Slow Cooker Beef Stifado

5 from 2 votes

Slow Cooker Beef Stifado, a delicious Greek beef stew that is the very definition of comfort food. Tender beef chunks that simply melt in your mouth, sweet shallots and a rich sauce full of big flavours coming from the cinnamon stick, cloves, bay leaves and allspice. It's a simple, yet divinely rich stew that will go down well with the whole family.

Prep Time30

Cook Time4

Total Time4 30

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Greek

Servings: people

Calories: 347kcal

Author: Daniela Apostol

Ingredients

450 g stewing beef, cut into chunks ( 1 lb)
1 cup beef stock (broth)
1 tin chopped tomatoes (400 g, 13 oz)
2 carrots
7 shallots
3 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon parsley
1 tablespoon tomato puree
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
2 bay leaves
4 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
½ teaspoon allspice

Instructions

Heat up the oil in a large pan set over a medium heat.
Add the beef chunks, season with salt and pepper, and brown on both sides.
Remove the beef from the pan, and add it to the slow cooker.
In the same pan, add the peeled shallots, peeled and roughly chopped carrots, garlic, and spices, and sautee for 2-3 minutes to deglaze the pan.
Add the beef stock, chopped tomatoes, tomato puree and give everything a good stir.
Add everything to the slow cooker, and cook on a high heat for 4 hours, or slow for 6-8 hours.
Garnish with freshly-chopped parsley and serve hot.

Video

Notes

Although you could add the beef chunks raw to the slow cooker, I prefer browning the meat first for extra flavour, the veggies that deglaze the pan get coated in those delicious juices too, which is a bonus.
For my recipe I did not use red wine, I actually very rarely add it in my cooking. However if you do wish to add some, you can do so after the meat has been browned.
The shallots do not need chopping in any way, they can be added whole to the stew (well, peeled first), as they cook well in the slow cooker anyway. But if you think the shallots you are using are too big, you can halve them.

Nutrition