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Best Ever Beef Stew
My hubby LOVES beef stew. He’s a midwestern boy so he loves his meat and taters. I always made a basic recipe for it but recently I decided I needed to tweak that recipe to give it a little more flava. Nothing was wrong with that original recipe. It’s the one I got from a Betty Crocker cookbook when we were first married. I wasn’t cooking much then and I knew he loved beef stew and that was my go-to cookbook given to me from my Momma. Read more about it HERE.
Loads of flavor
This recipe still has all the flavors you love about beef stew but I found that browning the meat first and adding a bit of Worcestershire sauce and garlic helps to keep it from tasting bland. And I added peas for a bright green color and of course, more flavor. When they came out with Superior Touch Better Than Bouillon Beef Base a few years ago, I have found myself using it more and more. It is concentrated beef flavoring and it really does have amazing flavor. They have a chicken version (Better Than Bouillon, Chicken Base) and vegetable version (Better Than Bouillon, Vegetable Base) too. There are organic versions and reduced sodium versions too. Note: This is not a sponsored post. I just like to share products that I love with y’all. You can usually find it located near the other stocks and broths in your grocery store. In my grocery store, it is on a top shelf. It is sometimes located near the packets of seasoning mixes too. Once you open the jar, you do have to refrigerate it.
Ingredients:
2 pounds beef stew meat
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon seasoned salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
3 cups water
3 heaping teaspoons Better than Bouillon (concentrated beef stock)
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. minced garlic
3 heaping teaspoons Better than Bouillon (concentrated beef stock)
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. minced garlic
3 large carrots, peeled and diced
4 russet potatoes, diced into chunks
1 cup frozen peas
4 russet potatoes, diced into chunks
1 cup frozen peas
Directions:
Cut up your stew meat. Sometimes when you buy it already cut up, the pieces are still really large. If that’s the case, cut them into smaller 1″ chunks.
In a large Ziploc bag, add flour and seasoned salt. Seal bag and shake to combine ingredients.
Add in stew meat. Shake well to coat with flour.
In a large pot, over high heat, pour in vegetable oil. You want the oil nice and hot so that the meat will brown quickly.
Once the oil is hot, add floured beef chunks (in two batches). Don’t shake off too much of the flour when you take them out. The flour will actually help thicken up the stew some. I brown half of the beef chunks then do a second batch until they are all browned. We are not cooking the meat all the way. Just browning it will help give the beef a great color and flavor. Take out the browned beef and set aside. Season with pepper.
If necessary, add a tad bit more oil to the pot, turn down the heat to medium, then add in diced onion and celery. Cook until translucent (just a few minutes).
Scrape the bottom of the pan and loosen any brown bits (lots of flavor in those!)
Pour in water.
Then add concentrated beef stock, Worcestershire sauce and garlic. Stir well.
Add meat back to the pot. Then toss in diced carrots and potatoes. Stir to combine.
Cover and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes, stir, then turn down the heat to low and allow to simmer for 35-45 minutes (until potatoes are fork tender).
Give stew a stir every so often while cooking. Ten minutes before you’re ready to serve, stir in frozen peas and cover pot.
Give stew a stir every so often while cooking. Ten minutes before you’re ready to serve, stir in frozen peas and cover pot.
Once peas are tender, you are ready to dig in!
Cook’s Notes: If you can’t find Better than Bouillon concentrated beef stock, just substitute it with beef stock and do not add additional water.
Enjoy!
White Chicken Chili with Cornbread Dumplings
Best Ever Beef Stew
Print Pin RatePrep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Servings: 6
Calories: 560kcal
Ingredients
- 2 pounds beef stew meat
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon seasoned salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 medium yellow onion diced
- 2 stalks celery diced
- 3 cups water
- 3 teaspoons heaping Better than Bouillon concentrated beef stock
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 3 large carrots peeled and diced
- 4 russet potatoes diced into chunks
- 1 cup frozen peas
Instructions
- Cut up stew meat into 1" chunks. In a large Ziploc bag, add flour, seasoned salt and pepper.
- Seal bag and shake to combine ingredients.
- Add in stew meat.
- Shake well to coat with flour.
- In a large pot, over high heat, pour in vegetable oil.
- Once the oil is hot, add floured beef chunks (in two batches).
- Don't shake off too much of the flour when you take them out.
- The flour will actually help thicken up the stew some.
- Brown half of the beef chunks then do a second batch until they are all browned.
- We are not cooking the meat all the way.
- Just browning it will help give the beef a great color and flavor.
- Take out the browned beef and set aside.
- Season with pepper.
- If necessary add a tad bit more oil to the pot, turn down the heat to medium, then add in diced onion and celery.
- Cook until translucent (just a few minutes.)
- Scrape the bottom of the pan and loosen any brown bits (lots of flavor in those!)
- Add water and concentrated beef stock, Worcestershire sauce and garlic.
- Stir well.
- Add meat back to the pot.
- Then toss in diced carrots and potatoes.
- Stir to combine.
- Cover and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes, then turn down the heat to low and allow to simmer for 35-45 minutes (until potatoes are fork tender.)
- Give stew a stir every so often while cooking.
- Ten minutes before you're ready to serve, stir in frozen peas and cover pot.
- Once peas are tender, you are ready to dig in!
Nutrition
Calories: 560kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 48g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 117mg | Sodium: 1730mg | Potassium: 1237mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 106.8% | Vitamin C: 26.3% | Calcium: 6.6% | Iron: 34%
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Jamie Trevino says
Hey Brandie,
Strong work on this recipe. There are so many iterations of Beef Stew recipes on the internet (I can always wing it but I love new ideas that internet cooks provide) that I was fired up to find one that doesn’t use a slow cooker or instant pot. Stove Top is easy and fast for beef stew and makes the house smell fantastic.
Pretty much did everything as stated but sauteed the carrots with the onions and celery by mistake. I did add additional ingredients because I just can’t help myself. Your recipe is excellent by itself though.
I did the following additions:
Deglazed pot after vegetables sauteed with a bit of red wine (Used Franzia Dark Red Blend from the box – don’t laugh, surprisingly great daily wine for cooking and drinking)
1 Bayleaf
1 tsp dried whole thyme
1.5 tsp dried whole rosemary
.5 tsp dried whole oregano
1/4 tsp white pepper to the sauteed meat and 30 turns of fresh ground pepper to the pot
Could eat it everyday and Sunday too! Thanks!
Teresa says
Hi! Im confused…if i dont have better than bullion use beef stock and dont add the 3 cups of water? Is that correct?
Brandie @ The Country Cook says
That is correct Teresa.
Leslie says
Rather than use a slow cooker. Can I make this recipe and let it simmer for a few hours after completing? Worried that it could get overcooked and mush all together. On the other hand, wondering if letting it sit on the stove top on low could only make it better and richer…
Thanks! Ecstatic to try this.
Yoshi says
Tried this recipe exactly as written and it was the best stew I have ever made! Thank you for this amazing recipe.