Slow Cooker Barbecue Beer Beef Stew

5 from 2 votes

Let's just say the words "beef," "barbecue," and "beer" in the same sentence are sure to make everyone happy, especially in an easy slow cooker stew.

Prep Time20

Cook Time6 20

Total Time6 40

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Servings: People

Season the beef evenly with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
Heat the oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Working in batches, brown the meat until it is browned on all sides, about 10 minutes for each batch. Don’t crowd the beef cubes in the pan. Set the meat aside.
Pour off all but 2 teaspoons of fat from the pan and add the onions. Sauté them for 3 minutes, until lightly browned, and add them to the slow cooker. Add the barbecue sauce, beef broth, honey, and mustard and stir to combine. Add the parsnips and browned beef to the slow cooker and stir to combine.
Pour in the beer, cover, and cook on low for 6 hours, until the meat is tender. Serve hot with noodles. Sprinkle with parsley if desired.

When browning beef for a stew (whether you’re making it in a slow cooker, a regular old pot, or a Dutch oven), I think it’s less important to get all of the sides of the cubes of beef barely browned than it is to get a couple of sides nicely caramelized.
Instead of browning all of the beef already cut into small pieces, just buy the stew meat in a whole piece and cut it into pieces or buy the meat in steak form.
Keep leftover stew in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat the stew in a pot over low heat on the stovetop, stirring frequently. You can also reheat the stew in the crock pot or in a 300-degree oven in a covered pot. Heat just until warmed throughout.