Dinner tonight is Slow Cooker Paleo Beef Stew! This healthy beef stew recipe is made from nourishing ingredients & couldn’t be easier! Let the slow cooker do the work and enjoy a cozy Whole30 dinner tonight!
When the weather gets cold, my craving for this slow cooker beef stew recipe gets stronger than ever!
This is the BEST beef stew recipe. It’s savory, hearty, filling, rich-but-not-too-heavy, and the flavor of the rich sauce has that little subtle something that makes you say “yum! What’s IN this!?”
It’s a healthy comfort food made from simple ingredients with minimal effort, and that’s exactly the kind of easy recipe I need in my life on cold winter nights this time of year! This recipe is one of those easy meals that works beautifully for a dinner party OR a busy weeknight.
Oh, and did I mention that it’s gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo AND Whole30? Because it is! And it’s about to be your new cold weather best friend.
Here’s what you’ll need to get started on this classic paleo beef stew recipe...
Gather Your Ingredients
- BEEF ROAST. We recommend beef chuck roast for this healthy beef stew recipe, but you can use whatever beef roast is your favorite. I like use Chuck roast because it makes such super tender beef stew. (Diced beef stew meat/stewing beef also works!)
- ONIONS + CARROTS + MUSHROOMS. The vegetables in beef stew are always my favorite part! I love this veggie trifecta here in this slow cooker beef stew. It’s flavorful and hearty. SO GOOD! Regular onions or pearl onions work here, and the mushrooms add delicious umami.
- MY SECRET “SAUCE.” The magic savory flavor here is the combination of beef bone broth, balsamic vinegar, and a hint of dijon mustard, along with sea salt and black pepper. That mixture, paired with the classic flavors of beef, carrots, onions, and rosemary makes this sauce just incredible. (*and* keeps this a Whole30 beef stew!)
- ROSEMARY. Lastly, we round things out with a bit of fresh rosemary. I LOVE how the fresh herbs play up the flavors in the mushrooms and beef without overwhelming the dish. It’s *just* enough!
- A LITTLE THICKENER (if you want!). Lastly, if you like a thicker beef stew (I do!), you can thicken it up with a little arrowroot starch (sometimes labeled arrowroot flour) + water slurry. It only takes a few minutes, but gives this flavorful beef stew an amazing texture. Not paleo? cornstarch works!
What’s The Best Cut Of Beef For Beef Stew?
Chuck roast is perfect for slow cooking in a classic beef stew recipe, since it has enough fat to keep the beef from drying out, and the meat gets perfectly tender as it cooks. That said, if other cuts are on sale at the grocery store, feel free to go with those!
How To Make Slow Cooker Paleo Beef Stew, Step By Step
As always, you can find the full recipe with ingredient amounts, detailed instructions, and tips in the recipe card below.
- Brown The Beef by heating a drizzle of oil in a large skillet. Working in batches, add a few pieces of beef to the pan and brown on all sides. When browned, transfer to the crock of a slow cooker. Repeat with remaining beef. You really want a nice sear, so don’t rush!
- Add Carrots & Mushrooms. Place carrots and mushrooms in with the beef (I just put them right on top of the browned beef).
- Mix Up Your Secret Sauce. Add onion to the pan you browned the beef in. Stir to scrape up any browned bits. Add balsamic, Dijon, and broth to the pan and stir until well combined.
- Pour The Sauce Over Everything. Then, pour the whole mixture into the slow cooker over the beef, carrots, and mushrooms. Place rosemary on top.
- Cook The Paleo Beef Stew in slow cooker on HIGH for 3-4 hours, or LOW on 7-8 hours.
- Shred beef into the broth mixture after cooking. Use two forks to pull the beef apart. It should be tender enough to come apart easily. If you prefer, you can remove the beef to a plate or cutting board to shred it if that makes it easier for you.
- Whisk Up The Arrowroot. In a small bowl, whisk together arrowroot and 2 Tbsp water. Pour into the slow cooker and stir to combine. It should almost immediately thicken. Serve when you’re ready!
- Garnish & Serve! Once the stew is thick and delicious, you can serve it in bowls, or spoon over mashed potatoes (we love these Instant Pot Whole30 Mashed Potatoes!) or mashed cauliflower. Store leftover stew in an airtight container in the fridge 3-4 days or freeze in a freezer-safe container up to 2 months. (It tastes even better the next day!)
Don’t Have A Slow Cooker/Crock Pot?
Don’t have a slow cooker? No worries! I’ve got ingredients in the recipe card below for how to make this in a large Dutch oven in the oven or a big pot on the stove instead!
FAQ + Tips And Tricks For The Best Slow Cooker Beef Stew
CAN I ADD MORE VEGGIES? Yes! The only real limit is the size of your slow cooker. As long as you don’t fill it more than 3/4 full, you can add whatever veggies you like to this crock pot beef stew. Over the years, people have added celery, diced potatoes, sweet potatoes, parsnips, frozen peas, and more! If you’re making Whole30 beef stew, just be sure you’re keeping the veggies compliant.
CAN I USE DICED STEW BEEF FOR THIS RECIPE? Yes. It’s a bit trickier to brown (you’ll need to work in batches), and the smaller cubes tend to cook a touch more quickly than the larger pieces of beef, but I’ve definitely used stew meat with success!
CAN I MAKE THIS IN AN INSTANT POT? Yes! You can totally make this as Instant Pot Beef Stew. Use the SAUTE function to brown the beef, then remove to a plate, while you add the onion and use a spoon to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Press CANCEL, then add the carrots and mushrooms. Return the browned beef to the Instant Pot and arrange on top of the veggies. Stir together the broth, dijon, balsamic, salt, and pepper, then pour over the whole mixture. Add rosemary and select PRESSURE COOK (manual) for 40 minutes. Slow release or quick release the steam, and shred the beef. Mix up the arrowroot + water slurry and pour into the stew. Stir and let thicken a few minutes, then serve!
WHAT TO SERVE WITH BEEF STEW. I love serving beef stew in bowls as soup or over mashed potatoes or mashed cauliflower. Then, on the side, a light salad is great to offset the richness of the stew. Try this Pear & Pomegranate Salad for the holidays!
Recipe Card
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Slow Cooker Beef Stew
- Total Time: 4 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Description
From the tender beef to the savory sauce, this healthy slow cooker beef stew couldn’t be more delicious!
Ingredients
- 2–3 pounds beef chuck roast, cut into 6–8 large pieces
- 1 pound carrots, cut into 1″ pieces
- 8–10 ounces button mushrooms, halved
- 1 large sweet onion, diced (or 1 pound pearl onions, peeled)
- 1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 2 cups beef broth
- 2–3 sprigs fresh rosemary
- salt and pepper, to taste
- olive or avocado oil, to brown the roast
- To thicken: 2 Tablespoons arrowroot powder
Instructions
To Make This Stew In A Slow Cooker:
- Brown The Beef by heating a drizzle of oil in a large skillet. Working in batches, add a few pieces of beef to the pan and brown on all sides. When browned, transfer to the crock of a slow cooker. Repeat with remaining beef.
- Add Carrots & Mushrooms. Place carrots and mushrooms in with the beef (I just put them right on top of the browned beef).
- Mix Up Your Secret Sauce. Add onion to the pan you browned the beef in. Stir to scrape up any browned bits. Add balsamic, Dijon, and broth to the pan and stir until well combined.
- Pour The Sauce Over Everything. Then, pour the whole mixture into the slow cooker over the beef, carrots, and mushrooms. Place rosemary on top.
- Cook The Paleo Beef Stew in slow cooker on HIGH for 3-4 hours, or LOW on 7-8 hours.
- Shred beef into the broth mixture after cooking. Use two forks to pull the beef apart. It should be tender enough to come apart easily. If you prefer, you can remove the beef to a plate or cutting board to shred it if that makes it easier for you.
- Whisk Up The Arrowroot. In a small bowl, whisk together arrowroot and 2 Tbsp water. Pour into the slow cooker and stir to combine. It should almost immediately thicken. Serve when you’re ready!
- Garnish & Serve! Once the stew is thick and delicious, you can serve it in bowls, or spoon over mashed potatoes (we love these Instant Pot Whole30 Mashed Potatoes!) or mashed cauliflower. Store leftover stew in an airtight container in the fridge 3-4 days or freeze in a freezer-safe container up to 2 months. (It tastes even better the next day!)
If you prefer not to make this in a slow cooker:
- Dutch Oven: You can make it in a Dutch oven using the same method–cook everything in the Dutch oven, not a sauté pan. Bake it COVERED at 300 degrees for about 3 hours
- Stove Top: Simmer it on the stove top for 2-3 hours.
Notes
- Beef Roast. I recommend Chuck roast since it’s got enough fat to keep the beef from drying out, and it gets beautifully tender when slow cooked. You can use diced beef stew meat, just keep in mind it’ll cook a bit faster.
- Broth. I recommend beef bone broth for more protein & richer flavor. You can use water with 4-6 teaspoons of beef base, if it works with your dietary needs.
- Extras. Feel free to stir in a cup of frozen peas right before serving, or add extra vegetables while the stew slow cooks. Just don’t fill the slow cooker more than 3/4 full!
- Arrowroot. Not paleo? You can use cornstarch instead. It’s easier to work with, but is not paleo or whole30 approved.
- Make-Ahead Tips: Feel free to assemble this the night before and refrigerate the crock. You can then just pop the crock into the slow cooker and set it to cook. Also, you can make this skipping the browning step. I just love the flavor it imparts.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 hours
- Category: Main Dish, Soup, Stew
- Method: Slow Cooker
- Cuisine: American, Homestyle
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 277
- Sugar: 5.7 g
- Sodium: 576.9 mg
- Fat: 11.3 g
- Saturated Fat: 4.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 12.4 g
- Fiber: 2.4 g
- Protein: 32.4 g
- Cholesterol: 92.1 mg
Originally posted November 2014. Post completely updated December 2019.
I’ve made this now many times and it always turns out lovely. We’ve substituted goat meat for the beef from time, and other mushrooms, and the results are always delicious. If you can save the liquid from a slow cooker roast and use it as the broth it is very flavorful. I don’t bother with the arrowroot flour since I didn’t think it made a lot of difference the times that I tried it. Thanks for the recipe!
I tried this last night, and loved it, but I have to say that I think the measurement on the bone broth is too much. It barely thickened at all. Seems that is a problem I have with all recipes lately that require some sort of liquid, so that may be my issue, but just in case anyone else has a similar occurrence….
Also, I’m not sure of the serving portion on this, but wow, I could feed quite a few people with this recipe. Of course, I don’t have any teenagers in the house. Next time I think I can cut the recipe in half, as well as pare down the liquid in turn. Loved smelling this all day!!
I’m glad you enjoyed it Tammy! I hope that decreasing the liquid makes it spot-on perfect for you next time!
Are you supposed to sheed the beef before you put it in the crock or after it has cooked. Unclear in recipe.
Lisa – Sorry for the confusion! You shred after cooking if you’re using a beef roast. If you use diced stew meat, there’s no need to shred. I’ll update my recipe for clarity!
Love this recipe!!! Made it last night in my Instant Pot because I was pressed for time. I added potatoes and didn’t have fresh rosemary, so I substituted organic Italian seasoning, and I also added some onion powder. I cooked it for 40 mins on the stew setting. We will be adding this to our normal rotation. Super tasty! I may add a tablespoon of tomato paste next time to give it another layer of flavor. I’m used to having some sort of tomato in my stews bu this stew was nice & different and is also good without. Thank you for the awesome keeper!
Yum! I need to get an Instant Pot! I hear such amazing things about them!
Perfect! I was scrolling down the comments to see if someone had tried this in an IP yet for timing purposes. Doing this tonight!
I really want to jump on the instant pot train. Maybe for Mother’s Day!
For any future Instant Pot/pressure cooker users, highly recommend subbing in pearl onions! I diced an onion per the recipe and ended up with bits of pulverized onion throughout. It wasn’t bad–the mashed onions actually did a pretty good job of “thickening” the stew–but if you want your onions intact, I suggest pearl onions.
Thanks for the recipe, this was delicious! Made it on my first day of Whole30 with thyme instead of rosemary since I just had some on hand and it’ll definitely reappear throughout and afterwards.
Oh, that’s good to know! Thanks for the tip!
I used this recipe for inspiration, with a couple of minor modifications. Wow, excellent! Rave reviews from the family too. (“You can make that again any time”, was the comment I think.) Added cubed new potatoes, as suggested, so that it was a whole-meal bowl (served with a home made bread). Also added about half cup diced turnip. Microwaved the carrots, potatoes and turnip, tossed in a little olive oil, for 5 min on 800 W setting. This ‘trick’ from Cook’s Illustrated ensures the root veg cook in the low temperature of the crockpot. Also added one stalk of cellery, chopped, just because it is a family favourite… :-), and added half a can of petit pois at the end, for variety … :-). I also doubled the broth/balsamic/dijon because of the extra veg (but not the rosemary, as I find this can be overpowering). I omitted the salt and pepper (but did add a tsp beef base to the broth for a little added oomph!).
To Amber Kunz, subbing thickeners can be done, but you should know that root starches (potato, tapioca, arrowroot) thicken quickly at low tempertures and should be added at the end, grain thickeners (cornstarch, wheat flour) need to boil to thicken, and should be added to the crockpot at the beginning. Nut flours (almond, walnut, coconut, etc.) can (often) be substituted for flour in baking, but do not thicken sauces/gravys.
Great post. Thanks.
Thank you for all the notes Frank! I can’t wait to try with some of your suggestions!
I just made this tonight! We used our Dutch oven as suggested and it turned out so tender. I love the dijon and balsamic flavor along with the fresh rosemary. We did not thicken because we like it a bit soupier. I might add baby potatoes and more liquid next time to change it up! But the recipe is great as is too!!! I will definitely be adding this recipe into our rotation. Thanks for sharing!
Bonnie – I’m so glad you enjoyed it! (and it’s *fabulous* with baby potatoes). Have a great day!
I made this for the second time last night. My first time it was just OK as I didn’t have fresh rosemary. This time I added 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary and the smell alone was incredible!!! I loooooove that addition!! I am good at doctoring flavors so I did add quite a bit of salt and pepper as well as red pepper flakes and some flavor God Italian zest. I love potatoes and added like 5-6 (hence the need for more seasoning) Put it over the top!!!! Thanks for this!
This beef stew (paleo style) was good but maybe just different from what I had expected? I tasted a lot of rosemary, (I used two fresh sprigs), and I love balsamic but I didn’t really like it in this. I added parsnips to take the place of potatoes. I also doubled the beef broth so I doubled the balsamic and Dijon as well… I loved adding the Cremona mushrooms! They added a lot for texture and flavor…
My husband said he liked it although it was different, he said it was less traditional and more of a progressive flavor..
Thank you so much for posting this recipe!! I will use it as a base and maybe amend a few things for a different flavor?! ?
Sounds like adjusting it will definitely suit your tastes better. I’m glad you tried the recipe and THANK YOU for the feedback!
Made this tonight for dinner! So good!!
I’m so glad you liked it! It’s one of our very favorites.
This looks delicious! Is the onion supposed to be chopped? Quartered? Thanks!
Reagan – My apologies! It should be diced/chopped. I’ll adjust the recipe instructions to reflect that. Thank you for the catch and happy eating!