This Honey Balsamic Slow Cooker Beef Stew is full of flavor and couldn’t be easier — just throw everything in and let it cook! Loaded with veggies and thick honey balsamic sauce. Step by step recipe video.
Looking for more easy crockpot recipes? Check out these Dump ‘n’ Go Slow Cooker Recipes!
Often I think about how I wouldn’t be nearly as excited to see the seasons changing if I lived somewhere further South. Occasionally in the dead of winter it seems tempting, but the anticipation of Spring, then Summer, then Fall and then the first snowflakes of Winter just wouldn’t be there.
So now that we are officially onto Fall food (along with back to school and holiday chaos), I’m here with a a slow cooker recipe that can be an easy weeknight meal or an elegant holiday dinner with a loaf of crusty bread.
The honey balsamic combo is one we are familiar with around here — from this Slow Cooker Honey Balsamic Pulled Pork (our favorite!) to this Honey Balsamic Grilled Chicken (save that one for summer), we can’t get enough. It’s the perfect mix of sweet and tangy and savory and it goes with everything.
Next month is baby month here friends, and so I chose to keep things super simple. I love that these Little Potatoes are just dump and go — no peeling, not chopping!
If you do want to take this from “easy everyday” to “elegant dinner”, feel free to brown the beef cubes before adding them to the slow cooker. This adds an extra layer of flavor and the juices remain in the beef and don’t dilute the sauce quite as much.
But the flavor of this stew is incredible — the sweet and tangy sauce, the creamy potatoes, the earthy carrots — even without the extra work, so I opted to skip the step and just get a real, hearty dinner on the table even on the days I only have one free hand 😉
Tips and Tricks for Making this Honey Balsamic Slow Cooker Beef Stew:
- 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.
- If you wanted to make this a vegetarian meal, you could simply swap the beef for mushrooms and add in extra veggies.
*This post is generously sponsored by The Little Potato Company and I was compensated for my time in creating the recipe — thank you for supporting the brands that keep us fed!
Honey Balsamic Slow Cooker Beef Stew Recipe + VIDEO
written by Ashley Fehr
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*
- ⅓ cup balsamic vinegar
- ⅓ cup honey
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon seasoning salt
- 1/4 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
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Adrienneposner says
If you want to add mushrooms when
Ashley Fehr says
I think you could add them at the beginning
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
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 !
Ashley Fehr says
Yes it will be fine without! It just adds a bit more flavor
Bethany hall says
Making it tonight for the 5th time it’s my favorite. I usually do 8 hours in the crock pot it won’t change the taste and everything got 4 on High will it?
Ashley Fehr says
No, it should be good!
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.
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks Nicole! I’m glad to hear that!
Jess Aldrich says
I got all the stuff to make this and I’m so excited about it! I chose a different cut of beef but kept all the flavors and other components the same. Thank you for this super easy, super yummy recipe!
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks Jess!
Diann B Thomas says
what is liquid honey. I have been checking all stores and they tell me all honey is liquid. Is this true
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.
Jorin says
Thank you! I wasn’t aware of how the slowcooker works, I have ordered one and will be receiving it today. Will be a great recipe to try out for tomorrow!
Ashley Fehr says
I’d love to hear how it goes!
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 🙂
Ashley Fehr says
I am ecstatic to hear that! Thank you!
Emily says
Do you recommend browning the beef before? Is it mushy from crock pot?
Ashley Fehr says
It’s personal preference! Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. It won’t be mushy, but it will be tender.
K says
I’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.
Andrew says
This was really tastey! Thank you
If I wanted to make a double batch, should I just double all the ingredients?
Ashley Fehr says
Yes, that works! You may need to increase the cook time slightly if your slow cooker is very full, or use a larger one.
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??
Ashley Fehr says
Hi Margie! You do! But if you want to thicken the juices further after the cook time, you can use additional corn starch and water mixture to do so
Barbara says
Wow! I made this recipe today exactly as written. It was soooo good. Next time I will double the recipe ?
Ashley Fehr says
I’m so happy to hear that Barbara!
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!!
Ashley Fehr says
Yay! So happy to hear that!
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!
Kim says
Can i cook this on high for less time or at least part of the time?
Ashley Fehr says
Yes! I generally cook on high for half as much time as on low
Pattie says
So are you saying high for 2 hours and low for 4 hours and total of 6 hours instead of 8?
Ashley Fehr says
No, generally if you are slow cooking on high instead of low you halve the cook time. So 4 hours instead of 8.
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 🙁 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!
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!
Ashley Fehr says
Thank you Chris! I’m so glad you enjoy it!
Jessica says
Has anyoneied this using an Instant Pot? what would the pressure cooking times adjust t
Ashley Fehr says
I haven’t yet but it’s on my list to try!
Shelby Walters says
Could I freeze this recipe? and if so should I leave anything when freezing? Can’t wait to try this!
Ashley Fehr says
I think it should freeze well with everything cooked! I haven’t tried it but I’d love to hear if you do!
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!!
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks Rachel! It’s our favorite beef stew too!
Lydia says
I don’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! 🙁
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 🙂