Beef · Crockpot adaptation

Crockpot Beef Stew, Mr. Make It Happen Style

Mr. Make It Happen sears the chuck roast hard for a real crust and builds the gravy with tomato paste, beef base and a flour roux before the beef goes back in. He says himself this one converts to the crockpot if you sear and saute on the hob first, so that's exactly what happens here.

R By Richard · Adapted from Mr. Make It Happen · Published 23 July 2026
👁 1.5M source views ❤️ 27.6k source likes
⏱Prep 20 min
🍲Crockpot 6 hr (Low) / 3 hr (High)
🍽Serves 5
How To Make Delicious Beef Stew | Quick & Easy Beef Stew Recipe #MrMakeItHappen #BeefStew

Source video by Mr. Make It Happen on YouTube. This recipe was adapted with strict source-fidelity rules and is marked for human review.

This is a classic braise: chuck roast seared hard for colour, then simmered in a gravy built from tomato paste, beef base and a flour roux, with the vegetables added in stages so nothing turns to mush. The channel says outright that searing on the hob and finishing in a crockpot works fine, so that's the version here, with the potatoes and celery held back until near the end.

Crockpot notes: The channel makes this as a hob/Dutch-oven braise but says directly that searing the meat and sauteing the vegetables in a frying pan, then transferring everything to a crockpot, works fine. The crockpot hours here (Low 5-6 / High 3, then a final 20-30 minutes for potatoes and celery) are a reasonable slow-cooker conversion of the stated 1.5-2 hour hob simmer, not literally timed on camera in a crockpot.

Ingredients

Beef
  • 900 gbeef chuck roast (or beef stew meat), cut into chunks if using a whole chuck roast; look for good marbling
Vegetables
  • 450 gsmall red potatoes, quartered, skin on or off (add late)
  • 4 carrotscarrots, peeled and diced into bite-sized pieces
  • 1 onionyellow onion, diced
  • 4 stalkscelery, chopped into bite-sized pieces (add late)
Gravy
  • 2 tbspgarlic paste
  • 2 tbsptomato paste
  • 1 tbspBetter Than Bouillon beef base
  • 2.5 tbspplain flour
  • 710 mlbeef broth
  • 1 tbspWorcestershire sauce
  • fresh rosemary and thyme
  • 2 leavesbay leaves
Seasoning
  • salt, black pepper, garlic powder and onion powder (add late)
  • cayenne pepper (add late)
Finishing
  • 150 gfrozen peas (add late)
Searing
  • avocado oil

Method

  1. Prep the vegetables: quarter the potatoes (skin on or off), chop the celery into bite-sized pieces, and peel and dice the carrots and onion. Keep the celery and potatoes separate to add later.

    ~15 min

  2. Season the beef heavily with salt only at this stage (extra spices tend to burn over the high heat used for searing).

    ~2 min

  3. Heat avocado oil in a Dutch oven or heavy frying pan over medium-high heat. Sear the beef on all sides, about 5 to 8 minutes total, until well browned. Remove and set aside. This hob step matters even for a crockpot finish, since a crockpot can't brown the meat itself.

    ~8 min

  4. Add a little more oil to the same pan with the onion and carrots (hold back the celery). Cook until starting to soften.

    ~5 min

  5. Stir in the garlic paste, tomato paste and Better Than Bouillon beef base until combined.

    ~2 min

  6. Sprinkle in the flour and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring, until the raw flour smell is gone.

    ~2 min

  7. Pour in the beef broth, bring to a simmer, scraping up anything stuck to the bottom of the pan.

    ~5 min

  8. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce, fresh rosemary, thyme and bay leaves, then return the seared beef to the pot.

    ~3 min

  9. Transfer everything to the crockpot. Cover and cook on Low for 5 to 6 hours, or High for about 3 hours, until the beef is fork-tender.

    ~330 min

  10. Add the potatoes and celery for the final 20 to 30 minutes of cooking, until they're fork-tender.

    ~25 min

  11. Fish out the rosemary and thyme stems and the bay leaves. Season to taste with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and cayenne if using.

    ~3 min

  12. Stir in the frozen peas for the final 10 minutes. Serve in a bowl, or over rice.

    ~10 min

Frequently asked

Do I really need to sear the beef first?
Yes. A crockpot steams rather than browns, so without a hard sear on the hob first, the beef and the gravy stay pale and lose a layer of flavour. It only takes 5 to 8 minutes total.
Why hold the potatoes and celery back until the end?
Both cook much faster than the beef. Added at the start, they'd turn to mush over several hours; added for the final 20 to 30 minutes, they come out fork-tender instead.
Can I leave out the peas?
Yes, the channel says so directly. They're mostly there for colour and a bit of sweetness; the stew works fine without them.
What if I don't have Better Than Bouillon beef base?
Regular beef bouillon (cube or granules) is a stated substitute, per the channel.
Extraction notes (transparency): One quantity discrepancy: the spoken video says 2 tablespoons of garlic paste, but the channel's own written shopping list says 1 tablespoon. Used the spoken amount. Crockpot cook times are an editorial conversion of the stated hob timing (the channel confirms the crockpot method works but doesn't give crockpot-specific hours on camera).