Easy Beef Stew Recipe (One Pot)
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Quick and easy beef stew recipe made with simple ingredients in one pot on stove top. A classic weeknight meal/ comfort food, loaded with Italian seasoning.
When it comes to hearty comfort meals, nothing can beat beef stew. Basic ingredients from your pantry come together to create the most flavorful dinner ever. Tender, caramelized, browned beef and a variety of vegetables simmer in the richest, most aromatic gravy-like sauce. Everything just melts in your mouth! This is just as amazing as another classic meal: Easy Pot Roast Recipe (Stovetop & Oven)
How to make quick old fashioned beef stew on the stove top?
- Brown beef.
- Saute onion, garlic, carrots, celery with a bay leaf.
- Add tomato paste, herbs and spices.
- Whisk together flour and broth separately and mix that in too.
- Cover and cook for 1.5 hours.
- Add potatoes, peas, green beans.
- Cover and cook for 30 minutes.
- Garnish with parsley and enjoy.
How to thicken stew?
It can be thickened with all-purpose flour or cornstarch. I prefer flour because it yields the best overall flavor. Regardless of which one you use, make sure to dilute it in liquid such as water or broth first, to prevent any flour lumps from forming. If you use too much flour or cornstarch, the sauce/gravy can become too thick and the flavor changes as well.
What sides to serve with best traditional beef stew?
- Creamy mashed potatoes (One Pot)
- Homemade biscuits
- Dinner rolls
- Breadsticks
- Crackers
- Garlic bread
- Cornbread
What vegetables to add to stew?
- Potatoes
- Green beans
- Peas
- Onions
- Celery
- Carrots
- Sweet potatoes
- Parsnips
This is a very versatile meal and you can use any vegetables of your choice.
What is best meat for stew?
- Stew Meat-This is my personal preference. It’s cheap and pre-cut into small cubes.
- Chuck Roast: This is the classic choice. It has a better flavor but is a little more expensive.
Tips and techniques
- Adjust the amount of herbs and spices, based on your preference.
- Don’t add potatoes in the beginning because they will become too soft and “mushy” by the time the stew is ready.
- Cut small pieces of potatoes, about 1 inch in size, because they cook faster.
- Use low sodium broth and unsalted butter to prevent this meal from becoming too salty.
- If you don’t use alcohol in cooking, replace wine with same quantity of broth.
- Use a nonstick pot to prevent sticking and burning.
- Don’t skip the browning because it adds a lot of flavor.
- Use red wine that you typically drink, NOT red wine vinegar. They are both very different ingredients.
- If you want to make this meal even more filling, add 1/2 cup barley. It adds a wonderful chewy texture.
- If stew is too thick, add some more broth or water thin it out.
- If stew is too thin, cook over medium high heat without lid to reduce liquid, until you have the desired consistency.
- Whisk together flour and broth separately because if you just dump the flour in the pot, it forms little flour lumps that don’t dilute in the gravy.
Variations
- Beef stew spices– I use classic Italian herbs like oregano, thyme and parsley but you can get creative and use Mexican seasoning or Cajun seasoning.
- Crockpot beef stew/ Slow cooker beef stew- Brown the beef and that, along with all the other ingredients in a slow cooker. Cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 6-7 hours.
- Irish Guiness beef stew- Replace red wine with Guiness beer.
Other one pot beef recipes
One Pot Beef Stew Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp Butter, Unsalted
- 2 tbsp Olive oil
- 2 pounds Stew meat, Or chuck roast (Trimmed of fat and cut into 1 inch cubes)
- 3 tbsp Garlic, Finely minced
- 1 cup Onion, Finely chopped
- 4 medium Carrots, Diced
- 3 stalks Celery, Diced
- 1 Bay leaf
- 1/3 cup Red wine
- 3 tbsp Tomato paste
- 1 tsp Oregano, Dried
- 1 tsp Thyme, Dried
- 1 tsp Parsley, Dried
- Salt, To taste
- Pepper, To taste
- 1/2 tsp Paprika
- 4 cups Beef broth, Low sodium
- 2 tbsp All-purpose flour
- 3 medium Potatoes, Diced into 1 inch cubes
- 1/2 cup Green beans, Frozen
- 1/2 cup Peas, Frozen
- 2 tbsp Parsley, Fresh, Roughly chopped, For garnish
Instructions
- Heat butter and oil in a large nonstick pot over medium heat.
- Saute beef until brown on all sides.
- Add garlic, onion, carrots, celery, bay leaf and saute for 2-3 minutes until fragrant.
- Add wine, tomato paste, oregano, thyme, parsley, salt, pepper, paprika and mix everything together.
- Whisk together the flour and broth separately and mix that in too.
- Bring to a boil. Then, reduce heat to simmer.
- Cover and cook for 1.5 hour
- Then, add potatoes, green beans, peas.
- Cover and cook for another 30 minutes until potatoes are cooked and beef is super tender. .
- Garnish with fresh parsley and enjoy.
Notes
- Read all my tips above.
- Leftovers can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
Happy cooking everyone!
The stew recipe looks great! I imagine it’d go well with some cheddar jalapeño cornbread. 🙂
The beef stew was so good! I didn’t use the wine but added additional beef broth. My family ate the whole pot so we had no leftovers. Will definitely use this recipe permanently.
Very easy to fix