Slow Cooker Beef Stew & Dumplings – the perfect comfort food! A delicious beef stew loaded with vegetables cooked in your Crock Pot & topped with herb dumplings for a hearty one pot meal. A timeless classic you’ll never tire of.
Having been spoilt with warm days well into November makes the cooler turn in the weather a bit of a shock to the system. I think after the arrival of frost it’s definitely time to start eating comforting hearty meals like stews. My mum would make a beef stew almost every week, not least because it was economical – a small amount of a cheap cut of meat would stretch a long way with all those vegetables. My mum didn’t have a slow cooker back then, so the stew would be on a low light on the hob for most of the day. When I got married I carried on the tradition of a weekly stew, making it in the slow cooker we had as a wedding present – money was tight so we even had stew pie later in the week. Over the years we’ve lost the weekly stew tradition here at the Kitchen Shed but every now and then, when the weather turns, we have a humble delicious beef stew, with dumplings of course.
The slow cooker is perfect for transforming chewy, hard working cuts of meat into melting, flavourful tenderness. For this recipe I’ve used only 400g of chuck steak so it is very easy on the pocket. A note on cooking the meat – for me, browning the meat is essential. You can just throw everything into the slow cooker but it really is worth browning (brown the vegetables as well since you’re using a pan for the meat) to get all the delicious caramelised depth of flavours. I’ve used carrots, onions and potatoes, items I’d got on the pantry shelf, but feel free to use any root vegetables.
Tempted ? If you’d like to try this recipe for yourself, here it is an easily printable form. Just hit the PRINT button on the recipe card below.
Stew
- 400g stewing steak cut into cubes (I used chuck steak)
- 6 tablespoons plain flour
- A pinch of salt and plenty of pepper
- 4 tablespoons rapeseed oil
- 2 large onions - sliced
- 4 carrots sliced into chunks
- 4 medium potatoes cut into chunks
- 1 bayleaf
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 tablespoon tomato puree
- 1 tablespoon Worcester sauce
- 750 ml (3 cups) beef stock
Dumplings
- 110 g (3/4 cup) plain flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 50 g (2 oz) shredded suet or grated hard white vegetable fat coated with a tablespoon of rice flour
- 1 tablespoon freshly chopped parsley
- 4 to 6 tablespoons of water
Make your stew:
- Lightly grease the inside of your slow cooker with oil or cooking spray and turn your slow cooker on high.
- Add salt and pepper to your flour and coat the beef chunks before setting to one side.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan on a medium heat.
- Brown the onions and carrots before transferring them to your slow cooker.
- Add the floured beef chunks to your frying pan and brown well before adding to the slow cooker.
- Add any remaining flour to your pan and cook out in the oil before deglazing the pan with the beef stock, stir well to avoid any lumps.
- Pour into your slow cooker and add the potatoes, herbs, tomato puree and Worcester sauce, stir well and place on the slow cooker lid.
- Cook on low for 10 hours or on high for 6 hours.
Make your dumplings:
- Sieve the flour and baking powder into a bowl and stir in the suet or vegetable fat.
- Add 4 tablespoons of water and stir again to form a dough, adding extra water if necessary.
- Divide the dough into 8 pieces and turn out onto a floured work surface.
- Shape into small balls and add to your slow cooker and cook on high for 45 minutes with the lid on.
Pin Slow Cooker Beef Stew & Herb Dumplings for later:
I’m entering Slow Cooker Beef Stew & Herb Dumplings into a few food challenges this month:
- Corina’s Cook Once Eat Twice over at Searching For Spice.
- Teatime Treats hosted alternate months by Karen from Lavender and Lovage, Manjiri from Travels for Taste and Jo from Jo’s Kitchen, hosted this month by Karen.
- The Slow Cooked Challenge co hosted by Janice over at Farmersgirl Kitchen and Lucy over at Baking Queen 74, hosted this month by Lucy.
Used your broad recipe in the instapot, shallots instead of onion, cornflour by eye instead of normal flour, skipped the worcester sauce though god knows why because I have some, 5hours normal slow cooking and threw in some gnocchi at the end instead of making dumplings, but …it came out lovely and the best stew I’ve made in ages so thank you for posting this!
We need plenty of recipes like this one. It is cold outside and a good stew is the most comforting thing ever. Lovely blog x
Thanks Alida, we love a good stew here at the Kitchen Shed. So pleased you like my blog, thanks for popping over x
Beef stew is so comforting! Looks delicious!
Thanks Zoale, you can’t beat a bowl of hearty stew in weather like this.
What a great looking stew!
Thanks Jenni, our family loved it and have requested another one already.
Oh yum! This makes me want to pull out my slow cooker tomorrow. Looks very good!
Thanks April, enjoy cooking with your slow cooker.
Such a wonderful looking stew.I shared it on my page because it just looks stunning.I loved the dumplings too.Winter food doesn’t get better than this!
Thanks for your kind comments and for sharing.
What a simple recipe!
Thanks Michelle, I love a no fuss, easy recipe to make during the week and it really does deliver on taste, simplicity at its best. Thanks for popping by.
In my opinion a good old beef stew and dumpling is THE BEST autumn/winter dish. It is pure comfort food in a bowl. This looks and sounds delicious. Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x
Thanks Kirsty, I’m with you on that, comfort food is definitely on the menu this time of year. Always a pleasure to share with #CookBlogShare x
Yum!! It’s finally cooling off here in SW Florida, and this would be perfect. Since it’s made in a slow cooker, it won’t overheat the house.
Thanks Kimberly, the slow cooker does save you putting the oven on and heating up the house, although I must say here in Guernsey that would be most welcome at the moment. 🙂
Looks Yummy! Definitely going on the list for next weeks meals 🙂 #cookblogshare
Thanks Josefine, hope you enjoy Slow Cooker Beef Stew & Dumplings as much as we do 🙂
This is a lovely recipe, and I love the dumplings in it! I’ll be cooking a stew for several people this weekend and I think I’ll add some dumplings in it too – the way you made them:)
Thanks Monika, I love a good stew but it’s even better with a few dumplings. Do let me know how you get on 🙂
I happen to think slow cookers are one the the best inventions ever. This stew sounds fantastic. Perfect comfort food for the upcoming cold winter months.
Thanks Gloria, slow cookers are brilliant aren’t they? So low cost energy wise and I love how you can just leave the slow cooker to do its magic and produce a delicious meal for you when you get home from work.
How delicious Sarah and perfect for a winter’s day, beef stew is just the best. I have never had dumplings in a stew for some reason (being Southerners maybe? not sure) but I will have to pop some in next time I make a stew. Thanks for a brilliant entry into the Slow Cooked Challenge!
Thanks Lucy, it’s a pleasure to link up with the Slow Cooked Challenge. I hadn’t thought of dumplings as a Northern thing, we’re from right in the centre of England but my Grandma was from Yorkshire and we’ve grown up with them. I hope you enjoy your first experience of dumplings, we love them.
YUM! I do love a good beef stew and dumplings – delicious, and as you say, very economical. It was a staple in my house growing up and it’s something I still love to make in the winter months when the weather is bad – perfect comfort food!! Eb x
Thanks Eb, we had got out of the habit of making a good old beef stew but it’s gone down so well with the family I’m sure I’ll be making it more regularly now. x
Oh I love beef stew and dumpling and I really should use my slow cooker more. Given how cold it seems to have got all of a sudden you may just have given me the push I need to make it. Thank you
Glad my recipe has given you a push to get use your slow cooker more Jacqui. Thanks for popping by and I hope you enjoy beef stew and dumplings as much as we do.
I love dumpling soup this time of year! It always hits the spot on a cold day.
It certainly does, thanks for popping by Derek.
We love food cooked in slow cooker! We just made rabbit with polenta, perfect for this cold weather! We really appreciate your recipe!
Have a lovely week!
Gloria & Emanuele
Thanks Gloria & Emanuele, the slow cooker does produce some delicious meals. Rabbit with polenta sounds a really tasty treat. thanks for popping by 🙂