It’s cold here in the Midwest, and you know what is great on a cold day? A nice warm bowl of beef stew!! That’s what!
Today’s simple beef stew can be quickly tossed together in a slow cooker in the morning before you head out the door, and it can be left to cook all day until you are ready to eat it in the evening! This recipe does not require any pre-cooking on the stovetop. The beef and vegetables go straight into the slow cooker, along with a sauce that uses gravy mix and salsa! Easy peasy.
Super tender=easy to chew=happy kids.
I used super lean beef for this stew, which would be a tough meat to chew, according to my children’s standards. The trick is the cooking time. You will cook this stew on HIGH for about 6-7 hours in the slow cooker. The meat gets super tender in that amount of time, as do the vegetables.
In the end, you are left with a hearty, very filling, tender stew that is very easy to eat, even for kids. Speaking of kids…
My kids could not get enough of this stew.
Here is what you need:
2 cups water
1/2 cup fat-free salsa
1 (.75 ounce) brown gravy seasoning packet
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 pound lean beef sirloin, trimmed of fat, and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
4 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 onion, largely chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
Here is what you do:
Whisk water, salsa, gravy seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, and garlic powder in a slow cooker.
Carefully add beef sirloin, potatoes, carrots, and onion to the slow cooker. Stir ingredients together and cook on HIGH for 6 hours.
Turn off slow cooker and allow to sit for 5 minutes before eating.
Salt and pepper, to taste.
Makes 6 servings.
One serving is 1 cup.
One serving is 5 Green, 5 Blue, and 3 Purple points.
Slow Cooker Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 2 cups water
- 1/2 cup fat-free salsa
- 1 (.75 ounce) brown gravy seasoning packet
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 pound lean beef sirloin, trimmed of fat, and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 4 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1 onion, largely chopped
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Whisk water, salsa, gravy seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, and garlic powder in a slow cooker.
- Carefully add beef sirloin, potatoes, carrots, and onion to the slow cooker. Stir ingredients together and cook on HIGH for 6 hours.
- Turn off slow cooker and allow to sit for 5 minutes before eating.
- Salt and pepper, to taste.
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*MyWW® points calculated by Meal Planning Mommies; Not endorsed by MyWW (formerly Weight Watchers and WW). All recipe ingredients except optional items included in determining nutritional estimates. MyWW® green, blue, and purple values calculated without WW Zero Points foods using the WW Recipe Builder.
Great way to eat a healthier, quick stew! It is, in my opinion, a starter stew that can easily be pumped up. I added salt free garlic and herb seasoning and it added an extra umf.
Sounds great, Tonya! Thanks for the idea! 🙂
What kind of herb seasoning. I’m thinking about prepping this as one of my meals.
I just used a brown gravy seasoning packet in this one.
Wow your awesome. I think I was to get a reply back that soon. I also was wondering about prepping. It’s just me in my daughter. When prepping do you do meals separate from lunch and dinner. Because I strive to take my lunch daily of course we have to eat dinner all week as well when we return home. Any suggestions. Once again your awesome.
I love to do leftovers for lunch whenever I can. I work from home now, so I have quite a bit of flexibility. Because I am a recipe blogger, there are many times I am making a recipe for the blog at lunch time and getting pictures. But that probably doesn’t help you much. As far as this particular recipe goes, it reheats very well. Not sure if this will help or not, but I created a list of easy lunch ideas from back when I was working outside of the home here: http://mealplanningmommies.com//smart-lunch-ideas-with-weight-watcher-smart-points/ and there are some easy snack and lunch ideas from other MPM readers here: http://mealplanningmommies.com//over-100-ww-friendly-quick-and-easy-snack-and-lunch-ideas/
I was asking do you prep two different meals for dinner and lunches. Or do you eat what you prepare for dinner for lunch
Yes, when I can eat leftovers from dinner for lunch I do. Other times I plan something different for lunch. Often times the “something different” ends up being another recipe I am experimenting with for the blog.
BEST beef stew I’ve made in almost 50 years of marriage. So easy. I especially like not having to brown the meat first.
However, because my men gobbled it up so quickly, next time I’ll double or triple the potatoes and carrots. I used black bean & corn salsa (all I had on hand) and thickened the gravy with a flour slurry. It was dee-licious! Thanks!
This was an amazing recipe! Thank you
Can you make this in an instapot?