This beef stew recipe is easy, rich and delicious, and great for those chilly fall and winter days.
We’re just moving into fall here in Michigan, so it is the perfect time for soups and stews, which are some of my favorite meals. There’s nothing better on a cool fall day than sitting down with a hearty stew and a hunk of crusty bread.
If you want an easy crusty bread recipe, head over Alexandra’s Kitchen. Her No-Knead Peasant Bread is my go to!
Beef Stew Recipe Ingredients
There are a lot of simple beef stew recipes out there, but the key to a really flavorful beef stew is building flavors. That means searing the meat, adding herbs and spices, and including ingredients you might not think of straight away.
It all begins with searing the beef. You can buy prepackaged “stew meat” at any grocery store, or you can buy your own cut and cube it up. I find “stew meat” can be a bit tough, so it depends on whether I feel like taking the time to cube the meat or just toss it in the Dutch oven to brown.
Also, I waxed enthusiastic on the wonders of a Dutch Oven when I made Dirty Rice. I still maintain that thou should get thee a Dutch oven.
For this beef stew recipe, I used chuckeye steak because of the marbling. It makes the meat very tender.
You do want to trim off the external fat, but the internal marbling provides great flavor and tender meat.
Also note that I’m cubing the beef on my ugly green plastic cutting board. That’s because I like to bleach my cutting boards after I cut meat, then sanitize the boards in the dishwasher. E coli and whatevs.
My nice, pretty, wood cutting boards are veg only!
{My recipe development book is making an appearance in the background, too.}
It’s important to sear the meat for this beef stew recipe in a Dutch oven and/or sauce pot/skillet so it deepens flavor. I forgot to take a picture of that.
But I did remember to take a picture of all the other ingredients.
I know it seems like a lot, and it is. As I said, the key to a good beef stew is to let a lot of flavors meld together.
For this beef stew recipe, aside from the typical s-n-p, I’ve added celery, onion, garlic, beef stock, tomato paste, red wine vinegar, Worcestshire sauce, and beer.
Choose a good beer. Much like wine, you should only cook with beer you would normally drink. Just so happens I had a Founder’s All Day IPA in my beef fridge, so that’s what I used.
Oh, and at the bottom there, is a bay leaf, plus fresh thyme and rosemary from my garden in the little glass bowl.
Remember that 1 tsp of dry herbs equals 1 T of fresh herbs.
Order of Operations For Beef Stew
Brown the meat in butter and EVOO, turning as needed. Brown it in batches if needed so you don’t crowd the pan. (Basically, you want the mean to brown, not “stew” yet. If you have too many pieces in the pan, it becomes tough rather than caramelized).
Once the beef is browned, remove the meat and add celery and onion. Sauté just a touch (2-3 minutes), then add the garlic and sauté another minute. Lower the heat, add the beef back in, then all the rest of the goodies–but NOT the carrots, potatoes or shrooms. Those go in toward the end so they don’t get completely mushy.
Simmer for 2 hours or until the meat is tender.
About 30 minutes out, add the carrots, potatoes, and mushrooms.
From there, just let all the yummies simmer for another until the potatoes and carrots and crisp-tender and voila. Dinner!
Weeknight Tip
This beef stew recipe basically requires you to be in the kitchen and at home for a good 3 hours. How many of us can do that? We have jobs. Children. School.
If you have a crockpot, you can make this on any given weeknight with a little advanced prep. You can brown the meat in advance, chop the onion and celery, even portion out your spices. Carrots can be pre-chopped. I don’t recommend preparing the potatoes in advance (unless you put them in cold water to keep from them getting brown.) Also, once mushrooms are washed, they brown quickly as well. Still, there is a lot of prep that can be done the day before.
Using a Crock Pot, you can drop the seared meat, onion and celery in the crock pot on low heat before work (the onions and celery will cook down), add broth, herb, spices, etc, and it will simmer all day on low. When you get home from work, all you need to do is flip the pot to high and add the carrots, potatoes and shrooms for 30 minutes.
Then You Spork It
Rich and Hearty Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 2 lbs stew meat or chuckeye steak cubed
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil more if needed
- 1 medium onion minced
- 2 ribs celery diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 4 cups beef broth plus more as needed
- 1 12 oz beer
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 6 oz tomato paste
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp kosher salt plus more to taste
- 1 tsp fresh ground black paper plus more to taste
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp dry thyme
- 1 tsp dry rosemary
- 2-3 medium carrots chopped into rounds
- 8 red potatoes quartered, or bite sized pieces
- 8 oz baby bell mushrooms sliced thick
Instructions
- In a large Dutch oven or stock pot, heat 2 T butter and 2 T EVOO on medium heat. Brown cubed beef on all sides, cooking in batches if necessary. Remove beef from Dutch oven or pot.
- Add onion and celery, sautéing for 2-3 minutes. Add EVOO if needed. Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Stir continuously.
- Add reserved beef, beef broth, beer, Worcestershire, tomato paste, paprika, salt, pepper, bay leaf, thyme and rosemary. Simmer on medium low heat for 2 hours.
- During the last 30 minutes, add carrot rounds, potatoes, and mushrooms. Cook until carrots and potatoes are tender. Adjust salt and pepper as needed.
