Easy 5-ingredient beef stew from Stephanie at Recipe Renovator | 5 minutes prep then into the slow cooker! Gluten-free, dairy-free, low-sodium, paleo

Beef stew with five minutes of prep? Yes!


This year I want to create more super-easy recipes to help those readers who don’t really cook very much. I thought about how much I love beef stew, and that I don’t mind prepping a lot of vegetables for it because I am cutting veggies up every day. But for many people, I know it’s a pain. So I decided to see how quickly and easily I could put together beef stew using pre-prepped (but whole foods) ingredients. This was delicious and is vegetable-heavy, utilizing the high-quality grass-fed beef for rich flavor.

I bought one pound of grass-fed beef shank. You want the least expensive, toughest cut of meat for this recipe, as the long slow cooking breaks down the collagen and connective tissue. If you use a lean cut of meat it will dry out and make you sad. It’s not “cheap” (still grass-fed) but is the least-expensive option. Ask the butcher to cut it into small pieces for you, and give you the bone if it has one.

Next I grabbed two cans of organic, no-salt-added tomatoes.

One package of teeny tiny fingerling potatoes. Wash them while still in the mesh bag. I used whole vegetables so they wouldn’t overcook.

One package of organic baby carrots.

And one container of pre-cut onions or mirepoix if they don’t have onions alone. Mirepoix is a mixture of diced carrots, onions, and celery, which is what I used here.

To make this migraine-friendly, you’ll need to buy one bunch of scallions instead of the onions, wash them, and thinly slice. You could do this the night before.

Vegan/vegetarian option (not migraine friendly): Use 2 Massel beef bouillon cubes in place of the beef.

You dump all that into the slow cooker, add garlic powder, black pepper, and cumin, stir, and cook it on low for 7-8 hours. Seriously, that’s it.

You have time to cook. You can do it!

Suitable for:

low-sodium, migraine, paleo, Whole30, gluten-free, reduced-sugar diets

Not for:

vegan or vegetarian diets (unless you use the Massel bouillon in place of the beef)
Easy 5-ingredient beef stew from Stephanie at Recipe Renovator | 5 minutes prep then into the slow cooker! Gluten-free, dairy-free, low-sodium, paleo

You might also like:

How to make paleo beef stew from Nerd Fitness
Classic paleo beef stew from Melissa Joulwan
Provencal beef stew from Cooking Light

Easy 5-ingredient beef stew from Stephanie at Recipe Renovator | 5 minutes prep then into the slow cooker! Gluten-free, dairy-free, low-sodium, paleo

Easy 5-ingredient beef stew

3.29 from 7 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours
Total Time 8 hours 5 minutes
Course Dinner, Lunch
Cuisine American
Servings 10 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 1 pound potatoes tiny fingerling, washed in the bag
  • 1 pound carrots organic, baby
  • 1 pkg onions pre-cut, or pre-cut mirepoix
  • 28 ounces tomatoes canned, no-salt-added
  • 1 pound beef (grass-fed) shank or pot roast, cubed
  • 2 tsp cumin (dried)
  • 2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp black pepper

Instructions
 

  • Wash the potatoes while still in the mesh bag, Tear open the bag and add to a 6-qt. slow cooker. Turn on to LOW.
  • Add the rest of the ingredients. Stir until thoroughly mixed. Turn on the lid and cook for 7-8 hours.