Slow Cooker ground beef stew is an easy, inexpensive, and hearty meal. Filled with ground beef, potatoes, and veggies, this delicious and satisfying dish is one you will want to make - often!
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Slow cooker ground beef stew, aka poor man's stew, hamburger stew, and chuck wagon stew, is super easy, delicious, and filling. It is often referred to as slow cooker poor man's stew since it's made with lower-cost ingredients. It is similar to traditional beef stew but with ground beef instead of beef stew meat.
📝Shopping list
To make this delicious stew, you will need:
- Ground beef* - browned
- Russet potatoes * - cut into chunks
- Mirepoix - carrots, celery, and yellow onion. Cut into large chunks
- Beef broth*
- Diced tomatoes - canned with all liquid
- Tomato paste
- Worcestershire sauce
- Onion powder
- Garlic powder
- Dried oregano
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Nonstick cooking spray
What is Hamburger Stew (Poor Man's Stew)
Hamburger stew is a simple, hearty meal made with readily available ingredients requiring minimal effort. It is often called poor man's stew because it uses inexpensive ingredients that are easy to find. Ground beef replaces the more expensive stew meat found in traditional beef stew.
It is occasionally called Chuck Wagon Stew. Ranchers and camp cooks often made versions of it using whatever ingredients they had on hand.
Whatever you call it, this dish is the ultimate comfort food to put on your table on a cold night. The slow cooker beautifully blends all the flavors while the veggies become tender.
🔪Instructions
Start by cutting up all the veggies and potatoes. Next, brown your ground beef. Ground beef can be browned on the stovetop in a large skillet.
I like to bulk-brown my beef in my crock pot. I freeze it in recipe-sized portions so that I always have some on hand for various ground beef recipes.
This prep step makes so many great slow cooker recipes a fraction of the work come assembly time. Just be sure to drain all the excess fat prior to adding beef to your slow cooker. Using lean ground beef for this process will leave you with less excess grease to deal with.
Spray your slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray. Add cooked ground beef to all remaining ingredients and give it a good stir to combine. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.
Your hearty ground beef stew is ready to serve when you can easily mash a piece of potato with the back of a fork or spoon.
🍽Serving suggestions
This poor man's stew recipe is a full meal on its own. A loaf of crusty bread makes a nice sidekick, as does a crisp garden salad.
To take your meal up a notch, serve it with a warm side dish like Old Bay mac & cheese, green beans, or garlic mushrooms.
I almost always add extra salt and pepper to my own plate of hamburger stew (since very little is added during cooking). And - I love to top it off with a generous heap of freshly grated parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast.
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🔁Substitutions
- One of the best things about this delicious recipe is that it is easily customizable. Have white onions on hand? Use them instead of yellow. Would you rather use baby potatoes, sweet potatoes, gold potatoes or even red potatoes? Use what you have got.
- Not a fan of red meat? Ground turkey is delicious as the ground meat in this recipe.
- A few garlic cloves are great added to this stew as well for some extra flavor.
- Italian seasoning can be used in place of the oregano.
- If you don't have tomato paste on hand, a can of tomato soup or tomato sauce would work as well. If you happen to have a can of stewed tomatoes on hand, you can use them in place of the diced tomatoes.
- Vegetable broth can be substituted for beef broth in this hamburger stew recipe.
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Storing
Store leftovers of your hamburger meat stew in an airtight container or zip-top bag. They will last 3-4 days in the refrigerator.
Alternatively, you can freeze this perfect stew for 3-4 months. Just keep in mind that your potatoes may change texture a bit upon defrosting. Sometimes defrosted cooked potatoes can become a bit grainy.
Store leftovers in meal-sized portions for easy, next-day reheat-and-eat. One of the great things about this recipe is how much your whole family will love the delicious leftovers.
Expert tips from my kitchen
- If you are averse to cutting onions, chopped onions are generally available in the frozen vegetable section of the grocery store. Frozen onions work very well in slow cooker recipes!
- The same goes for carrots and celery! Baby carrots are also a great shortcut, as you can just toss them in whole.
- Slow cooker hamburger stew is a great dish if your people will be eating at different times. Once cooked, turn your slow cooker to the warm setting (or have it automatically switch if you have this feature). Everyone will have a hot and filling meal, no matter what time of the evening they are ready to eat.
- I always recommend the use of a slow cooker liner. Of course, this is an optional step. I like to purchase my liners in bulk for a less expensive per-piece price.
- In the market for a new slow cooker? I love mine!
- If you happen to have a Parmesan rind on hand, toss it in your slow cooker along with all the other ingredients. It will add a nice, rich flavor to your stew! (Just don't forget to pull it out after cook time. Otherwise, you may end up accidentally eating it!)😉
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📖 Recipe
Slow Cooker Ground Beef Stew Recipe
(Click on the stars to leave a rating)
Print Pin Rate SaveAll nutrition information shown here is automatically generated and should be considered an estimate. If you follow a specific diet, please calculate your own values to ensure accuracy.
Equipment
- cutting board and knife
- non stick spray or slow cooker liner
Ingredients
- 1 -1 1.5 Lbs Ground beef Browned
- 2 large Russet potatoes cut into chunks
- 2 cups Mirepoix (diced carrots, celery, and onion) Cut into large chunks
- 2 cups Beef broth
- 14 oz can Diced tomatoes
- 6 oz Tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon Onion powder
- 1 teaspoon Garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon Oregano
- ½ teaspoon salt or more to taste
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper or more to taste
Instructions
- Brown ground beef (see above explanation for cooking options)1 -1 1.5 Lbs Ground beef
- Cut potatoes and vegetables into large chunks2 large Russet potatoes, 2 cups Mirepoix (diced carrots, celery, and onion)
- Add all ingredients to slow cooker - adding broth last14 oz can Diced tomatoes, 6 oz Tomato paste, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, 1 teaspoon Onion powder, 1 teaspoon Garlic powder, 1 teaspoon Oregano, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon black pepper, 2 cups Beef broth
- Stir well to combine, cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours
- Stew is ready to serve when a potato chunk can be easily smashed with the back of a spoon or fork.
Final Step
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Notes
Nutrition
All nutrition information shown here is automatically generated and should be considered an estimate. If you follow a specific diet, please calculate your own values to ensure accuracy.
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Johanna says
I made this for dinner tonight with ground venison. Easy and delicious. My only suggestion is to use less tomato paste, it was very acidic. I ended up googling some neutralizing tricks. Worked out nicely in the end. Thanks for the recipe!
Susan says
Glad to hear that you enjoyed it. I haven't cooked much with venison, so I am happy to hear it was tasty. Thanks for the tomato paste tip!