Italian Beef Stew

Long time favorite. So, so good. Takes time but little work if you use a 28oz can of diced tomatoes (include juice) instead of peeling and chopping fresh. I use pre-sliced mushrooms and dried herbs (at 1/3 ratio) for convenience. If your meat isn’t getting done in the time specified, you need a different cut. Chuck and “stew beef” work great. Make it on the stove rather than your slow cooker so you get the thick reduction.

Although this stew was pretty tasty, it definitely not worth the time and trouble to put together.  Followed the instructions to the letter until I got to the cooking time.  Instead of a 45-minutes simmer, I doubled that time and then had to add an additional three hours to the final hour of cooking time.  Perhaps my simmer was a little lower than what may have been expected, but come on.  I'm glad the flavor was there as I have a ton of leftovers (which was what I was after), I've stored the leftovers in the freezer for future meals.  But I won't start from scratch again.

I made it last night in my slow cooker, lovely recipe, thank you for sharing!  I would use less red wine and add 1 spoon of honey along with previously suggested tomato paste. To slow cook I followed all the preparation steps and at the end of step 3 I moved all ingredients to my slow cooker instead of leaving in pan. 

Solid recipe - excellent results. I used tri-tip steaks, dried herbs and one small can of tomato paste (added halfway through). Tomato paste made the gravy rich and tomatoey - excellent taste. Entire family loved it!

This stew was delicious! My husband, who doesn't really like beef stew, raved about it. The only small changes I made were that I used a 14 oz. can of diced tomatoes in place of the fresh plum tomatoes, used regular button mushrooms, and dried herbs instead of fresh.

This was delicious but a whole lotta work, especially peeling and seeding the tomatoes. Instead of dredging the meat in flour, I just put the flour in a zip lock, added the meat and shook it up. One less dish to clean. I have a feeling the flavors will be more intense with the leftovers. We served it with mashed potatoes - yum. But a great crusty bread or rolls would've also been great. I might make this again, but only on a weekend and only if I'm very motivated (or opt to use canned tomatoes.)

Made this for Sunday dinner and it was wonderful! Served it with Cooking Light's "Basic Mashed Potatoes", and "Fennel Salad With Green Olive Vinaigrette". Great, great recipes, perfect menu.

This recipe was tasty, but quite time counsuming. I felt that the end result was no better than other beef stew recipes that weren't as labor intensive. I probably won't make again.

I made this for dinner tonight and it was very good. I did make a few small adjustments thought. Substituted stout beer for the red wine/water, added some chopped yam along with the carrots, used canned tomatoes, and amped up the spices (used fresh but also added about 2 tsp of dried italian spice). I think next time I'd also add more chopped onion along with the yams as well. The husband loved it.

Top notch stew! Apply your best braising technique and this stew will really shine. I simmered for 3 hours, generously applied salt and pepper, and added a cubed potato along with the carrot slices. Serve with Italian bread, toasted, brushed with olive oil, and rubbed with a garlic clove. Perfect for dipping.

Love love this recipe. Have made several times. Do not skimp on the fresh herbs they definitely make the recipe!

My husband loved this stew!!! I had a little trouble with it initially but I couldn't put my finger on it. The flavor was a little strange to me and I thought it was a floury flavor, but finally my husband pointed out that it was the red wine that I was tasting. As soon as he said that I knew that that was what I was tasting. It was by no means bad, just a little different. The next day though it was so delicious!!!! I couldn't get enough of it. Wine taste was gone and the flavors got to know eachother. I added quite a bit more salt because it was a little bland. I also added a half of a jalapeno because I had it, along with some asparagus. We also added potatoes, which i recommend. Both were very good! I absolutely recommend this dish! Super hearty, lots of vegetables, meat was very tender, great flavor! I might do a little less wine next time or cook early in day so that it has time to sit and marry.

Wonderful flavors from the fresh ingredients.

This looked and tasted delicious. Like some others, I had to cook the beef much longer than the recipe stated. Next time I will cook an additional 1/2 hour prior to adding the carrots as I had to add another hour to the second cooking time which overcooked the carrots . We had the leftover stew for lunch the next day - even better. I served with toasted garlic bread and a simple green salad. Will definitely make again

I made this last night and it was delicious! Wouldn't change a thing. Worth the prep time - don't skimp on this part.

If you follow the recipe, suggest you allow longer than 40min for prep. We cut the chuck into larger cubes, about 2". Subbed drained canned tomatoes for fresh and needed a longer final simmer to reduce the stew. Excellent results. Served with the rest of the Ravenswood Zin.

Made this tonight and it was great. The only modification was borrowed from Julia Child. After the braise was complete, I used a colander to separate the braising liquid from the solids. I then reduced the liquid by half. Finally, I recombined everything adding the basil and parsley. It was great.

Best beef stew recipe I've ever tried! I used canned tomatoes w/ sea salt, subbed mushrooms for celery, and completely forgot to add the garlic. I used Colores del Sol Malbec for my cup of wine and it gave it AWESOME flavor! It was DELICIOUS! This will be my go-to beef stew recipe from now on.

I admit this recipe involved a little bit of work with all the chopping and browning the meat, etc. but the effort was well worth it. I made it for our cooking club and everyone loved it. I followed it to a tee and the flavors were spot on and the meat came out perfectly tender. I will definitely be adding this one to my repetoire. :-)

AMAZING!!! This is the first stew I made in my first dutch oven. I did not have fresh tomatoes or fresh herbs, so I used canned diced tomatoes and dried herbs (used 1tsp where it called for 1tbs of fresh). I used potatoes in place of the mushrooms. Other than that I followed recipe and instructions exactly, and it turned out to be the best meal I've ever cooked and my husband is still raving about it! Served it with hot italian bread and red wine. This would be great to serve to guests also. Definitely a keeper!!

Yum Yum! This stew was great. I went out on a limb and made it when company was coming not realizing one of my guests hated stew growing up. She raved about this one, got seconds and said that she had changed her mind about stew. We all loved it. Made it as described in the recipe except used dried spices. No problems getting it perfectly tender.

Wonderful rich flavor! I used canned whole plum tomatoes and eliminated the water. Even better the next day!

Love it! I have been trying all kinds of stew and soup recipes over the past year, and nothing really wowed me until this. I liked what the spices added to the flavor, overall it was a great dish. I had mine over some brown rice. I'm sure it would also be great with a baked potato.

This dish was absolutely worth the effort. I used all fresh herbs except for the Thyme. I substituted canned tomatoes as well and used a Cabernet for the wine. I think this recipe has definitely replaced my mother's recipe that I have been using for years.

This was delicious! Made it last night and my house still smells wonderful. Used 1 large can of peeled whole san marzano tomatoes instead of fresh...no other substitutions.

Loved Loved this recipe. I substituted portobellos for the creminis (because they were on sale) and canned tomatoes for fresh. I did not substitute the fresh herbs for dried--I think fresh herbs make all the difference. Fabulous weekend, winter meal!

I thought this recipe was worth the time. I agree, it needs a lot more cooking time. But that's the beauty of stew, put it together and go do something else for the rest of the day. I really like the flavor.

Good beef stew recipe - though I'm not sure if it's my favorite of the bunch. I'll likely make this again though. Used 2 plum tomatoes plus 1 can diced and dried spices. I didn't have basil on hand and I dried just isn't the same. I'm sure it would have been tastier with it but oh well!

We had this for dinner tonight and thought it was fantastic! Plenty of rich, deep flavor. I did find I needed to adjust the seasoning during the last half hour since it needed quite a bit more salt and pepper than the recipe called for. My only complaint was that the 1 cup serving size is pretty small. Without the baguette I served on the side, we would have still been hungry.

Would make this again it was wonderful for a weekend meal. Put it together and let it simmer for an hour. Then put in that carrot and 1 hour until dinner. Even better the next day as the flavors developed together.

This recipe is a time commitment. Not sure the prep and cook time were worth the end result. It was a bit bland. But, the day after leftovers were much better. I shaved parmigiano-reggiano cheese on top.

Fantastic. I had no trouble getting this done/tender in the time given. The flavor was fantastic. I used basic cubed stew meat from the meat department, and dried herbs instead of fresh, which may have given better flavor. Merlot for the wine. You can't use a non-stick pan for this recipe - you have to get stuff stuck to deglace and build flavor. My husband and kids (from 4 to 15) LOVED it.

This was just okay. Not worth the time and effort. It looked and smelled good, but the taste was pretty bland. I used half fresh and half canned tomatoes - perhaps that was why it was bland? Maybe it'll be better as leftovers but i won't make it again.

Really good flavors and very tender beef, but it did take a couple of hours to prepare. Not exactly a quick weeknight dinner, but it would be a nice, simple (but hearty) company meal served with cornbread.

It took way longer than 45 mins covered, and then 1 hour uncovered to make the beef tender. try more like 2 hours. Other than that it was pretty good.