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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Love this recipe so much. Would it be a crazy idea to use chicken instead of beef? If I did that, what would I have to change about the recipe?
You’d probably want to use chicken stock instead of beef stock, and white wine instead of red. No idea how that would turn out.
The wife said the flavor was amazing.
Adding this one to the menu rotation.
Followed recipes with tweaks
Sliced mushrooms thinly as my people find thick mushrooms texture similar to gristle.
Used Better than bouillon for beef stock
Used arm roast, cheaper, needed 2hrs to cook
I swapped out some of the water for the better than bullion mix with a lager like yuengling or a guiness( when it’s colder weather guiness seems to taste better with stew!)
This stew was delicious! I used the same ingredients and decided to cook it for a half hour in my InstantPot which made the prep time quicker but the flavor was still awesome.
My son asked me to make him some beef stew, I found this recipe and it turned out great! As I started cooking he would come and smell and say, “mmmm that smells great”. When he tried it he said he could almost cry of how delicious it was. I followed it to a T. Thank you for this amazing recipe! My husband loved it as did I. I also felt that it was easy to follow. Cant wait to try out more recipes from you ☺️
Great! Left out the mushroom and added more of the veggies than instructed (Will even add more next time since meat kinda overpowered everything) Still loved it though!
One question though, is after browning the beef (used stewed beef) there was quite a lot of meat liquid left over in the pot. Should this be drained or kept in the pot and add the veggies to it to cook? (Or did I cook the meat wrong and there shouldnt be any juices at all? New to cooking but enjoying the new hobby!)
Steven – usually when browning beef, if you do it in small batches, there isn’t juices left. If you do it in a large batch all at once, cook it until the juices are gone and the beef develops a crust. I’m guessing (total guess) that you didn’t brown the beef long enough and it goes more of a grey-brown instead of a deep brown. You want to go for the deep deep brown. Hope that helps!
This was very delicious! Made it on a snow day and it hit the spot after shoveling the driveway. I skipped the mushrooms, as I don’t care for them. This will be a winter staple in my house!!
AMEN @Liz!! I’m like when the F am i supposed to add the steak back in?!!!!!! Lol! That’s what happens when you buy a bottle of dry red wine for a beef stew recipe and wind up drinking the rest…. Lolol
Step #6 says to add the steak back in…
Trying to make this for my dad. At what point do I add back the beef (after setting aside)?
Step 6
Switched out the flour with cornstarch to make it gluten free! Forgot the bay leaves at the store and made it without – it was still super good plus added a little extra garlic and onion bc I love em! So good I have some waiting in the fridge that I can’t wait to eat tomorrow LOL!
This really is the best beef stew! The broth is so flavorful. It’s easy to prep the ingredients ahead of time and put it all together pretty quickly.
This literally is THE best beef stew I can remember since
I was a kid. We did use stew beef (chuck) and leave it going – total comfort. Also needed to add more stock.
You added steak to #6, yes!
I just wanted to make a suggestion that at the end of item 1, you just say, set beef (or steak) aside. Also in items 6 and 7, I would add whether it’s covered or uncovered.
I’m just suggesting what I’ve seen for the past 50 years in recipes.
Just trying to help make the recipe easy to understand.
Cheers!
The taste was overall very good. I had to add more salt and pepper to taste. Also, the potatoes took much longer to cook through. I also added peas and corn.
It was amazing; thank you so much! Will have to double it to have extra, next time.
After following recipe for browning meat, throw everything in the crockpot. I do not precook veggies. They break down too much. Cook on low for 6-8 hrs. I use chuck roast. So much more tender.
What. Can you use to substitute or the dry red wine?
I never use wine. I just add more stock.
AJ, not sure if you can drink wine but if so, if you tried it with a full-bodied red wine (I used a red blend sold in those little bottles), you wouldn’t want it any other way. The second time making it, I used 1 cup of wine and it was even richer tasting. And I keep it covered while cooking.
Would I do anything different (besides cooking time of course) if I made it in a crock pot? Thanks!
This is not your mother’s beef stew! Oh my, so delicious. I followed the recipe to exactly except I rough-cut the vegetables as opposed to dicing them. As someone who grew up on starchy, gravy-based beef stew, I was thrilled to find a more interesting and flavorful stew. So comforting on a cold winter night.
Thanks so much Chungah! I’ve been looking for a great beef stew recipe and this one looks delish. I loved beef stew growing up but haven’t made it in years. Can’t wait to try out your recipe!
I give this recipe a big massive five stars . My family and I really love this dish. I transfer this recipe into the slow cooker after I’ve finished all the steps on your recipe so that I don’t have to look after the beef stew
This was as comfort as she made it sound! Very Yummy. I changed just a bit. I cooked with the meat in the entire time and I added spinach. A little chili powder as well. Very Very palatable. TY!
Excellent, I used some frozen Roma tomatoes instead of paste cause I was out, I also tossed in some frozen peas towards the end. Baked some hearth bread and had a feast! Thanks
Haven’t made this yet, but I was wondering if I could use peas instead of mushrooms? If so, do you think they would need to be fresh or could I use frozen? I’m trying to decide between this recipe or the instant pot beef stew recipe you have on your blog. Thank you for your help!
The great thing about stews is you can chuck in anything you want,,,,I have used both frozen and fresh veges….Frozen stuff, just put it in about 15 min before serving as they don’t take as long to cook.