Soups and stews are by far my favorite foods to cook. I don’t think there is anything like a pot of soup or stew for bringing the family around the table. It smells great while cooking so the aroma fills your house, it is best hot so people have to eat it quick, and the meat is oh so juicy. My Mom makes a mean tasty and thick beef stew, that has been honed over the years. My family makes sure to eat this over rice, and with bread. The more carbs the more better is what I say.
I think the hardest thing about beef stew is probably knowing how thick to make it. Too thick, and your family doesn’t want to eat it because it seems like a big glop of food. If you make it too thin, your family doesn’t want to eat it because it is just a bad soup with not enough taste in the broth. Over the years, my Mom has figured out the correct amount of flour to beef broth, and that is the “hidden” trick to the recipe.
Tips for cooking beef stew
- Meat – If you want the meat to be soft you got to have a cover for your pot. This way you contain the moisture in, and continue to cook the meat at a simmer.
- Maximum tastiness – If you want to make your beef stew super tasty, then there are a couple of important ingredients you can add to your stew that this recipe has in it. The most important ingredient by far is the Knorr beef bouillon cube, that adds that oh-so-special boost to your stew. One beef bouillon cube is worth its weight in tastiness for beef stew.
- Thickening stew – To make this beef stew recipe thick there is a full 1/3 cup of flour. That is going to be your main way to thicken the beef stew. Though I have found in other stews, if you are ok with the potatoes being a bit softer you can also boil potatoes longer and that will act like a thickener.
What to eat with a thick beef stew
- Rice – If you haven’t tried beef stew over rice, then you have to try it next time. The rice soaks up the sauces and you get this beef rice bowl that is amazing.
- Bread – We have beef stew with french bread. Nothing too soft, but a bread that can soften up when put in stew. French bread, a baguette, or even sourdough is good.
If you want more stews, then we got soups and stews for you! My favorites are Tonjiru, a simple Kitsune udon, and Dak Tori Tang.
Tasty and Thick Beef Stew
Equipment
- Dutch oven or Pot
Ingredients
- 3 lbs Chuck beef, diced in ½ inch length
- 3 tbsp Olive oil
- 1 pinch Kosher salt
- 1 pinch Cracked black pepper
- 3 Carrots, diced in ½ inch length
- 1/2 lb Cremini mushrooms, halved
- 2 Medium Yukon potatoes, diced in ½ inch length
- 3 stalks Celery , cut in ½ inch length
- 3 cloves Garlic , minced.
- 1 Medium yellow onion, diced.
- 1/3 cup Flour
- 4 tbsp Tomato paste
- 1/3 cup Red wine
- 4 cups Beef stock
- 2 Bay leaves
- 4 sprigs Fresh thyme
- 1/4 cup Fresh parsley leaves, chopped
- Knorr beef bouillon cube
Instructions
Prep
- Cut your beef chuck into 1/2 inch cubes or buy them already cut.
- Wash, peel, and cut your carrots in 1/2 inch portions.
- Wash and cut your cremini mushrooms in half.
- Wash, peel, and cut your potatoes in 1/2 inches.
- Wash and cut your celery into 1/2 inches.
- Garlic should be minced.
- Onion should be diced.
Cooking
- Heat olive oil in a large pot such as Dutch oven on medium heat. Place half of the meat pieces in the pot. Saute the meat until evenly browned about 8 minutes. Season the meat with salt and pepper.
- Take the beef out, set aside and brown the second batch of meat. Return the first batch of meat into the pot.
- Add 1/3 cup flour, 4 Tbs tomato paste, 1/3 cup red wine, 4 cups beef stock. Bring to boil, skim off the foam from the surface.
- Add 4 sprigs of thyme, 2 bay leaves. Then simmer and cover for 1 ½ hours on medium-low heat.
- In the meantime, in a separate pan, saute the vegetables with 2 Tbs olive oil ( carrots, potatoes celery, mushrooms, garlic, and onion). Cover and reduce heat to med-low and cook until the vegetables are done.
- When the beef are soft, pour in a mixture of ¼ cup of water and 2 Tbs flour to thicken the stew to resemble gravy texture. Add in the Knorr beef cube.
- At this time combine all the cooked vegetables into the pot, and then cook for 10 minutes. If you want your vegetables softer feel free to cook until you get them the way you wan them.
- Fish out the bay leaves for safety.
- Taste the potatoes and carrots to see if they are at your preferred firmness. If not cook a bit further.
- Garish with chopped fresh parsley and serve over rice and with bread if you want!
We love beef stew!! Takes a bit of effort in my opinion but SO worth it!