Classic Beef Stew Recipe: Homemade Comfort Food

Want to learn how to make classic beef stew? There’s not many more comforting foods than a homemade bowl of beef stew. Well, it is surprisingly very easy! It’s really not much more hands-on work than opening a can of beef stew and heating it up…. except that the taste of homemade beef stew is so much better!

With that, the actual cooking time will be longer – so although the hands on time is not much more, just plan ahead and let it slow cook for a couple of hours and you have a much yummier beef stew version than the store-bought, canned version!

Ingredients for Classic Beef Stew Recipe

• 2 pounds stew beef
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 cups beef stock
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 or 2 bay leaves
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• Dash ground cloves (or ground allspice)
• 2 cups carrots, sliced
• 3 ribs celery, chopped
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions on How To Make Classic Beef Stew

1. Brown meat in hot oil. Add water, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, bay leaves, onion, salt, sugar, pepper, paprika, and

ground cloves. Cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours.

2. Remove bay leaves. Add carrots and celery. Cover and cook 30 to 40 additional minutes.

3. To thicken gravy, remove 2 cups hot liquid. Using a separate bowl, combine 1/4 cup water and cornstarch until

smooth. Mix with a little hot liquid and return mixture to pot. Stir and cook until bubbly.

That’s it! Other than the simmer time, this is a fast meal!

Crockpot Classic Beef Stew Recipe

Note that you can also make this in the crockpot. Add all of the ingredients early in the morning and set it to low for 8 hours (or low for about 4) and come back and enjoy that night! You can remove the bay leaf half way through, but you can also remove it before serving if you are not around. Either way will be fine.

Here’s a printable recipe for your convenience.