This amazing Homemade Beef Stew is easy to make and full of flavor. Beef Stew is a classic comforting dish that’s packed with tender beef, onions, carrots, potatoes, and delicious thick broth. It’s the perfect comfort dinner for winter.
Beef Stew
One of my most delicious memories from my childhood is my mom’s beef stew. This is probably the tastiest classic dish to make for winter. It’s comfort in a bowl.
Beef Stew has taken on a little variation though times and in different countries with varieties in meats, veggies and spices used. The main idea for the stew has always been to use up tougher cuts of meat and cook it for a long time to make it 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 completely.
Personally, I don’t like making my stew with red wine. I actually see Beef Bourguignon and Beef Stew as completely different dishes because they taste so different.
Classic Beef Stew that I grew up with and make for my family has tender beef, soft potatoes, onions, and carrots, and heavenly thick, tomato flavored broth. It’s fantastic!
How to make Crock Pot Beef Stew:
Beef stew is just as easy to make in a Crock Pot as it is on stove-top.
Start by searing meat in a large, deep pan. Season with a little salt and pepper. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of flour over meat and mix until all meat is coated.
Transfer meat to the Crock Pot.
Add chopped onion, carrots, and potatoes.
In the same pan where the meat was seared, combine beef broth, tomato paste, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, paprika, thyme, parsley, salt, and pepper. Whisk until combined and bring to simmer.
Add beef stock mixture and 2 bay leaves to the Crock Pot.
Cover with the lid and cook on high for 6-8 hours. (I prefer to cook it closer to 8 hours so meat and veggies are more tender.)
Remove bay leaves before serving.
Great way to serve Beef Stew for a holiday dinner:
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!
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Beef Stew
Classic, comforting beef stew is full of flavor and loaded with tender beef, onions, carrots, potatoes, and thick broth.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs stew beef
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- salt
- fresh cracked black pepper
- 8 cups water
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- 1 large onion chopped
- 4 medium carrots sliced
- 4 garlic cloves smashed and minced
- 1.5 lbs gold potatoes cubed (Idaho potatoes can also be good here)
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 8 oz tomato sauce
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp dry thyme
- 1 tbsp dry parsley
- salt
- fresh cracked black pepper
Instructions
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Preheat a large pot over medium-high heat. Add some canola oil.
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Add beef and sear it for a few minutes.
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Add water and bay leaves.
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Bring to boil and lower the temperature to low. Cook for 2-3 hours.
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Take beef and stock out of the pot, discard bay leaves, and turn up the heat to medium.
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Add some canola oil and chopped onion and carrots, saute until onion is transparent.
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Add cubed potatoes and minced garlic, mix well. Cook for a few minutes.
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Sprinkle flour over veggies and mix well.
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Start pouring in beef broth while stirring. Pour in all broth and beef, stir well.
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Stir in tomato paste, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, herbs, and spices. Bring to simmer and lower the heat to medium-low.
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Cook for about an hour and a half, until potatoes are nice and tender.
Recipe Notes
All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe. Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have a slight variation.
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