dinner
Crock Pot Gluten-Free Beef Stew
This naturally gluten-free beef stew is a hearty, savory, and healthy dish perfect for cold winter nights. It simmers away all day in the crock pot until the beef is tender and your whole house smells amazing! Cozy up and enjoy!
A little about this recipe
It’s mid January around here, and we have feet (multiple) of snow on the ground, with more on the way. That means it’s time for one of the ultimate winter comfort foods: Beef Stew. Hearty, warm, and delicious, this stew cooks away all day long in the crockpot and smells heavenly. By the time you sit down to eat it, the meat is impossibly tender and you’ll be starving in anticipation!
You may think that something like beef stew doesn't need to be labeled as GF, but people don’t always realize that gluten can hide in all kinds of sneaky places. Instant sauce and season packets are a huge one. Wheat is typically used to thicken up dishes like stews, chili, or taco meat. So by nixing the instant beef stew sauce packet and seasoning it yourself you’re not only cutting out the gluten, but also possible MSG, artificial flavors, and preservatives. So it’s really a no-brainer.
Like most of my favorite recipes, this one is easy and adaptable. I really dislike when I need to run to the store for just one missing ingredient, so I appreciate recipes that let me easily make substitutions. For this recipe, I’d say stew meat, stock and some hearty veggies are all that’s really vital. If you’re missing celery or carrot, don’t sweat it. Try cauliflower or extra potatoes. If all you have is a bag of mixed frozen veggies, use them! ( Although don’t let them cook the whole time, toss in halfway through). If you don’t have quite enough stock, you can easily use water. Just toss in whatever herbs you have, and it’ll all be fine. And please don’t stress over using the exact amount of veggies or stock. I guarantee our ancestors didn’t have a recipe for beef stew. So be like them and just peel, chop, stir whatever you have, and then spend the day in eager anticipation for this delicious and soul-warming beef stew.
GREEN BEE GLUTEN FREE
Crock Pot Gluten-Free Beef Stew
Equipment: Crock- Pot
Ingredients
Optional
Instructions
Start by slicing up any pieces of stew meat that are more than 1 inch. Place beef in crock pot and sprinkle with oat flour and ½ salt and stir to fully coat.
Place all of your chopped vegetables into the crockpot. (If you’re going to use tender frozen veggies like peas or green beans, wait to add until halfway thru cooking time).
Add in herbs and roughly 1 tsp salt, and ½ tsp pepper
Pour in enough stock or water to cover all the ingredients and stir well. More liquid will give you more broth in your stew so don't be afraid to add a little extra if you like a lot of liquid.
Cook on low for 10 hours or on high for 5-6 hours.
About 15 minutes before you want to serve the stew, make an arrowroot powder slurry. Add 3 tbsp arrowroot powder to a small bowl, and stir in 6 tbsp cold water or stock and stir well. When there aren’t any lumps left, dump it into the crockpot and stir well. This thickens the stew, and makes the broth become almost like a gravy. It is totally optional. The oat flour used to coat the beef will also have thickened the stew slightly, so when you open the crockpot after the cooking time you can decide how much thicker you may want it.
