Best Ever Beef Stew
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A cozy, classic beef stew with tender beef, carrots, mushrooms + potatoes. Everyone will love this, especially on those chilly nights!
Featured Comment
We just got back from Los Angeles. You know, from their perfect always-sunny-70-degree weather. Wait, why did we leave California again?
No, but really, it was a solid 20 degrees outside and a rude awakening back to Chiberia reality, and Cartman refused to walk as usual. But that’s okay. Because I came home to the best beef stew ever.
Wonderfully aromatic, super cozy, and filled with so many goodies – tender chunks of steak, mushrooms, potatoes, and carrots. All good things here, stewing in that perfectly hearty, rich gravy.
I poured the rest of the red wine I used for this recipe into a very large wine glass, warmed up some dinner rolls, and forgot just how cold it is outside.
tips and tricks for success
- Prep ahead of time. Save time by prepping and dicing the meat and vegetables ahead of time (minus the potatoes as they will brown if chopped too early).
- Sear the meat. Browning the beef first is key here. That dark crust on the sirloin steak will create such richer, deeper flavors in your stew (plus, the browned bits at the bottom of the pot are all lovely bits here, adding so much flavor).
- Choose a wine you will drink. A dry red wine (cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir or merlot) is great here – it does not have to be anything fancy or overpriced. Just something you don’t mind sipping on since you will have an open bottle.
- Serve with crusty bread. Serve with all the homemade crusty bread for dipping, sopping and dunking!
what to serve with beef stew
- How to Make Perfect Mashed Potatoes
- Slow Cooker Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes
- Easy Skillet Dinner Rolls
- Honey Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls
- Italian Chopped Salad
Tools For This Recipe
Dutch oven
Best Ever Beef Stew: Frequently Asked Questions
Mushrooms can be omitted completely if it’s not your thing. Eggplant or zucchini can be substituted, if desired, as it can absorb all the good flavors and mimic the texture of mushrooms.
Chicken, beef, or vegetable stock can be used for red wine as a non-alcoholic substitute. Stock will be less acidic and more mild in flavor than red wine.
Absolutely! But because dried herbs are often more potent/concentrated than fresh herbs, you need less when using dry. The correct ratio is 1 tablespoon fresh herbs to 1 teaspoon dried herbs.
Yes! You can absolutely make beef stew in the slow cooker or Instant Pot.
Beef stew is very much freezer-friendly. You can freeze the leftovers in individual freezer bags, thaw overnight, and reheat on the stovetop over low heat, stirring occasionally, until heated through.
Best Ever Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 pounds top sirloin steak, diced
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 medium sweet onion, diced
- 2 large carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 ribs celery, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, halved
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- ½ cup dry red wine
- 2 ½ cups beef stock
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 large russet potato, peeled and cut in 1/2-inch chunks
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Equipment
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium high heat. Season steak with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Working in batches, add steak to the stockpot and cook, stirring occasionally, until evenly browned, about 6-8 minutes; set aside.
- Reduce heat to medium. Add onion, carrots and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add garlic and mushrooms, and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender and browned, about 3-4 minutes.
- Whisk in flour and tomato paste until lightly browned, about 1 minute.
- Stir in wine, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the stockpot.
- Stir in beef stock, thyme, bay leaves and steak. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until beef is very tender, about 30 minutes.
- Stir in potato; simmer until potatoes are just tender and stew has thickened, about 20 minutes. Remove and discard thyme sprigs and bay leaves. Stir in parsley; season with salt and pepper, to taste.*
- Serve immediately.
Video
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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Recipe sounds great. Could I do this in a slow cooker?
Just googled again and found it on your website. thanks
Out of all the recipes I googled I chose yours and I am so happy I did! It is damn delicious!
This was the most delicious beef stew I’ve ever had! Thank you!!
Delicious! Classic recipe and very easy to prepare. Thank you! Could you add the nutritional macros!
Great recipe.
Purely for the fact that Stew is a staple in our house (we live in Northern Ireland), I have to say my only comment would be that you need to add more potatoes.
Some cut very small will break down and give additional thickness and some cut regular/bigger to give bite.
Love your recipes
Very delicious
Oh0 just saw it! Step 6. Can’t wait to try it. 🙂
I haven’t made this yet but it seems to be missing the part where the beef is added back. I’ve done this same recipe before where the beef is precooked, then set aside, then finished in a crock pot. Is this all done with one pot? Thanks.
Adding the beef back is right there in step 6.
This is the best stew I have ever eaten!! Went straight by the recipe except for the mushrooms (someone doesn’t like them) absolutely the best, will make again and again.
This was absolutely perfect and SOOO good! Thank you for this recipe! I will use it forever.
I did sub ground thyme & used 1/2 beef broth & 1/2 chicken stock, because that’s what I had. It turned out great.
This is the BEST Beef Stew ever. Use a good, dry red wine. I have used this recipe many times. It is worth saving and bookmarking. And reviewing! It is damn delicious!
Excellent and delicious… Instead of wine I had put water and instead of beef stock I had used two beef cubes…
Excellent. My variations: 1/2 stew meat and 1/2 pork steak. Placed all in crockpot (except vegetables). I also added one vegetable bullion cube and about 2Tbsp Kitchen Bouquet (did not seem salty enough -perfect flavor after seasoning additions). Cooked on high about 3 hours. Cut vegetables (added one zucchini, seeded). Cooked vegetables in microwave to slight tender and strained. Salted vegetables lightly. Added to stew and turned off heat. Let set about hour. Ate in multi-grain bread bowl. Fabulous flavor!!
I just made this stew, it is the best I ever had, will definitely make again.This is a keeper.
Very good. I just found you site and it looks great but, I wish you would/could add Nutritional Values.
Hi John! Nutritional information is provided only for select recipes at this time. However, if it is not available for a specific recipe, we recommend using free online resources at your discretion (you can Google “nutritional calculator”). Hope that helps!
Can I make this in a crock pot?
This was really good. I did do two things different. I added the potatoes at the same time as the meat and I used bacon grease instead of olive oil. Turn out Great
I have made this stew and it turned out to be the best I’ve ever had. I will definitely make this again. I wonder if this can be adapted to make in the InstantPot.
The flavor of the stew was delicious. I followed the recipe exactly as written. Unfortunately the potatoes were not cooked. They took far longer than the recipe stated. When I make this recipe next time I will add the potatoes with the beef.
Question: recipe does not say you remove beef in step one prior to adding the veggies, but a few comments seem to indicate you should. Other recipes I have. Could you clarify? Does everything just stay in the pot from step 1 forward?
You take the beef out and set aside, towards the end you add the beef and let it cook for 30 minutes, add the potatoes in cook some more. I didn’t see where you put it back in at first, but its there in the recipe.
You take the beef out and set aside, towards the end you add the beef and let it cook for 30 minutes, add the potatoes in cook some more. I didn’t see where you put it back in at first, but its there in the recipe. Enjoy. I’m cooking it right now. Hopefully all comes out great
This was amazing, I’m a lazy cook but I enjoyed it