This Slow Cooker Beef & Sweet Potato Stew proves that you don’t need normal potatoes to make one amazing stew! And yes, this came about because I had no potatoes in the house and only sweet potatoes in the pantry. That’s how it works around here.
Beef Stew CAN Be Made With Sweet Potatoes!
If you have been hanging around here the past 9 years, you will undoubtedly know that I am the least perfect cook out there. I run out of items. I forget to make dinner. I screw up recipes. Even with a bestselling cookbook under my belt (and another on the way!) I’m still a busy Mom, a forgetful shopper and most of all, I’m human.
Can you make beef stew with sweet potatoes? Yes. And I figured that someone other than myself must have defrosted stewing beef to whip up a stew for supper only to search her pantry and find out that she has no russet or red potatoes, and only one large sweet potato that she had forgotten about completely. This post and recipe are for those of you out there that are stuck – like I was – and need to know if Beef & Sweet Potato Stew was a good thing.
Beef and sweet potato stew, made without a single red or russet potato is a VERY, very good thing.
This beef and sweet potato stew was topped off with my Crockpot Dumplings Recipe, which is honestly one of my favourite kitchen hacks to date. Adding on those dumplings makes this a true meal entirely done in the slow cooker – no biscuits or bread needed.
I had no interest in going the sweeter route of adding cinnamon or cloves and going in another taste direction entirely. I simply wanted to answer CAN you make beef stew with sweet potatoes – and yes, you can.
Now I am sure that you could take this and concoct a deliciously Eastern influenced stew with peanuts, cinnamon, cloves and the like, but that’s not what I am trying to do here. Some of my most beloved posts by readers on this website are the ones where I am solving common cooking and recipe problems and that’s what this one does. This is simple and basic Stew Making 101 with a problem and an answer!
And to be honest? I would make this again even if I had regular potatoes. The sweet potatoes are simply fantastic in this and they aren’t too sweet at all. It is a fabulous taste change of pace from regular stew – and when you live where it’s winter 6 months out of the year, you need some recipes revamps, let me tell you.
Happy cooking! Ask any questions you have in the comments below!
Love,
Karlynn
Slow Cooker Beef & Sweet Potato Stew
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds of stewing beef
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 large white onion diced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 3 cups of diced sweet potatoes
- 2 cups of diagonally diced carrots
- 2 cups of celery diagonally chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 cups beef broth
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat on the stove, add in the oil and heat. Add in the beef and fry until browned on all sides. Place in the bottom of your slow cooker.
- Add in the onion, garlic, carrots, sweet potatoes, celery and bay leaves.
- In a large bowl or 8 cup capacity measuring glass, whisk together the remaining ingredients until combined. Pour over the vegetables and beef, then stir to combine.
- Cook on low heat for 8-9 hours, or on high for 5-6. If desired, 30 minutes before serving prepare the Crockpot Dumplings according to recipe instructions.
Nutrition
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goody says
I made this with Impossible ground, making meatballs, and using unsweetened cashew milk and cornstarch to make the gravy, using gravy browner, and it was really good 🙂 you can also make this using mushrooms instead of meat.
Melissa says
Do you have nutrition facts for this?
Mary C Gutowski says
Do you have any Weight Watcher friendly recipes ?
Kat T. says
I like this better then regular beef stew. I added one extra cup of sweet potato. I used 2 lb’s of stew meat . There’s plenty of broth for extra meat and sweet potato. I like to make sure there’s plenty of beef and sweet potato for everyone. The one and only thing I did different was I added 1/3 c of flour to the stew meat prior to searing the meat. This made a thicker gravy. Thank you for such a wonderful recipe !