Classic Dutch Oven Beef Stew

When it comes to comfort food, few dishes can compete with a rich and savory Classic Dutch Oven Beef Stew.  Chunks of meltingly tender beef, hearty vegetables, and a medley of herbs and spices are cooked low and slow in the oven to perfection.  I'm sharing all my best tips on how to make this timeless favorite!  

When the weather starts to cool down, I start gravitating towards comforting stick-to-your-ribs dish.  Some of my favorite comfort food dishes are my healthy chicken and dumplings, French onion soup, and ultimate turkey chili.

This hearty Dutch oven beef stew is the quintessential cold-weather comfort food.  It's the perfect recipe for those lazy Sunday afternoons when you just don’t feel like leaving the house. 

Once you get all the ingredients seared away in the pot, simply toss it in the oven.  In just a few hours, you’ll have a delicious and hearty meal that the whole family will love. 

As the Dutch oven stew cooks, the rich aroma of simmering beef, earthy root vegetables, and aromatic herbs will fill your kitchen, beckoning everyone to gather around the table.  

Jump to:

• Why You'll Love This Dish 
• Secrets for Making the Perfect Beef Stew
• Ingredients
• Equipment
• How to Make Dutch Oven Beef Stew Step-By-Step
• Chef's Tips
• Can You Make Dutch Oven Stew on the Stove Top?
• What To Serve With Beef Stew
• Recipe FAQs
• More Tasty Soups & Stews
• Recipe
• Reviews

Secrets for Making the Perfect Beef Stew

No one likes rubbery, bland stew!  The secrets to perfect Dutch oven beef stew lie in a few key techniques that elevate this classic dish to new heights. 

1. Choose the right cut of beef

Beef chuck is the perfect cut of beef for stew. It has good fat marbling, which provides flavor. It also has a lot of collagen-rich connective tissue that breaks down as it cooks, helping the meat retain moisture.

Chuck will become tender the longer it cooks and won't dry out like other leaner cuts of beef. 

2. Choose the right cooking vessel

A Dutch oven is the ideal vessel for beef stew. Its thick bottom and side walls retain heat really well and cook food evenly.  Dutch ovens are also typically generously sized, which means they can hold a lot of liquid. 

3. Sear the beef

Searing the beef over high heat in the pot gives the meat a deep, rich flavor thanks to the Maillard reaction.  This is a chemical reaction that browns and caramelizes the exterior of the meat.

4. Create layers of flavor

Add ingredients like tomato paste, red wine, and thyme in the beginning of the cooking process to give them time to develop flavor and add complexity to the dish.  Add other ingredients like fresh parsley and vinegar at the end of the cooking process for a pop of bright flavor.  

5. Cook it low and slow

It's important to cook the beef stew for a couple of hours in a low temperature oven. This will give the meat enough time to break down and become tender.  

If you try to rush it and boil the stew, the muscle fibers in the beef will shrink and become tough. No one wants rubbery beef stew!

6. Add ingredients in stages

Vegetables cook faster than the beef chuck so don't add them them to the stew right away or you'll end up with mushy veggies.  Instead, add the veggies after about an hour and a half. That way they will be done cooking at the same time as the beef.  

I like to add a pop of bright flavor to the stew at the end of cooking by stirring in a little vinegar. I also add fresh herbs like parsley right before serving. 

Ingredients

Ingredient notes and substitutions (see recipe card at the end of the post for full list of ingredients):

• Beef- I use boneless beef chuck roast and trim any excess fat. Chuck meat is taken from the shoulder and is one of the most popular choices for stew meat.
• Vegetables- I use a classic combination of yellow onions, baby potatoes, and carrots. However you can use other root vegetables like parsnips, sweet potatoes, turnips or daikon. Other vegetables like butternut squash, mushrooms, frozen peas or pearl onions will also work.
• Wine- I use a rich dry red wine such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Pinot Noir, or Chianti to add depth of flavor to the beef stew. You can leave it out if you don't want to use wine and substitute beef broth.
• Beef broth- I use reduced sodium beef broth to control the amount of sodium in the dish. You can substitute reduced sodium chicken broth.
• Flour- all purpose flour thickens the stew; you can use gluten-free flour to keep the dish gluten free
• Herbs- I use a combination of fresh thyme, bay leaves, and fresh parsley. You can substitute ½ teaspoon dried thyme for fresh.
• Vinegar (not pictured)- a splash of balsamic or red wine vinegar at the end of cooking brightens up the flavors in the stew.

Equipment

How to Make Dutch Oven Beef Stew Step-By-Step

See recipe card at the end of the post for full recipe details.

• Step 1- Pat the pieces of meat dry and season them with salt and black pepper.  Sear the beef in olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Do this in two batches and don't overcrowd the pan. Take your time with this step- searing the beef on all sides gives it a nice caramelized crust and builds flavor in the dish. Remove the browned beef.
• Step 2-  Turn stove down to medium heat and add the onions and garlic to the pot.  Cook until softened.  Stir in the tomato paste and cook a minute or two until it darkens. 
• Step 3- Add the beef and its juices back to the pot and sprinkle the flour on top. Stir until flour is dissolved.
• Step 4- Then, add the wine, beef broth, thyme, and bay leaf. Stir with a wooden spoon, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cover the pot.

• Step 5- Transfer the pot to the oven and braise for 1 ½ hours.
• Step 6- Remove the pot from the oven and stir in the carrots and potatoes. Cover and return the pot to the oven for another 45 minutes to an hour, until the vegetables are cooked through and beef is tender.

Remove beef stew from the oven and taste for seasoning.  Stir in the vinegar and adjust season with salt and pepper to taste.  Garnish beef stew with parsley before serving.

Can You Make Dutch Oven Stew on the Stove Top?

I prefer to cook this Dutch oven beef stew in the oven rather than on the stove. In the oven, the stew is heated from all sides rather than just from the bottom like on the stove top. This results in faster, more even cooking.

However, if you don’t have a Dutch oven or covered pot that is appropriate for the oven, this beef stew can be cooked on the stove top. The timing will be the same and it should be cooked over the lowest setting. Be sure to stir it occasionally to make sure all the ingredients get cooked evenly.

What To Serve With Beef Stew

I like to serve this classic Dutch oven beef stew on a bed of my celeriac (celery root) puree, award-winning mashed potatoes with goat cheese and caramelized onions, polenta, egg noodles or rice.  

Sometimes I'll serve some crusty bread on the side to dip into the stew.  You can try making my pan con tomate (Spanish tomato bread) or my cheesy cauliflower bread for a low carb option. 

I also like to serve a vegetable like Brussels sprouts or my easy creamed spinach on the side or a green salad . 

Recipe FAQs

Looking for more tasty soups and stews?  Check out my collection of the best Fall Soup Recipes to get more ideas.

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