Beef Stew Recipe with Carrots & Potatoes
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This classic French beef stew is the ultimate comfort food. Slow-cooked in a wine-based broth, the meat becomes meltingly tender and enveloped in a richly flavored sauce—perfect for chilly nights.
With thousands of 5-star reviews, this classic French beef stew is the most popular recipe on my site—and for good reason! It’s incredibly delicious and the ultimate cold weather comfort food. Pieces of well-marbled beef are seared in a hot pan, then gently braised with garlic and onions in a rich wine-based broth. After a few hours, the meat becomes fork tender and enveloped in a deeply flavorful sauce.
This beef stew recipe is largely hands-off and even better when made a day or two ahead. It also freezes beautifully. Serve it with artisan bread or popovers to soak up the rich sauce, or ladle it over egg noodles, mashed potatoes, or creamy polenta for an extra-hearty meal.
“SERIOUSLY EPIC! Hands down, the best beef stew recipe I have ever made.”
What You’ll Need To Make Beef Stew
- Boneless beef chuck: The key to tender, flavorful stew. Look for chuck roast with a good amount of marbling, or white veins of fat running through it. Avoid generic “stew meat,” especially if it looks lean.
- Olive oil: Used for browning the beef and sautéing the vegetables.
- Yellow onions and garlic: Adds sweetness, depth, and savory aroma to the stew as they cook.
- Tomato paste and balsamic vinegar: Tomato paste enriches and thickens the stew, while balsamic vinegar adds acidity and depth to balance the richness.
- All-purpose flour: As the stew simmers, the flour helps thicken the broth, turning it into a rich, velvety sauce that clings to the meat and vegetables.
- Dry red wine: Adds bold flavor and forms the base of the stew along with the broth and water. Use any dry red wine like Pinot Noir, Merlot, or Cabernet Sauvignon that is inexpensive but good enough to drink.
- Beef broth and water: Forms the liquid base along with the wine.
- Bay leaf, thyme, and parsley: Classic herbs that infuse earthy flavor during cooking and add brightness at the end.
- Carrots and white boiling potatoes (baby Yukons): Add natural sweetness, texture, and hearty substance as they soak up the broth.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Trim the meat. Begin by removing any large chunks of fat that are easy to get to (like the one my knife is pointing to below), but don’t overdo it with the trimming, as the fat helps keep the beef tender while it cooks.
Step 2: Season. Next, sprinkle the meat generously with salt and pepper.
Step 3: Sear the beef. Heat a bit of oil in a Dutch oven or large pot and brown the meat in batches. This step is a bit time-consuming but browning the meat adds depth and dimension to the stew. (Note: it’s important not to crowd the pan—if you try to brown all the meat at once, it will steam instead of sear and you won’t get all that lovely color and flavor.)
Step 4: Add the aromatics, vinegar, and tomato paste. Remove the meat and add the onions, garlic, and balsamic vinegar to the pan. The vinegar will loosen all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan and add flavor. Cook until the vegetables are softened, then add the tomato paste and cook for a minute more.
Step 5: Return the beef to the pot and add flour. Stir for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the flour is dissolved.
Step 6: Add the cooking liquid and seasoning. Add the wine, broth, water, thyme, bay leaves, and sugar. Bring to a boil, then cover and braise in the oven for 2 hours. (If you don’t have a Dutch oven or prefer to cook the stew on the stovetop, that works, too! The timing will be the same—just keep it on the lowest heat setting and stir occasionally to prevent sticking.)
Step 7: Mix in the veggies. At this point, remove the pot from the oven and add the carrots and potatoes.
Step 8: Finish cooking. Return the stew to the oven and cook for one hour, until the meat and veggies are tender and the broth has thickened.
Pro Tips
The stew should thicken nicely by the end of cooking, but if you’d like to thicken it further, simply mash 2 tablespoons each softened butter and flour into a paste. Bring the stew to a simmer on the stovetop, then stir in small amounts of the paste, letting it dissolve and thicken the sauce before adding more.
Want to make the stew in a crockpot? Sear the meat and cook the onions and garlic as instructed. Then transfer everything to the slow cooker with the carrots, potatoes, water, wine, and broth; cook for 4 to 5 hours.
Video Tutorial
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Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 3 pounds boneless beef chuck, well-marbled, cut into 1½-inch pieces
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 medium yellow onions, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 7 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1½ tablespoons tomato paste
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups dry red wine
- 2 cups beef broth
- 2 cups water
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1½ teaspoons sugar
- 4 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks on a diagonal
- 1 pound small white boiling potatoes (baby yukons), cut in half
- Fresh chopped parsley, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F (165°C) and set a rack in the lower middle position.
- Pat the beef dry and season with the salt and pepper. In a large Dutch oven or heavy soup pot, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium-high heat until hot and shimmering. Brown the meat in 3 batches, turning with tongs, for about 5 minutes per batch; add one tablespoon more oil for each batch. (To sear the meat properly, do not crowd the pan and let the meat develop a nice brown crust before turning with tongs.) Transfer the meat to a large plate and set aside.
- Add the onions, garlic and balsamic vinegar; cook, stirring with a wooden spoon and scraping the brown bits from bottom of the pan, for about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook for a minute more. Add the beef with its juices back to the pan and sprinkle with the flour. Stir with wooden spoon until the flour is dissolved, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the wine, beef broth, water, bay leaf, thyme, and sugar. Stir with a wooden spoon to loosen any brown bits from the bottom of the pan and bring to a boil. Cover the pot with a lid, transfer to the preheated oven, and braise for 2 hours.
- Remove the pot from the oven and add the carrots and potatoes. Cover and place back in oven for about an hour more, or until the vegetables are cooked, the broth is thickened, and the meat is tender. Fish out the bay leaf and discard, then taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary. Serve the stew warm -- or let it come to room temperature and then store in the refrigerator overnight or until ready to serve. This stew improves in flavor if made at least 1 day ahead. Reheat, covered, over medium heat. Garnish with fresh parsley, if desired.
Notes
- If you don’t have a Dutch oven or covered pot that is appropriate for the oven, the stew can be cooked on the stove. The timing will be the same and it should be cooked over the lowest setting.
- Make-Ahead/Freezer-Friendly Instructions: Simply prepare the stew as directed, then cool it to room temperature before refrigerating. It can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat on the stovetop over medium-low heat until hot. If you want to freeze the stew, transfer it to an airtight container once it has cooled. It can be frozen for up to 3 months. To serve, thaw the stew overnight in the refrigerator and reheat on the stovetop.
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Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Love your recipes. The beef stew looks good; can you provide a recipe for 2 persons? Bob
Hi Robert, You could cut the recipe in half, but this freezes beautifully in case you want to make the full recipe and pull it out to thaw for some easy weeknight dinners.
Hi Jenn!!
Made this today and it was delicious! The beef was melt in your mouth tender! I used cooking wine. A sherry and a red, one cup of each. The flavor was very, very good. It is the best stew recipe I’ve ever made. I was quite proud, actually! 🙂
I also made the biscuits you recommended. My husband loved them and said they were nice and flaky. I don’t care much for biscuits so I was glad he thought they were great.
Thanks again for another success!!
This is by far the best home beef stew recipe I’ve made. Thank you for sharing! The first part is time-consuming, but the end result is delicious and savory. Not just for cold winter nights, I make it whenever my family asks.
Great Recipe. I used organic beef base in place of the beef stock. Replaced one onion with a few small Shallots. Added dried oregano (still used thyme and bay leaves) when sautéing the onions. Also, a la Ina Garten, to save myself some time and energy I browned the beef in the oven on a sheet pan at 425 for 15 minutes and poured the juices back into the dutch oven. Stewed the beef for first two hours with parsley stalks and fished them out with the bay leaves before adding veggies. Had brussels sprouts and celery in the fridge so added that too. Did last 30 mins uncovered to reduce.
DELICIOUS!! I followed the recipe with the exception of one thing. I did not have thyme or a bay leaf so I just added some dried rosemary. I also used the low sodium beef Better then Bouillon (about 2 1/2 tsp). I tend to over salt but the low sodium keeps everything in check. Thank you Jen! Excellent recipe:)
Made this for Sunday dinner with daughter and son in law. I was bored with my normal beef stew recipe and looked around at alternatives and settled on this. Recipe was clear and pictures looked delicious. Wasn’t hard to make and everyone loved it! Very tasty! Will be my go to stew for the future. Thank you!
For those wondering if this can easily be made gluten free, the answer is YES. I made the recipe as directed and used Cup4Cup flour. It turned out incredibly.
Thank you! I have made this for a few years but we are now GF and I was wondering if I could substitute.
Gluten-free flour will definitely work here. Enjoy!
I thought I followed lthis recipe to the letter, but it is not at all good. It never did thicken even though I cooked it an extra 15 minutes. The liquid tastes like vinegar. I did use red wine vinegar instead of dry red wine. Do you think that is the problem? I was so disappointed after all of that work. I really would like to know what I did wrong!
Hi Linda, Yes, the taste of the stew would be significantly impacted by using red wine vinegar in place of the red wine. Regarding it not getting to the consistency you wanted, to thicken it, near the very end of cooking time, you can make a paste with 1 tablespoon soft butter and 1 tablespoon flour; whisk it in and bring the stew to a simmer and it should thicken up. Another option — after removing it from the oven, you can put it on the stove at a gentle boil and simmer, uncovered, until the broth is thickened to your liking. Hope that helps!
I didn’t have carrots and potatoes on hand, so used sweet potatoes and small cremini mushrooms halved. The stew was really delicious. My husband was in heaven.
I would like to adjust the recipe using 1lb of beef
You can, but if possible, I’d make more as you’ll go through that really quickly (and this freezes nicely). That said, if you want to make it with one pound of meat, cut all the other ingredients by 2/3. Hope you enjoy!
I have a question if I have a pound and half of the stew meat can I just cut the recipe in half?
Sure, that would work. Hope you enjoy!
6 cups of liquid is was too much. 1 cup wine, water & beef broth would be plenty. Wouldn’t make again.
Lol, you’d have to cut the whole recipe in half, not just the dry ingredients and meat! One of each wine, broth and water should have been used!