Classic Beef Stew

Get ready for the best beef stew recipe with chunks of potatoes and carrots simmering in a flavorful red wine sauce. It’s the ultimate cold-weather comfort food packed with protein and vegetables.

For alternative cooking methods, try my Instant Pot beef stew or slow cooker beef stew.

Beef stew has everything you need for a complete meal. I use my dutch oven to sear the beef first to add flavor to the surface. Then I place it in the oven to finish the braising process. The recipe involves a little upfront preparation, but you have an hour to let the equipment do the work.

The gentle and prolonged cooking time ensures that the chunks of meat and vegetables become extremely fork-tender. Over time, the flavorful red wine liquid concentrates into a creamy, thickened sauce that infuses and coats every ingredient. You can serve this meal with mashed potatoes, rice, or pasta for a satisfying feast.

What’s the best beef for beef stew?

Beef stew is extremely popular because it takes tough, inexpensive cuts of meat and turns them into tender pieces. I recommend using a boneless beef chuck (chuck roast), which comes from the cow’s shoulder section, or beef chuck roll. This selection contains a lot of marbling and connective tissue to create flavorful pieces.

Avoid buying precut pieces labeled as stew meat from the store. They tend to be too lean, resulting in a dry texture. I also like to control the size of the pieces, cutting them into about 1 ½-inch cube. Make sure to trim off excess fat and tough silver skin.

Searing adds surface flavor

To create a flavorful golden-brown crust on the beef, dry the surface well with paper towels. Doing so ensures that the meat sears instead of steams when it hits the hot pan—season with salt and pepper to enhance the savory taste. Sear in hot olive oil over medium-high heat. The goal is to brown the sides, not cook them all the way through. The flavorful browned bits of fond on the bottom of the pan will add a lot of flavor to the stew.

With chuck cuts, dry heat from pan-searing won’t thoroughly tenderize the meat. The moist cooking environment and stewing liquid will turn tough collagen in the muscle fibers into rich gelatin.

Sautéing the aromatics

A classic mix of onions, carrots, and celery adds aromatics and natural sweetness to the dish. As the moisture evaporates and these ingredients lightly brown, they caramelize. The garlic and fresh thyme cook in the fat so that their fat-soluble flavors infuse into the stew before adding the liquid.

Using hearty vegetables

I add big chunks of carrots and potatoes to make this a complete meal. I cut them into pieces large enough to withstand the long cooking time and not fall apart. I find that waxy types of potatoes, which are lower in starch and higher in sugar, like white, red, and yellow, keep their shape when stewing and absorb lots of flavors. I prefer the buttery and smooth taste of Yukon golds.

The secret ingredients

Add tomato paste and soy sauce to deepen the savory notes and make the beef stew flavor pop. They contain natural glutamates that increase the umami taste of the beef for dimension. I also use balsamic vinegar for acidity to balance and enhance the dish’s salty and subtly sweet flavors. If you don’t have soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce is a good substitute.

Wine selection

Use a dry red wine like cabernet sauvignon, merlot, chianti, pinot noir, or a French Beaujolais. You want it to be fruity with tannins but not overly sweet. Make sure it’s one you’d like to drink because its flavors will infuse into the stew. Plus, you’ll have leftovers to enjoy with the meal.

Thickening the sauce liquid

Add flour at the beginning of cooking to saute out its raw taste. Adding in beef broth or stock helps hydrate the starches; as it begins to boil, the starches swell and thicken. The starches in flour are robust and can keep their consistency in prolonged heating, making it an ideal candidate for stewing. 

Over time as steam builds up in the pot, you’ll notice it gradually exiting the sides of the lid. This release helps to reduce the volume and to concentrate the liquid. If needed, at the very end of cooking, simmer the stew on the stovetop for a few minutes to adjust the consistency.

The dutch oven sautés and braises

A dutch oven is an extremely versatile pot to execute multiple cooking methods. The heavy cast iron construction, with thick walls, does a great job retaining heat. It beautifully browns the beef stew meat, sautees the vegetables, and simmers the stew with fragrant thyme and bay leaf. Then the whole pot goes in the oven to complete the braising process.

The oven provides a consistent heated environment, gently simmering the ingredients for over an hour. Hands-off cooking is similar to using a slow cooker. One thing to check is that the knob of the lid is heat-rated above 350ºF (177ºC) so it doesn’t melt. If not, then finish cooking the stew on the stovetop.

Braising in the oven

The most consistent and low-key way to cook a stew is in a covered pot in the oven. The hot air evenly circulates in the closed environment, gradually transferring the heat by conduction from the pot to the food. I use a moderate 350ºF (177ºC) to keep the braising liquid at a low simmer. 

The beef is tender when cooked to well done. The connective tissue and fat must reach 210ºF (99ºC) for at least an hour. This duration allows the collagen to transform into gelatin and render the fat from the protein. The meal is ready when you can easily cut the beef and vegetables with a fork.

Can this stew be made entirely on the stovetop?

Yes! However, the burners on the stove give direct heat to the bottom of the pot, making it prone to hot spots. Therefore, check and stir every 20 minutes and adjust the heat as needed.

The cook time may be slightly longer with the lid’s constant lifting, releasing steam that helps to soften the food—cook on a gentle simmer, low to medium-low heat. 

What to serve this with

• Buttered pasta like egg noodles, pappardelle, or penne. 
• Brown rice or white rice
• Mashed potatoes
• Buttermilk biscuits
• No-knead bread