Slow Cooker Almond Butter Beef Stew
This amazing Slow Cooker Beef Stew made with oodles of veggies and almond butter. Hearty, rich in flavor and perfect to curl up with at the end of the day. Whole30, Paleo, gluten free and dairy-free
My mother has given me so many wonderful things in my life.
My smile.
My creative flare.
My “cuteness” (which we both roll our eyes at but everyone else seems to find endearing).
My cooking skills.
My nurturing nature.
This beef stew recipe.
Okay, so the gig is up…I can’t take credit for this recipe. This *amazing* recipe is a culinary creation of my dear mother. Well, most of it.
See, I truly think we have a little recipe developer inside all of us…including my mom.
We all take a recipe that we love. Someone else’s brilliance. And we make it. And we like it…but it doesn’t quite fit our personal taste or lifestyle. So we tweak the recipe to fit us as a unique person or to fit our family’s life. And then we love that new, tweaked recipe…and it becomes part of our regular life.
Some recipes we tweak a little. And some recipes we tweak a lot. This recipe has gone through lots of tweaking to be what I bring to you today.
Believe it or not, this recipe actually started off as a South Beach Diet recipe that my mom found years and years ago. I remember coming over for dinner one night with my (then) new husband and her serving us Peanut Butter Beef Stew for dinner. The idea of peanut butter in beef stew weirded me out more than a little bit, but then I took a bite. And I loved it!
A few months later, my mom made the beef stew for dinner for us again…this time tweaked a little more with added veggies. And I loved it even more. Soon, it became a staple dinner whenever Ken and I came over to visit for dinner. I remember being pregnant and begging her to make me a batch, since I had started having recurring dreams about peanut butter beef stew. My love for this beef stew goes deep and true.
However, it wasn’t quite perfect for my life now. So, I went all Natural Nurturer on it so that my beloved beef stew could be part of my regular life.
Originally, you need to simmer this stew for hours and ain’t nobody got time for that! So I decided to make it a slow cooker recipe. Also, the recipe called for chipotle..making this quite a spicy meal. While the chipotle was a wonderful addition, it made the stew quite spicy and not ideal for serving to a family with young children. So away went the chipotle. Also, I needed way more veggies than the original recipe called for! No meal is complete without veggies in my book, and in a beef stew is the perfect place to add oodles! Finally, I opted to make this beef stew with almond butter instead of peanut butter. It was something that I started during a round of Whole30 about a year ago and found that I prefer the flavor of the almond butter over the peanut!
And, voila, this recipe was born! And then made on repeat! For always. Because I will never…ever….ever tire of this Slow Cooker Almond Butter Beef Stew.
Important note: I made this stew in my large 6-quart slow cooker. If your slow cooker is on the small size, consider halving the recipe to ensure all of the ingredients will fit and cook through.
Other slow cooker recipes to curl up with
- Mexican Slow Cooker Chicken Stew
- Slow Cooker Chicken & Butternut Squash Stew
- Slow Cooker Turkey Taco Chili
- Slow Cooker Garlic Rosemary Whole Chicken
- Crockpot Spaghetti Squash
Wondering how to store your carrots so they stay fresh as long as possible? Check out my post on How to Keep Cut Carrots Fresh and get the most out of your produce buck!
Slow Cooker Almond Butter Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
- 2 pounds round steak, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
- 1/2 cup creamy unsweetened almond butter
- 1 1/2 cups diced tomatoes
- 5 cups broth or stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 1/2 tsp sea salt, or to taste
- 1/4 tsp black pepper, or to taste
- 2 cups diced sweet potatoes
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1 1/2 cups green beans, roughly chopped
Equipment
- slow cooker
Instructions
- Add all ingredients except for the green beans to slow cooker. Stir to combine.
- Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
- 30 minutes prior to end of cook time, add the green beens to the slow cooker, stirring again to combine. Cover again and continue to cook.
- Remove bay leaves and enjoy warm! Store cooled leftovers in fridge for up to 5 days or in freezer for a month.
Almond butter is GENIUS to help thicken up a good beef stew! Love this!
I cannot wait to try some almond butter in my stew! What a fun idea! This looks great!
Ok, I am so going to have to try this because I am just kinda "meh" on beef stew, yet I make it a lot because I always seem to have the beef in my freezer. But this sounds like it might make me love beef stew…
I love this idea, I’ve put almond butter in my curries before, so I know I’m going to love it in beef stew!
Your mum is a straight up genius. What a way to add some depth to a beef stew recipe!
Beef stew is very popular with my family! This looks like a yummy one to try! I love that you used almond butter in it. Thanks
I love my slow cooker. And this recipe looks delish. Can’t wait t try it.
This is literally the sweetest post ever! And it’s nice to see that you’ve inherited your mother’s creative culinary flair too <3
I love adding nut butters to thicken my soups! Great kitchen hack mama. This looks divine!
This is s beautiful stew! So hearty and delicious. I love all of those different flavors and textures. I bet the meat is so tender too from being cooked in the slow cooker.
I love how recipes evolve to become exactly what we love. This stew sounds amazing and full of flavor!
Wow ! This is absolutely gorgeous and delicious ! This beef stew is simply amazing !
I’ve shared this recipe already, what a great addition with the almond butter..
I think we definitely all have a little recipe developer inside of us! Looks great 🙂
This looks amazing! Almond butter and beef, who knew? I want to try it soon.
I love the richness almond butter adds to savory dishes. This stew sounds just amazing!
This sounds yummy, I can’t wait to try it! I LOVE your website. Very similar philosophy to mine, and after stumbling across it a few months ago, I really look forward to getting your newsletter so I can discover more of your yummy recipes and inspiring blog posts! 🙂
Thank you so much!
I never would have thought to add almond butter to stew! This looks like the perfect comfort food dish!
So if we wanted to add that kick of chipotle, how much would you suggest??
I honestly don’t cook with chipotle, so I don’t know how much to suggest.
Just made this and it is YUMMY! I didn’t have almond butter so used peanut butter and added a small handful of flaked toasted almonds. Really lovely! 🙂
PS: I added a small pinch of chipotle flakes and it gave it a yummy smoky flavour, so it works with the flakes Jamie! I make a peanut butter chicken curry recipe often and this made a fun change! 😉
Have you ever made this in the instant pot?
I have not but love that idea! Need to give it a go
Hi this is really delicious and very easy. My hubs and I chopped everything the night before making it very easy to throw together on a Monday morning. Thank you so much for sharing your great recipes with us. Have you any thoughts on what I could add to thicken the sauce? Thanks Sarah.
So glad you enjoyed, Sarah! I found a tablespoon or two of arrowroot or cornstarch whisked into the broth before adding it to the stew creates for a lovely thickness.
Thankyou. Also do you have a facility where I could buy you a coffee or make a donation to your business as I think your recipes are terrific and I’ve used so many of them. Cheers Sarah
You are the sweetest and I deeply appreciate that! You visiting my site often helps me more than you know and I am honored to have so many TNN recipes in action in your kitchen.