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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 more as needed
- 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, salt, and pepper. Toss beef in flour mixture.
- Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven or pot over medium-high heat. Shake off any excess flour from the beef and brown in small batches. Remove and set aside in a bowl.
- Add the onions to the pot, adding more oil as needed, and cook until they begin to soften, about 3 minutes.
- Add beef broth and red wine while scraping up any brown bits in the pan.
- Stir in browned beef, potatoes, carrots, celery, tomato paste, and rosemary. 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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absolutely LOVE all your recipes!
I’m prepping to make this for tonight!
I don’t have any red wine but I do have red wine vinegar could I substitute that? and still get the same results/ flavor ?
I would suggest using extra beef broth in place. Enjoy!
Oh my goodness, absolutely delicious, followed recipe to the T, other than peas, I hate peas, lol. The broth is so rich because of the Cabernet Sauvignon! Served with a baguette to dip and it’s perfect a real keeper, thank you
This stew is perfection!
This recipe is so good (and so easy), I just threw away the other three recipes I had! I think that says it all….
there’s always one in a crowd, but can this recipe be made (cooked) in the oven? Love your book!Thank you!!
Hi Mary, I’m so happy to hear that you are loving the book! While I haven’t cooked this particular recipe in the oven, our beef bourguignon is an oven stew. I would suggest following the cooking method in the beef bourguignon recipe here.
awesome recipe , loved the step by step
Absolutely delicious, my husbands favorite. I prefer to cook mine in the Dutch oven at oven temp of 325 for 11/2-2 hours. Outcome is the same.
Made this stew today, exactly following ingredients & instr. Fabulous!!!! Added lightly cooked mushrooms at 1/2 point & 4 Tbsp slurry at the end, perfect texture to the gravy.
Timing for cooking is not balanced. By the time beef finally gets soft, all the nutrients in the vegetables are destroyed by long cooking. You should put veggies in 30 mins after you add broth and wine.
I’ve been perusing the comments to see about this. I can’t imagine cooking cubed potatoes for 90 minutes without them becoming complete mush? The carrots and even celery would probably hold up better. But with as many ppl who love this recipe I must be missing something.
Here are the NOTEs just under the video:
Notes:
Beef stew meat is often made from the ends of different cuts of beef. If your beef is not tender after 60 minutes, cover and allow to simmer an additional 15-20 minutes or until tender.
PS just check it before adding the vegetable it should be 95% cooked to your liking.
It will depend on the quality of your beef and what cut was used, as we all know it’s the luck of the draw when it comes to any cut of beef, one should try the beef first to see if its is cooked enough before adding the vegetables, beef can handle the cooking better than the vegetable
I don’t often leave reviews, but this one was well deserving of 5 stars. A delicious, savory, EASY stew, all of us enjoyed it very much. Thank you so much for sharing this!
I made this today and was delicious!
maybe the best thing i ever made
Made today & it was delicious & easy. I am a widow so I am only cooking for one – I will freeze leftovers & enjoy again.
Made tis today
This was the perfect, most hearty stew! I added some fire roasted frozen corn as well, since I had some. Will definitely be making this again!
Wonderful, easy and Wams you up@
Can I halve the ingredients for a dinner for just two without messing up the recipe?
Yes, this will work just fine. You’ll want to use a slightly smaller saucepan or Dutch oven.
My first time making stew and everyone liked it. Keeping it with my go to recipes. Thank you!!
Awesome! I have 3 kiddos and a hungry Husband who normally doesn’t like stew. He gobbled this up! I used Holland House Red Cooking Wine (usually found near the vinegar and Worcestershire in stores).
I will be making this again!
So good!
You add red wine. What kind of red wine? Is it just regular drinking wine?
Yes, any wine you’d drink would be great.
I’m about to cook this tonight but I was wondering about the wine. is it cooking wine? I see you say any red wine that you would drink but can I use cooking wine instead?
Hi Michelle, cooking wine will work in this recipe. For best results we use a red wine like Cabernet Sauvignon, as that’s the wine I usually have at home