When it comes to making dinner, slow cooker recipes are some of the easiest recipes that there are. If you’re cooking on a stovetop, you need to be keenly aware of the timing and the “doneness” of all your ingredients so that everything can finish at the same time for plating. With a slow cooker, you eliminate a lot of the finesse and throw everything in at once for a stew-type meal at the end.
Because of this, slow cookers are particularly good for making chilis and stews—and today’s recipe is no exception. Today, we’re making a hearty beef and pasta stew that only uses five ingredients. At the end of everything, the result is a deliciously soft and hearty meal that the entire family is sure to love. So let’s get started.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 1 pound of lean ground beef
- 2 whole carrots, diced
- 4 celery stalks, diced
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 cloves of minced garlic
- 1 28-ounce can of crushed or chopped tomatoes
- 1 15-ounce can of cannellini beans
- 1 15-ounce can of red kidney beans
- 2 cans of beef stock
- 2 whole bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon of dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon of dried basil
- 1 cup of uncooked ditalini pasta
- parmesan cheese
Here’s what you do:
1. To begin, rinse your vegetables and chop them all up to your desired texture. After that, throw your beef, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, crushed tomatoes, beef stock, bay leaves, oregano and basil inside it. Be sure to use a wooden spoon to break up the ground beef and mix everything together well.
2. With everything in the mix, cover your slow cooker and let it cook on low for seven to eight hours, or on high for three to four hours. About a half hour before the cooking time is up, add your pasta and your beans after you’ve drained and strained them. Add more salt and pepper if necessary as well. Cover it back up when you’re done for the last 30 minutes.
3. After the time’s up, open the slow cooker again and take out the bay leaves. Spoon the resulting stew into bowls and top it off with some powdered parmesan cheese before eating!
As you can see, this recipe is not too different from many of the recipes you may already be making. Still, the resulting flavor and texture once everything cooks down is hard to beat. The meat will be cooked perfectly, the vegetables will be soft and everything will be gently and pleasantly seasoned.
While all the ingredients we’ve listed above are pretty simple, there’s always room to innovate within this recipe as well. If you’re not a fan of the Italian spices, swap them out for a combination that is more suited to your palate. On the other hand, add even more Italian seasoning if you want to punch up the flavor! To round out the meal, we recommend serving it with a side of bread or maybe some rice. Above all, have fun with this recipe and let us know how it turns out.
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