Easy Beef Stew with 6 Ingredients

This easy beef stew comes together with just 6 simple ingredients! It’s a wholesome, healthy comfort food dinner that’s packed with flavor and real food ingredients. The beef stew recipe is gluten free, grain free, dairy free,  and paleo-friendly!

Beef stew is the epitome of comfort food. Only, sometimes you just want to throw whatever you have on hand into a pan and let it go.There are certain steps you need to take to get all those rich flavors married together. Am I right? And today I get to share a recipe from a good friend who will teach us just that! Are you ready for the ultimate tips and tricks for an EASY BEEF STEW? Uh… ya you are!

So how do you make beef stew on the stove and give it a rich taste?

2 words. Cast Iron. Or… in this case 4 words. Cast Iron Dutch Oven. I’m clever, I know. But I digress… Let’s talk cast iron cooking.

Cast Iron Cooking

The key to developing rich taste in this simple beef stew is by cooking it in a cast iron Dutch oven!

Cast iron cooking allows the flavors of the ingredients you’re cooking to blend together in a way that you won’t get using traditional pots and pans.

Plus, cast iron cooking is healthier, because a well seasoned cast iron pan doesn’t require using as much oil. Oh, and let’s not forget the benefits of the additional IRON being added to the beef stew!

Some of my favorite cast iron recipes:

• Balsamic Braised Green Beans
• Tortilla Chicken Chili

6 Ingredient Easy Beef Stew Recipe

To quickly recap, we’re making: in

1. An easy beef stew recipe.
2. Using 6 real food ingredients.
3. It’s cooked in cast iron for a deep, rich, slow cooked flavor, but in less time than a slow cooker beef stew recipe, AND
4. This beef stew is PURE, wholesome comfort food. What more could you want?

Well, there is one thing more you could want. The amazing cookbook that the simple beef stew recipe comes from!

Cast Iron Gourmet Cookbook

My blogging friend Megan, from Country Cleaver just released a new cast iron cooking book called Cast Iron Gourmet; 77 Amazing Recipes with Less Fuss and Fewer Dishes.

And let me tell ya, she’s not messing around; the recipes in this cookbook ARE amazing! They’re easy, wholesome, simple cast iron cooking recipes for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, desserts and snacks, and many of them are gluten free and/or can be easily adapted to be gluten free.

Oh, and I can’t promote the book without mentioning the gorgeous food photography. Megan knocks it out of the park! Ya’ll really need to get yourselves a copy of Cast Iron Gourmet ASAP. Sooner than later, because the recipes in this book will keep you cooking healthier. And healthier means happier, am I right?

I cooked the easy beef stew in a cast iron dutch oven and it is divine! Everything you could possibly want in wholesome comfort food.

Simple Beef Stew Ingredients

• 2 lbs lean beef (stew meat)
• oil
• broth
• red wine
• celery, carrot, onion mixture (mirepoix – more on that in a minute)
• parsnips or red potatoes (I used a mixture of both)
• (bonus ingredient) fresh herbs to garnish

Megan’s Easy Beef Stew Recipe Tips

• We don’t count oil, or salt and pepper as ingredients here because they are seasonings and agents to the cooking.
• Keep frozen mirepoix on hand in your freezer.

What is Mirepoix?

This French term is used to describe a mixture of equal parts carrots, celery, and onion. 

But did you know that placing mirepoix into 2 cup plastic bags and freezing it will save you time and freak outs when you just want a simple beef stew for dinner! The French knew what they were doing there. Freezer friendly meals and ingredients are crucial these days. Even for faux gourmet! Haha, oh la la!

Easy Beef Stew with 6 Ingredients

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★★★★★

5 from 4 reviews

• Author: Lindsay Cotter
• Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes
• Yield: 6 1x

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Description

This easy beef stew comes together with just 6 simple ingredients! It’s a wholesome comfort food dinner that’s packed with flavor and real food ingredients. The beef stew recipe is gluten free, grain free, dairy free, and paleo-friendly!

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 3 Tablespoons light olive oil or refined avocado oil
• 2 pounds cubed chuck steak, cut into 1 ½” cubes or lean stew meat
• Kosher salt and black pepper
• 4 cups roughly chopped mirepoix (equal parts carrots, onion, and celery) – fresh or frozen
• 1 cup red wine
• 2 cups chicken or beef broth
• 1 pound baby potatoes and/or chopped peeled parsnips (or a mix of both)
• Optional Garnish – fresh herbs

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 30oF with the oven rack in the lower middle position.
2. Pat the beef dry with paper towels and season the beef generously with salt and pepper.
3. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium high heat. 
4. Working in batches, brown the beef on all sides. Note: Don’t rush the browning process or pull the steak away from the pan if it has not naturally released on its own. Let the beef tell you when it’s ready to flip. Moving it early will risk pulling away the seasoned beef, leaving it in the pan.
5. Once the beef is browned on all sides, put it on a plate to the side; repeat the browning with the rest of the beef.    
6. Next, add in the chopped mirepoix and soften the vegetables, stirring them in the pan to sweat and soften. This will also act as a deglazing to the pan, pulling up some of those developed, flavory  bits cooked onto the bottom.   
7. Next, stir in the chicken stock and scrape the bottom of the pan to remove any other cooked on fond. Whisk in the red wine and add the beef back into the pan.
8. Cover the Dutch oven and place it into the oven for 45 minutes to an hour. Note: If using leaner meat and fresh mirepoix mix, it will cook faster than an hour.
9. When 45 minutes to an hour has passed, remove the lid and stir in the baby potatoes and parsnips.  Cover and continue to cook for another 45 minutes to one hour.    
10. Test the beef by pulling it apart with two forks. If there is resistance, continue to cook for another 20 to 30 minutes, or until the beef falls apart easily.
11. Serve in bowls and garnish with fresh herbs, if desired.

Notes

• Megan’s notes –  Keep frozen mirepoix on hand in your freezer. Equal parts carrots, celery, and onion all frozen in 2 cup baggies will save you time and freak outs when you just want stew!
• Recipe printed from Cast Iron Gourmet with permission. Minor adaptations made.

• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 90 minutes to 2 hours
• Category: main, dinner
• Method: stove top, oven
• Cuisine: American

Keywords: stew, beef stew, dutch oven, simple stew, paleo, soup, easy beef stew

Alright my friends! Tell me your favorite way to make beef stew? Slow cooker? Dutch oven cast iron? Instant pot? I am now a dutch oven stew convert.

Simple and oh my heavens delicious!

Thanks for letting me gush over my talented friend (Megan) new Cast Iron cookbook!

Cheers,

LC