Slow Cooker Beef and Kumara Stew
A hands-off winter dinner: chuck steak braised low and slow until it falls apart, with kumara and carrot melting into a rich, savoury gravy. Ten minutes of work in the morning, dinner ready at night.
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This is the kind of dinner that looks after itself. Brown the beef, soften an onion, then tip everything into the slow cooker before you leave the house. By evening the kitchen smells of a Sunday roast and the meat shreds under a fork. Kumara gives the gravy a gentle sweetness that sits well against the savoury beef.
A slow cooker rewards patience over fuss, but two short steps make a real difference. Browning the beef builds the deep flavour that long, gentle cooking alone cannot, and tossing the meat in flour first both helps it colour and thickens the gravy as it cooks. Everything after that is a matter of layering the pot and walking away.
Ingredients
Beef
- 800 g beef chuck steak, cut into 4 cm pieces
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 2 tbsp oil
- Salt and pepper to season
Vegetables and braise
- 1 large onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 500 g kumara, peeled and cut into 3 cm chunks
- 2 carrots, sliced thick
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 cups beef stock
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 bay leaf
Method
- Coat the beef. Season the chuck with salt and pepper, then toss it through the flour until lightly coated. Shake off any excess and set aside.
- Brown in batches. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Brown the beef in two or three batches, turning until well coloured on most sides, then transfer to the slow cooker. Crowding the pan steams the meat, so give it room.
- Soften the onion. Lower the heat and add the onion to the same pan, scraping up the browned bits. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes until softened, then stir in the garlic and tomato paste for one minute.
- Deglaze. Pour in a splash of the beef stock and stir to lift everything off the base of the pan, then tip the lot into the slow cooker.
- Build the pot. Add the kumara, carrot, remaining stock, Worcestershire sauce and bay leaf to the slow cooker. Stir gently to combine; the liquid should come most of the way up the ingredients.
- Cook low and slow. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for about 4 hours, until the beef pulls apart easily and the gravy has thickened. Remove the bay leaf and check the seasoning before serving.
- Chuck steak is ideal here. Lean cuts dry out over a long cook, while chuck grows more tender the longer it goes.
- Cut the kumara a little larger than the carrot so it does not break down into mush before the beef is ready.
- If the gravy is thinner than you like, lift the lid for the last 30 minutes on high, or stir through a little cornflour slaked in cold water.
- The stew deepens in flavour overnight and reheats well, making it a strong candidate for cooking ahead.
Sources & references
Background reading used while developing and verifying this recipe. Quantities and timings were confirmed by our own kitchen testing.
- General braising references on chuck steak and the role of collagen breakdown in long, low cooking.
- New Zealand food-safety guidance on safe slow-cooker temperatures and reheating cooked meat.
- Edmonds Cookery Book, casseroles and stews section, for traditional beef and root-vegetable ratios.
