Slow Cooker Beef Stew & Herb Dumplings

Slow Cooker Beef Stew & Herb Dumplings – the perfect comfort food! A delicious beef stew loaded with vegetables cooked in your Crock Pot & topped with homemade 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.

 

 

What Do I need To Make Slow Cooker Beef Stew And Herb Dumplings ?

Beef

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.

 

What’s The Best Cut Of Beef For A Stew ?

Chuck Steak

This comes from the shoulder and upper limb of the animal. Chuck has plenty of collagen and intramuscular fat which basically means the longer you cook it the more tender and juicy it becomes.

You don’t have to stick to chuck steak. Beef labelled as stewing steak will breakdown with long slow cooking into forkfuls of tender fall apart beef.

Veggies And Herbs

I’ve used carrots, onions and potatoes, items I’d got on the pantry shelf, but feel free to use any root vegetables.

Slow Cooker Beef stew is seasoned with bay leaf, thyme and finished with fresh parsley.

A Note On Using Herbs In Your Slow Cooker

Dried herbs work best added at the beginning of slow cooking because the flavours intensify. Conversely fresh herbs are added towards the end of cooking as they tend to lose their flavour.

The Gravy

You can tell a good stew from its gravy or sauce and this one is delicious!

To make this sauce you will need:

• Tomato puree
• Worcester Sauce
• A good quality beef stock

Combined with the flavour from the caramelised slow cooked beef, vegetables and herbs you won’t be able to resist a second helping.

Homemade Dumplings In The Slow Cooker

Arguably the best bit. No stew would be complete without homemade dumplings. Sometimes I have to make double to make sure I get some. A spoonful of a soft and fluffy dumpling with stew is divine.
Made from just a few ingredients they make a stew a complete one pot meal.
You will need:

• Plain flour
• Baking powder
• Shredded suet
• Freshly chopped parsley
• Water

For A Suet Free Dumpling

A good substitute for suet is to grate hard white vegetable fat, such as Trex, and coat with rice flour.

How To Make Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Slow Cooker Beef Stew is easy to make and needs only a few minutes of preparation.

Secondly, brown the floured beef chunks and add to your slow cooker.

Firstly, brown the onions and carrots in a small amount of oil in a large frying pan. Add them to your slow cooker.

Thirdly, deglaze the frying pan with the beef stock and transfer to the slow cooker.

Lastly, add the potatoes, dried herbs, tomato puree and Worcester sauce. Give it a good old stir, place the slow cooker lid on and let the slow cooker do its magic.

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A Note On Browning Beef

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.

How To Cook Crock Pot Dumplings

Cooking dumplings in your slow cooker couldn’t be easier. Often people worry about overcooking dumplings or dumplings falling apart but gentle simmering in the slow cooker does away with this worry.

Make up the dumpling dough and shape into small balls.
Turn up your slow cooker to High and add the dumplings to your Crock Pot.
Cook on High with the lid on for 45 minutes.

Can Slow Cooker Beef Stew Be Reheated ?

Yes. Once cooled the stew can be kept in the fridge in a sealed container for up to 4 days.
Reheat in a pan on the stovetop on a medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

A Note On Reheating Dumplings

I wouldn’t recommend reheating dumplings, I find that they don’t tend to be as soft and fluffy when reheated. It’s not often a problem for us as there’s usually a queue for seconds so no dumplings get saved for later.

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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.

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