Easy Homemade Beef Stew

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You have found the best beef stew recipe ever! Easy , flavorful, old-fashioned recipe made with melt-in-your-mouth tender chunks of beef, vegetables, and potatoes in a savory gravy. This hearty stew is classic comfort food.

This easy beef stew recipe has been a staple for my household since Brian and I got married at 18. It's one of the first recipes I perfected, every batch of this one-pot easy beef stew (whether made in the slow cooker, instant pot, or on the stove) comes out exactly the way it should: a flavorful savory stew that basically demands to be served with a side of crusty bread.

Everyone should have a classic beef stew recipe in their pocket, and I'm here to give it to you just in time for the cozy seasons.

Jump to:

• Where does Beef Stew come from?
• Stew Meat vs Choosing a Cut of Beef
• The Best Cuts of Meat for Beef Stew
• How to Make Classic Homemade Beef Stew
• Making Beef Stew in the Slow Cooker
• Tips for the Best Beef Stew
• Storing and Freezing
• What to Serve with Beef Stew
• More Cozy Soup Recipes:
• Recommended Tools
• 📖 Recipe

Where does Beef Stew come from?

While the word stew comes from the old French word estuier, or 'enclose', stews have a long history dating back to 12,000 to 16,000 years ago in the Jomon period of Japan. Slow cooked fish and vegetable stew residue was found in the pores of elaborately designed clay pots created by the Ainu hunter-gatherers, way before the Roman empire.

Different stews are found all over the world, but beef stews became more popularized by the French Beouf Bourguignon (also called Beef Burgundy) and Irish Stew, which is what American beef stew is based off of: made with tough cuts of beef, mutton, goat, or lamb, potatoes, onions, and root vegetables.

Modern Irish stew is Ireland's national dish with potatoes and mutton, is traced back to the early 1700s. The original stew did not have potatoes or beef and was most likely made with kid (goat) before mutton and lamb was the most accepted choice.

The stew was easy to make, even for poorer families, in a cauldron over a fire using ingredients that were affordable and common like root vegetables, leftover ingredients, and the meat of the animal they were raising -- usually goat or lamb-- stewing for hours on the bone in its own broth, basically. Potatoes were used as a thickener, as was barley.

It is a humble and delicious stew that swapped the mutton for beef once Irish immigrants came to the U.S. It is a stew that's based off the old adage 'use what you've got' after all.

Boeuf bourguignon (meaning 'beef burgundy', from the wine used) is a beef stew with mushrooms, red wine, tomatoes, and delicious fatty bacon that hails from France. It's rich and savory and it's way more 'new' in age than Irish stew, only coming around in the 19th century and it was not considered fancy at all since it was also food for peasants.

Stew Meat vs Choosing a Cut of Beef

There are plenty of great cuts of beef stew but the best cuts are the ones not labeled 'stew meat' at the grocery store. 'Stew Meat' are leftover scraps of random cuts of beef that the butcher was creating steaks and roasts with, so not only are they all different sizes but they are also made of different cuts.

In other words, if you're stewing scraps of sirloin, chuck, and maybe flank or tenderloin, it'll be a hot mess. They're all going to cook through at different times, some of them aren't meant to braise or stew for long periods of time so they'll be crumbly and dry, the others may not even be completely cooked through and still tough and full of sinew.

So the best thing to do is buy a whole cut of beef and then cut it into bite sized pieces. This not only will give you more control over what type of meat you're cooking with, but you will also have them in equal pieces. Or at least trying to be equal...definitely more equal than the stew beef.

The Best Cuts of Meat for Beef Stew

When you're making a hearty beef stew you're looking for fall apart, tender, juicy beef that melts in your mouth.

First, there's the humble chuck roast. It's my choice for pot roast, it's my choice for boeuf bourguignon, it's the affordable braise and stew powerhouse.

Chuck roast comes from the front shoulder; it's a well-worked muscle full of tough muscle fibers, well-marbled fat, and collagen-rich connective tissue. This means it's perfect for simmering for long periods of time, adding great mouthfeel as the connective tissue melts away and the beef becomes tender as the protein relaxes in the muscle.

It's perfect for long cooking times and affordable, which is why it's a classic choice for pot roast and beef stews.

Another great choice for beef stew is short rib. Definitely more pricey, but oh so good. Short ribs are from the 'plate' of the cow, the rib part right near the cow belly. It's another tough cut that is perfectly tender when slowly braised, and because the fat is so well-marbled through the short ribs, the meat is super juicy and flavorful.

If you're going the short rib route, make sure to get them English cut, not flanken-style. This make it way easier to fish out the bones since they're bigger when English cut.

How to Make Classic Homemade Beef Stew

This simple recipe is a stove top stew, honestly you could set your dutch oven into the oven at 325 degrees F for the simmering portion of the recipe to clear your stove space.

I give instructions on two slow cooker methods in this post, but I have an entire post explaining how to cook electric pressure cooker beef stew (Instant Pot Beef Stew) that you can check out.

Ingredients

Beef Chuck Roast.

Carrots. Other root vegetables, like parsnips and turnips, also work well in this!

Yellow Onions.

Yellow Potatoes. I like using Butter potatoes, if you can find them. They're so delicious.

Garlic Cloves. I don't even chop them up. A simple smash suffices, they basically melt away in the stew as it simmers

Frozen Peas.

All-Purpose Flour. This is what will help make that stew nice and thick, honey. Potatoes help, too, but it's mostly this.

Vegetable Oil and Butter.

Beef Stock or Broth.

Worcestershire Sauce. This gives us the umami that you might notice would be missing.

Dried or Fresh Herbs. I love using thyme and oregano when making stew, along with the stew-classic: bay leaves. Stews and soups just don't taste the same without it. But be careful with strong herbs like rosemary, too much can overpower the entire stew.

Instructions

Season the beef: Toss your chunks of chuck roast in salt and pepper.

Heat oil in large Dutch oven: Preheat the oil til it is shimmering hot. That's when it starts getting kinda ripple-y but before it starts smoking.

Sear the beef: You want flavorful stew? You need to sear your beef, making as many sides as possible nice and brown. That brownness is what makes your savory beef stew taste good! And remember, we are just searing the meat. It will still be raw on the inside after searing.

Saute the mirepoix: Add in the butter and saute the onions, carrots, and celery until they start to gain a little brown coloring and the onions are a little translucent and turning golden brown. Add in your garlic and potatoes, unless you're not making beef stew with potatoes. You could make mashed potatoes on the side instead of adding them to the stew.

Add in herbs and flour: This flour is really important in thickening your beef stew! Don't have flour or are gluten-free? Go down to the Tips for the Best Beef Stew section for using cornstarch to thicken the stew instead.

Pour in all your liquids: All that good beef stock, a little worcestershire sauce, and if you've got some good robust red wine, add in a cup! Some people love adding in some tomato paste or canned crushed tomatoes, but I feel we start getting into the beef bourguignon area when we add those in. Make sure to scrape up the bottom of the pot to get all those good brown bits, they're flavor!

Simmer, simmer: Simmer our tasty beef and vegetable stew for hours on medium-low heat, at least around 2.5 hours. In the last 15 minutes, toss in the frozen peas so they'll warm through. You know the stew is ready when the beef is fork-tender and easy to eat.

Serve: Spoon the stew into bowls and serve hot with crusty bread.

Making Beef Stew in the Slow Cooker

Beef stew can cook all day in a slow cooker and it's really easy. It's perfect if you've got errands to run and can't keep an eye on your stove or Instant Pot since it slowly cooks in your Crock Pot or slow cooker all day.

For this first method, you can dump all the ingredients into your slow cooker except the flour, let it cook until done, then create a cornstarch slurry to add into it at the end of the cook time. A cornstarch slurry will thicken the stew in lieu of the flour. The flour cannot be added with this method because it would clump up in the stew rather than be incorporated.

Now, doing this is fast and easy, but it won't give as much flavor as you'll get by browning the meat first.

This method is way more flavorful, browning then slow cooking: you toss the beef in flour when you season it. Then sear like in the stove top recipe in a saute pan or frying pan (or in the Instant Pot on Saute if you're slow cooking in it) in batches and once all the meat is browned you put all of it back into the slow cooker with its accumulated juices.

You can saute the vegetables for more flavor as well or you can just continue on tossing everything into the slow cooker and cooking through. With this method you don't need to use the cornstarch slurry to thicken since we coated the beef in flour.

Tips for the Best Beef Stew

For the most flavorful, savory beef stew make sure you sear the beef in batches! That brown crust is the Maillard Reaction taking place, making that delicious flavor that only brown food can make!

To make the stew taste richer add umami-packed ingredients like MSG, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, or porcini mushroom powder. This also helps fix a bland tasting stew. Sometimes you're just missing that umami punch!

To make the stew gravy/sauce thicker, use the cornstarch slurry method. To make a cornstarch slurry you'll need to have cornstarch in a small bowl and then add equal parts water to it, whisking to combine them. You'll stir this into your bubbling, simmering beef stew at the last 5 minutes of cooking and let it thicken to your desired consistency.

I would start at around 1 or 2 tablespoons of cornstarch for your slurry, depending on how much thicker you want your stew to be. If it ends up too thick, just stir in some water (about ¼ cup at a time) to loosen it back up.

Storing and Freezing

You can store the beef stew in airtight containers in the fridge for up to 4 days and reheat over the stove top on medium low heat or in your microwave in a microwave-safe bowl until heated through.

To freeze the stew, put individual portions into freezer-safe zip-top bags or vacuum sealed bags to freeze flat. This not only saves space but it also helps with thawing the stew quicker.

When ready to thaw, put the frozen stew servings in the refrigerator to thaw overnight or on the counter for about an hour or two until soft enough to remove and heat in the saucepan on the stovetop or in the microwave in a microwave safe bowl.

What to Serve with Beef Stew

Beef stew is basically a full meal, but here are my favorite sides and options to serve with it.

• If I don't put potatoes into the soup, serving the stew over roasted garlic mashed potatoes is just *chef's kiss*.
• Serve over egg noodles for an easy twist that kids love (what kid doesn't love noodles?!)
• That crusty bread? I love either homemade sourdough loaf, crusty artisan bread, or homemade focaccia. Yum!
• Also: homemade cheddar bay biscuits. Cheesy, savory drop biscuits from heaven.

More Cozy Soup Recipes:

• Broccoli Cheddar Soup
• Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
• Traditional French Onion Soup
• Olive Garden Chicken and Gnocchi Soup Copycat

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