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Mediterranean Beef Stew will be a hit with everyone who loves rosemary, olives, and capers; make it in the slow cooker or on the stove. This stew is loaded with flavor and low in carbs; see tips for making it even lower in carbs if you prefer!
PIN Mediterranean Beef Stew to try it later!
Next time you’re feeling like a slow cooker dinner that can cook all day while you do something else, why not make this slow Mediterranean Beef Stew with lots of interesting Mediterranean flavors? You can start this mid morning and by dinner time it will be ready to go, and this is great for a low-carb meal.
If you’ll be gone all day, just do the advance prep the night before, refrigerate the ingredients in a plastic container, and put the cold ingredients in the slow cooker and let it cook all day while you’re out. I’d love this with a dollop of sour cream on top, but no matter how you eat it, this stew is loaded with flavor. And there are also stove-top instructions if you don’t have a slow cooker!
What ingredients do you need for this recipe?
- olive oil
- mushrooms
- onion
- chuck steak or roast
- beef stock or canned beef broth (affiliate link)
- canned diced tomatoes with juice
- tomato sauce
- balsamic vinegar, I use Colavita Aged Balsamic Vinegar (affiliate link)
- black olives
- garlic cloves,
- fresh rosemary or use ground rosemary (affiliate link)
- fresh parsley
- Capers (affiliate link)
- fresh ground black pepper and salt to taste
Do you have to pre-brown the beef cubes?
I realize, (and some people remind me occasionally!) that some of you don’t like having to brown the meat or pre-cook other ingredients before you put them in the slow cooker. I recommend doing that because I think browning the meat or onions adds so much flavor to slow cooker dishes, and cooking mushrooms removes the extra liquid that doesn’t get cooked off in the slow cooker. But I don’t take it personally if you ignore my instructions, and I think this will still be pretty good even if you just dump the ingredients in the slow cooker and turn it to low.
How can you make a version of this that’s even lower in carbs?
This recipe is quite low in carbs, but if you want to make a version that’s even lower in carbs (or don’t have balsamic vinegar), use less tomato sauce and use 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar plus a little sweetener to replace the balsamic vinegar.
What size show cooker did I use?
I used a Crock-Pot 3.5 Quart Slow Cooker (affiliate link) for this recipe, but any similar size will work. If you’re a slow cooker fan you can find lots more Slow Cooker / Instant Pot Recipes on my other site!
More Beef in the Slow Cooker:
If you’re a slow cooker fan, check out Low-Carb and Keto Slow Cooker Recipes with Beef to find more tasty beef recipes like this one. Or you can use Low-Carb and Keto Stew Recipes to find more tasty stews.
How to make Slow Cooker Mediterranean Beef Stew:
(Scroll down for complete printable recipe with nutritional information and stovetop instructions.)
- Slice 8 oz. mushrooms and chop up one small onion.
- Heat a small amount of olive oil and cook the mushrooms. When they’re brown and the pan is dry, add them to the slow cooker.
- While the mushrooms cook trim the chuck steak into bite-sized pieces. (I trim away the fatty parts, and save all those fatty pieces to make homemade beef stock.)
- After you remove the mushrooms, add a little more oil and lightly brown the chopped onions; then add them to the slow cooker.
- Then add a little more oil, add the pieces of beef and cook until they are well browned on all sides. Add the browned beef to the slow cooker.
- De-glaze pan with one cup of homemade beef stock or beef broth, cook until slightly reduced, then add to the slow cooker.
- While the beef browns slice the garlic pieces and olives, measure the capers, and chop the rosemary and parsley. Add the can of diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, balsamic vinegar, olives, garlic slices, chopped rosemary, chopped parsley, and capers.
- Cook for 6-8 hours on low (or slightly longer if you prep the night before and started with ingredients that were cold.) This can also be cooked on high for 3-4 hours, but I prefer longer cooking on low for beef.
- The last photo shows how the stew looked when it had cooked all day and was ready to eat. Season with fresh ground black pepper (and a little salt if desired), and eat!
More Slow Cooker Recipes with Beef:
Slow Cooker or Instant Pot Beef Recipes ~ Slow Cooker or Pressure Cooker
Green Chile Shredded Beef Cabbage Bowl
Shredded Beef Tacos with Spicy Slaw and Avocado
Slow Cooker Mushroom Lover’s Pot Roast
Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Pot Roast
Weekend Food Prep:
This recipe has been added to a new category called Weekend Food Prep to help you find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!
Ingredients
- 1-2 T olive oil (depends on your pan)
- 8 oz. sliced mushrooms
- 1 small onion, diced in 1/2 inch pieces
- 2 lbs. trimmed and diced chuck steak or roast, cut in bite-sized pieces (see notes)
- 1 cup beef stock or canned beef broth (see notes)
- one 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes with juice
- 1/2 cup tomato sauce (see notes)
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar (see notes for lower-carb alternative)
- 1 can black olives, cut in half or fourths
- 20 cloves garlic, cut in thin slices (optional, but good)
- 2 T finely chopped fresh rosemary (see notes)
- 2 T finely chopped fresh parsley (see notes)
- 1 T capers (or more)
- fresh ground black pepper and salt to taste
Instructions
Slow Cooker Instructions:
- Heat small amount of olive oil in heavy frying pan over medium-high heat, add mushrooms and cook several minutes, until starting to brown. Add mushrooms to slow cooker.
- Add a little more oil, then cook diced onions about 5 minutes, or until starting to brown. Add onions to slow cooker.
- Add a little more oil again, then add diced beef and brown well, about 10-15 minutes. Don’t rush the browning step. Add beef to the slow cooker.
- Add 1 cup beef stock to the pan and simmer a few minutes until slightly reduced, scraping off all browned bits, then add that stock to the slow cooker.
- Add diced tomatoes and juice, tomato sauce, balsamic vinegar, olives, garlic, rosemary, parsley, capers, and a little black pepper. Stir gently to combine, then put lid on Crockpot and cook 6-8 hours on low. (You could cook this 3-4 hours on high, but for a recipe with large pieces of garlic like this I prefer the low setting.)
- Season to taste with salt and more fresh ground black pepper and serve hot.
- If you do all the advance preparation the night before and put the combined ingredient in the refrigerator overnight, this could cook as long as 10 hours in the Crockpot while you’re at work. Manufacturers don’t recommend putting crockery liner with prepared ingredients in the refrigerator; store in another container so contents stay cold, then put in Crockpot in the morning.
Stovetop Instructions:
- Follow all the preparation steps as outlined, putting ingredients in heavy dutch oven type pan. Add one cup additional beef stock. Simmer on very low heat about 2 hours.
Notes
I used about 3 cups meat, for stove-top cooking I might use a more tender cut of meat. Use 2 cups beef stock for stovetop cooking.
If you don’t have fresh rosemary, use 2 tsp ground rosemary. If you only have cracked rosemary, I would grind the rosemary in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder or pound with a meat mallet. If you don’t have fresh parsley, use 1 T dried parsley.
If you want to make a version of this recipe that’s even lower in carbs, skip the tomato sauce and use 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar plus a little sweetener to replace the balsamic vinegar.
This recipe was created by Kalyn.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6
Serving Size:
1
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 495Total Fat: 30gSaturated Fat: 11gUnsaturated Fat: 16.4gCholesterol: 145mgSodium: 472mgCarbohydrates: 12gFiber: 3gSugar: 5.6gProtein: 46g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.
Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
This Mediterranean Beef Stew with would be suitable for most low-carb and low-glycemic diets, including any phase of the original South Beach Diet. See notes in the recipe to make this even lower in carbs for Keto.
Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Slow Cooker Recipes to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to Follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.
Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This recipe was posted in 2007, and I’ve made it quite a few times since then! The recipe was last updated with more information in 2021
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