Hearty Beef Stew Recipe

When colder weather hits, it's not uncommon to turn to comforting dishes with fall flavors. Recipes featuring apples, pumpkin, caramel, and butternut squash are certainly top of mind. And of course, colder weather means more soups are on the menu for lunch or dinnertime too. Another cold-weather classic? A delicious, hearty beef stew.

Beef stew is the perfect meal on a cool day, as it combines chunks of seared meat, potatoes, and vegetables into one delicious dish. "It's really the perfect meal all in one," says recipe developer and food photographer Petar Marshall. And thankfully, he's sharing a quick and simple recipe to make beef stew at home.

It only takes a few minutes of prep time, and then you can let your stove do all the work for you. In a few hours, you'll have a flavorful beef stew with tender meat and potatoes ready to put on the table for the ultimate comfort food.

To get started on making this hearty beef stew recipe, grab all of your ingredients first. The process goes quickly as you prep this dish.

For this recipe, you'll need two pounds of beef roast, cut into chunks, two onions, cut into chunks, five cloves of mined garlic, red wine, one (32-ounce) box of beef broth, six small red potatoes, five carrots, one cup of frozen peas, four sprigs of fresh thyme, four sprigs of fresh rosemary, and five bay leaves.

You'll also want salt and pepper, along with chopped flat parsley to use as a garnish. "Consider grabbing a nice baguette or dinner buns to serve on the side," says Marshall.

To dive in on making your beef stew, the first step is to sear the meat. Cut the meat up into chunks and season it with salt and pepper. Then, place a pan or Dutch oven on the stove on high heat and drizzle it with oil. Sear the meat on both sides.

"You want to do this in batches so you don't crowd the meat while it's in the pan," says Marshall. Once all of the meat has been seared on both sides, set it aside while you prep the rest of the stew ingredients.

Once all of the meat has been seared, use the same pan to sauté the garlic and onions. With the heat on medium, add the minced garlic and chunks of onion to the pan. Stir and cook the onions and garlic until they're a nice golden brown. This step will really caramelize those onions to create a base of incredible flavor for the beef stew. 

Once the meat has been seared and the onions and garlic are cooked, it's time to assemble the rest of the ingredients for your stew in the pot. Pour the wine and the beef broth over the sautéed onions and garlic in the Dutch oven. If you used a different pan to cook the meat, garlic, and onions, simply transfer it to a Dutch oven. Once you've added the liquid, turn the stovetop to high heat and begin to bring the mixture to a boil.

Next up, add in your seared meat, potatoes, carrots, peas, and all of the herbs. The herbs will go straight into the pot as full sprigs and full leaves. Once the mixture is boiling and everything is in the pot, reduce the heat to low. "Allow the stew to simmer for at least two hours," says Marshall. "This will thicken the base and produce incredibly tender meat and potatoes."

Be sure to check the dish to make sure it's not spilling out on the stovetop, and stir the bottom of the pan every half hour. Once the stew is ready, take out any large pieces of herbs or bay leaves before serving. Serve a bowl with chopped fresh parsley on top and a bit of bread on the side.