Slimming World's beef stew and parsley dumplings recipe

Slimming World's beef stew and parsley dumplings is a slow cooker masterpiece - quick to prepare, slow to cook and meltingly tender.

Slow cooked beef stew is one of our favourite comfort foods and thanks to this very popular Slimming World recipe you don't have to miss out on it even if you're being healthy. As well as the stew, this recipe makes eight delicious, herby dumplings - two per portion. They're the perfect accompaniment. If you don't have a slow cooker, don't worry, it's easy to convert this to a standard cooker and we've included the full details below in the method. This recipe serves four and it's always a family favourite. 

Ingredients

• Low-calorie cooking spray
• 750g lean stewing beef, all visible fat removed, diced
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 600ml boiling beef stock
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 bay leaves
• 300g chantenay carrots, scrubbed and roughly chopped
• ½ large swede, peeled and cut into bite-size chunks
• 2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
• 50g plain flour
• 25g vegetable suet
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley, plus extra to serve
• Wilted spinach, to serve

Method

1. Spray a large non-stick frying pan with low-calorie cooking spray and place over a high heat. Brown the beef in batches to seal in the flavour and transfer each batch to the slow cooker pot with a slotted spoon.
2. Add the onion and garlic to the frying pan and pour in the stock, tomato purée, Worcestershire sauce and bay leaves. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 5 minutes, scraping up any tasty crispy bits. Season with freshly ground black pepper and pour the mixture all over the beef. Cover and cook on low for 7½ hours.
3. Increase the heat to high and stir in the carrots, swede and thyme. Mix together the flour, suet, parsley and some seasoning. Stir in 2-3 tbsp cold water and mix well to form a soft dough. Divide the dough into 8 pieces and shape into equal-sized patties. Lay them on top of the stew, cover and cook for 1½ hours.
4. Scatter over the extra parsley and serve hot the spinach.
5. Don’t have a slow cooker? Put the browned beef and the onion mixture into a casserole dish, stir in the carrots, swede and thyme, cover and cook for 2½ hours in an oven preheated to 160°C/fan 140°C/gas 3. Make up the dumplings, arrange on top and cook uncovered for another 20-25 minutes. 

Top tip for making Slimming World's beef stew and parsley dumplings

The shallots in this recipe can be swapped for two regular white onions instead. Peel and chop into thin slices or diced.

For more information on the Slimming World plan, visit slimmingworld.co.uk

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