Something about stew just screams comfort food. Are you wondering how to make beef stew on the stove?
Today was unseasonably warm for February. Here in Canada we should still be dealing with piles of snow right now, but we’ve weirdly had a week of rain and higher temperatures. Like, high enough to deplete our snow stash. And did we ever have our stash of snow this year.
Warmer temperatures tend to have us craving more “Spring-like” meals. But for some reason I have been craving stew lately. And not just any stew – stew flavoured with red wine. Because really, if you can’t cook stew with wine, what’s the point? The way it enhances the flavours make’s it absolutely worth it.
Also, you’ll notice I use chicken stock instead of beef stock in this stove top beef stew. Because that’s just how I roll. You may also notice there is no celery in this recipe, which is often in stew recipes, and that is because I have a serious disdain for cooked celery. But hey, if cooked celery is your kind of thing, toss some in!
So, let’s make some stew already!
HOW TO MAKE BEEF STEW ON THE STOVE
You will want to start by cutting up your meat and browning it. You can skip the cutting up part if you already have perfectly cubed stewing beef, but to keep costs down I always buy a cut of beef and slice it up myself. This time I purchased some sirloin tip steak.
Brown it in a frying pan with some oil to prevent sticking.
Once it is browned you will put it in a pot with the broth, red wine, Worcestershire, salt, thyme, and garlic. If you use cloves of garlic you may want to saute it in a pan for a couple minutes prior to throwing it into the pot. Or don’t. But when it comes to garlic, sometimes I cheat. Sometimes I just don’t feel like dicing up garlic cloves. So I buy this:
Already minced garlic. I figure since I cook most things from scratch I am allowed to cheat on garlic mincing. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
You will want to bring your meat and liquid in the pot to a boil, then bring it back down to a simmer. Simmer with the lid on for about an hour. This will help your meat to become tender without your vegetables becoming all mushy. Because nobody likes mushy vegetables.
After the hour you can toss in your carrots, potatoes, and onions into the pot. Bring to a boil and then drop the heat down to a simmer. Simmer the stew with a lid on for another hour.
Just before you are ready to serve your stew, you will want to thicken it. You can do this by creating a roux. I always feel really fancy when I say the word “roux”.
Anyways, to make the roux you need to put the butter in a pan. Melt it on medium high heat. Once it is all melted you can whisk the flour in. This will need constant attention. Keep whisking every fifteen seconds or so.
You will only want to cook your roux for about 5 minutes. The longer you cook it the darker it will become. The darker colour can give it a nice nutty flavour, but then you lose the thickening powers in the roux. Keep it a nice yellowish colour.
Add the roux to your stew and cook for another 5-10 minutes. Enjoy your stove top beef stew with some garlic pull apart loaf – and a glass of wine. I mean, you already opened the bottle anyways…
For the garlic loaf, check out the recipe over at Gather For Bread. It was the perfect accompaniment for our stove top beef stew. My daughter has already called dibs on the the last bowl for lunch tomorrow.
And that, my friends, is how you make beef stew. Enjoy!
Related: Creamy Roasted Garlic Potato Soup
Stove Top Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 1 lb stewing beef (or 1 lb of cut up beef steak)
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 tsp worcestershire
- 1 cup red wine
- 1 tsp thyme
- 2 cloves garlic
- 3 cups potatoes, cubed
- 2 cups carrots, cut
- 1 onion, diced
For the Roux
- 1/2 cup butter
- 3/4 cup flour
Instructions
- Brown the beef over medium-high heat.
- Put browned meat in a big pot with broth, wine, salt, thyme, Worcestershire, and garlic.
- Bring to a boil and then drop the heat down to a simmer. Simmer, covered, for 1 hour.
- Add the potatoes, carrots, and onions. Bring to a boil again, and then lower the heat to a simmer. Simmer for another hour.
- Make the roux by melting the butter in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Once the butter is melted, add the flour.
- Whisk the flour and butter together for 5 minutes. Do not overcook or allow it to become too dark. It should be a nice light yellowish colour.
- Add the roux to the stew. Cook the stew for another 5-10 minutes.
- Serve!
