Fall is here! For me, fall brings with it pumpkin everything and soups and stews. With stews, you can prep the food and then dump it all in a pot, let it simmer for hours, and get the most hearty and delicious dinner. Inexpensively too! This recipe for a Hearty Beef and Vegetable Stew is great for a chilly fall day and can even be made vegetarian.

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Published October 1, 2021
Updated March 16, 2022
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I had such a helper to make this dinner! With the three boys in school, it is really nice to have Elliana in the kitchen, teaching her the simple basics of cooking. Even though she is not yet three, Elliana likes to help carry onions, empty measuring cups filled with food into bowls, and count carrots. Additionally, she is at the perfect age to teach safety and proper food handling while in the kitchen. With only one kid in the kitchen the job gets done much faster than having two or more fighting for a spot at the stove.

Why this recipe works

Cooking the beef with onion and garlic helps to enhance the flavor of this soup. Flavoring the beef is important so the entire soup does not fall short and bland. Therefore, before you begin to cook the beef chunks, season it with salt and pepper. I added the pepper once the stock was in the soup, and I wish I would have cooked it with the beef chunks.

Additionally, adding ketchup to this recipe allows the flavors to blend together, instead of just having beef broth. For example, the ketchup smoothens the Hearty Beef and Vegetable Stew out and gives it a hearty texture.

Ingredients for Beef Stew

1 1/2-pound Beef Stew Chunks
1 Tbsp Oil
7 Potatoes
4 Carrots
1 bag Sweet Peas
1 Onion
2 Garlic cloves
8 cups Beef Stock
1/4 cup Ketchup
1 tsp Black Pepper
Salt to taste
4 Tbsp Corn starch
1/4 cup water

Hearty Beef Stew Directions

1. In a 6-Quart soup pot, turn the heat on medium-high and add 1 Tablespoon oil.
If you are making a vegetarian stew, skip steps 2-3 and jump right to step 4.

2. Add the beef stew chunks when the oil is rippling and hot. The oil will help to brown the beef and prevent them from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Prior to adding the beef chunks, empty them onto a cutting board and cut any large chunks into smaller 1-inch cube pieces.

3. Brown the beef on all sides, stirring occasionally, for 3-5 minutes. The beef does not have to be completely cooked as of yet because the chunks will finish cooking in the broth. When the beef was done to my liking, I did not drain the liquid, as it can help with the stew flavor. If preferred, you can choose to drain the meat.

4. On a cutting board, cut the ends off an onion, peel the skin off and dice the onion then add it to the cooking meat and cook the onions with the beef until they are just short of translucent. You do not have to fully cook them at this point as they will finish cooking in the soup pot.

5. On a cutting board, mince the garlic cloves and add them to the pot, stirring until the smell is fragrant; around 1-2 minutes. You can choose to add more garlic to this recipe if you want.

6. Wash in a sink colander, peel and slice the potatoes into pieces smaller than 1-inch and then add them to the pot. Be picky with the potato sizes for soup recipes, as they are typically the “done” indicator. When the potatoes are cooked, you can eat your stew. For example, it is hard to judge stew doneness if you have huge chunks of potato and tiny ones. Therefore, keeping the potatoes an even size and shape helps the stew maintain its cooking time.

7. Wash, peel and dice the carrots on a cutting board, then add the carrot pieces to the pot. The soup is nice with a blend of diced pieces and sliced pieces. You can choose to cut them all the same shape and size, or you can choose to blend the shapes and sizes. Either way, I promise that the soup will be fantastic, and the random carrot sizes gives the soup a great homemade look.

8. Add 1 bag of frozen sweet peas to the pot then stir to combine. Frozen peas work so perfect in this recipe compared to canned, for example they stay pea-shaped longer and do not turn to mush. Plus, canned peas have added salt (unless you specifically buy “no salt added) for preservatives.

9. Empty two containers of beef stock into the 6-Quart pot and then stir to combine. Instead of using water and a bouillon I chose to use stock. Not for any reason in particular, but because I had some on hand. Two stock containers equal 8-cups, and I filled the rest of the pot with water to just below the handle grommets.
As an alternative, if you are making a vegetarian stew, use vegetable stock.

10. To season the soup, add 1 teaspoon of black pepper then stir to combine. Be sure to taste the soup before adding any additional salt. Additionally, you can always add more salt before serving, but you cannot take it out if it is too salty!

11. Add 1/4 cup ketchup to the soup, which was a surprise the first time I made beef stew. Consequently, ketchup helps with the flavor and color. I typically just open the bottle, upend it and squeeze a few pumps into the soup. With this recipe, you can really just guestimate how much to put in.

12. Stir and bring to a boil, then turn the temperature to low and simmer the Hearty Beef and Vegetable Stew until the potatoes are fully cooked. This soup is great on low temperature after 1-2 hours simmering.

To make the hearty beef and vegetable stew thicker, take 1/4 cup water and 4 Tbsp corn starch and whisk them together until smooth. Add it to the hot soup and then stir to combine, make sure to let this cook to thicken the soup at least half an hour.
Serve and enjoy!
~Monica

Hearty Beef and Vegetable Stew Recipe

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