This dutch oven beef stew recipe is made with potatoes, vegetables, stew meat and made without wine! It’s cooked on the stove but then transferred to the oven for a couple of hours to allow the flavors to blend and cook together perfectly. Like our dutch oven pot roast, we recommend you use a chuck roast for the most tender meat.
Beef stew is an old-fashioned recipe that’s usually made of large chunks of beef with vegetables, usually thicker than most soup recipes, and is a total comfort food. If you’re looking for a thinner soup, this Cowboy Stew may be more of what you’re looking for!
It’s the ideal Sunday dinner, along with this Instant Pot Roast and this Tri-Tip Roast recipe.
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⭐️ Why This Recipe Works
This easy dutch oven beef stew uses simple ingredients, that create an amazing, hearty flavor that the whole family will love.
The tender beef pieces cook in the beef stock, seasonings, and veggies, all come together to give a great texture and rich flavor.
🧾 Ingredients Needed
I’ve highlighted a couple of ingredients with some relevant notes. Aside from this, the ingredients needed are pretty basic.
- Meat – The best cut of beef to use for stew is boneless chuck roast because it is well-marbled with fat. This will help ensure you have tender meat in your dutch oven stew. TIP: Make sure any large hard pieces of fat and silver skin are removed before searing.
- Onion – Using a yellow onion for this recipe is our favorite because it provides a sweeter onion flavor and pairs best with beef recipes.
- Potatoes – We recommend using Yukon Gold potatoes for this recipe so they hold their shape and don’t get mushy like russet potatoes can.
📖 Substitutions
Sometimes substitutions are necessary because of ingredients that are unavailable or needed for dietary restrictions. Here are some suggestions that can help when making dutch oven beef stew:
- Meat – Rump roasts and bottom rounds are also good options if you don’t have a chuck roast.
- Potatoes – If you don’t have Yukon Gold potatoes, you can use red potatoes.
- Tomatoes – We like using canned diced tomatoes but you can use fresh if you prefer.
- Peas – Keeping frozen peas on hand is handy for our favorite recipes (like our pea salad) but you can use canned. (Do note: that canned peas won’t need the 5-10 minutes to cook as frozen will.)
🍳 Equipment
We like using a large dutch oven for this recipe so it can go from stove-top to baking in the oven.
👩🏻🍳 How to Make Dutch Oven Beef Stew
To help the variety of ingredients cook properly, we do it in stages. The steps consist of:
- searing the meat
- cooking the base
- combining ingredients to bake
- adding in remaining, quick-cook items
*Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full ingredients list & instructions!*
STEP 1. Preheat. Begin by preheating your oven to 350° F.
STEP 2. Prep meat. Pat the beef dry with a paper towel and season generously with salt and pepper.
STEP 3. Brown meat. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Brown the pieces of meat in a single layer, in batches (not to overcrowd) searing for around 1-2 minutes per side. Add more oil as needed between batches. Set the beef aside (Image 1).
Tip: Do not overcrowd the pan with beef pieces as this will cause the meat to steam, not sear.
STEP 4. Cook onions. Reduce the heat to medium and add another 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the dutch oven. Saute the diced onions for 5 minutes or until soft and starting to turn golden. Add the garlic and cook for another 1 minute or until fragrant (Image 2).
STEP 5. Add flour. Next, add an additional 1 tablespoon of olive oil and allow it to heat through for about 30 seconds. Sprinkle the flour over the cooked onion and garlic, and then cook for about 1 minute, stirring constantly (Image 3).
STEP 6. Add tomato paste & broth. Then, add the tomato paste and cook for about 1 minute, stirring constantly. While stirring, slowly pour in the beef stock, and make sure the flour is mixed in and not lumpy (Image 4).
STEP 7. Seasonings. Next, add the diced tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, seared beef (that you set aside earlier) thyme, oregano, and bay leaves to the pot and bring to a simmer (Image 5).
STEP 8. Time for oven. Cover the pot and transfer to the oven. Cook for 1 hour.
STEP 9. Carrots & Potatoes. Add the potatoes and carrots to the pot and stir. Cover the pot and return to the oven for an additional 1 hour (Image 6).
STEP 10. Add peas. Remove the dutch oven from the oven and remove the bay leaves. Now, add the frozen peas, stir, and cover the pot (Image 7).
STEP 11. Simmer. Allow the beef stew to sit for 5-10 minutes to allow the peas to heat through before serving. Season with salt and pepper as needed (Image 8).
💭 Recipe Pro Tips
- Do not skip browning the beef. I know it may be tempting but searing the meat helps to seal moisture in the beef resulting in tender beef. The brown bits on the bottom of the pot also add depth of flavor to the stew.
- Better the next day? As with other hearty soup recipes like this one, you may find that you even enjoy this dutch oven beef stew the next day because it sits and the flavors blend together even more. See the tips below for storing.
📋 Recipe FAQs
Using the right type of beef and cooking it long enough, is the key to tender beef stew.
Cooking stew meat in the oven allows the meat to slowly cook and tenderize. However, searing the meat on the stovetop gives a flavor that you can’t get from solely baking it.
The flour that’s cooked in with the onions, and then combined with beef stock, will be the key to thickening this dutch oven stew. However, if you need to thicken your stew even more, mix together a roux, by combining 1 tablespoon of flour with 1 tablespoon of melted butter. Add a few tablespoons of beef stew liquid in to roux, stir until there are no lumps, and then stir into beef stew. Simmer and it should thicken. Repeat if necessary.
❄️ Storage
Refrigerate leftovers: If you have leftover dutch oven beef stew, allow it cool and then store it in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
How to freeze: allow the beef stew to cool completely before adding to an freezer container or freezer bag. You can then freeze it up to three months.
Reheat: Allow the stew to defrost in the refrigerator before reheating, and then you can re-warm it in the dutch oven on low-medium heat until heated through. (The time will differ, depending on the amount you’re reheating.)
🍲 More Soup Recipes You’ll Love
Although beef stew isn’t really a soup recipe, we think you’ll also love these soup recipes that are similar:
Did you make this? I’d be so grateful if you left a “star” rated-review below to let me know what you thought! Then, the next time you need a quick and easy recipe, come back to Fantabulosity to browse all of my easy recipes!
📖 Recipe
Dutch Oven Beef Stew
Equipment
- Dutch Oven or large, oven-safe stock pot
Ingredients
- 2½ pounds stew meat (beef) cut into 1½ inch chunks
- 3½-4 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 medium yellow onions quartered and sliced
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 3 cups beef broth
- 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
- 3 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 medium carrots cut into 1-inch chunks
- 1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes cut into 1-inch cubes (3-4 potatoes)
- 1 cup frozen peas
- Salt and pepper to season
Instructions
- STEP 1. Preheat. Begin by preheating your oven to 350° F.
- STEP 2. Prep meat. Pat the beef dry with a paper towel and season generously with salt and pepper.
- STEP 3. Brown meat. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Brown the pieces of meat in a single layer, in batches (not to overcrowd) searing for around 1-2 minutes per side. Add more oil as needed between batches. Set the beef aside (Image 1).
- STEP 4. Cook onions. Reduce the heat to medium and add another 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the dutch oven. Saute the diced onions for 5 minutes or until soft and starting to turn golden. Add the garlic and cook for another 1 minute or until fragrant (Image 2).
- STEP 5. Add flour. Next, add an additional 1 tablespoon of olive oil and allow it to heat through for about 30 seconds. Sprinkle the flour over the cooked onion and garlic, and then cook for about 1 minute, stirring constantly (Image 3).
- STEP 6. Add tomato paste & broth. Then, add the tomato paste and cook for about 1 minute, stirring constantly. While stirring, slowly pour in the beef stock, and make sure the flour is mixed in and not lumpy (Image 4).
- STEP 7. Seasonings. Next, add the diced tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, seared beef (that you set aside earlier) thyme, oregano, and bay leaves to the pot and bring to a simmer (Image 5).
- STEP 8. Time for oven. Cover the pot and transfer to the oven. Cook for 1 hour.
- STEP 9. Carrots & Potatoes. Add the potatoes and carrots to the pot and stir. Cover the pot and return to the oven for an additional 1 hour (Image 6).
- STEP 10. Add peas. Remove the dutch oven from the oven and remove the bay leaves. Now, add the frozen peas, stir, and cover the pot (Image 7).
- STEP 11. Simmer. Allow the beef stew to sit for 5-10 minutes to allow the peas to heat through before serving. Season with salt and pepper as needed (Image 8).
Notes
- Make sure any large hard pieces of fat and silver skin are removed before searing.
- When searing meat, make sure it’s in a single layer and you do not crowd the meat, or it will steam instead of sear.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Olivia says
Thanks for sharing this hearty and delicious stew! It was a big hit with my family!
Kristyn says
I’m wishing I had a big bowl of this in front of me right now!! This is one of my favorites!! Super hearty & so much flavor!! It’s been more chilly than normal over here, so I think I need to make this again ASAP!!
jess says
This soup is a fantastic and my family love this soup just as much! thank you so much for sharing this amazing recipe