17 Beef Stew Recipes That Will Fill You Up

We’ve grinned and borne tucking away our beach bags for the year, and those gorgeous fall leaves have given us some consolation. But call us crazy, when the temperature finally dips low enough to take our ferns indoors and get out the real wool sweaters, there’s a little part of us rejoicing. Finally, we can go to the heartiest dishes in our repertoires, the kinds that cook for hours and perfume the whole house in the process, the kinds—swoon—that require spoons or noodles or rice or crusty bread to sop them up. Beef stews will always reign supreme in that category, containing exactly the comfort we require from the whole genre.

The deep flavors in our beef stew come from browning the chuck roast in batches and cooking the onions and garlic until they're sweet. Cooking low-and-slow in the oven allows the meat to become completely tender in its rich red wine-laced sauce. This is a great dish to make ahead as its complex flavors intensify overnight.

When you want a beef stew that tastes better than the ones in your memory from years ago, this one might be ticket. It’s a classic with its ingredients and techniques based in traditional American beef stew, which also has its roots in French and even English versions of the dish. Carrots, celery and potatoes will be cooked just-so, as will the meat. No stringy, tough chunks here. Stewing it in the oven ensures that it will just cook until spoon-tender, and have a dazzlingly delicious sauce to bathe in.

Low and slow is the mantra for tender braised and stewed meats… but what if you want fast? The Instant Pot is your best friend for deep, braise-y flavor in a fraction of the time. It’s no witchcraft happening inside that sealed pot; it’s literally a pressure cooker (translation: speeds up the cooking process) that you don’t have to babysit. And unlike cranking the heat when you’re in a hurry, its internal steady simmer will never result in toughness.

This hearty Beef and Guinness Stew simmers tender chunks of beef with rich Guinness stout, earthy root vegetables and herbs for a deeply comforting and flavorful Irish classic. Perfect for warming up on chilly days!

There’s no need to wrestle with your partner over the lone parsnip in the stew when you’ve got a stew where the root vegetables are the point (at least, besides the beef). Ree brings a brew where parsnips, turnips and carrots (remember, they’re roots too) abound, and their earthy sweetness takes on such an appeal simmered in the meaty juices. You’ll definitely want buttered noodles or lots of crusty bread on hand to really revel in this dish.

This Instant Pot Tex-Mex Beef Stew packs bold Southwestern flavors with tender beef, beans and spices all pressure-cooked into a hearty, satisfying meal in a fraction of the time.

This classic dish, which originated in the Middle East as a Jewish Shabbat stew, can be started the evening before Shabbat and cooked overnight so it’s ready (and hands-off) the day of. There are endless versions of the dish reflecting its migration around the globe, to Europe, Northern Africa and then the Americas and Australia; this one features short ribs for celebratory richness and gets subtle sweetness from honey, tomato paste and carrots. Barley and great Northern beans add body and texture to the stew. We also add whole creamer potatoes, a variety that holds up well to long cooking and will absorb the delicious beef flavor. Although cholent can be cooked in a low oven or on a hot plate, using a slow cooker means the dish can simmer overnight and stay warm until you’re ready to serve.

Unless you’ve visited Kentucky, particularly around Derby time, you may not have ever encountered this Kentucky classic, whose name and origin are steeped in myth and rumor and tons of local pride. The elements that seemingly most Kentuckians can agree on are a mixture of at least three meats (here, beef chuck, chicken and pork sausage) and usually corn, potatoes and lima or butter beans. We love this burgoo even more the next day, once the flavors have had time to meld.

Kardea gives her spin on a beef stew, pumping up that beefy flavor with a little heat due to the ginger but also scaling back on the usual vegetables to let another favorite take the spotlight: okra. The natural gelatinousness of okra distributes throughout the cooking liquid and thickens it up, for a stew with lush body and deep meatiness, really raising the question why we don’t include it in more stews and braises besides just gumbo and jambalaya.

Ina knows what to do to take an iconic dish and make it somehow richer and simpler at the same time. For this stew, she took her time in Paris as an inspiration, and swapped in beef short ribs for the usual chuck. Some pancetta is a smart base to quickly infuse a deep umami into the stew, fennel speaks of its European origin story, and Yukon gold potatoes are just a smart, creamy addition.

Ropa vieja originated in Spain, where it is known chiefly as a bean dish with some shredded beef included, but the beef became the star in Latin America, particularly Cuba, where it is considered one of the national dishes. This stew takes its inspiration from the Latin American iteration, adding squash and yuca for textural complexity and heartiness, along with fresh cilantro and pickled onions for fresh brightness. You don’t have to pair with fried or mashed plantains, but doesn’t that sound good?

Ree puts her spin on the French boeuf bourguignon, which translates to beef Burgundy (a French wine region, and the wine used to stew the beef—traditionally an entire bottle). But her thoughtful streamlining—praise the heavens for frozen, already-peeled pearl onions—mean you don’t have to clear the calendar to have time to make this. But you might want to leave lots of time to enjoy it, and maybe earmark a second bottle of Burgundy to drink with it.

Irresistibly gingery beef curries abound in Southeast Asia, from Sri Lankan’s harak mas karu to Burmese amè hnat and Thai Massaman. This curry blends a number of the region’s comforting touches, including coconut milk. White rice is a must for soaking up every last drop of that sauce.

Hailing from southwest Nigeria is obe ata, which translates to pepper stew or soup. It is made with red bell peppers, which are blended with tomatoes, onion and habanero or Scotch bonnet pepper. It’s not uncommon to find versions of obe ata featuring any protein from fish to chicken to beef and even snails. This option uses beef, which adds a rich flavor to the dish. Obe ata is usually served with steamed rice, yam, plantains and, at times, bread. We also love it alongside pasta or potatoes.

When it’s a simple, bells-and-whistles-free stew you want to toss together, look no further than this one, which has perhaps the quickest and simplest initial sauté and a relatively brief stew-time, to boot. Tomatoes and tumeric lend body and color and tons of umami. While it’s simmering, put on a pot of noodles and toss a green salad; dinner is served.

Sunny’s easy stew where you might even spot a shortcut (we’re looking at you, baby carrots) takes a page from a Southern dish, which uses coffee to lend depth and flavor to “red-eye” gravy. It has a natural affinity for beef, its bitterness playing up the richness of the sauce. Some jalapeños lend a gentle heat to the stew, and Hungarian paprika adds a little something.