warm! I'm pinning this now for later!! 🙂
Rose 's DIY Crafts at FineCraftGuild
Rebecca, this looks so wholesome!!! Thank you for sharing your recipe. I always love snooping to see what other people add to their slow cooker dishes! This is lovely.
Michelle @ A Dish of Daily Life
Looks delicious! I am loving all your recipes... Next time I make beef stew I'm going to try parsnips in it!
Adelina Priddis
Mm, it sounds so good and perfect for a cold winter day!
Kyla @HouseOfHipsters
I like the idea of adding the tapioca. I'm assuming that will thicken your stock a bit. I finally broke out my slow cooker the other day, but my gravy/juice needed to be thickened. I think this is just the ticket!
Cathy
Whoa, this is the best looking beef stew! I love parsnips and the flavor and texture that they add to dishes like beef stew! 🙂
Amy
Rebecca, this stew looks so satisfying. I'd love to cook a big pot of it today, especially since it's so cold outside. My husband gets in tonight from traveling all week and I think he'll appreciate a big bowl of this stew. Gotta get to the store soon if I'm gonna have it ready. Thanks for the recipe!