Rich and hearty beef stew is a classic comfort food full of tender beef, potatoes, and veggies made to warm the soul. Perfect for those sweater weather days.
It's November, and I have been very neglectful.
Forgive me. But I wasn't able to cook or take photos since our house was in storage in Georgia for months. In fact, at this time I'm using old photo of my beef stew recipe because we still haven't gone back up to get the storage. It's incredibly expensive, let me tell you! We won't be doing any spontaneous inter-state moving again any time soon!
I digress, onto the food!
Like I said, it's November. It's the official month of comfy-food, especially in the good ole U.S. here because of Thanksgiving.
PIN this Rich and Hearty Beef Stew recipe in your DINNER, FALL, COMFORT FOODS, AND SOUPS/STEWS BOARDS on PINTEREST. And follow Sweet Tea & Thyme on Pinterest for more tips, hacks, and tasty recipes!
So in honor of comfort food, I have for you: the classic, soul-comforting, oh so warming on a cold November evening, beef stew. Not just any beef stew, oh no. The beef stew of my childhood. The beef stew I've been making since I got married. It's in my back pocket whenever there's a chill in the air. It's rich in flavor and hearty ingredients, with a thick gravy-like stew that deserves a nice crusty piece of bread to sop it up. If that doesn't scream "comfort" I don't know what does. Okay, maybe a good plate of Mac and Cheese, but...
I made beef stew for our Christmas tree day last year, where we chopped down our tree and had a couple of friends come decorate that evening, and not one full belly was disappointed. After a full day of going down to the farm and chopping trees, it was the perfect dish to fill our bellies. Even my then-two-year-old Grey loved it, and he's not a big meat eater.
This is tested, tried and true, and it has never let me down no matter if I made it in the oven, slow cooker, or stove-top. It's incredibly easy, satisfying, and can absolutely be made in the slow cooker if you aren't able to stay in the house and eyeball a pot on the flame or in the oven for about 3 hours.
When you are choosing meat, I suggest getting a chuck roast with a lot of meat and very little fat hanging off the edges. Don't buy the 'stew meat' unless you are going to a very reputable butcher who you know isn't just using scrap pieces of any ole thing and trying to make a profit. Stew meat is more often than not scraps that are from different cuts and will give inconsistent results.
So why chuck? Because it's affordable and tough! A stew needs a tough piece of meat to be braised, or cooked in liquid, for a long period of time so it becomes fall-apart-tender. Think a pot roast (the ones that fall apart to pieces) or pork shoulder that is made into pulled pork.
Chuck is a well-worked part of the animal, from the shoulder, and is filled with lots of tough connective tissue and marbled fat. When it's braised, the connective tissue and fat sort of melt away, leaving meat that is now tender and juicy after a long cooking time. With other cuts of meat that don't have good marbling in the meat and no connective tissue, you will have some overcooked stew and it's terrible.
We don't want terrible, we want tender!
Besides the meat, and really, that's just a preference, stew is incredibly easy. It's one of my favorite things to do and teach as a basic recipe because you don't need an actual recipe! You toss in some veggies with your meat, a little flour and fat, and broth with a little bit of herbs and seasonings and let it simmer for a few hours-- and boom! You have delicious stew with melt-in-your-mouth tender meat and veg for dinner with little effort.
Make sure to buy yourself a loaf of crusty bread to eat with it, you won't be disappointed.
Here are some tools I used for this recipe:
[amazon_link asins='B01N6ITVEA,B008H2JLPS,B00M2J7PCI,B00EZQQEMS' template='ProductCarousel' store='sweetteaandth-20' marketplace='US' link_id='00ee5742-1689-11e7-bffb-c52e0dc08f4a']
For more great recipes, subscribe to Sweet Tea & Thyme!
And let’s connect on social media through my FACEBOOK PAGE, TWITTER and INSTAGRAM. I love getting to know you guys!
Rich & Hearty Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 2 lbs beef chuck roast, trimmed of excess fat and cubed into 1 inch pieces
- 3 tbsp flour
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 5 carrots, peeled and chopped into 1 inch pieces
- 3 lbs yellow potatoes, peeled and cubed into 1 inch pieces
- 1 large onion, medium dice
- 5 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
- ¼ cup flour
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 cups beef broth or stock
- 2 cups water
- ½ cup frozen peas
- Kosher salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat vegetable oil in a large stock or soup pot over medium high heat.
- In a medium sized bowl or shallow dish, toss together 2 tbsp flour and the tsp of salt and pepper. Throw in cubed chuck and toss to coat lightly.
- In batches (either ⅓-1/2 of the meat per batch) sear the beef in the pot. Keep the beef in one layer without them touching. Sear for about 1-1.5 minutes per side, making sure there is a brown crust on the sides. Remove each batch into a large bowl and continue until all the meat is seared. Set aside.
- Add the butter into the pot, lower the temperature to medium, and let melt. Throw carrots, potatoes, and onion into the pot and cook over medium heat for 7 minutes, until the onions are translucent and start to brown. Add your garlic and stir in for a minute, then stir in ¼ cup flour.
- Make sure the flour is coating the veggies well and there is enough fat to moisten the flour. There should be no dry flour in the pan. Add the oregano to the pan and stir it in with the vegetables and flour.
- Stir while letting the flour cook through for about one minute, then add in a splash of beef broth and stir well. Then add about a cup of broth and stir well once again. It should look kind of like a paste, that's fine. Add another cup of the broth and stir well. Add the rest of the broth, stir again. Then add the beef and their juices from the bowl into the pot to braise.
- Add water and bay leaves, raise temperature to medium high and let the pot come to a gentle boil. After it boils for about two minutes, lower temperature to medium low and cover with a lid. Let stew simmer for 2 hours then remove the lid.
- After 2.5 hours, add the frozen peas and stir in well. Let stew cook for 30 minutes until they are cooked through.
- At the 3 hour mark, check stew for seasoning and season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove bay leaves and serve the beef stew while hot.
Don't forget to save this recipe on Pinterest!
Here Are More Comfort Food Recipes
Creamy Stove-Top Mac and Cheese
See ya in the the next post!
Eden Westbrook is the recipe developer, writer, and photographer behind Sweet Tea and Thyme. A classically trained chef, Eden has inspired home cooks into the kitchen with cultural comfort foods, easy family-friendly eats and sweets, and glorious spreads for date night and entertaining since 2015.
This is my second time making this recipe, so delicious it will be the stew recipe I use from now on. Thank you!!
Yum! These are all ingredients I typically have on hand (except the beef but I can easily get it) so I'm saving this to make later. Thanks for sharing!
Let me know how you like it Jazz! Thanks for stopping by!
I haven't had beef stew in so long. It's cold out so I think I'm going to get on it. Thanks for the subtle reminder.
I love the simplicity of the recipe. It sounds like its packed with layers of flavour and heartiness. My husband will love this one!
Thank you! It's a great basics go-to recipe for the colder months of the year, I'm sure it'll be in your back pocket, too!
I found your recipe today and immediately loved the simplicity yet heartiness of it. It's in the pot as I type, simmering away for the last hour, and even at this point it tastes amazing! I come from a Mexican American family and married into an Indian (Asian) family so the flavors and choices in our home abound. However, lately I'm going back to basics as I want to perfect some basic "go to" recipes. Your beef stew definitely fits my current approach. Thank you for sharing your wonderfully tasty recipe. By the way, it's rainy and cold today so it's the perfect meal on the perfect day. It doesn't get any better than this! (Already saved to my Pinterest too :-))
Thank you so much! Your comment really means a lot to me! I'm so glad you like it. Your family sounds so diverse, you must have some great recipes yourself. 🙂
This looks so tasty! I love soup on a cold winter Saturday!
Looks so hearty and delicious!!!
looks really good
Thank you!
I tried this recipe today because I had been crying beef stew for a while! I'm not a cook at all but this recipe was easy to follow and it tasted soo good! My only thing is that my beef stew came out a bit thicker, any tips on what I may have done wrong? Thank you for this recipe!
Hi, Leticia! I’m so glad you liked the stew, it’s my all time fave beef stew recipe. I actually like mine really thick (it’s great for a crusty piece of bread to swipe up!) BUT to make it looser, add in about 1/4-1/2 cup of beef stock at the end before serving, more if you like it really thin and soup-like. I hope that helps!
Wow. I havent had beef stew in years. I am def going to make this. Sounds just like my Grandma used to make.
Thank you! Grandmas are the best to be compared to with homestyle cooking! 🙂 Definitely make it, it's one of my most popular dishes this time of year.