Beef, Mushroom & Veggie Stew in the Crockpot

 Crockpot Beef, Mushroom & Vegetable Stew

A1C-friendly • lower-sodium • no potatoes • no flour

About 5–6 servings

This is intentionally more chunky beef-and-vegetables than soupy stew. We want dinner you can CHEW. 

Ingredients

• 1½ lbs beef stew meat
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced or quartered
• 2 medium fresh carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
• ½ large onion, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1½ cups low-sodium or no-salt-added beef broth
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme
• Black pepper to taste
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 can no-salt-added green beans, drained
• Optional: ½–1 cup water chestnuts, drained, added near the end for crunch

About those green beans

CANNED green beans are my choice here. ❤️

Normally, for something like Chinese garlic green beans, I’d tell you fresh. But in a crockpot stew, canned are completely appropriate—and you already keep the no-salt-added ones around.

We’re simply adding them toward the end so they don’t spend eight hours surrendering all structural integrity. 😂

1. Optional—but worthwhile—beef step

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in your skillet over medium-high heat.

Pat the stew meat dry with paper towels. Sprinkle it with pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.

Brown the beef for about 2 minutes per side. You’re not trying to cook it through. You’re just putting some brown color on the outside for flavor.

Transfer it to the crockpot.

You can skip browning and put the raw beef directly into the crockpot. The finished flavor won’t be quite as rich, but it will still work.

2. Load the crockpot

Add:

Carrots → onion → celery → mushrooms → garlic

Then pour in:

1½ cups beef broth + 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Add paprika, thyme, black pepper and the bay leaf.

Give everything a gentle stir.

3. Cook

Cover and cook:

LOW: 7–8 hours — my preference

or

HIGH: 4–5 hours

The beef should become fork-tender. Stew meat can still be tough before enough slow cooking has broken down its connective tissue, so if it’s chewy, it may simply need more time.

4. THEN bring in the green beans

About 30 minutes before you’re ready to eat, stir in your drained canned green beans.

If you’re adding water chestnuts, put them in at this point too. They’ll warm through without spending the entire day turning into sad little disks. 

Remove the bay leaf before serving.

5. Taste before adding salt

Between the broth and Worcestershire, you may decide it doesn’t need any.

That’s particularly useful while you’re working on blood pressure. We can always add flavor with garlic, pepper, thyme and other seasonings before reaching for more salt.

🍲 Aleta's preferences:

I would leave out the traditional potatoes and I wouldn’t serve it over rice.

Not because either food is permanently forbidden, but because this particular meal already works beautifully as:

tender beef + mushrooms + carrots + celery + green beans + savory broth.