This Gluten Free Slow Cooker Beef Stew is perfect for St. Patrick’s Day and chilly days! Tender beef is slow-cooked with carrots, potatoes, herbs, red wine, and gluten-free stout beer for 6 hours. This rich and hearty stew is comfort food at its finest, and great for meal prep too.
This post was originally published on March 10th, 2020.
I absolutely love a rich, chunky stout beef stew. But I can’t really drink Guinness without feeling pretty ill the next day (no, I don’t drink THAT many!), so my quest: to find a damn good gluten-free stout.
I had no idea how difficult that would be.
After some snooping around online, I found a website that listed some of the available gluten-free beers in the UK. And there was First Chop. Not only were the Manchester-based craft beer’s can designs super cool, but they were also certified GF, AND they had a Vanilla Oatmeal Stout (which happens to be delicious!).
❤️ Why you will love this recipe
- Easy: This is one of those classic set-it-and-forget-it slow cooker recipes you’ll make again and again because it is just so simple!
- Simple ingredients: This delicious recipe is made with real ingredients like tender beef stew meat, fresh veggies, herbs, beef broth, and gluten free stout.
- Delicious: This easy recipe is one the whole family will love. It’s incredibly tasty and loaded with flavor.
- Comforting: Like a hug in a bowl, this is one of my favorite recipes for a pick-me-up. Nothing beats a comforting gluten-free meal!
- Meal prep: You can double the recipe or just save the leftovers for later. It tastes amazing the next day!
🗝️ Key Ingredients & Substitutions
- Brisket: The type of beef I chose this time was brisket as it makes a great stew. Chuck roast is another excellent choice.
- Fresh vegetables: Potatoes, carrots, and onions make this family favorite a complete meal by adding heartiness to this easy slow cooker beef stew.
- Tapioca starch: I skipped the all-purpose flour as this is a gluten-free beef stew recipe. I prefer to thicken my soups, sauces, and stews with tapioca flour, however, arrowroot flour (also called arrowroot starch or arrowroot powder) would work too, or you can add a cornstarch slurry at the end if that’s what you have on hand.
- Beef stock: You can add beef bone broth, or make beef stock out of water and bouillon cubes.
- Red wine: A full-bodied red wine like malbec, merlot, or cabernet sauvignon is a great thing to add to a savory beef stew. The wine adds an amazing depth of flavor and the alcohol cooks off so it’s kid-friendly too.
- Stout: Guinness is the classic stout to add to beef stew, however, I avoid it because of the gluten. A gluten-free stout like POD by Firstchop is ideal for this recipe. If you don’t want to use beer, just add extra beef broth.
- Herbs: I wanted to make this quick and simple with pantry staples so I added dried thyme and bay leaves instead of fresh herbs.
- Sea salt & black pepper: Season this easy beef stew recipe with salt and pepper.
🥣 How to make this slow cooker Beef Stew recipe
1. Prepare the vegetables: Dice the veggies and add them to the slow cooker.
2. Dice the meat into beef chunks.
3. Sprinkle the outside of the meat with tapioca starch (or cornflour/arrowroot) and mix it together until each piece is coated. I used my hands to toss the beef but a wooden spoon would work too.
4. Add the meat to the slow cooker.
5. Add herbs and seasoning: Add in the bay leaves, thyme, salt, and pepper for flavor.
6. Pour liquids: Pour the beef broth, wine, and stout over it all.
7. Cook: Cover with lid and stew beef on high for 3-4 hours, or low and slow for 7-8 hours.
8. Thicken: Add more starch/flour in a slurry to thicken if needed.
9. Serve over your favorite mash! See below for a few mash recipes to try.
🫙 Storage & Reheating Instructions
- Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days in the fridge.
- Reheat in the microwave, stove over medium heat, or in the oven until piping hot.
- Freeze in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Thaw completely before reheating.
🍽️ What can I serve with crockpot beef stew?
This crock pot beef stew pairs perfectly with your favorite mash. Here are a few of my favorites:
- Parsnip Puree
- Mashed Potatoes
- Mashed Rutabaga
- Mashed Sweet Potato
- Cauliflower Mash
🍠 Can I add other vegetables to this stew?
Absolutely! It’s a great way to use up veggies that are a little past their peak. Here are a few to try:
- Sweet potatoes
- Green beans
- Parsnips
- Cauliflower
- Celery
- Radish
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Not at all! Try making in an Instant Pot (electric pressure cooker) – select meat/stew setting for 30 minutes, or in one pot on the stove (this will take about an hour). I prefer the slow cooker because I can just throw it all in and leave it to work its magic.
For this particular recipe, I recommend using First Chop’s POD Vanilla Stout (which you can buy online here) due to its complex flavors adding wonderful layers for your palette to enjoy, but if it’s not available in your country, another stout would work well.
Take a few spoonfuls of your broth. Add 1-2 tbsp of tapioca flour (or cornflour/arrowroot) and mix until the flour dissolves. Stir this back into your stew and it will thicken up!
Irish stew is traditionally lamb or mutton meat cooked in a broth with onions, parsley and root veggies like potatoes and sometimes carrots. Traditionally there is no beef in Irish stew, however, beef is used more commonly now as it’s commercially much more available in the US and UK.
😋 More Healthy comforting recipes you will love:
- Keto Crack Chicken Chili
- Crispy Carnitas
- Instant Pot Vegan Chili
- Thai Coconut Soup with Shimp
- Healthy Gumbo Recipe
- Keto Beef and Broccoli
Have you made this recipe? I’d love to know <3 Tag me (@makehealthyrecipes) on Facebook and Instagram, Pin it on Pinterest, and please give it 5 stars with a review below! Don’t forget to subscribe to the email list (top right of this page) for sparkly new recipes in your inbox.
📖 Recipe
Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Beef Stew Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 kg 2.2lbs beef brisket (or chuck roast/stewing beef)
- 600 g potatoes about 4 medium
- 400 g carrots about 3-4 medium
- 200 g onions about 2 medium
- 3 tbsp tapioca flour see note 1
- 300 ml beef stock
- 100 ml red wine
- 330 ml can of stout beer I used First Chop’s gluten-free POD Vanilla Stout
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme (see note 2)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
Instructions
- Dice the veggies and add them to the slow cooker.
- Dice the meat into beef chunks.
- Sprinkle the outside of the meat with tapioca starch (or cornflour/arrowroot) and mix it together until each piece is coated.
- Add the meat to the slow cooker.
- Add in the bay leaves, thyme, salt, and pepper for flavor.
- Pour the beef broth, wine, and stout over it all.
- Cover with lid and stew beef on high for 3-4 hours, or low and slow for 7-8 hours.
- Thicken (optional): If you need to add more starch at the end to make the stew thicker, remove 1/4 cup of broth from the slow cooker, add a tablespoon of starch/flour, mix until well combined, add another 1/4 cup of broth, mix together than add back into the slow cooker and stir. You can use tapioca or cornstarch.
- Serve over your favorite mash!
Notes
- Tapioca starch: You can substitute cornstarch or arrowroot flour.
- Thyme: You can use up to 1 tsp of dried thyme if you prefer a more herby flavor, or use 1-2 sprigs of fresh thyme.
- My favorite mash to serve this beef stew over is my Parsnip and Red Chili Puree (click for the recipe link).