Best Beef Stew
Red wine and herbs make this beef stew recipe taste just like it came from a fancy French restaurant. I hope you love it as much as I do.
This beef stew recipe is the perfect fall food and something I always crave when the weather cools down. Made with veggies and tender chunks of beef in a thick and hearty tomato and red wine broth, you just can’t go wrong. Serve with your favorite bread on the side.
It’s 43 degrees outside and raining. I’m SO glad I made this because it’s just perfect on a day like today. This beef stew is hearty, rich and so satisfying. Dip some buttered dinner rolls in it for an even more heavenly experience.
Want to know the secret to making your food taste like it came from a French restaurant? Wine. Wine gives a beautiful flavor and richness to certain dishes that you just can’t fake. Since I’m pregnant and not drinking right now, I like to just buy the 4-pack of mini bottles to have on hand. Honestly, I like to keep them to cook with even when I’m not pregnant. A cabernet and chardonnay are staples in my kitchen.
Lots of people will tell you not to cook with cheap wine. You know what I say? It’s better than cooking with no wine at all. It’s also better than wasting a bottle of “good” wine because you won’t drink it all yourself. Red wine goes sour pretty fast and I don’t drink much in one sitting, so I usually wait until my sister is visiting before opening a bottle of red. If the recipe only calls for 1/2 cup, then I would end up wasting most of the bottle.
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Ingredients
Stew Meat
You can go a couple different ways here. I like to just use regular stew meat, but sirloin is also a good, tender choice.
Red Wine
My favorite for stew is Cabernet Sauvignon. You can also use Malbec. Any dry and sort of spicy red wine works well. You want a wine that isn’t too sweet. Wines like Merlot or Pino Noir have a higher sugar content and taste more fruity. They wouldn’t taste right in this recipe.
If you’re not a big wine drinker and don’t want to buy a bottle just to waste what doesn’t go in the recipe, I’m a huge fan of the mini Sutter Home cabernet bottles. They come in a 4 pack and they’re perfect to keep on hand for cooking. They have a surprisingly nice flavor, too.
Making the Beef Stew
Step 1: Heat olive oil in a large dutch oven or soup pot over medium-high heat. Add stew meat in small batches and let them brown, flipping to brown all sides. If you crowd the pan, there will be too much juice and the meat won’t brown. Remove each batch to a bowl and set aside.
Step 2: In the same pot, reduce heat to medium-low, add garlic and sauté for about a minute, stirring constantly to avoid burning.
Step 3: Add tomato paste and onion powder. Stir around, spreading the tomato paste and scraping it back and forth. The sugars in the tomato paste will caramelize and start to darken. This reduces acidity and deepens the flavor in the stew. If you find it just wants to burn, add about 2-3 tablespoons of water to make it easier to move around the pan.
Step 4: Once the bright red color of the tomato paste has darkened a little, add the wine to deglaze the pot. Let the wine simmer and reduce to remove most of the alcohol, stirring constantly. It only takes a few seconds.
Step 5: Using a spoon, start scraping up the bits in the bottom of the pot. This Le Creuset scraping spoon is my favorite for the job because of its shape. Once the wine is reduced, then you can add a little water to continue deglazing.
Step 6: Dump the stew meat back in the pot. Add the rest of the water and give it a good stir. Increase the heat again and bring back to a low boil.
Step 7: Add in pearl onions, thyme, balsamic vinegar, bouillon, corn, carrots, potatoes, and diced tomatoes.
Step 8: Preheat oven to 325° F. Allow stew to simmer on the stove while the oven preheats, stirring occasionally.
Step 9: Cover and let the stew braise in the oven for 2 hours.
Step 10: This is optional. When you take the stew out of the oven, you may want to thicken it a bit. Some people add flour to the meat when it’s added back to the pot after deglazing. You can do that, but I like to keep this as an optional step for gluten free diets.
Add about 2 tbsp of flour to a small bowl. Spoon some of the stew liquid into the bowl and use a whisk to mix it around to create a smooth paste. Keep adding more liquid until it’s smooth but you can pour it into the pot. Bring the stew back to a simmer on the stove. Simmer about 5 minutes for it to thicken and then it’s done!
Best Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 2 pounds stew meat - cut into bite size pieces, if preferred
- 2-3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves - pressed or minced
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 4 tbsp tomato paste
- ½ cup dry red wine - cabernet sauvignon or malbec
- 5 cups water
- 1 cup pearl onions - peeled (or 1 additional tsp onion powder)
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 3-4 tbsp Organic Better Than Bouillon Roasted Beef Base - (the non-organic version has dairy in it)
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 6 carrots - peeled and cut into diagonal 1/2 inch thick pieces
- 1 lb baby Yukon gold potatoes - halved
OR
- 1 lb red potatoes - peeled and cut into bite size pieces
- 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
- salt and pepper to taste
OPTIONAL
- 2 tbsp all purpose flour
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a soup pot or large dutch oven over medium heat.
- Working in small batches, add the stew meat and brown it a little. Remove from pot and set aside.
- In the same pot, reduce heat to medium-low. Add garlic and saute for about a minute, stirring constantly to avoid burning.
- Add tomato paste and onion powder. Stir around, spreading the tomato paste and scraping it back and forth. Add 2-3 tablespoons of water if needed to prevent burning. Keep stirring until tomato paste darkens.
- Add wine and deglaze. Let the wine simmer for a few seconds to reduce and remove the alcohol. Stir constantly, using a spoon to scrape the bits on the bottom of the pan.
- Once the wine is reduced, add a little water to continue deglazing as needed, then add the rest of the water.
- Dump the stew meat back into the pot and stir.
- Increase the heat again and bring it back to a boil.
- Stir in 2 tbsp of the bouillon paste, diced tomatoes and corn.
- While the stew is simmering and the meat is getting tender, prep carrots and potatoes. If already prepped, then let the stew simmer for 15-20 minutes.
- Add the carrots and potatoes to the pot. Add a little more water if needed.
- Taste the broth. Add salt, pepper and additional bouillon if needed.
- When the broth tastes how you want it, let the stew continue simmering for 30 minutes.
- Serve immediately or let cool completely, then cover and store in the fridge for up to 5 days.
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