Homemade Beef Stew, Old-Fashioned Stovetop Style

Homemade beef stew the old-fashioned way is chuck roast seared hard in a Dutch oven, a splash of red wine to scrape up the browned bits, beef broth and herbs, and two slow hours on the stovetop until the meat falls apart and the potatoes and carrots have soaked up the gravy. It is the stew your grandmother made, with nothing from a packet, and it is easier than it sounds.

The whole thing happens in one pot. For the first hour it is just the beef and the broth, so the meat gets tender before the vegetables go in. Hour two cooks the potatoes, carrots and celery through, and a spoonful of cornstarch slurry near the end turns the broth into a proper gravy that coats everything. Serve it in bowls with bread, or do what one of the plates in the photographs does and spoon it over steamed white rice.

Pictured: the stew with a handful of frozen peas stirred in near the end and the potatoes left in large halves, ladled into a bowl and, on the plate behind, spooned over steamed white rice. The peas and the rice are both options described below.

What Makes Homemade Beef Stew Better Than the Can

A canned stew is cubes of something soft in a thick, salty gravy. Homemade beef stew is a different dish. Searing the chuck hard before any liquid goes in builds a layer of browned flavor on the bottom of the pot, the wine lifts it into the broth, and two hours of gentle simmering turns the connective tissue in the chuck into gelatin, which is what gives the gravy its body and the meat its silky, pull-apart texture.

The University of Illinois Extension draws the line between a soup and a stew at the liquid: a stew has just enough to cover the meat and is simmered low and slow for a long time, which is exactly what breaks down a tough cut. That long, low simmer is the whole method, and there is no way to hurry it on the stovetop.

The other difference is timing. Adding the vegetables an hour in, rather than at the start, means the potatoes hold their shape and the carrots still taste like carrots by the time the beef is tender.

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Ingredient Notes

• Beef chuck roast. Two and a half pounds, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes. Chuck has the fat and collagen that turn tender over a long simmer. Pre-cut stew meat is often a mix of leaner scraps and can stay chewy, so buy a roast and cube it yourself.
• Salt and black pepper. Season the beef generously before it goes into the pot; the sear locks it in.
• Vegetable oil. Two tablespoons, because it takes high heat better than olive oil.
• Dry red wine. One cup of anything you would drink. It is optional; use extra broth and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar instead.
• Beef broth. Four cups, low sodium, so you control the salt. A tablespoon of tomato paste stirred in with the broth deepens the color and is what gives the pictured gravy its red tint.
• Worcestershire sauce. One tablespoon for savory depth.
• Dried rosemary and parsley. A teaspoon of each, or double that fresh. A bay leaf is a good addition if you have one.
• Yukon gold potatoes. A pound and a half. Cut them into 1-inch chunks, or leave small ones in halves the way the pictured batch did. Yukon golds hold together where russets fall apart.
• Carrots, celery and onion. Four carrots in thick rounds, three celery stalks, one yellow onion, all cut chunky so they survive the simmer.
• Cornstarch and cold water. Two tablespoons and three, stirred together into a slurry. This is the only thickener, and it goes in near the end.
• Frozen peas. A cup, optional. They are in the photographs and add sweetness and color. Stir them in for the last fifteen minutes only.

The Best Cut of Beef for Stew

Chuck, every time, for homemade beef stew. It comes from the shoulder, which works hard, and hard-working muscle carries the connective tissue that melts into gelatin over a long cook. That gelatin is what makes homemade beef stew taste rich and makes the gravy cling to the spoon. Leaner cuts like round or sirloin have none of it, and they cook up dry and stringy in a stew no matter how gently you simmer them.

Look for a chuck roast with visible marbling and trim only the big hard pieces of fat. Cut it into even 1 1/2-inch cubes so everything is tender at the same time, and pat the cubes dry before they go into the pot, because wet beef steams instead of browning.

How To Make Homemade Beef Stew on the Stovetop

Season the beef with salt and pepper and heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until it shimmers.

First, sear the beef in batches, giving each cube space, until it is deeply browned on all sides. Crowding the pot drops the temperature and the meat turns gray, so take the extra ten minutes and do it in three rounds. Set the browned beef aside on a plate.

Next, pour the wine into the empty pot and scrape the bottom with a wooden spoon to lift every browned bit. Let it bubble for two or three minutes until it has reduced by about a third.

Then add the broth, tomato paste, Worcestershire, rosemary and parsley, and return the beef and its juices to the pot. Bring it to a simmer, drop the heat to low, cover, and let it cook for one hour. Nothing else goes in yet.

After that, add the potatoes, carrots, celery and onion, cover again, and simmer for another forty-five minutes, until the potatoes are nearly tender when poked with a knife.

Thickening and Finishing

Finally, stir the cornstarch into the cold water until smooth, add the peas if you are using them, and pour the slurry into the pot while stirring. Simmer uncovered for fifteen minutes more, until the gravy has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon and the beef falls apart when you press a piece against the side of the pot. Taste, add salt and pepper as needed, and serve with chopped parsley.

How To Tell When Homemade Beef Stew Is Done

The beef tells you. Press a cube against the side of the pot with a spoon; done stew meat gives way and shreds with almost no pressure. If it springs back or feels rubbery, it needs more time, however long it has already been simmering. Chuck goes through a tough stage around the one-hour mark before the collagen finishes breaking down, so do not panic at a firm piece early on.

The gravy is the second tell. It should coat a spoon and leave a clear trail when you drag a finger through it. If it is still thin after the slurry has simmered for fifteen minutes, stir another teaspoon of cornstarch into a tablespoon of cold water and add it. If it is too thick, loosen it with a splash of broth.

The potatoes should be soft all the way through but still holding their shape, and the carrots should be tender with just a little bite left.

Make It Ahead

Homemade beef stew is one of the few dinners that is genuinely better the next day. The gravy thickens as it cools, the flavors settle, and the beef seems to get more tender in the fridge. Make it a day ahead, cool it, and reheat it gently over medium-low heat with a splash of broth, stirring from the bottom so the potatoes do not catch.

If you want to get ahead by a few hours rather than a day, cook it through the first hour, turn off the heat, and finish the vegetables and slurry when you are ready to eat.

Storing Homemade Beef Stew

Cool homemade beef stew to room temperature within two hours, then refrigerate it in airtight containers for up to four days. Reheat on the stovetop over medium-low or in the microwave in two-minute bursts, adding a little broth or water if the gravy has set thick.

It freezes well for up to three months. Freeze it in single portions so you can thaw one bowl at a time, and leave a little headroom in the container. The potatoes soften a touch more after freezing, but the beef and gravy come back exactly as they were. Thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat gently.

Variations and Substitutions

No wine. Use an extra cup of broth and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar for the acidity the wine would have added.

Sweet potatoes. Swap them for the Yukon golds, cut a little larger, and add them fifteen minutes later because they cook faster.

Mushrooms. Eight ounces of cremini, halved, browned in the pot after the beef and added back with the broth.

Thicker gravy. Toss the beef in a quarter cup of flour before searing, and skip the slurry. The flour browns with the meat and thickens the stew as it simmers.

With dumplings. Drop spoonfuls of biscuit dough onto the simmering stew for the last twenty minutes, covered, the way the chicken and dumplings on this site does.

Slow Cooker and Instant Pot

Slow cooker. Sear the beef and deglaze on the stovetop, then move everything except the slurry and peas to the slow cooker with three cups of broth instead of four. Cook on low for eight hours or high for four, add the slurry and peas for the last thirty minutes on high.

Instant Pot. Use the saute setting for the sear and the wine, add the broth, herbs and beef, and pressure cook on high for thirty-five minutes with a ten-minute natural release. Add the vegetables and cook on high for five minutes more, then stir in the slurry and peas on the saute setting until thickened.

What to Serve with Homemade Beef Stew

Bread is the classic partner for homemade beef stew, and something to mop the bowl is not optional. Warm Texas Roadhouse rolls or a batch of cornbread muffins both do the job. A green salad with a sharp vinaigrette on the side cuts through the richness.

Over rice is the other way, and it is how one of the plates in the photographs is served. A mound of steamed white rice with the stew spooned over it turns a bowl of homemade beef stew into a plate that stretches the pot to eight. Mashed potatoes or buttered egg noodles work the same way.

If you like this style of slow-cooked beef, the classic pot roast uses the same cut in one piece, and beef stroganoff is the fast, creamy cousin for a weeknight.

Homemade Beef Stew FAQ

More Questions About Beef Stew

Make a pot on a Sunday afternoon and let the house smell like it for two hours. Dinner is solved that night, the next day’s lunch is already in the fridge, and there is a bowl of homemade beef stew in the freezer for the evening you need it most.