This classic beef stew is made with a red wine broth and simmered in the slow cooker until the beef is fall-apart tender. It’s delicious and satisfying and full of nutritious ingredients like grass-fed beef chuck roast, carrots, rutabaga and garlic.
The weather is getting colder and it’s the perfect time to start thinking about comfort food. Nourishing soups, oven-baked casseroles and hearty stews come to mind for me.
But it’s not just the weather that makes this the perfect time of year for beef stew – it’s also the harvest. If you’ve been to a farmers market lately you probably noticed they are teeming with all the ingredients that make the best beef stew…root vegetables in particular! I’m talking potatoes, carrots, parsnips, turnip, rutabaga, garlic and onion.
Awhile back I shared my stovetop beef stew recipe. It’s delicious and can be made in a dutch oven or large pot. This beef stew with red wine is very similar to that recipe – but slow cooked in a crock pot instead of on the stove.
Slow cooker beef stew is an easy recipe when you need dinner for the whole family, but don’t have time to watch a simmering pot! I’m talking weeknight dinner ideas – and if you want another for next time, check out my slow cooker whole chicken.
Ingredients to Make Beef Stew with Red Wine
This hearty beef stew recipe serves 3, but if you add another serving of beef it’ll serve 4. There are already plenty of veggies and broth in the base recipe for a fourth bowl.
Beef chuck roast
I always recommend buying a chuck roast when you’re making stew – rather than “stew beef”. Chuck roast is a perfect cut of beef for stew. Whereas when you buy “stew beef” you don’t know the cut you’re getting. Often it’s a leaner sirloin roast, which in my experience makes for a drier stew.
Chuck roast is ideal because it’s a fattier cut of beef. And when you cook it low and slow, all that fat and connective tissue breaks down – creating fall-apart tender chunks of beef!
I also favor grass-fed beef vs grain-fed beef. I get it at the farmers market, and here are more places to buy grass-fed beef.
Red wine & beef broth
This cozy stew is simmered in dry red wine and beef broth. Red wine adds so much depth of flavor to stew AND the acid in the wine helps break down tough stew meat.
My favorite red wine for making beef stew is cabernet sauvignon, but you can also use pinot noir or merlot. If I already have a bottle of wine open, I’ll use that. Otherwise I buy an inexpensive red wine if I’m using it for cooking.
Root vegetables
I make beef stew with medium-size carrots, potatoes and rutabaga. Rutabaga can be tricky to find, so you can certainly substitute parsnips, turnips, sweet potato or a little bit of each.
For flavor I also use onion and fresh minced garlic.
Fresh and dried herbs
My beef stew recipe is seasoned with 2 large sprigs of fresh thyme, 2 bay leaves, a little salt and pepper.
Miscellaneous
Corn starch to help thicken the stew, and olive oil to brown the beef. You can use an equal amount of gluten-free flour, or all purpose flour if you don’t have corn starch.
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See the recipe card at the bottom of this page for the exact quantity of each ingredient.
How to Make Beef Stew with Red Wine
1. Prepare the ingredients
The prep work is where you’ll spend the most time making this classic beef stew recipe. But the best part about cooking beef stew in the crockpot is it’s all handsfree once the prep work is done!
Chuck roast: Pat the roast dry with paper towel then cut it into 1 inch cubes.
Carrots: Peel medium-size carrots, then slice into half inch pieces.
Potatoes: Peel medium potatoes and cut them into 1-inch slices. Then cut each slice into quarter or thirds depending on how large the potatoes are.
Rutabaga: Peel the rutabaga then cut into pieces about the same size as the potatoes.
Garlic: Mince a clove of garlic.
Yellow onion: Cut half a small onion into half inch pieces.
Other ingredients: Measure out the other ingredients so they are ready to go when you need them…red wine, beef stock, corn starch, bay leaf, fresh thyme, salt and pepper.
2. Brown the beef
Put those pieces of chuck roast in a medium bowl and toss them together with the corn starch, salt and pepper until each piece is fully covered.
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The next step is optional but highly recommended.
Heat a large skillet over medium high heat and pour in two teaspoons of olive oil when the skillet is hot. Give it a moment to heat up the oil, then flick a couple drops of water into the pan. If the water sizzles, the pan is hot enough – if it doesn’t sizzle, give it another 15 seconds and test again.
Once it’s sizzling hot, use tongs to put the beef pieces into the skillet one at a time. Give a little space between each piece. Once one side is brown (this takes about a minute), flip each piece over with so the other side can brown.
Remove the beef and place it in your slow cooker.
3. Simmer the wine
Turn the heat down to medium low and pour the red wine into the same skillet. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to scrape the browned bits off the pan and stir into the wine. Simmer the red wine gently for 5 minutes. This evaporates some of the alcohol and concentrates the flavors.
Pour the simmered wine into the slow cooker along with the beef broth.
4. Cook
Add the rest of the ingredients to the slow cooker: potatoes, carrots, rutabaga, thyme, minced garlic and onion. Stir well to incorporate and replace the lid.
Cook on high for 4 – 4.5 hours. The rutabaga will take the longest to cook, when it’s knife tender the stew is ready. Be careful not to leave it on too long (longer than 4.5 hours) or the potatoes will start to overcook and get mushy.
Ladle the stew into soup bowls and serve with a hunk of crusty bread… or sliced bread and butter like my Dad.
Leftover stew reheats really well on the stove top, or in the microwave, the next day. Which makes it great for meal prep if you double the recipe! Store left overs in an airtight container in the fridge.
What to Serve with Beef Stew
This classic beef stew recipe is a complete meal all on it’s own. But if you need to stretch it out or add more calories, beef stew is delicious served over rice or with a heaping spoonful of green peas.
Another good option is to substitute a different root vegetable (such as turnips) instead of the potatoes. Then ladle the stew over creamy mashed potatoes. Yum!!
More Grass-Fed Beef Recipes
Here are a few more popular recipes made with grass-fed beef at Fed by the Farm:
FAQ: Beef Stew with Red Wine Broth
What are the best beef cuts for beef stew?
The best cut of beef for beef stew is chuck roast. Chuck is nicely marbled with fat and turns into chunks of tender beef when cooked at low heat over several hours.
Lean cuts of beef, like sirloin, are far less ideal for beef stew because they get tough if they are overcooked. Oddly, sirloin is often the cut of beef used by butchers to make stewing beef.
What does red wine do to beef stew?
Red wine serves two purposes when used in beef stew. First, red wine adds wonderful flavor to the stew. Second, red wine is acidic and the acids in the wine help break down tougher cuts of meat, such as roasts. The result is chunks of tender beef that are so delicious you’ll swoon.
Is this a beef bourguignon recipe?
Beef bourguignon (or boeuf bourguignon as they say in France), is a classic french beef stew cooked in a rich red wine sauce. The dish was made famous here in the United States by the French chef Julia Child. But this beef stew with red wine recipe (that I shared on this page) is not beef bourguignon.
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Classic Beef Stew with Red Wine (Slow Cooker Recipe)
Ingredients
- 1 lb grass-fed chuck roast cut into 1-inch cubes
- 4 medium carrots
- 3 medium yellow potatoes
- 4 medium rutabaga
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 small yellow onion
- 3/4 cups dry red wine
- 2.5 cups good beef broth no sodium or low sodium
- 2 tbsp corn starch or flour
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 large sprigs of thyme
- 2 pinches salt
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 2 tsp olive oil
Instructions
- Prepare the ingredientsChuck roast: Pat the roast dry with paper towel then cut it into 1 inch cubes.Carrots: Peel medium-size carrots, then slice into half inch pieces until you have about 1 3/4 cups of carrots.Potatoes: Peel medium potatoes and cut them into 1-inch slices. Then cut each slice into quarter or thirds depending on how large the potatoes are. You'll need 2 cups of carrots.Rutabaga: Peel the rutabaga then cut into pieces about the same size as the potatoes. Measure 1 3/4 cups of rutabaga pieces.Garlic: Mince a clove of garlic.Yellow onion: Cut half a small onion into half inch pieces.Other ingredients: Measure out the other ingredients so they are ready to go when you need them…red wine, beef stock, corn starch, bay leaf, fresh thyme, salt and pepper.
- Put the pieces of chuck roast in a medium bowl and toss them together with the corn starch, salt and pepper until each piece is fully covered.
- Heat a large skillet over medium high heat and pour in two teaspoons of olive oil when the skillet is hot. Give it a moment to heat up the oil, then flick a couple drops of water into the pan. If the water sizzles, the pan is hot enough – if it doesn’t sizzle, give it another 15 seconds and test again.Once it’s sizzling hot, use tongs to put the beef pieces into the skillet one at a time. Give a little space between each piece. Once one side is brown (this takes about a minute), flip each piece over with so the other side can brown.Remove the beef and place it in your slow cooker.
- Turn the heat down to medium low and pour the red wine into the same skillet. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to scrape the browned bits off the pan and stir into the wine.Simmer the red wine gently for 5 minutes. This evaporates some of the alcohol and concentrates the flavors.Pour the simmered wine into the slow cooker along with the beef broth.
- Add the rest of the ingredients to the slow cooker: potatoes, carrots, rutabaga, thyme, minced garlic and onion. Stir well to incorporate and replace the lid.
- Cook on high for 4 – 4.5 hours. The rutabaga will take the longest to cook, when it’s knife tender the stew is ready. Be careful not to leave it on too long (longer than 4.5 hours) or the potatoes will start to overcook and get mushy.
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