Ree Drummond’s Slow Cooker Stew Is the Perfect Winter Meal
Ree Drummond’s easy slow cooker stew recipe is perfect for the cold winter months and, for The Pioneer Woman star, it cleans out her freezer, too. The result is a hearty Crockpot meal that can easily be assembled and slowly cooks throughout the day.
Ree Drummond raided her freezer for a hearty meal idea
On one episode of The Pioneer Woman, Drummond wanted to use up meat in the freezer. “We are cattle ranchers and, as such, we often have a whole beef in our freezer,” she said on the show. “But one thing you don’t know is that, when you have a whole beef in your freezer, all the good stuff disappears first. The steaks, the really good chuck roast.”
Drummond continued, “And then you’re left with a freezer full of meat you’re not sure what to do with — a lot of roasts, a lot of odd cuts of beef.”
She added, “Well that’s the stage I’m in right now. So yesterday, I decided to thaw out a whole bunch of those odd cuts of meat and whip up some tasty dishes with them.”
Ree Drummond made an easy slow cooker stew recipe
Drummond demonstrated how to make her stew recipe on the show. “It is out-of-this-world scrumptious,” she promised. “And it helps me empty that freezer full of beef faster so I can get a new one.”
Drummond salted and peppered the meat, sprinkled it with flour, and browned the beef in a skillet. Then she added onions, carrots, mushrooms, rosemary, parsley, and red potatoes to the slow cooker. “With stew, there aren’t many rules at all,” she said. “This is going to cook for so long that all the flavors will definitely have a chance to release.”
She added the beef, using rump roast in the recipe. “It’s great if you cook it long enough,” Drummond explained. “It turns out yummy and tender.”
Drummond also sprinkled fried bacon in the pot, noting, “It can’t hurt, can it? A little bacon makes everything more delicious.”
As for the stew’s liquid, she whisked together beer, tomato paste, garlic, and Worcestershire sauce and poured it into the slow cooker. “Kind of a strange combination but trust me, when you pour it into the stew and it cooks for hours and hours, it just turns magical,” Drummond assured. She also added beef broth to the stew.
“Any kind of roast that is stuck in your freezer for a long time needs many, many hours to cook for it to be tender,” The Pioneer Woman star explained. “If you have cooking liquid in there, it’ll happen even faster.”
Finally, she added a whole jalapeno that she had sliced in half. Drummond placed the lid on the slow cooker and set it on low, cooking the stew for 6 hours.
‘The Pioneer Woman’ star made an easy pasta to go with the stew
To serve the stew, Drummond made buttery parsley lemon noodles. She melted butter and olive oil in a pan and added garlic, parsley, and lemon zest. Then she added cooked fettucini, tossing to combine the ingredients. She added lemon juice, salt, and pepper, then tossed everything again.
“So everybody gets a big heap of noodles on their plate, then the stew — beef, vegetables, and gravy — simply delicious,” Drummond explained. “You know, over the years, I’ve actually come to really like the odd cuts of beef in my freezer. This stew is definitely one of the reasons.”
The full recipe is available on the Food Network website.
