This Keto beef stew is full of tender meat and healthy vegetables, all topped in a thick sauce. Cook it in the slow cooker or make it in the oven! The recipe is low carb and grain-free, making it perfect for the Trim Healthy Mama (THM S), Keto, and Whole30 diets.
I love a good beef stew, it’s one of my favorite comfort foods! And it is very easy to make healthy/THM friendly. No sauce packets needed here 😉
Stew is a great meal to do low carb/S-friendly at Trim Healthy Mama. Just set aside the potatoes and starch-based thickener. I’m replacing potatoes with radishes and using glucomannan to thicken, easy and just as delicious!
Ingredients You’ll Need
This is just an overview of the ingredients (great as a visual guide!). Scroll down to the prescription card for quantities.
<img src="https://www.wholesomerecipebox.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/keto-beef-stew-image-ingredients.jpg" alt="keto beef stew ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- /Carrots: These are vegetables with higher starch content, especially peas. I add a handful because it makes the stew feel more “classic”. You can skip them if you’re not comfortable eating peas in your personal diet plan! If you want to leave out the carrots, add 2 more celery sticks.
- Soy sauce: I use soy sauce as an accessible alternative with less sugar to Worcestershire sauce, as it is very readily available. You can use liquid amino acids if you prefer/have access to it.
- Tomato paste: I use enough tomato paste to give the stew a richer color and deeper flavor. If you don’t have this handy, you can skip it. However, it will alter the sauce a bit. Ketchup could be a substitute, but make sure it doesn’t contain sugar if you want to keep the carb countdown.
- Radishes: I used pink radishes for babies, they lose a lot of their color during cooking and look more like white potatoes at the end. You can also use a large white radish or Daikon and dice it if that’s all you can find.
- Glucomannan: This is my favorite low-carb thickener for sauces, stews, and soups. You can use arrowroot if you don’t mind organic starch or cornstarch.
- Stew meat: You can use cheap meat here, it will get tender during the long cooking time. Save Your Expensive Cuts for Date Night 😉
A Note on
Radishes
If you’re wondering if radishes will add sharpness to the stew, I notice that the sauce is a bit spicier when I use baby red radishes. BUT all my children (6, 4 and 19 months) eat it without complaint, and are VERY sensitive to the slightest amount of pepper.
How to make Keto Beef Stew
1. Start by browning the meat in a little oil in a large pan, in 2-3 batches if necessary.
I know this is an extra step and an extra dish to wash if you cook the stew in the clay pot, but believe me… It’s worth it! If you’re cooking the stew in the oven, use the pot you’re going to use in the oven to brown your meat (I use a large Dutch oven if I’m in the oven).
2. While the meat is browning, I cut all the vegetables. I took a picture for you to see how I cut everything – I always find this helpful in recipes when I’m not sure how exactly I’m expected to cut something.
3. Once the meat is golden brown, remove it from the pan (place it in the slow cooker if you use a slow cooker, otherwise just set it aside on a plate).
Add the onion and garlic to the pan and
cook for 1-2 minutes, then add the tomato paste and seasoning
.
Now pour about 1/2 cup of the meat broth into the pan to scratch the golden pieces. Transfer this to the slow cooker as well, or add the meat back to the pan if you make the stew in the oven.
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meat stew” />
4. Add all vegetables EXCEPT peas to the stew.
Then, add the remaining meat broth.
Cook the stew in the slow cooker, or place it in the hot oven with the lid on. In the oven you will have to stir it a couple of times, but be careful: the pot and liquid are very hot!
5. Once the cooking time is over, stir well and add the peas. Continue cooking with the lid closed (in the slow cooker at HIGH or in the pot on the stove) until the peas are completely hot.
6. Finish thickening the sauce to your liking. At this point, you can also add more meat broth if you want more sauce than was formed during cooking (it can be difficult to gauge how much liquid will be released from the ingredients during cooking, so I like to adjust at the end).
Dissolve the glucomannan in a few tablespoons of cold water, it will thicken into a pudding-like substance almost instantly! But this will dissolve in the stew.
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Add it to the stew (I like to add it about 1/3 at a time so you can stop adding more when the stew is thick enough for our liking) and stir well, boiling over medium heat. It will take 1-3 minutes for the stew to thicken.
Then, Serve Immediately 🤩
Recipe Tips
- Please don’t omit browning the meat/cooking the onion before adding the broth! It will really improve the taste of the stew so, so much.
- You can add broth at the end to make more sauce if your family likes a lot of salsa. Keep in mind that you will need to use more glucomannan if you add more broth than the prescription requires.
- Please add the glucomannan / water mixture gradually. You don’t want to end up with beef stew pudding!
- Cut vegetables evenly for best results.
- Retain salt if you have a strongly salted meat broth, otherwise you could end up with too salty a stew.
- If you cook the stew in the oven, don’t forget about agitation if you’re using a Dutch oven. The lid reflects heat very strongly and if not shaken at least once, the top layer of ingredients could burn.
Serving ideas
The stew is great on its own if you’re short on time or don’t want the hassle of making a side dish. If you want to add to the meal, here are some of our favorites
:
For an S/low-carb meal:
- Serve over cauliflower puree – heavenly comfort food!
- bean salad
Add a side of coleslaw Serve with a green
For a crossover / healthy carbs:
- A whole grain dinner roll
- Regular mashed
- Mashed sweet potatoes
potatoes
More low-carb comfort food
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