Simple slow-cooker beef stew (no meat browning)

I realize this is not very timely.  It's Spring - finally been feeling that way too, although it's cooling down again as we head into the weekend - and I'm posting a beef stew recipe (on a baking blog, no less)!  Well, I think this stew is light enough to enjoy even in the Spring and personally, I want to keep this in my archives and share it with you because it's a simple and delicious slow-cooker recipe.  So let's go on another little savory interlude today...

Beef and tomato stew made in the slow cooker, served with farro

I adapted this recipe from one of those old issues of Everyday Food that I talked about recently (there are tons of great recipes in there).  What I love about it is that it makes a big pot of flavorful, somewhat lighter, beef stew without a lot of work.  I sweat some vegetables in a pan before placing it into my slow cooker but you don't need to brown the meat!  I was skeptical until I tried it and I can tell you after making this twice now that it is really good stuff!

 

My husband loves beef stew and when I think about using my slow-cooker more often, I always think that I'd like to find a good beef stew recipe.  The one thing I really don't like about making it is browning the meat.  Recently, I saw something promising in a magazine from America's Test Kitchen.  It featured a slow-cooker beef stew recipe that didn't require browning the meat as well.  Theirs was a somewhat more intricate process (if I'm not mistaken, there was a foil pouch of potatoes sitting on top of the stew involved) but I recall them explaining that adding certain ingredients like soy sauce helped "beef up" the flavor when not browning the meat. 

Fork tender meat after 6 hours on high in the slow cooker

This recipe I worked from didn't call for soy sauce but I took some of those suggestions I'd read and tweaked the recipe by added a few extra things.  There are no potatoes in this stew, which lightens it up, and the heavy focus is on the tender meat as well as onions and carrots that's cooked down with crushed tomatoes and other flavorings I threw in. 

Long story short, if you have a slow-cooker and like beef stew, I highly recommend this!