Basic Beef Stew with Carrots and Mushrooms

sitting here 2 hours later drinking the left over wine and waiting on the dish to finish up. man this is great!

I have been using this recipe for at least 5 years now and it is perfect every time. I use baby carrots, sweet onion, the baby Melissa brand potato’s and lots of white mushrooms in mine. With the red wine and thyme sprigs the sauce is amazing to dip French bread into. The beef becomes fork tender. I highly recommend this recipe especially if you are a beginner at cooking because you can’t really mess it up. Use good quality ingredients and you will feel like a chef!

Ok, if I had not already tried and loved CL's Beef Daube Provençal, then I would have rated this 4 stars. However, considering the two recipes take about the same amount of time and effort, and are similar recipes, I would end up choosing the Beef Daube Provençal every time over this recipe. For that reason, this beef stew will not make it into my rotation. That said, we did enjoy this and it is a good beef stew recipe.

outstanding

I am a personal chef and I have clients who request that I make this stew every time I cook for them. I am making it for 15 people on Wednesday for the same people. This one is a keeper!

Great solid stew with deep flavor. Worth the effort!

I loved this stew! It really had a lot of broth, but I thickened it at the end with a tablespoon of cornstarch that I'd wisked into about a cup of the broth. I didn't have any fresh thyme so I used 1 t. of dried. I had red potatoes & sweet potatoes, so I used both. In addition to the carrots I also used parsnips. I made everything the night before up to adding the meat & veggies back into the broth to simmer. At that point I put everything together & refrigerated it overnight so that in the morning all I had to do was put it in my slow cooker and let it simmer all day. It was wonderful and my family really enjoyed it. I served it with marinated coleslaw and homemade cornbread muffins. Definitely will make again!

Comfort food, plain and simple. Made changes: Omitted potato, added frozen thawed green beans and peas. Added 2 Tbs tomato paste and 1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce. Thickened sauce at the end with a cornstarch slurry. I guess this makes the recipe different but it's a good base as it initially reads. I'm just a tinkerer...Served with a biscuit...

This is my go-to beef stew recipe. We love it! I add frozen pearl onions and cut green beans (or you could use peas, if you like them) in the last few minutes of cooking time. Always a hit, never fails...love it.

This is the best beef stew recipe! I have made it several times, and it has become my go to, no fail recipe for stew. I always have enough to freeze half it for my husband and I to eat later.

Full of flavor; worth the extra time in the kitchen.

This was good. Not exceptional, but a good, basic beef stew, as titled.

This is an AMAZING recipe! Although I could not find cremini mushrooms at our supermarket, it tasted just as good when I used sliced baby bellas.

really excellent stew. very thick and saucy with rich flavor. made this just as written, only halved because we were using up some leftover stew meat. it's really very easy to prepare, just needs a little babysitting while it simmers. be sure to stir occasionally during the last phase so that the potatoes & carrots cook evenly. i look forward to making this again.

Very Good, followed the easier prep method one of the other reviewers posted--browning meat first then doing onions and mushrooms. Makes a lot less fuss than how it's written. Smells wonderful. I made one night and ate the next. As always, better the second and third days!

Stew was good but there must be some time shortcuts.....as someone mentioned above.

We loved this recipe, but when I followed the directions the bottom of my pan burnt. Luckily it didn't affect the flavor of the stew, but the cleanup was a pain.

Delicious!

Yummy, that's all I can say! I didn't have thyme, so I used some Herb de Provence and it tasted great.

Great and easy recipe and was delicious! Used bella mushrooms, baby carrots and added peas. There was a hint of the red wine but wasn't over-powering. Had plenty of leftovers and the flavor just got better and better. Will definitely make this again and use a little more thyme and garlic.

This is a great basic recipe. Really easy to prepare. Will definitely make again. The meat comes out very tender. The mushrooms give the stew a wonderful flavor.

Wonderful. I made beef stew for the first time using this recipe and loved it. I'll definitely make it again. I did use little Yukon gold potatoes and mini-carrots because they were what I had on hand. It was delicious.

I've made this recipe many times since it was first published in 2006. I never stray from the given ingredients, but have made a few changes in the technique, which seems much more labor intensive than it should be. First I flour the stew meat and brown in batches before setting aside. Whatever flour is left I whisk into the beef broth which I have poured into a measuring bowl. I brown the onions for 5 minutes, then add the mushrooms and thyme and cook an additional 5 minutes before adding the garlic, stiring for 1 minute. I now add the red wine to the onion mixture, scraping up any brown bits before adding the broth/flour mixture. From this point I follow the recipe as written. The end result is just as delicious, and the time saved is better spent on other activities....like testing the wine!

Really good flavor. Not a mushroom fan, so I increased the amount of meat and potatoes. I also added a cup of peas - will add more next time. I did add a little corn starch at the end to thicken it up a bit. Even better the second day.

Very good - cheated and made a couple of short cuts - used baby carrots & unpeeled rustic potatoes - tasted great

WOW..this was the best beef stew I have ever made. Not too complicated to make either. I loved it, the family loved it. Thanks for a fantastic recipe I highly recommend it.

Great beef stew recipe. The house smelled yummy while making it. Very fulling and I took leftovers to work for lunch and it was even better the next day.

This recipe was delicious! The kids loved it. I'm going to incorporate it in my regular weekly menu.

We really like this and I have made it several times. I find that I can cut the meat by 50% and add green beans and peas at the end, thereby giving us a more healthful meal. I usually use a Merlot or Shirrazz for a mellow flavor. Last night, I used 1/2 fresh shiitake mushrooms, which added a lot of flavor. I always add 2 dried tomatoes to enrich the broth. Needs little else beyond some bread or a salad.