Crock Pot French Onion Beef Stew is a hearty French onion soup recipe that combines the rich flavors from the beef and caramelized onions for a buttery soup topped off with crusty bread or croutons and cheese. I am straight obsessed with French onion soup but know to make it a full meal it has to be a little bit more hearty for my athletes. Traditional beef stew isn’t really my jam either. So beef stew meat ends up in the bottom of my freezer. But, now I have my go-to beef stew recipe with this French onion beef stew.

While this crock pot beef stew is not a dump and go recipe, the extra work to get it ready for the crock pot was well worth it. Do not let this scare you from making it. There is nothing difficult in the making of this French onion beef soup.

Table of Contents

French Onion Beef Stew Ingredients

The ingredients to make this buttery French onion beef stew is made with the unique combination of beef stew meat with a french onion soup.

The ingredients to make this French Onion Beef Stew are:

Stew Meat
Onions
Garlic
Butter
Worcestershire Sauce
Brown Sugar
Paprika
Canned French Onion Soup
Dried Thyme

To Make the bread and cheese topping you need a combination of the following:

Bread slices
Butter
Garlic Salt

Texas Toast Garlic Croutons

Then for the cheese, get sliced or shredded

Italian blend
Havarti
Swiss
Provolone
Mozzarella

How to Make Crock Pot French Onion Beef Stew

Begin making this French onion soup by seasoning the beef stew meat with a steak seasoning of your liking.

Then melt butter in a cast iron skillet and brown the stew meat. Cook the meat until all sides are browned. Let the edges sear or brown to help enhance the flavors.

When the meat is browned, dump it into the crock pot and then dump the canned French onion soup over the stew meat. Then begin making the caramelized onions for the soup.

Slice the onions and then add them to the same skillet you browned the stew meat in. Add more butter to the skillet. Begin letting the onions saute and brown.

When the edges begin to brown, add brown sugar to the onions and stir to coat the onions. Sprinkle the onions with, minced garlic, dried thyme and paprika. Let saute for another minute before adding water to help deglaze the castiron skillet. Then transfer to the crock pot with the stew meat.

Cover the onions in beef broth and stir to combine the onions and beef stew. Cover the crock pot and cook for 6-8 hours on low. If it cooks longer, it will be fine. The meat may start to shredded, but the flavors will just continue to develop.

Before serving make the garlic toast with the bread, butter, and garlic salt. Using garlic croutons also works perfectly to top this soup off if you want an easier way to make this French onion beef stew. You can use the English muffin garlic bread technique to make your garlic toast with sliced bread.

Stir the soup to get all the flavors spread throughout the soup. Then spoon into bowls.

This beef stew without a bread topping is also very good if you are eating a lower carb diet. Just top off with the cheese and enjoy.

However, if you want the full French onion soup experience go ahead and top your soup off with the bread or croutons.

What to use to Top French Onion Soup

Then top the bread off with the cheese. Now, you can either through this back under the broiler to melt the cheese or eat immediately.

Must have kitchen equipment

Having the right equipment to make this soup matters. Here are my favorite kitchen items.

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Crock Pot French Onion Beef Stew

5 from 1 vote

Print Rate

Course: Entree, Soup

Cuisine: American

Keyword: canned french onion soup recipe, slow cooker

Prep Time: 25

Cook Time: 8

Total Time: 8 25

Servings: servings

Calories: 405kcal

Author: Leah @ Beyer Beware

Equipment

Crock Pot

Ingredients

2 pounds stew meat
1 tablespoon steak seasoning
18 ounce can of French Onion Soup 2 - 10 ounce cans can also be used
4 onions
4 cloves garlic
8 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon paprika
4 cups beef broth
8 slices bread
1 teaspoon garlic salt
2 cups Italian blend or Swiss cheese
Salt and Pepper

Get Recipe Ingredients

Instructions

Begin by coating the stew meat in the steak seasoning and sauteing in two tablespoons of butter in a cast-iron skillet. Cook until each edge of the beef is browned. Then dump in the crock pot.
Pour the canned French onion soup over the meat. Turn the crock pot to low and cover.
Begin making the caramelized onions by melting 4 tablespoons of butter in the cast iron skillet used with the beef. Slice the onions and put them in the skillet. Saute until the edges begin to brown. Add the garlic to the onions. Stir in the brown sugar. And let glaze the onions for a minute or two. Stir the thyme and paprika into the onoins and garlic.
Then deglaze the pan by pouring a ¼ to ½ cup water over the onions. Transfer the onions to the crock pot.
Stir the onions and stew meat together. Pour the beef broth over the top of the beef and onions until completely covered. The entire four cups of beef broth may not be needed.
Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
Before serving the soup, make the garlic toast by buttering both sides of the bread with the remaining two tablespoons of butter. Sprinkle with garlic salt and broil both sides in the oven.
Spoon the soup into bowls, place a piece of toast over the soup. Top with the shredded cheese.

Nutrition

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Leah

A working mom of two very active teenagers. My husband and I gave up running the 80-cow dairy farm that also included a couple of hundred acres of corn and soybeans to both work to support the agricultural industry. We still have about 20 head of dairy heifers and cows to help my kids appreciate the effort it takes to raise livestock. I consider myself a foodie as I love cooking and experimenting with recipes. My family just wishes I would make the same thing twice. Find my other blog, FarmWifeDrinks.com for all things cocktails.