# Slow-Simmered Beef Stew

Slow-Simmered Beef Stew — a hard recipe with 5 main ingredients, ready in about 2 hr 30 min and serving 6. Check which of its ingredients are on sale at grocery stores near you.

- **Time:** 2 hr 30 min
- **Serves:** 6
- **Difficulty:** hard
- **Tags:** dinner, beef, soup
- **Source:** https://savingrecipes.com/recipes/beef-stew

## Ingredients

- 2 lb beef chuck roast
- 1 lb potatoes
- 4 carrots
- 1 onion
- 4 cups beef broth
- 2 tbsp tomato paste _(pantry staple)_
- 1/2 cup flour _(pantry staple)_
- 2 tbsp olive oil _(pantry staple)_
- Salt & pepper _(pantry staple)_

## Instructions

1. Cube beef, toss with flour, and brown in batches in oil.
2. Sauté onion, add tomato paste, then broth, scraping the pot.
3. Simmer covered 1.5 hr; add potatoes and carrots, simmer 30 min more until tender.

## Tips

- Brown the beef in batches, in a single layer, with real space between the pieces. Crowding is the most common mistake here — the meat steams grey and you lose the flavour the whole dish is built on.
- Cook the tomato paste for a minute before any liquid goes in. Raw paste tastes tinny; cooked it turns sweet and savoury.
- Add the potatoes and carrots in the last 30 minutes. Two and a half hours turns them to mush.

## Substitutions

- **Beef chuck:** Any hard-working cut with connective tissue — brisket, short rib, shin, oxtail. Avoid lean cuts like sirloin; they go tough, not tender, over long cooking.
- **Beef broth:** Half broth and half red wine or dark beer is a common upgrade. Water plus a bouillon cube also works.
- **Potatoes:** Waxy varieties hold together; russets break down and thicken the stew, which some people prefer. Swede, parsnip or celeriac all work.
- **Flour:** A cornstarch slurry at the end for gluten-free, or skip it and simmer uncovered longer to reduce.

## Storage & reheating

Keeps 4 days refrigerated and is genuinely better on day two — the flavours settle and the meat softens further. Freezes 3 months. Potatoes can go slightly grainy after freezing, so some cooks freeze it without them and add fresh.

## Common questions

### Why is my beef still tough after two hours?

It usually needs longer, not less. Connective tissue turns to gelatin somewhere around 2–3 hours of gentle simmering — if it's chewy, keep going. The other cause is boiling rather than simmering, which tightens the muscle fibres.

### Can I make this in a slow cooker?

Yes. Brown the beef in a pan first — don't skip it — then 8 hours on low. Add the vegetables for the last 2 hours.

### Why is my stew watery?

Not enough reduction, or too much liquid to start. Simmer uncovered for the last 20 minutes, or mash a few cooked potatoes into the broth to thicken it.


_Photo: 3steph14 — CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beef_stew_2.jpg)_