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Beef Stew is saucy, hearty, and made with simple, good-for-you ingredients like potatoes, carrots, tender beef, tomato juice, and spices. Make this beef stew recipe in the Instant Pot in a flash, or in the oven, cooked low and slow. Don’t forget the crusty bread for dipping!
Table of Contents
- Why you’ll love this easy Beef Stew Recipe:
- Ingredient Overview:
- Recipe Substitutions & Variations:
- How to Make this Instant Pot Beef Stew Recipe:
- How to Make Homemade Beef Stew in the Oven:
- Serving + Storing:
- Expert Cooking Tips:
- FAQs:
- Special Tools:
- More Soup Season Recipes to Love:
- Best Beef Stew (Instant Pot & Oven/Slow Cooker Directions!) Recipe
Why you’ll love this easy Beef Stew Recipe:
- Cozy Winter Stew – Winter and fall are prime soup season! Cold weather absolutely requires warm, hearty, soul-feeding, hot bowls of these magic liquids we call soup.
- Two Cooking Options – You can make this easy beef stew recipe in the Instant Pot, oven, or crock pot. Each option is dump-and-go, with no need to pre-cook the meat!
- Hearty and Delicious – Each cooking methods leaves you with fall-apart-tender beef, soft carrots + potatoes, and a creamy sauce perfect for bread dipping.
Ingredient Overview:
As always, the full recipe with measurements & directions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of this post. Use the table of contents (back at the top, below the first image, to navigate).
- Tomato Juice – I prefer liquid tomato juice versus using thicker tomato paste or tomato sauce. It makes a hearty stew, but doesn’t overpower the flavor of the meat and veggies.
- Beef Stew Meat – You can purchase ready-to-use cubed stew meat, or cut up your own chunks from large pieces of chuck or round.
- Vegetables – Any quality beef stew recipe has to include the combo of carrots, celery, onion, and potatoes. It’s totally up to you whether or not to include peas, too.
- Thyme – Fresh chopped thyme is best, but dried herbs will work in a pinch.
- Garlic – First smoosh and then finely mince the garlic to release all of that fragrant garlicky goodness!
Recipe Substitutions & Variations:
- Gluten-free – I have not tried this as a gluten-free recipe. But if you want to skip all-purpose flour I suggest thickening the stew with cornstarch. To do so, whisk together 2-3 tablespoons of cornstarch with 2-3 tablespoons of water. Stir this slurry into the stew after cooking, once the pressure has been released from the Instant Pot or the dutch oven has been removed from the oven. Continue gently stirring for a few minutes, until the stew has thickened up a bit.
How to Make this Instant Pot Beef Stew Recipe:
Step 1: Prep. I never bother peeling the potatoes or carrots. Chop them and the onions (ok I obviously peel that hah), and set aside. Toss the beef with flour, salt, and pepper.
Step 2: Cook. Add all of the ingredients to the Instant Pot. Close the lid and close the vent so it’s in the sealing position. Use the “stew/meat” setting to cook at high pressure, and set the timer for 35 minutes.
Step 3: Release the Pressure. Once done, allow the pressure to do a natural release – a quick release may spray stew juices everywhere.
How to Make Homemade Beef Stew in the Oven:
Add everything to a large dutch oven, and cover with the lid. Place on the middle rack in the oven and cook for 1 1/2 – 2 hours, checking for doneness after an hour or so.
When beef stew is done cooking, the meat will be fall-apart tender and a knife should easily pierce through the potatoes and carrots.
Serving + Storing:
And of course, no stew experience is complete without some warm crusty bread. Want to know a secret? Sometimes I make soup just so I have something to dip my bread in.
This, my Chicken Wild Rice Soup, and my Chicken Gnocchi Soup are always at the top of my list. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. They are SO good the next day!
Expert Cooking Tips:
- Uniform Cuts – Chop the potatoes, carrots, and chunks of beef into roughly the same 1-inch size cubes. This helps everything to cook evenly.
- Purchase Pre-Cut – Don’t want to bother with so much chopping? Buy cubed stew meat and baby carrots to save yourself some prep work and time.
- Oven Thermometer – An oven thermometer will tell you if your oven is actually running at the temperature you set it to. Your oven may not be accurate. Accurate oven temperature is crucial for most bakes, so I leave an oven thermometer in at all times to keep an eye on my oven’s calibration.
- Natural Pressure Release – Allow the instant pot to naturally release pressure rather than using the quick release – it may spray the stew juices everywhere.
FAQs:
Nope, you don’t! One of best things about this instant pot beef stew recipe is that it truly is “dump and go”.
Meat can get tough in a pressure cooker if there is not enough liquid and/or the beef does not cook long enough. I’ve tested this recipe extensively and think you’ll agree that is practically guarantees perfectly tender beef, every time. If it’s still tough, chances are it needs a little more time. Keep pressure cooking it – check again after about 5 minutes in the instant pot and 15-20 in the oven.
The beef stew will cook well either way in the oven, but covering the pot is a good idea to avoid any splashes.
Yes you can! Add everything to a crock pot, just like in the instant pot, and cook on low heat for 6-8 hours, adding a bay leaf on top. I recommend low heat so the meat doesn’t get tough.
Special Tools:
- Instant Pot – Whether you have the name brand Instant Pot or other version of an automatic pressure cooker, this is the fastest and easiest way to make this beef stew recipe.
- Dutch Oven – Low and slow is also a great way to go! Make this recipe in a traditional dutch oven or other heavy-bottom cooking vessel that can be used in the oven.
More Soup Season Recipes to Love:
- Chicken Gnocchi Soup
- Vegetable Beef Soup
- Chicken Wild Rice Soup
- Broccoli Cheddar Soup (with Crusty No Knead Bread!)
- Instant Pot Pulled Pork
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Best Beef Stew (Instant Pot & Oven/Slow Cooker Directions!)
Ingredients
- 2 and 3/4 cups tomato juice
- 24 ounces beef stew meat
- 3 large carrots, chopped
- 3 stalks celery, chopped
- 1/2 large yellow onion, sliced
- 6 medium yellow potatoes
- 1/2 tsp salt
- pinch of pepper
- 3 tbsp all-purpose flour, 24 grams. Can use gluten-free if needed.
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 large clove garlic, minced
- 1 cup peas, Optional – I usually don't use them but I know some people love them in their stew!
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat oven to 325℉ if using oven method. Otherwise, get out your instant pot and make sure your metal liner pot is in it.Roughly chop the potatoes, celery, and carrots. Set aside. In a bowl, add the flour, salt and pepper and mix. Toss the beef in this mixture to coat. Stir in a cup of frozen peas (it’s important to do this after it’s done cooking, they will turn to mush if you add them at the beginning with everything else). Serve warm with some crusty bread.
- Instant Pot Method: Place the beef in the bottom of the Instant Pot liner. Add the celery, carrots, and potatoes. Add the onions on top. (I don't stir everything together). Pour the tomato sauce in and add the garlic, thyme, and an extra pinch of salt + pepper. (If using peas, save them until the end – they'll disintegrate during the cook time and need to simply be stirred in at the end.)Make sure the vent is set to “sealing” and select the “stew/meat” setting on the Instant Pot. Cook for 35 minutes. When it's finished cooking, let the pressure release naturally (takes about 15 minutes).
- Oven Method: Add everything to a dutch oven and cook for 1 hour 45 minutes – 2 hrs 10 minutes. It's done when the beef is tender and the veggies are soft – check it at 1 hour 30 minutes. (I like to pull out a piece of meat, a piece of potato, and a piece of carrot, and cut into them all to make sure they're tender/done. Taste the meat to see if it's tender enough.)
- Crock Pot Method: Do the same as with the oven method, but cook on low heat for 6-8 hours until everything is tender. Stir in the peas at the end.
- Serve + Store: Stir in the peas when done cooking (for any method) if using. Serve warm, with crusty bread! Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
