This amazing old-fashioned Beef Stew is a perfectly comforting and flavorful dish for the colder weather. Beef Stew is a classic beef dish made with tender braised beef, onions, carrots, potatoes, and mouthwatering broth. Let it stew for a few hours in a Dutch oven for the rich flavor and perfectly tender meat and vegetables.
BEEF STEW RECIPE
One of my most delicious memories from my childhood is my mom’s beef stew. This is probably the tastiest and most comforting dish to make for winter.
This is one of those classic dishes that every family in every country has their own delicious version. There are some variations in meats, veggies, herbs, and spices used but the main idea for the stew to use up tougher cuts of meat and cook it for a long time until it’s completely tender.
Veggies, herbs, and spices depend on the region and availability but the most common veggies include onions, potatoes, and carrots.
French version of Beef Stew, also known as Beef Bourguignon, includes beef braised in red wine. Red wine changes the flavor of the stew quite a bit and personally, I prefer to save that for my Pot Roast.
Classic Beef Stew that I grew up with and make for my family has tender beef, soft potatoes, onions, carrots, and heavenly thick, tomato flavored broth. It’s fantastic no matter which cooking method you use, whether it’s on stove top, oven, or slow cooker. The fastest way is to make Instant Pot Beef Stew though.
What Beef To Use For Beef Stew?
Best meat to use for beef stew is chuck roast. It’s inexpensive, tough, and has lots of marbling and connective tissue. Not a cut that you want to cook quickly but it’s perfect for slow cooking (and pressure cooking in this case) and very flavorful.
This cut of beef is also very good at soaking in flavors that it’s cooked in. If you want your stew to taste even better, choose USDA prime cut.
How To Make Beef Stew:
I highly recommend using a Dutch oven to make beef stew. It cooks very evenly and meat and vegetables come out perfectly tender.
Prepare the ingredients: cut beef chuck into 1-inch cubes, dice and chop vegetables, and combine beef broth, tomato sauce, and seasoning together. Heat up the broth mixture at the same time as searing meat.
Sear the meat: toss the beef chuck cubes with some salt, pepper, and flour to coat them evenly and then sear them in a preheated Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Make sure to do this in batches so the meat is in one even layer and not overcrowded.
Sauté onions and garlic: take the browned meat pieces out and add diced onion to the pot. Sauté onion until softened and starts to brown and then add minced garlic and cook until fragrant.
Combine and stew: add the meat and meat juices back into the pot and mix well. Pour in the beef broth mixture and scrape the bottom on the pot to release seared-on meat residue. Bring everything to simmer, lower the heat to low, and cover the pot with a lid. Let it cook for about 2 hours. (Make sure to stir from time to time.)
Add potatoes and carrots: after 2 hours, add carrots and potatoes, stir it in, cover, and cook another 1/5-2 hours until potatoes and meat is completely tender.
How to Make Beef Stew In The Oven
You can cook beef stew on stove-top or in stew it in the oven. If you plan to use the oven, preheat it to 325° but start preparing the stew on stove-top.
Once everything is in the pot, transfer the Dutch oven covered with a lid into the oven. Let it cook for about 2 hours and then add potatoes and carrots. Cook another 1.5-2 hours until meat and potatoes are perfectly tender.
How to Make Beef Stew In A Crock Pot:
Beef stew is just as easy to make in a Crock Pot as it is on stove-top.
Start by searing seasoned beef in a large, deep pan and then transfer it to the Crock Pot.
Sear diced onion in the same pan and once onion starts to brown, add garlic. Sear until fragrant and transfer into the pot. Add carrots, potatoes, and hot beef stock mixture.
Cover with the lid and cook on LOW for 7-8 hours or on HIGH for about 4 hours. Remove bay leaves before serving.
Great way to serve Beef Stew for holidays:
My mom often served beef stew for holiday dinners or just big family dinners. It can actually make quite a festive main dish. The best way to serve this stew for holidays is to serve it in individual pots.
You will need individual ceramic bowls. Make sure the bowls that are oven safe. (These are the types of bowls I use.)
You will also need sheets of puff pastry. One puff pastry sheet will be good for 4 bowls. So cut each sheet of puff pastry into 4 squares.
Divide cooked stew among the individual bowls. Rub each bowl rim with some oil and place a puff pastry square on top of the bowl. Brush each puff pastry with whisked egg on top and bake at 400 until pastry is golden brown. Serve the individual stew bowls with pastry on top. It’s amazing!
Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 3 lbs beef chuck roast
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- salt
- fresh cracked black pepper
- 2-3 tbsp canola oil
- 1 large onion chopped
- 4-6 garlic cloves smashed and minced
- 4 cups beef stock
- 1-2 cups water
- 8 oz tomato sauce
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp dry thyme
- 1 tbsp dry parsley
- salt
- fresh cracked black pepper
- 1.5 lbs baby gold potatoes
- 4-6 medium carrots
Instructions
- Prepare the ingredients: cut beef chuck roast into 1-inch cubes, dice onion, smash and mince garlic, and chop carrots. Cut baby potatoes in half if needed.
- In a sauce pot, combine beef stock, water, tomato sauce, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, paprika, garlic powder, salt, pepper, parsley, and thyme. Whisk and heat the mixture up while searing the beef.
- Toss beef chunks with some salt, pepper, and the flour until evenly coated. Preheat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat, add oil, and sear beef in batches. Don't overcrowd the pot while searing. Take the meat out of the Dutch oven and set aside.
- Add onion to the Dutch oven and cook until softened and starts to brown. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant.
- Transfer the meat and meat juice back into the Dutch oven and pour in the hot beef stock mixture. Scrape the bottom of the pan while pouring it the liquid to release the seared-on food from the bottom.
- Bring everything to simmer, lower the temperature to low, cover, and cook for about 2 hours. (Make sure to leave a small crack for the steam to escape if there is no steam vent in the lid.)
- Add carrots and potatoes, cover back, and cook another 1.5-2 hours, until potatoes and meat are perfectly tender.
- Discard bay leaves before serving.
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