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
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
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Looks delicious beef strew
A simple and easy to make beef stew recipe i have ever tried so far. Thanks for sharing this recipe with all of us.
Easy Beef Stew looks wonderful!
Great recipes
Looks Good
5 star!!! The best stew recipe I’ve ever made!!!
I just made this. I am no chef, but my wife is away with my daughter and my son and I have to get on by ourselves this summer. I am pretty slow at peeling and chopping, but did the prep in about 25 min. I have made beef stew before, but I do not make it often because itseems like so much work, but this one is pretty darn simple. I did not want to modify it, but based on some of the comments added some Lawrys seasoned salt as my son and I love it and we like things a little more salty. Added the whole slurry to thcken and served with hot dinner rolls. THIS IS AMAZING! I was worried about many things, but I should not have. It was delicious. THANK YOU, THANK YOU.
I’m so glad you and your son loved this recipe Ron!
Delicious and easy to make. Will make this again!
This is the BEST beef stew recipe I’ve ever used. For years I’ve tried recipe after recipe, until I stumbled upon this one about a year ago. This is now my official go to recipe for stew!
The only changes we make is no red wine and no peas.
4.8 stars! Really yummy, I did change some things the second time I made it for our taste preference-I added parsnips and barley, omitted the red wine vinegar, tomato paste and peas. It was perfect (for our taste!) Really easy meal to make that my family enjoys, I also made your buns which turned out fantastic thank you so much! Looking forward to making this once a month for the perfect comfort food :)
Hi Holly
If I could give this recipe a 10 I certainly would. It was just a beautiful comfort food that so reminded me of my mother’s home cooking. It turned out amazing and the recipe was so easy to follow. Thank you so very much for bringing back some beautiful memories with my mother to share with my family. It’s definitely a keeper!
I am so glad we could bring back those happy memories for you Teri! Thanks for sharing :)
Made this today but had to sub a few things because of what I had/didn’t have in my pantry:
-Used 2.5 lbs of meat instead of 2lbs
-Used ketchup instead of tomato paste
-Used Italian seasoning instead of rosemary
-Used a full bag of frozen peas and diced carrots in place of the chopped fresh carrots and frozen peas
-Did not use celery; added extra potatoes instead
-Stirred in a can of golden mushroom soup just for fun = yum!!!
Delicious! Thank you for sharing this recipe. We will make it again!
Great substitutions Katie, glad you were able to still enjoy this stew!
Made this recipe exactly except the red wine. It was good, but didn’t have that classic beef stew flavor. I think I will leave the tomato paste and peas out next time. My husband loved it but not the flavor I wanted to achieve. I did add two teaspoons of beef bouillon for taste too. Meat was tender and vegetables were perfect! I cooked it on the stove for 1 hour. Will definitely try it again!
Hmm, sorry it wasn’t quite as you expected Linda! The red wine does add a delicious flavor to the stew, which may possibly be what you felt was missing. We also have this delicious Crockpot Beef Stew you may enjoy!
If using the crockpot do you still sear the meat
We do still sear the beef for a crockpot version Tars. You can check out the full recipe for Crockpot Beef Stew here.
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Hi, Holly,
I am going to make this tonight. I love the idea of putting mashed potatoes on the bottom of the bowl. Do you eliminate the potatoes in the stew when you put the mashed potatoes in the bottom of the bowl?
Many thanks.
You can do either or. If you’re going to serve over mashed potatoes you can skip the potatoes and add extra of the other veggies if you’d prefer or leave it as is.
I was looking for a recipe to use very inexpensive (likely to be tough)beef cubes. The meat came out as tender as can be and delicious. I omitted the wine, added a dash of Worcester Sauce and tablespoon of tomato paste and because I’m going to freeze it I left out the potatoes. Super recipe for family dinners. This will be my go-to stew recipe.
Great recipe I also added 12oz can of crushed tomatoes and didn’t use the wine. Thanks for sharing the recipe we loved it
Big warm bowl of tender and delicious! So simple to make. I added a few cloves of fresh garlic along with the garlic powder. We will be making this again!
Great!