This is a great crock-pot/slow cooker recipe that takes no time to prep, set, and forget it. Traditional beef stew uses flour as a thickener. For a gluten-free version you can used all-purpose gluten free flour mix, but I like to cook out gf flour mix as a roux to get rid of some of the gritty texture that it tends to have. Since we’re looking for an easy and quick recipe to get all of the ingredients into the pot so I can get out of the house to work, I use a cornstarch slurry as my thickener. This is something I found out early on to be handy and should be in your gluten free cook bag of tricks.

Everything else is pretty much standard for beef stew, no surprises here. I like chuck roast as a stew meat whether i’m making beef stew, pot roast, or a Filipino stew like caldereta, etc. I sometimes can find it already cubed in the grocery store or I will just buy the chuck roast and cut it up myself.
Be careful when buying beef broth. I’ve run into a few instances where I bought a powdered broth or one of those super concentrated broths (that’s like the consistency of pudding) assuming it should be gluten free and come to find out when the hubby looked at the ingredient list and informed me to my disappointment that I forgot to check. That wheat allergen creeps up in so many places so I just religiously check now.
Some quick chopping, dry herbs, lots of beef broth, a quick cornstarch slurry and 8 hours of slow cooking is all it takes to have a hearty meal waiting for you at home!

Prep Time | 20 minutes |
Cook Time | 8 hours |
Servings |
servings
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- 2 lbs Beef stew meat cubed 1 inch cubes (I like chuck for this)
- 1 cup celery sliced
- 1 cup carrot sliced
- 1 cup onion sliced
- 1 cup potato cubed
- 3 cups beef broth If using broth powder double check ingredient list for hidden flour
- 1/4 cup red wine (optional)
- 1/2 tsp rosemary
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp pepper
- 2 bay leaf
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1/4 cup cold water
Ingredients
Cornstarch Slurry
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- Cube beef into 1 in pieces if chuck roast or other whole beef cut is being used
- Slice the carrots, celery and onion into thick slices. Cut potato into 1 1/2-2 inch cubes.
- Add beef, vegetables, herbs, pepper and garlic powder into crock pot except for bay leaf. Pour beef broth and wine (optional) into crock pot and mix in with herbs and spices.
- In a separate bowl, mix cold water and cornstarch until cornstarch is dissolved. It's important to use cold water as cornstarch tends to clump up in warm or hot water.
- Add slurry into crock-pot and stir. Add bay leaves (make sure they are submerged) and set to crock-pot to low for 8 hours.
- Add salt to taste.
After the 6th hour if you want the broth to be a little thicker, you can add more cornstarch slurry. Same way as you added in the beginning dissolve in cold water first, then add to crock-pot. Stir thoroughly (be mindful of the bay leaves as they break easily).