Easy Slow Cooker Beef Casserole

This slow cooker beef casserole, is both comforting, and simple, perfect comfort food for the winter. Fall-apart tender beef in a rich thick gravy. My slow cooker beef stew is taken back to the basics, with just 6 ingredients, and will become a firm favourite you will make all winter long!

Slow cooker beef casserole

This classic slow cooker beef casserole recipe is taken back to basics and contains only meat, stock, wine, flour, onions and a little oil or dripping.  As with so many traditional dishes, it’s all about letting the best ingredients shine through.

See also

• My slow cooker beef curry is rich and warming with the tenderest meat and a sumptuous savoury tomato gravy.

• A delicious comfort food, and a staple of British cooking, savoury mince makes a quick and easy weeknight dinner.

• Indulge in the richness and warmth of my slow cooker chilli con carne recipe. Let this hassle-free recipe that’s brimming with delicious flavours simmer all day.

You can prepare this before you go out, and let the slow cooker do the work, resulting in tender fall apart beef, in luscious thick gravy that will have everyone wanting a second helping.

This is my go-to winter casserole recipe – that I have made, and tweaked time and time again over the last 20 years. Simple enough for movie night, but also good enough for a dinner party.

Leftovers are ideal for filling the freezer, or enjoying a few days later, making this an ideal recipe for smaller households. I cook for two most of the time, and this firmly ticks my cook once, eat twice or more approach.

Why make this easy slow cooker beef casserole

• It’s effortless. This recipe takes only twenty minutes’ hands on time.

• Using the slow cooker makes a rich, flavourful dish where the pieces of beef are cooked until fall-apart tender.

• It is big on flavour with very few ingredients.

• Perfect for batch cooking – the casserole freezes well, so is perfect for batch cooking. If you cook for a smaller household you know dishes like this are not easily scaled down, but also you do not want to eat the same thing for several days in a row. It is an ideal homemade ready meal!

Slow cooker beef stew ingredients

• Beef – Stewing or braising steak – ideally with a little fat on it. This casserole is slowly cooked for a long time so the tougher (and more flavoursome) and cheaper cuts of meat are ideal here. Beef shin would work well.

• Onions – regular brown onions – you do not need anything fancy. You can also use ready chopped frozen onions, although these will take a bit longer to fry off in the first stage of cooking.

• Beef dripping (or oil) – I far prefer dripping as the taste is so much nicer, so beef dripping is my first choice. Duck or goose fat would also work as well as would ghee. A vegetable oil would be my last choice.

• Flour – regular white baking flour – plain or self raising.

• Beef stock – This is one of the few dishes I would use beef stock for as I find most of the time it’s too strong and overwhelms a dish.

• Red wine – a decent wine that you would be happy to drink. It is a false economy to use cheap or leftover wine.

How to make slow cooker beef casserole – step by step

Before you start, read my step-by-step instructions, with photos, hints and tips so you can make this perfectly every time.

Scroll down for the recipe card with quantities and more tips at the bottom of the page.

Step One – Peel and dice the onions, and cut the beef into evenly sized cubes of about an 1″.

Step Two – Put half of the dripping into a large frying pan. Melt over a medium heat, add the onions and fry a few minutes until they soften and start to get some colour round the edges.

Use a slotted spoon to transfer them to the slow cooker pot, leaving the fat in the frying pan.

Step Two – Fry the cubes of beef in batches, adding more dripping as needed.

Don’t be tempted to cram it all in at once. There should be space around each piece to ensure that it browns properly.

Cook for several minutes over a medium heat turning from time to time. As each cube browns, transfer it to the slow cooker pot, replacing it with with a fresh piece. You can have two frying pans on the go at once to speed things up

This will take a good 10-15 minutes. Don’t rush, as taking your time does make a difference to the flavour. 

Step Three – When frying off the last batch of beef, stir in the flour. This should absorb all the remaining fat. Cook for a few minutes and transfer to your slow cooker.

Step Four – Deglaze the frying pan with some of the stock, pouring a little in to loosen anything left in the pan. Add this to the casserole dish or slow cooker, along with the rest of the stock and wine.

Then give it all a good stir. The beef should be almost entirely covered in liquid. If not, add a little water.

Step Five – Set the slow cooker to high and cook until the casserole is simmering. Then turn down to low and cook for 5 to 8 hours, until the beef is tender.

If the casserole needs thickening, prop the lid of the cooker open with a wooden spoon for the last half hour, so some of the liquid can evaporate.

Alternatively – Cook in the oven for two and a half hours at 150°C / 300°F / GM 2.

Serving suggestion

I like to serve this easy slow cooker beef casserole with steamed green vegetables, and mash, or crispy pan fried gnocchi or parmentier potatoes.

Variations

• Swap the red wine for beer or use extra stock.

• Alternatively – Cook in the oven in a good heavy casserole dish with a well fitting lid for two and a half hours at 150°C / 300°F / GM 2.

Storage

Fridge – The casserole will keep well for three days in the fridge. As soon as it is cool enough, transfer to a suitable container, cover and pop in the fridge.

Freezer – Transfer to freezer proof stackable containers (I love those plastic trays that takeaways come in) according to whether you want portions for one, two or more. When the casserole is completely cold, put the lids on and move to the freezer. Keeps well for three months.

Defrost overnight in the fridge or for a few hours on the counter top. Reheat in a pan on the stove top, in a lidded casserole in the oven, or microwave in a glass container.

Hints and Tips

• You will find recipes that just ask you to put the raw meat straight into the casserole, but I find it’s always worth browning the meat first. When you fry the meat in the pan, you speed up the Maillard reaction, which is a process by which proteins and amino acids react with sugars in food, creating rich, savoury flavours. It’s not a lot of extra effort and it really pays dividends in flavour.

• This recipe is perfect for batch cooking and can easily be doubled or even trebled. When scaling up you need proportionally less liquid. Cooking time will need to be about 30% longer if you double the recipe.

• Equally because this is a long slow cooked dish it really does not work to scale the recipe down. It is best to cook extra that can be frozen for another day.

FAQS

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Update Notes – originally published January 2012 – updated with expanded method and notes August 2024.