Prep-Ahead Slow Cooker Beef Stew

We found that this was a real good recipe, however, I did tweak it a little bit. After it cooked for 4 hrs, I saw the broth was thin, so I removed some of the juice. After tasting it, I found it quite bland. I chose to use chinese 5 spice, celery salt and black pepper for the seasonings, and it was spectacular. I also added fresh mushrooms. Next time, I might add more mushrooms, forget the stewed tomatoes, and use Tomato soup instead of the juice.

I following this recipe exactly as written, but it came out with way too much tomato taste to it. I will not make this again. I wanted a beef stew recipe that actually tastes like beef, not all tomato. I'll keep looking.

Overall, this beef stew was very delicious. The first time I made it the potatoes weren't quite soft enough, but I think it was because it smelled so good and I got impatient and began eating ;-) This stew also tastes very good with a white or vidalia onion substituted for the yellow onion. Great recipe!

This stew will warm you right up. The beef was tender made a hearty meal, but it tasted a little bland. In the future I will add more salt and doctor it up with some spices.

This is a good foundation for stew however needs a LOT of boosting and personalization. I can't imagine anyone eating it 'as is' in the recipe. First, you need some herbs and nix the jalepeno. Jalepeno in stew? Interesting but really? Also, never cook raw beef in a slow cooker without browning first...even if for 5 moinutes on each side. The browning process activates amino acids in the beef to enhance the flavor... that is Slow Cooking 101. You don't need to do this with pork or chicken, but with beef it really is a must or you'll get very bland meat. So 3 stars for the recipe 'as is' with the understanding that this is the foundation of a potentially great stew... much more needs to be added to make it 5.

I made this recipe because it seemed so quick and easy. It was just that, and it was too die for. I cooked it for 6 people coming to my house for dinner and they raved about it and all want the recipe. This recipe will become a regular meal in my house.

Broth was thin, and a little too tomato-y. The meat turned out ok, but potatoes were still not cooked all the way after 9 hours and I did soak them...

This recipe starts out so simple yet winds up tasting sooooo great! Nice going!

Good, easy recipe to make. I made it without marinating and the flavor was still very good. The broth was a bit thin. Overall, good one-dish meal.

simple but delicious. didn't make any alterations to the recipe, i found it worked as is.

This is so, so good! I added celery, too. It's great to come home after a long day to this stew!

I am sorry but I cannot give this a high rating. I followed the recipe to the letter, but even after 13 1/2 hours in the crockpot, the potatoes and carrots were still not done. The taste was ok, but this one is definitely NOT a keeper. Talq

This was a really good dish, but I made some changes. First, I didn't include carrots, herb seasoning, or jalapeno peppers. Instead of tomato juice, I used two cans of Campbell's Old Fashioned Tomato Rice Soup and one can of water. I also put in an addition 2 or 3 tbsp. of Worcestershire sauce and stirred it in the crock pot. I sprinkled pepper in the mixture as well and let it cook on low for about ten hours. I love the combination of Worcestershire sauce and tomato soup. Very tasty.

Didn't have any tomato juice so used the same amount of Ragu. Added 1/2 cup beef broth because I was worried it would be dry (turned out perfect). Didn't use a can of stewed tomatoes, but rather added a container of cherry tomatoes. Picky boyfriend loved it, & everything was super tender & flavorful.

It is a great recipe, but I had to add some corn starch to thicken it up a bit as it turned out to be more of a soup than a stew. Other than that, no complaints!

good but not very "flavorful".. next time i will add spices

This just didn't quite suit our taste when done and hubby wanted more broth so I added some beef broth a can of Rotel tomatoes and just dumped in a package of Knorr's Vegetable Soup mix. These additions were more suiting to us.

tastes more like vegetable soup than beef stew. was easy to make, but didn't taste like stew.

We made this again and used fresh jalapenos and added some garlic powder and Italian seasoning. We love this recipe! -------------------------------------- This was very good but needed a little more salt (I like salt!). We used jarred sliced jalapeno, because it is what we had and also V8 in place of tomato juice for the same reason. Very tasty and nice on a crisp day.

I think this is a great recipe for stew! The marinade was wonderful. I like my stew with broth so I also added a cup of water and a whole soda can size of V-8. It was perfect! I cooked it 10 hours. The Jalapeno's were a unexpected spicy twist! Hubby didn't like them though. I think next time I will leave out to make it more traditional.

This is a great stew, although I made a few changes. I added celery. Then I marinate the meat with 3/4 cup of "Hot and Spicy" V-8 (instead of tomato juice), a 1/4 cup for "Jack Daniels" and a packet of onion soup mix the Worcestershire and herbal seasoning.

Excellent menu. I added fresh fennel and leeks to the vegetable mix, and substituted red wine for the tomato juice. I also added fresh rosemary and basil. The result tastes great the first meal and just as good the second. All of this also works well with a good roast instead of cubed stew meat.

This was AMAZING! I forgot to pick up V8 at the store, but I had a can of beef stock and used that. This was my first time making beef stew and everyone said it was fab! Thanks!

This was a really great stew! We did add a can of mushroom soup and a jar of beef gravy, left out the jalepeno's and increased the stewed tomatos to a big can (28oz). It was the best stew I have evr had. I served it with a big dallop of sour cream on top. Yum!

AMAZING!!!!

I submitted this and my recipe doesn't call for tomato juice. It's for V-8, which is a vegetable juice. I can imagine it would be tomato-ey with tomato juice and stewed tomatoes.

I really loved this recipe for the ease of it, and at my dad's request added dumplings to the stew - it turned out great!

I made this dish as stated and found it to be excellent. The meat was very tender and the potatoes were soft.

Family didn't really care for this one. I probably won't make it again.

I've made this recipe a few times. It is high in tomato flavor rather than beef especially if you skip marinating the beef in Worcestershire sauce. I used diced tomatoes instead of stewed which is just my preference. I didn't use the jalapeno peppers either because I get heartburn from them. Instead of the no salt seasoning I used salt, pepper, oregano, basil and garlic. This recipe is very yummy but feel it should be called Tomato beef stew rather than just beef stew. The name is a bit misleading. If you find the tomato taste a bit to acidic I recommend adding a tablespoon of sugar just like you would when making spaghetti sauce.

My husband made this and instead of letting the vegetables soak separately overnight, he mixed everything together the night before. It turned out fine, except that the potatoes were only about half cooked at the end of the day. We did use the peppers, and the flavor of the stew was excellent - we didn't think it had too much tomato flavor at ALL. In fact, when we make it again, we plan to use much less potato and twice as many stewed tomatoes.

My first slow-cooker recipe ever! This was really easy to make, and tasted pretty traditional. I was worried it'd be too tomato-flavored, but was surprised to find that when cooked, the stew was in not a tomato sauce, or even a gravy, but more like a watery broth (tasty though). I threw the jalapenos in, which made it even tastier. I'll probably make this again.

I increased this recipe to 10 servings.Because the broth is thin I boiled 4 c tomato juice,added 1 c milk and 3 tbsp cornstarch,boiled again and then added to the stew. In the last hour of cooking I also added 2 c. of cooked barley.Once adjusted the recipe was excellent.

I thought this was o.k. My meat was pretty tough and the potatoes and carrots were not completely done even after cooking it for over 7 hours. After my husbands' first bowl, he gave it a 3.2. After his second bowl, he gave it a 3.75! I think that this is a good basic recipe that you can add whatever vegetables you would like to it. I won't be in a hurry to make this again, but I will make it again...eventually.

An old-fashioned standard made super easy.

A great stew. Not bland but not over kill with flavor either. Really simple to make especially since you prepare the items the day before. Extremely filling. Also is great served with a large crusty garlic bread/Crouton.

I decided to try this recipe based on the suggestion of marinating the veggies in water and the meat in seasonings. I threw together my own no-salt herb seasoning that included a pinch of cayenne pepper and boy was it amazing. This stew is great, even when substituting whatever you have in your cupboard for its ingredients (like watered down tomato soup, or reconstituted tomato paste). My cayenne pepper gave it just enough zing and the other flavors all together were fantastic. What a great recipe.

Delicious! I did though add mixed Italian spices and, because I didn't have tomato juice, I added tomato paste and hot water.

This is a traditional Irish-American recipe. It is savory and filling-perfect for a cool night or when you need comfort food. Thank you for posting.

I added an envelope of dry onion soup mix

I liked it, but I made a few alterations. I thought the beef marinade was excellent, but I used 2 Tbsp of Worcestshire sauce, and 1 1/2 Tbsp of herb seasoning, which I had to google what it even was. Herbs are seasonings, IMO. but whatever. I also browned the beef prior to cooking. I didn't have tomato juice, so I mixed a can of unflavored sauce with a can of water. I didn't have stewed tomatoes, so i mixed 1 can of diced tomatoes with 1 tsp of Oregano, 1 tsp of Basil, and 1 Tbsp of Garlic with the diced tomatoes and used that. I also added 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, and 1/2 cup regular water to simmer it in. Plus 1 bay leaf. Overall I thought it came out well cooked, but kind of bland. I didn't add jalapenos, but it seemed silly to me. I think a dash of crushed red pepper might have been a better addition, maybe if I decide to make this again.

I haven't cooked this yet so I'm unable to give my rating @ the moment.

I will have to make it again because I accidentally overcooked it and my potatoes and veggies turned to mush. I will try it again, thank you for asking.

would try different spices for our taste - wife did not like the W sauce at all. We did not use jalapeno peppers at all.

I cooked this at 400F, initially, for about 40 minutes, then took it out, stirred, then knocked it down to 275F for 3 hours in a dutch oven. Also added 5 strips of bacon, cooked crispy then crumbled. Also added 1 tbsp of tomato paste and a cup of red wine (I keep a jug of burgundy on hand for just such purposes). Amazing.