This was not a very good recipe. My husband didn't like the cloves taste in it (neither did I), and there wasn't much to it. It needed potatoes for sure, but that still wouldn't have helped much! I did add some beef bouillion to the water to give it flavor, and had to thicken with corn starch once it was done so that it wasn't completely runny. We will not be making this again.

I love this stew recipe! I add about a half-cup of red wine and about 2 teaspoons of organic beef stock powder for a little extra flavor. I don't have a crockpot, so I cook it on low on the stove and it still turns out tender and delicious.

We really liked this recipe. I added a little Kitchen Bouquet to taste and to darken the appearance of the stew. I will use this recipe again.

So great that it dissapeared before I got myself a full helping. Darn guys!!

I added potatoes to this recipe to make it into more of a meal, also added half teaspoon of celery salt and 2 oxo cubes and replaced the water with beef stock it was worth waiting 8 hours in the slow cooker anyway

This was perfect winter dinner food. I cooked this on high for 4 hours. I added two extra cloves of minced garlic, three red potatoes cut up into chunks, and added the celery to cook only for the last 1 1/2 hours, so it wouldn't get soggy & limp. Celery was overcooked anyway. Next time I'll add it 1 hour before it's to be served. The cloves add the tiniest hint of that certain special something, such a good flavor. I will be making this again!

After having a can of beef stew last week my son announced that he wanted beef stew for his birthday dinner. I turned to allrecipes since I'd never made beef stew before, and I was not a bit disappointed in this recipe. I only made a couple minor changes one of which was to add 3 diced potatoes because I've never heard of stew without potatoes. The second thing I did different was that I marinated the meat in Worchestershire sauce overnight. Finally, rather than cooking it in the crockpot I did it on the stove. I probably cooked it about an hour after I had cooked the meat and added the remaining ingredients. The potatoes did get mushy so next time I will add those halfway through the cooking time. Coating the meat with the flour thickened the stew perfectly. Thank you for a great recipe that the whole family loved! I will be making this often!

Kind of disappointed. Only used 3 cups of water as suggested by other users. It smelled great cooking, but the taste lacked something. Good base recipe, but will not use this one again. Sorry.

Very good, a little bland on taste, maybe add some garlic...

Now this is the best way to make stew. I did thicken it with cornstarch. I also added 1 beef bullion cubes and 4 or 5 small red potatoe wedges. Whats a stew without potatoes. Delicious!!!I will never again buy the pre-packaged dry stew mix.

As the others have submitted, best beef stew ever! I do not like beef OR stew, and I loved it! Added a can of crushed tomatoes (using the juice as part of the water), and 3 cubed potatoes. I also thickened it at the end as it was too thin for my taste. But DELICIOUS!

Made this recipe for the first time today and was very happy. The only things I did different was add a squeeze of ketchup and partly cooked white potatoes added halfway in. The stew was perfectly thick but I added flour just in case. It was not needed though. My son loved it.

This is the first time I made Beef Stew that hubby actually complemented me on. I added about 8 quartered baby rose potatoes to the pot and used 2 cups beef broth instead of water. The sauce was outstanding!!! A definite keeper.

Whenever a BIG snow storm is predicted, as it was for today, I love to cook something that will warm up my husband and kids after they shovel. I made this stew today with a few modifications and after supper my husband said "I think that was the best", I said "best I've ever made?" and he said "no, best I've ever had". I added potatoes, I didn't have worcestershire so I used a little A1 Steaksauce, a few bouillon cubes and a splash of red wine. About 1 hour before it was done I whisked about 2 tbls of flour into a little milk and added it, it thickened up nice. I'm sure I'll be making this alot over this long cold New Hampshire winter.

This was fantastic! I did make a few modifications, however. I put the 4 cups of water, but I also threw in 2 cubes of beef bouillion with it. I added a splash of sherry, a few squeezes of ketchup, frozen peas and 3 potatoes. With those changes, this was the perfect stew. Served with crescent rolls and we all were in heaven! Thanks

This was OK, but WAY too watery for a stew. I only used 3 cups of water, and thickened it up with more flour at the end of cooking and it was still not as thick as I would like stew to be. I may make this again but will use less water and will probably add potatoes.

I love this site because of the reviews, this is my first contribution so here goes: This stew is GREAT! As far as I can tell, its the same as my mom's recipe, (God rest her soul), that I somehow lost. The only changes I made were adding salt and pepper to the beef chunks before I breaded them in the flour, I added chunks of potato and I used canned beef broth instead of water. For those of you who find the soup too thin, make sure you use plenty of flour on the beef, and its OK to let a little extra flour sorta fall into the pan as you are browning the beef, then try to get it all into the pot and it will thicken the broth as it cooks.

Very easy recipe.