The Best Beef Stew (Stovetop Version)
This one pot Beef Stew really is the best ever! It’s thick, comforting and chock full of beef, potatoes, carrots, onion, celery and peas!
A DELICIOUS, RIB-STICKING STEW!
This recipe for beef stew is a family favorite. Tender cuts of meat in a thick beefy broth stuffed with veggies. It is the perfect warm weather comfort soup. Serve with some crusty bread that you can dip into the broth and you are set!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Chuck Steak. Generally, I use a chuck or round roast. It’s also the most affordable meat for stew. However, you could also use sirloin but it is a pricier cut of meat.
If you can’t find Better than Bouillon concentrated beef stock, just substitute it with beef stock and do not add additional water.
Two things. Browning the meat adds not only color but a deeper level of flavor to the stew. Secondly the beef stock concentrate that I use in this recipe adds richness. Combine all that with the veggies and garlic that it cooks with and you have a deeply flavorful stew.
I don’t recommend it. The potatoes do not always reheat well after they’ve been frozen. They can turn mushy and grainy.
Leftovers can be stored in a covered container in the refrigerator for 3 days. Reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (FULL RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST)
- beef stew meat
- all purpose flour
- seasoned salt & pepper
- vegetable oil
- yellow onion
- celery
- water
- Better than Bouillon (concentrated beef stock)
- Worcestershire sauce
- minced garlic
- carrots, peeled and diced
- russet potatoes
- frozen peas
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST BEEF STEW:
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 Add in stew meat. Shake well to coat with flour., 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.
Once peas are tender, you are ready to dig in!
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The Best Beef Stew (+Video)
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 teaspoon minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons 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. Set aside.
- In a large Ziploc bag, add flour, seasoned salt and pepper. Seal bag and shake to combine.
- 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 half the floured beef chunks.
- Brown half of the beef chunks then do a second batch until they are all browned. Don't fully cook the meat – just brown it.
- 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 (Better than Bouillon), Worcestershire sauce and garlic. Stir well.
- Add stew meat, potatoes and carrots to the pot. 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!
Video
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Originally published: February 2016
Updated and republished: December 2022
Yay! So glad to find a recipe for beef stew that doesn’t have tomatoes in some form, and it looks delicious! I’ll be making it soon!
Have a family that doesn’t care for tomatoes either! Yippee!
I finally got around to trying this, and it’s THE BEST BEEF STEW! I’ve been looking for a long time for a recipe for stew without tomatoes, and while I love tomatoes, I don’t want them in my stew. This recipe is very similar to what my mom made (except for the peas and celery, and I love the peas and celery in this and will always add them now)…..that’s what I was looking for. I do remember that mom let the beef slow cook for probably a couple hours before adding the vegetables, so I cooked the beef very slowly for about one and a half hours before adding the veggies and proceeding per recipe, and the meat was melt in your mouth tender in a rich brown gravy. Husband remarked what a good stew it was at dinner last night, and again today when we reheated some for lunch. This is the only recipe I’ll ever use now when I make beef stew!
You are so kind Vicki! Wow! You really made my day and I am so, so thrilled that you loved this recipe. Thank you for taking the time to come back and leave a comment!
Love Beef Stew with carrots and onions and potatoes
This is our favorite stew recipe! I’m wondering though, we just got an instant pot, do you have any suggestions for transferring the recipe? Or a recipe specifically for the Instant pot? I’m a teacher and I report back next week – I’m trying to get a good pool of recipes together! TIA!
Tried this recipe exactly as written and it was the best stew I have ever made! Thank you for this amazing recipe.
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.
Hi! Im confused…if i dont have better than bullion use beef stock and dont add the 3 cups of water? Is that correct? Thank you for this wonderful recipe!!
That is correct Teresa.
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!