Description
Hearty poor man’s stew simmers with simple, budget-friendly ingredients that create a comforting meal perfect for chilly evenings. Robust beef, potatoes, and vegetables blend seamlessly, offering hungry families a satisfying dish you’ll want to savor again and again.
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 lbs (907 grams) ground beef
- 4 medium russet potatoes (peeled and diced)
- 1 medium onion (chopped)
- 2 medium carrots (diced)
- 4 tbsps tomato paste
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 2 beef bouillon cubes
- 2 cups (473 ml) hot water
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 4 drops Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- Meat Preparation: Brown ground beef in a skillet over medium-high heat until no pink remains, then drain excess fat and transfer to slow cooker.
- Vegetable Preparation: Uniformly dice potatoes, slice carrots, and chop onions into consistent sizes to ensure even cooking and balanced flavor distribution.
- Initial Layering: Arrange diced vegetables directly over browned beef in slow cooker, creating a robust foundation for the stew.
- Seasoning: Sprinkle dried oregano, onion powder, and garlic powder evenly across the meat and vegetable mixture to infuse depth of flavor.
- Liquid Base Creation: Whisk tomato paste, water, beef bouillon granules, and Worcestershire sauce in a separate bowl until smooth and well-integrated.
- Liquid Integration: Pour seasoned liquid mixture over ingredients in slow cooker, ensuring partial submersion of all components.
- Slow Cooking Process: Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours or high for 3-4 hours until vegetables reach tender perfection.
- Thickening Technique: Thirty minutes before serving, create a cornstarch slurry by whisking cornstarch with cold water until completely smooth.
- Final Refinement: Stir cornstarch mixture into stew to develop a rich, hearty consistency and enhance overall texture.
- Serving Suggestion: Plate piping hot, accompanied by crusty bread or served over steamed white rice for a complete, satisfying meal.
Notes
- Meat Browning Essential: Thoroughly brown ground beef to develop deep, rich flavors and eliminate raw meat texture, which enhances overall dish taste.
- Vegetable Uniform Cutting: Dice potatoes, carrots, and onions into consistent sizes to ensure even cooking and prevent some pieces from becoming mushy while others remain undercooked.
- Seasoning Distribution Technique: Sprinkle dried herbs and powders evenly across ingredients to guarantee balanced flavor in every single bite of the stew.
- Thickening Slurry Secret: Create cornstarch mixture with cold water precisely 30 minutes before serving to achieve perfect stew consistency without lumps, transforming the dish from watery to rich and hearty.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 hours
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Slow Cooking, Steaming, Simmering
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 7
- Calories: 380
- Sugar: 4 g
- Sodium: 700 mg
- Fat: 20 g
- Saturated Fat: 8 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 10 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 30 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 24 g
- Cholesterol: 80 mg