Easy Slow Cooker Beef Stew Recipe

If you know me, you know my recipe posts are quick and to the point. This beef stew recipe is simple and tastes great, plus you'll have enough for 8+ servings. 

2 cups chopped celery

2 cups bite sized carrots (I use baby carrots)

1 onion chopped

2-3 cups diced potatoes or 2 cans diced potatoes (See Notes)

1 32oz box of beef stock (we like Costco's brand and buy extra when they have it during the holiday season)

1-2 pounds of stew meat depending on how meaty you like your beef stew

2 tbs garlic confit or 2 chopped cloves of garlic

1 tbs Better than Bouillon Beef flavor

Fresh ground pepper to taste

1 tbs Worcestershire sauce

1 tbs tomato paste

1 large or 2 small bay leaf

1/2 cup red lentils per cup of stock

I start by adding the stew meat and the beef stock to the crock pot. Then I add the garlic confit, Better than Bouillon, ground pepper, Worcestershire Sauce and tomato paste. Stir.

Add the carrots, celery, onions and bay leaf and stir again. If you are using fresh potatoes, add them now. 

Cook on low 4-6 hours or on high for 2-4 hours, then stir in rinsed red lentils and canned potatoes if using and cook for 2-3 more hours on low or 1-2 hours on high, until lentils cook down and thicken the stew.

Notes:
For the potatoes - In the video, I went to use the potatoes I had in the pantry but they were not good, so I was going to add canned potatoes and forgot about them until the end. As another note, if you want to lower the carbs in this stew, you can also substitute turnips for potatoes. Bonus is that you can freeze turnips with fewer issues than potatoes.