Make this spooky witches brew stew for a fun fall meal. Made with hot sausage and beef and the veggies are skull mushrooms and pumpkin carrots! This recipe tastes like an ultra jazzed-up hamburger soup! Try it this Halloween along with garlic bread and topped with parmesan cheese.
Who doesn’t love a good fall recipe like this stew. We also love to make pumpkin chili , shipwreck stew or Hungarian goulash.
This recipe came about from a soup I saw from a member in a recipe group on facebook. Her name is Juanita and her soup has adorable carrot pumpkins and she also uses hot sausage in her soup which I think is a wonderful idea. I had to make a variation of it before Halloween and share it with you! If you want to see her version, she calls it “Black Magic Soup”.
We love making this soup for our annual Halloween party. Did you know that a witch is one of the most popular Halloween costumes? It’s second to squid games, which I still need to watch. I’m always the crazy cat lady for Halloween without fail.
How to make Witches Brew Stew in the crockpot:
Ingredients
- Hot sausage – I use Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage. Please use mild if you do not like spicy foods.
- Ground Beef – I cook the ground beef and the hot sausage together in the same pan. Crumble then drain off the fat.
- Vegetables – Carrots, mushrooms, gold potatoes, garlic, leeks and celery.
- Italian herb seasoning – This is mixture of oregano, marjoram, thyme, savory, rosemary, basil and sage and is found along with the other spices at the store. Use a mixture of what you have at home if you do not have this herb mix.
- Beef broth
- Campbell’s Tomato Soup – We use this instead of tomato sauce, has a better flavor
- Campbell’s French Onion Soup – This is the magic in the soup! Adds a carmelized onion flavor.
How to make shaped veggies:
- Carrot Pumpkins – First make two straight slits for the stem, then cut 2 triangles from the sides of the stem and remove them.
- Skull Mushrooms – Use a standard sized straw and poke eye holes, the piece you poke out should come out in the straw. Make 2 slits for the nose and I also make slits on the stem of the mushroom, to make it look like a collar.
How long do I cook?
- Add everything to the slow cooker. Cook on high for 4 hours.
- Then add the mushrooms and cook for 10 minutes longer. I don’t cook the mushrooms very long so the hold their shape.
What do I serve with this?
- Garlic bread
- Cornbread
- Topped with Parmesan or mozzarella cheese
Can I use a different type of meat?
- Note that the ground hot sausage really makes this meal hearty and decadent.
- If you want to use another type of meat the flavor will be altered and you may need to add more salt and seasonings. You can use chicken breasts, ground turkey or kielbasa if desired.
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Slow Cooker Witches Brew Stew
Equipment Needed:
Ingredients:
- 1 lb. ground beef
- 1 lb. hot breakfast sausage I use Jimmy Dean (use original if you don't like spicy)
- 3-4 large carrots sliced then cut into pumpkin shapes
- 2 cups small diced gold potatoes
- 3 celery ribs diced
- 1 cup diced leeks (1 large leek)
- 1 tsp. minced garlic
- 1 Tbsp. Italian herb seasoning This is found with the other spices at the store. It has oregano, marjoram, savory, thyme, basil, rosemary and sage. If you do not have this, use a mixture of what you do have.
- 3/4 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
- 10.5 oz. Campbell's Condensed French Onion Soup
- 10.5 oz. Campbell's Condensed Tomato Soup
- 1.5 cups water
- 32 oz. box beef broth
- 10 mushrooms (cut in half, then skull face cut into it, see directions)
Instructions:
- NOTE- wait to add the mushrooms until the end of cooking time.In a large skillet on the stove top set to medium high heat, brown the ground beef and sausage together. Crumble and drain off fat. Add to the slow cooker.
- Peel and slice the carrots. Cut the carrots slices into pumpkin shapes. Add to the slow cooker.
- Add the remaining ingredients EXCEPT for the mushrooms.
- Place the lid on the slow cooker.
- Cook on HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 8 hours.
- When the cooking time is near done. Prepare the mushrooms. Cut them down the middle length wise, making them each into two pieces. Use a straw to poke out the eyes and use a knife to make two slits for a nose. I also make slits on the stem.
- Add the mushrooms to the slow cooker after the cooking time is done. Let the mushrooms cook for 10 minutes along with the rest of the soup. I add the mushrooms at the end of the cooking time so they will keep their shape.
How to Video:
Recipe Notes:
- Note that the ground hot sausage really makes this meal hearty and decadent.
- If you want to use another type of meat the flavor will be altered and you may need to add more salt and seasonings. You can use chicken breasts, ground turkey or kielbasa if desired.
Nutrition Information:
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
This is my third time making it. I mixed the burger and the sausage together when raw. that sausage makes it the best, and you could do pretty much whatever else you want and it would still be awesome. 🙂 Great for Halloween dinner too!
This got good reviews from our pumpkin carving party crew. Making each slice of carrot into a pumpkin is time consuming, so plan accordingly. It took nearly as long as all of the other steps combined. Make sure to use a sharp knife! I thought it would be thicker and based on a previous review that said it was more brothy than stew, I even cut back on the water by 1/2 cup. I will make this again, but not bother with the carrot pumpkins and just used them sliced….that’s a once a year type thing, lol! Super cute seeing the skulls floating in it. I only made eyes on each and skipped the nose and neck slits and they still looked great.
There is a way to slice the carrot prior to cutting it into pieces that makes it very easy. Look up carrot pumpkins on Pinterest! Takes very little time to do!
I used a metal cookie cutter that had a corner and just popped a little triangle out of each side. Worked great.
Made this and came out very well
My family loved this dish, I have a son who NEVER eats soup and he had two servings of this so I know it was a huge hit with our family.
Does not adding the leeks take away from the flavor?
You could add onion or a 1/4 tsp. Of onion powder instead.
The flavor of the leeks was not my favorite so I would probably opt for regular diced onion next time.
You say it makes 10 servings, can you tell me the size of the serving for the Nutritional count?
Thaks, mary
No, I apologize, I don’t have that information.
How thick do I cut carrot slices? It’s hard to tell from the pics.
About 1/4 inch.
We can’t use the canned french onion soup but we can use the powdered mix, would that mess this up? Thanks for your help!
No, I think that would work fine.
I used onion soup/dip packet and added an extra cup or so of water and it came out great
Haven’t made it yet but was wondering if I could sub the tomato soup out for something else seeing my daughter is allergic to tomatos
Maybe more beef broth thickened? Not much help here but my husband is also allergic to tomatoes. Such a cute idea.
You can take tomato out of anything. Just replace with broth and then use something with acid (vinegar). If you also need like tomato ‘meat’, you can use squash or something else that gets soft when cooked and has a mild flavor.
I just put this in the crockpot for tonight’s supper!!
Can’t wait to try it!
You will love it!
I’ve got this recipe cooking now. It seems thin so I added a can of tomato paste. I also planned hot dogs so added them whole to the soup! Looks very Halloweeenie
Could you sub potatoes or something else for the mushrooms?
Yes, that will work great! Cut them in small cubes.
Can this be made with reducing the salt somehow v
If I was making this low sodium, I would start with switching the sausage for ground beef. Switch the tomato soup for tomato sauce and do low sodium beef broth. The only thing left with lots of sodium is the french onion soup, you could possibly skip that, add more low sodium beef broth and use some dried onions instead.
That’s what I was thinking. There’s so much sodium in the French onion soup. I’m making it for my Halloween bunko. I’m going to chop an onion and cook it with the meat. I HATE canned French onion soup.
Would love to know how to modify for the Instant pot.
I made it all in the instant pot.
Browned the meets, then added the other ingredients.High for 20 minutes, quick release. Then added mushrooms for 0 minutes, natural release. I didn’t have time to slow cook it , so I just went for it. It was great. Also I did add squash and cerrano peppers. Subbed the Italian Seasoning for my own preferences.
Thank you!
Do you think there is enough room in the instant pot to double the recipe? Would that change the cook times too do you think?
I’m unsure on both o apologize. I don’t use an instant pot.
This is an excellant recipe. I’ve made it twice on the stove.