Honey Balsamic Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Prep Time 15 minutes
Total Time 8 hours 15 minutes
Servings 5 servings

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Comfort food doesn’t get any better than Honey Balsamic Slow Cooker Beef Stew! This stick to your ribs beef stew is hearty, flavorful as can be and loaded with beef and veggies. You’re gonna love this set it and forget it crockpot recipe!

Stay warm this winter with more stew recipes like Classic Beef Stew, One Pot Chicken Stew and Slow Cooker Garlic Parmesan Chicken Stew.

speckled bowl filled with beef stew with biscuits and parsley behind it.

My Crockpot stays pretty active year round, but especially during the chillier fall and winter months. I love staying warm with cozy crockpot recipes like this Honey Balsamic Slow Cooker Beef Stew!

The flavor in this stew is downright mouthwatering. Tangy flavor from the balsamic vinegar and natural sweetness from the honey come together perfectly with other flavorful additions like Worcestershire sauce, garlic and more.

Oh, and have I mentioned just how easy this Crockpot beef stew recipe is?! You basically just have to toss everything into the slow cooker and let it work its magic for you.

What people are saying

“This was absolutely delicious just as it’s written. Made this with no modifications and came out perfectly. Everyone went back for seconds. A sweeter take on beef stew that I will definitely be making again! Thanks!” Michele

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Why we love this Honey Balsamic Slow Cooker Beef Stew Recipe:

  • Flavorful: The sweet and tangy sauce is pretty addictive. It’s so good that I often find myself thinking about it long after the last dish gets washed!
  • Easy: This is the definition of a set it and forget it recipe. After 10 minutes of prep time, the Crockpot slowly cooks the beef and veggies to tender perfection.
  • Filling: You won’t be left hungry after a hearty serving of this beef stew! It’s packed with the perfect amount of beef and veggies to satisfy even the hungriest bellies at the dinner table.

Honey Balsamic Beef Stew Ingredients:

ingredients needed for honey balsamic slow cooker beef stew in bowls.
  • Beef: You can buy beef stew meat, but I find it more economical to buy an inexpensive round steak and cut it myself. The steaks are often fresher as well! Since we are cooking it low and slow, we do not need a tender cut of beef.
  • Veggies: I use a medley of classic stew veggies – celery, carrots and onions.
  • Cornstarch: This is what thickens the sauce.
  • Beef Broth: I like to use unsalted or low sodium broth when I cook. That way, I can sprinkle in salt as needed and better control the amount of sodium in the dish.
  • Honey: You can add more or less to adjust the amount of sweetness in the sauce.
  • Potatoes: You can half or quarter the potatoes. They’ll cook all the way through either way.
  • Balsamic Vinegar: I don’t recommend swapping this key ingredient with anything else! You need both the tangy and sweet flavors of it to compliment everything else.
  • Tomato Paste: A little goes a long way with this.
  • Seasonings: Seasoning salt and pepper are all I use, but you can feel free to sprinkle in whatever others spices sound good to you. Herbs like thyme or bay leaves would also be nice.
  • Garlic: You can measure this one with your heart!

How to make Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Here’s a quick sneak peak of how to make the BEST slow cooker beef stew recipe! For more detailed info, scroll down to the recipe card at the bottom of the page.

  • Add the beef and veggies to your slow cooker.
  • Whisk together all of the ingredients for the sauce. Pour the sauce over the meat and veggies, cover, and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Recipe Tip

With most slow cooker recipes, I find that the flavors become muted after cooking for such a long time. With this stew though, I didn’t find that at all! It was still so good and didn’t need any adjustments after cooking, other than a bit of extra corn starch if you want a thicker sauce.

Variations and Substitutions

  • Add more veggies: Feel free to improvise and use what you have on hand. Some frozen peas added at the end of the cook time add a great pop of color!
  • Make it vegetarian: If you wanted to make this a vegetarian meal, you could simply swap the beef for mushrooms and add in extra veggies.
speckled bowl filled with beef stew and a biscuit being dipped in at the edge.

How to store leftover Beef Stew

Store your leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days. Reheat individual portions in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring each time it stops, until warmed all the way through.

If a lot of the liquid has been absorbed, add a splash of water or broth before reheating.

Can I freeze Honey Balsamic Slow Cooker Beef Stew?

Sure thing! Let everything fully cool to room temperature before freezing in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Take the stew out of the freezer and let it thaw in the fridge prior to reheating.

Keep in mind that the texture of the potatoes can change after being frozen. If this is something you don’t enjoy, I recommend storing it in the fridge.

Can I brown the beef first?

You can absolutely brown the beef in a skillet before adding to the slow cooker. This will build flavor and prevent some of the liquids of the beef from escaping into the gravy. For my purposes, I wanted to keep this recipe super simple so we skipped it!

white slow cooker filled with beef stew and a steel scoop.

Serving suggestions:

You can always serve this stew with some Homemade Dinner Rolls or a loaf of crusty Artisan bread if you feel like showing off! I’m also pretty fond of Homemade Garlic Herb Dinner Rolls too. Rolls are always great with stew because they help soak up all of that delicious sauce!

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Honey Balsamic Slow Cooker Beef Stew Recipe

4.74 from 119 votes
Comfort food doesn't get any better than Honey Balsamic Slow Cooker Beef Stew! This stick to your ribs beef stew is hearty, flavorful as can be and loaded with beef and veggies. You're gonna love this set it and forget it recipe!
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours
Total Time 8 hours 15 minutes
Cuisine American
Course Main Course
Servings 5 servings
Calories 304cal

Ingredients

  • 1 lb baby potatoes (halved or quartered)
  • 1 lb round steak (cut into 1" pieces)
  • 3 large carrots (cut into ¾-1" pieces)
  • 1 rib celery (chopped)
  • ½ medium onion (cut into ½" pieces)
  • 1 cup low sodium beef broth*
  • cup balsamic vinegar
  • cup honey
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 teaspoons minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon seasoning salt
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons corn starch

Instructions

  • Add potatoes, beef, carrots, celery, and onion to a 3-4 quart slow cooker.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together broth, vinegar, honey, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, seasoning salt, pepper and corn starch with a whisk until combined. Add to slow cooker.
  • Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours until potatoes and carrots are tender. If desired, strain out sauce and thicken further on the stove top with a corn starch/water slurry.
  • Taste and adjust seasonings as desired before serving.

Notes

Ingredients and Substitutions:

Beef broth: I have increased the beef broth in this recipe from ¼ cup to 1 cup for a saucier stew. If you prefer, you can reduce the broth or increase the vinegar and honey as you prefer. 
Potatoes: any variety of potatoes cut into 1/2-1″ cubes will work just fine!
Beef: you can buy stewing beef, but I find it more economical to buy an inexpensive round steak and cut it myself. The steaks are often fresher as well! Since we are cooking it low and slow, we do not need a tender cut of beef.
Vegetables: feel free to improvise and use what you have on hand. Some frozen peas added at the end of the cook time add a great pop of color!
Honey and balsamic vinegar: I know these seem like strange additions, but trust me on this one! If you love a slightly sweet and tangy sauce, you’ll love this version. It’s a little unexpected but packed with flavor!

Browning beef before adding:

You can absolutely brown the beef in a skillet before adding to the slow cooker. This will build flavor and prevent some of the juices of the beef from escaping into the gravy. For my purposes, I wanted to keep this recipe super simple so we skipped it!
 
 

Nutrition Information

Serving: 284grams | Calories: 304cal | Carbohydrates: 45g | Protein: 23g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 57mg | Sodium: 682mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 25g
Keywords slow cooker beef stew

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Meet Ashley

My name is Ashley Fehr and I love creating easy meals my family loves. I also like to do things my way, which means improvising and breaking the rules when necessary. Here you will find creative twists on old favorites and some of my favorite family recipes, passed down from generations!

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Comments

      • Diann B Thomas says

        what is liquid honey???? Isn’t honey in liquid form? I have been shopping all over to find liquid honey and no one can help. Thank you for you assistance.

      • The Recipe Rebel says

        Hi Diann! So sorry you are having trouble! Liquid honey is a raw and not refined form of honey that has not gone through any processing or purification

  1. Jeannie Pascuzzi says

    I’m cooking this today. I don’t feel like browning the stew meat. Will the stew meat come out really tender if I don’t brown it ? I want to add mushrooms to your recipe. Should I add more broth ?
    Thank you !

  2. Bethany hall says

    Making it tonight for the 5th time itโ€™s my favorite. I usually do 8 hours in the crock pot it wonโ€™t change the taste and everything got 4 on High will it?

  3. Nicole says

    I absolutely love this recipe. The flavours work so well together. Great recipe to use up all veggies in the fridge. This recipe is a Family favourite. We serve with sour dough bread.

  4. Jorin says

    can you specify what slow cooking on “low” means in degrees? (celcius preferably). Looks like an amazing recipe that I’d like to try!

    • Jonathan Blaylock says

      This recipe is meant for a crock pot (aka slow cooker) so the temp varies a bit between models but generally, the LOW setting is about 200 F and the HIGH setting is about 300 F. Most crockpots don’t allow you to set specific temps, they just use the pre set options of low or high. If you tried to cook this without a crockpot the results may vary because crockpots conserve the liquid from the cooking food, using it to further braise the contents. Crockpots retain all moisture that usually evaporates when cooking in the oven. Spices will also absorb at different rates when using a crockpot vs. using the stove.

  5. William Lawrence says

    Wow!!!! I have been hunting for a stew that can hold a candle to the Omaha Steak’s Italian Red Wine crockpot meal (which, while delicious, is overpriced and undersized). I found it!!!

    This stew was fabulous. It was hearty, flavorful, and had overtones of a german sauerbraten.

    +100!!! WILL BE MAKING OFTEN ๐Ÿ™‚

  6. K says

    Iโ€™m a bit confused about the corn starch reading the comments. Should I add the two tbsp at the start or only if I want to thicken it? Thanks

    • Ashley Fehr says

      I’m sorry, that is a little confusing! You should add the original amount of corn starch in the place where the recipe calls for it with the other sauce ingredients. Then after cooking, if you want to thicken further you can add additional.

  7. Andrew says

    This was really tastey! Thank you

    If I wanted to make a double batch, should I just double all the ingredients?

  8. Margie says

    Your recipe is confusing then, because it says: In a medium bowl, combine broth, vinegar, honey, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, seasoning salt, pepper and corn starch with a whisk until combined. Add to slow cooker.

    Do you NOT add the corn starch in the beginning then??

  9. Barbara says

    Wow! I made this recipe today exactly as written. It was soooo good. Next time I will double the recipe ?

  10. Hayley B says

    I made this stew today! It was an absolute hit! So easy to make and soooo tasty!!! I definitely got some wifey bonus points today!!

  11. Yvette Hoitink says

    Thanks for the recipe. I tried it today. I found the sweet and sour too overwhelming to my taste. It was so strong that every part of the dish tasted the same, regardless of which vegetable I was eating. I definitely think it has potential and I’ll substitute some of the vinegar and honey with beef stock on my next attempt.

    • Ashley Fehr says

      Thanks for your comment Yvette! It is definitely a little sweet and tangy and packs more punch than your average beef stew. This is the way we prefer it but everyone has different tastes!

  12. Jenn says

    Hi! I doubled the amount of liquid and this still seems WAY too thick. I’ve had my crockpot on high and low trying to work with it. Recently I added about a cup of water just to make sure it didn’t burn (even on low I can hear it bubbling across the room) and because the flavors came off smelling REALLY strong whenever I opened the lid to stir it. Any ideas on what happened? I even left out half of the cornstarch in the second batch of the liquid ingredients that I added.

    • Ashley Fehr says

      Hi Jenn! I’m sorry to hear that ๐Ÿ™ Did you by any chance add the corn starch in at the beginning? It shouldn’t be that thick, as the beef will release its juices as it cooks and thin the sauce, which is why the corn starch at the end is necessary. The balsamic is a strong smell but the flavor it gives is my favorite!

  13. Chris says

    As I came upstairs from working on the laundry, I smelled the incredibly yummy scent of this stew coming from my crockpot. And it dawned on me that I’ve never thanked you for this recipe. I’ve made it many, many times and we love each and every batch of it. Thank you!

  14. Rachel says

    This recipe was a huge hit! The meat I bought was too lean which made it tough. Next time I’ll go with a fattier cut. The stew was delicious! This is our go-to fall stew now!!

  15. Lydia says

    I donโ€™t know where I went wrong… followed the recipe to the dot but it came out terribly bad. It was so sour and almost synthetic! ๐Ÿ™

    • Ashley Fehr says

      I’m not sure what you mean by “synthetic”… I don’t think you could have followed the recipe to the dot because it has gotten great reviews so far, and it’s one of our favourites ๐Ÿ™‚

4.74 from 119 votes (93 ratings without comment)

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