| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 2 hr 50 min |
| Prep: | 15 min |
| Cook: | 2 hr 35 min |
| Yield: | 4 to 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup (2 fluid ounces/60 milliliters) vegetable oil
- 2 1/2 (1.25 kilogram) beef stew meat, preferably chuck, cut into 1-inch (2.5-centimeter) chunks
- 1 1/2 pound (750 grams) yellow onions, sliced
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose (plain) flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 3 carrots, sliced
- 1 bottle (12 fluid ounces/375 milliliters) good-quality amber lager or pale ale
- 1 cup (8 fluid ounces/250 milliliters) beef or chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- Salt and ground pepper
Instructions
- In a large, heavy pot, warm the oil over high heat until hot but not smoking. Working in batches, brown the meat well on all sides, 5 to 7 minutes. Adjust the heat as necessary to keep the meat from scorching. Transfer the browned meat to a plate and repeat until all the meat is browned.
- Add the onions and butter to the pot and stir over high heat until the onions start to soften, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and sprinkle in the sugar. Continue to cook the onions, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Add the flour, thyme and carrots and raise the heat to high. Stir for 1 minute, then pour in the lager or ale, letting it come to a vigorous boil. Stir in the broth and tomato paste and return to a boil.
- Return the meat and any accumulated juices on the plate to the pot, let the liquid come just to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until the meat is tender when pierced and the sauce is slightly thickened, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve on warmed individual plates.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 6 servings |
| Calories | 898 |
| Total Fat | 37 g |
| Saturated Fat | 12 g |
| Carbohydrates | 23 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Sugar | 9 g |
| Protein | 116 g |
| Cholesterol | 334 mg |
| Sodium | 1826 mg |
Reviews
Very tasty will add potatoes next time
Very easy to assemble and delish! I only added 3 garlic cloves after the beer. I used a lot of onions and they just melted into the sauce. I prepped and cooked for about 90 mins in the am. Let it set all day off heat, then gave it another hour when I got home. I suspect this gets better with age, so if you are in a rush, the flavors won’t be as good.
Winter time favorite! I add celery, garlic, green beans, & a can of tomatoes.
can i use white cooking wine instead?
This was delicious, but I played with the recipe just a little bit. I can’t stand beef stew without potatoes and I wanted more broth so used a can of tomato sauce and chicken broth, plus more meat, and carrots to feed my crew.
agree with everyone else- this is great!
I’ve made this recipe several times and always loved it–it’s my go to beef stew recipe. I always add some potatoes (because a nice hearty stew needs potatoes and serve with bread. I use whatever beer we have in the fridge (sometimes it’s an ale, sometimes a lager, and honestly can’t detect a significant difference in the end result.
This recipe was easy to make though caramelizing onions took some time. I did add 2 bay leaves to the onions and substituted beef broth instead of water. Very tasty. We had it with rice.
It was truly easy and relatively quick to prepare since most other beef stew takes 4-8 hours to cook. I did not deviate from the recipe and although it was simple list of ingredients, it was very tasty. Everyone said it was delicious.
I’m living in Australia at the moment and I mixed it up a bit. I used a blonde lager (cheap Tooheys New, good cheap session beer. BTW nobody drinks Fosters here!)
Here’s what I did:
500g of the fatty cuts of a fillet
1 can of Tooheys New
2 onions
1 clove of garlic
some ‘Dashi’ sauce (soy sauce with fish stock – about a tablespoon)
1 cup of water
2 bay leaves
1 chilli
2 teaspoons of brown sugar.
1/4 cup of flour
Pretty much followed the recipe, ie:
Brown the meat (with bay leaves and pepper) then left in a plate.
Threw the onions, chilli, sugar and garlic in a little butter and mixed around until the onion broke up (extra sweetness)
Mixed the flour with the water, threw in the beer and the water over the onions.
Waited until it boiled
Threw in the meat and an extra bay leave.
Added a beef stock cube.
Amazing. We have a Belgian Beer Cafe in Sydney, and it was on par with that – for such a cheap beer.
Served it with mashed potatoes.
Next step ? learn how to make sauerkraut (and learn how to spell it as well!)
THANKYOU!