This Beef Stew Recipe is perfect for the colder weather! Tender beef is simmered in beef broth with potatoes, onions, celery, peas, and carrots until melt in your mouth tender. It’s comfort food heaven!
I serve beef stew with 30 minute dinner rolls or Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits to sop up any gravy in the bottom of the bowl!
Beef stew is a classic dinner staple in so many households around the world. There are soup and stew adaptations of beef stew like my favorite Easy Hamburger Soup and cultural variations like Hungarian Goulash, but this classic beef stew recipe is a favorite for me!
How To Make Beef Stew
Searing the beef pieces before you add the stock makes such a difference in the flavor you get from the soup. It’s really the only chance you have to get that delicious caramelization on the meat!
As the veggies and broth simmer, you will really start to notice the flavors in the stew intensify. Peas cook quickly so I add them in the last few minutes!
This stew recipe is also the perfect way to use up any vegetables you might need to use up. If you’ve got leftover roasted potatoes, glazed carrots or fried mushrooms, just chop ‘em up up and throw them in!
How To Thicken Beef Stew
Beef stew will thicken a bit naturally thanks to the starches in the potatoes and the dredging of the beef, but I always like to thicken it a little bit more.
Stew can be thickened by giving the vegetables a quick mash or you can use either flour or cornstarch. My preferred method for thickening beef stew (and the method used in this beef stew recipe) is to use a cornstarch slurry.
How to Make a Slurry
A slurry is super easy to make! Combine equal parts cornstarch and water and stir. I told you it was easy!!
Pour this mixture a little bit at a time into bubbling soup or stew to thicken until you reach desired consistency. Once your stew is thickened, allow it to boil at least 1-2 minutes to ensure you cook out any starchy flavor.
If left to sit before adding to the soup or stew, a slurry will settle within a couple of minutes so be sure to give it a stir before adding it. I sometimes mix the cornstarch with low sodium (or no sodium) broth instead of water.
Can You Freeze Beef Stew?
Yes, you can absolutely freeze beef stew! I like to freeze it in freezer bags in single servings portions so I can take one portion out for lunches (or four out for dinner)! Defrost overnight in the refrigerator or you can defrost in the microwave (time will vary based on portion size) stirring occasionally.
What To Serve With Beef Stew
Beef stew is super perfect on it’s own; it is a complete meal!
We usually serve it with a bread, biscuit or even Garlic Crescent Rolls to sop up any broth! I also love serving it with mashed potatoes in the bottom of the bowl! Even just some crushed crackers or saltines are all you really need.
More Belly Warming Soups You’ll Love
- Easy Hamburger Soup– Reader favorite!
- Beef Barley Soup
- Hungarian Goulash
- Minestrone Soup – Classic Italian!
- Pasta Fagioli Soup Recipe
- Stuffed Pepper Soup – Easy and delicious!
- Beef Bourguignon Recipe
Beef Stew Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 pounds stewing beef trimmed and cubed
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion chopped
- 6 cups beef broth
- ½ cup red wine optional
- 1 pound potatoes peeled and cubed
- 4 carrots cut into 1 inch pieces
- 4 ribs celery cut into 1 inch pieces
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary or 1 sprig fresh
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch or as needed
- 2 tablespoons water or as needed
- ¾ cup peas
Instructions
- Combine flour, garlic powder and salt & pepper. Toss beef in flour mixture.
- Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven or pot. Cook the beef and onions until browned.
- Add beef broth and red wine while scraping up any brown bits in the pan.
- Stir in all remaining ingredients except for peas, cornstarch and water. Reduce heat to medium low, cover and simmer 1 hour or until beef is tender (up to 90 minutes).
- Mix equal parts cornstarch and water to create a slurry. Slowly add the slurry to the boiling stew to reach desired consistency (you may not need all of the slurry, if you'd like a thicker stew, you can add extra).
- Stir in peas and simmer 5-10 minutes before serving . Season with salt & pepper to taste.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Beef, Dinner, Entree, Main Course, Soup
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Your beef stew recipe is fantastic. Love that it’s so quick and easy. I didn’t have any tomato paste so substituted a can of diced tomatoes, also added mushrooms. THANK YOU!
my favorite stew recipe.
Very tasty. Though my potatoes disintegrated after an hour of cooking, so either need to chop them into larger chunks or add them a bit later.
I added some extra flavor – bay leaves, garlic powder, onion powder, celery salt, recommended by others. And extra peas.
Sorry that happened with the potatoes, Katie! Did you use Yukon Gold or russets? They are a bit more sturdy and work well in stews.
I wanted to love this! We just found it largely devoid of flavor – and I’m not sure why. Recipe followed to a tee – maybe we are just used to more seasoned food. Figuring out how to tweak at second heating to bring out more flavor.
Thanks for trying this recipe, Anne. You can try seasoning with salt to taste at the end of the cooking time, it really brings out the flavor of the other seasonings!
Decided at the last minute to make beef stew and chose this recipe because of the short preparation time. Super easy and soooo good! The only changes I made were adding some mushrooms (I add them to almost everything…lol) and also threw in some frozen corn for color. Definitely making this again!
What is a good substitute for rosemary please?
You can use oregano as a substitute for rosemary, or you can omit the rosemary altogether if you prefer. Let us know how it turns out for you, Lisa!
This is the best beef stew recipe that I have ever made!! I started using this one about a year ago and I will never go back to anything else!!! It’s also very easy to make and I am not afraid to make small changes or substitutions!! I would definitely recommend that you try it!
This recipe is definitely deserving of 5 stars ! DIDNT realize I’ve been making beef stew so wrong for so long until i came across this recipe ! It’s perfect
Perfect comfort food to serve on a snowy day in Michigan. It made the house smell wonderful and my guys loved it. The only changes I made; added garlic, chopped mushrooms and worchestershire sauce, because I didn’t have wine, and the entire 16 oz bag of frozen peas. I served it with biscuits and my guys said this is a keeper. Thanks for sharing these great recipes!
What can I use if I don’t have red wine? More beef broth?
Definitely! You can replace the wine with additional beef broth. It will change the flavor slightly but still delicious!
I put too much red wine vinegar. Help! what can i add to make it less tangy???
You can add a bit more broth to dilute it or try adding some extra vegetables.
Maybe use a few tablespoons of white vinegar according to taste. I tried it and it gave it a pleasant zippy taste.
What type of red wine do you recommend?
Any dry red wine you drink will work for this recipe, I most often use a Cabernet Sauvignon as that’s the wine I usually have at home. Other good options include Chianti, Burgundy, Merlot, Malbec, or Red Zinfandel. You can find some information about cooking with red wine here. Enjoy the stew!
We made this tonight and it was amazing! Omitted the peas and celery (added a bit of celery salt). Served with homemade kefir-rosemary bread!
Delicious. My husband is the pickiest eater and loved it! Needed more slurry than recipe calls for (personal preference). Can’t wait to make this over and over.
Tasted like my grandma’s. So good and easy! I ended up cooking in the oven instead of on the stovetop.
How did you cook the potatoes or did you eat them hard?
Hi Amber, the potatoes are added with the beef and simmered for 1-1.5 hours.
I have made this recipe twice with comments right away. Recommended to my sister and she said outstanding and simple. I cannot believe how tasty with what you have in your pantry. Thank you for sharing!
Husband absolutely loved this recipe.
Could you add potatoes in at the end (like your crockpot version)? If so, how would you advise doing this so they cook long enough?
Hi Alyssa! This version does have potatoes, they are added with the beef and simmered for an hour. I hope that answers your question.
This is a good start. It needs more seasoning as this alone is bland. I added bay leaves, cayenne, mustard powder, onion powder, dried mushrooms and more salt. I think some miso would be really good in this, so next time I will try that. I also don’t like to use a cornstarch slurry, so I used the butter and flour paste method as it thickens with a more natural texture. Thanks for getting me started. I haven’t made stew in a while and this was a helpful start.
How did you do the butter flour mixture and how much?
some good by cold day here stew turned out great
Hi Holly.
I just used your recipe for canning beef stew in the pressure cooker. It turned out great! I omitted the flour and cornstarch as they are a no-no in canning. I figured that the tomato paste would add enough thickener and I was right. Though there was just enough rosemary in the cupboard I didn’t use it as my wife gave me an apprehensive look (she grows some in her herb garden and wanted it for her cooking) So I used a tablespoon of summer savory instead. I also added a green bell pepper, red bell pepper, 2 tablespoons of Worchestershire Sauce and a tablespoon of each of oregano and basil. I also added a small turnip and 1/2 can of beer (saving the wine for Christmas dinner) I get a half side of beef every fall and this is a good way to save on freezer space and have a ready to go meal. Thanks much for the recipe. Tomorrow I’m canning cranberry rum jam (our rural community has a cranberry bog).
-Bill
So glad you enjoyed it, Bill! Thank you for sharing your alterations.