Subscribe To This Site

Easy Beef Stew Recipe

This easy Beef Stew Recipe is one of those basics which is perfect as part of a healthy diet plan.

The preparation of this old fashioned beef stew is quick. Nevertheless, family and friends are always appreciative when this homemade beef stew comes to the table. Meal planning tip: use leftovers for a Beef Pie. This is one of those healthy family meals which will bring you together to linger at the table - and yet this is such an easy beef stew recipe with nothing complicated.

Don't be alarmed by the addition of beer - the final result doesn't taste like a brewery at all. If you don't have beer, just substitute extra stock. Feel free to use brisket or chuck, but try to cut as much fat off as possible. If using these cuts, it would be worth making this stew in advance and then skimming off the fat.

Easy

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: about 2 hours

Serves 6

Ingredients:

2 lb / 900g lean topside beef, cut into inch blocks

2 large onions, diced

oil for shallow frying

2 tablespoons flour

1 standard can beer

1 cup beef stock

5 medium carrots, cut into rings about ¼ inch wide

5 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into inch cubes

Salt and pepper to season.

It is worth using a casserole dish that can be used on the hob as well. This saves on washing up. I tend to serve straight from the casserole dish.

Method:

Fry the cubed beef in 4 - 6 batches, allowing the sides to brown. This is important as this gives flavor to the stew. Don't attempt to brown all the meat at one time - you will just land up with a watery, gray mass. Keep the seared meat on one side.
Fry the onions until they are soft and a deep caramel brown color. This also gives flavor to the dish.
Add the flour to the pan and stir it until it is well mixed with the onions. Slowly add first the beer and then the beef stock. Stir all the time until the mixture resembles a gravy.
Add the meat back. Put a lid on the casserole dish and place in the oven. Cook for about an hour.
Add the potatoes and cook for a further ½ hour. Check that there is enough liquid and add more if necessary.
Add the carrots and season with salt and pepper. Check the liquid. Add more if the stew looks dry. If the juice is too runny, add a little cornflour*. Cook for another ½ hour (therefore about 2 hours in total).
Serve with Garlic Mash Potato Recipe and green vegetables.

*Add 1 tablespoon cornflour to 2 tablespoons COLD water. Stir the mixture until it is smooth. Stir into the stew and then return the casserole dish to the oven. The stew must come to boiling point (briefly) in order for the cornflour to thicken the gravy. The alternative is to add 1 - 2 tablespoons of flour to the gravy in order to thicken it, but you can run into problems with lumpy gravy, so this is not advisable.

Budget meal planning tip: use leftovers from this easy Beef Stew recipe for Beef Pie Recipe.