Red Wine Beef Stew
Learn to make a delicious and easy Red Wine Beef Stew with loads of fresh herbs for the perfect relaxed Sunday supper!
As much as I don’t want to see summer go, I am glad that we’re moving into the time of year when we start making our favorite soups and stews. All those comforting foods that come along with cool days and changing leaves.
One of our favorites for this time of year is a good beef stew. I have several recipes including a quick pressure cooker beef stew and a Mexican Beef Stew that I make on weeknights. Those versions are all great, but the one I’m sharing in this post is special.
This is one of those wonderfully rich stews that you put in the oven and when you come back to it hours later you find that something truly divine has happened inside the pot. Simple ingredients have cooked down and become a recipe that is so much more than its individual parts.
This Red Wine Beef Stew is definitely one to savor on a relaxed Sunday evening. By the fire. With a nice glass of wine.
❤️ Why We Love This Recipe
- Simple ingredients: Everything you need for this recipe is easily sourced at your local grocery store. There’s nothing exotic or out of the ordinary.
- Easy to make: No special skills are needed. If you can use a knife, you can make this recipe!
- Filling: Just add some fresh, hot bread and butter to make a complete meal.
🥘 About The Ingredients
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- Chuck Roast: Select a roast with a good amount of marbling for the best flavor.
- Olive Oil: Plain olive oil is fine. No need for extra virgin.
- Garlic Cloves, Carrots, Onions, Diced Tomatoes: These are the aromatic vegetables that impart all their flavors into the finished stew.
- Fresh Rosemary, Fresh Thyme, Bay Leaf: My choice of herbs to bring out all the subtle flavors of the stew.
- Red Wine: Tenderizes the meat and enhances the flavor of the finished dish.
- Beef Broth, Tomato Paste: If you have homemade beef broth, do use it. Otherwise, canned is fine. The tomato paste provides depth of flavor to the finished stew.
You’ll find detailed measurements for all ingredients in the printable version of the recipe at the bottom of this post.
🔪 How to Make Red Wine Beef Stew
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
- Prepare the chuck roast by removing any excess fat and connective tissue from the roast. Cut the roast into bite-sized pieces.
- In a heavy-bottomed pan such as a Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over low heat.
- Add the crushed garlic cloves and cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes until the garlic is fragrant and has begun to brown slightly. Use a slotted spoon to remove the garlic and set it aside.
- Increase the heat to medium-high and add the beef cubes to the pan. Generously season with salt and pepper.
- Cook until the beef is brown on all sides. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Add the wine to the pan and bring it to a boil. Stir and scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen any browned bits from the bottom.
- Add the garlic and beef back to the pan along with the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil.
- Cover the pot, transfer to the oven, and bake for 2 ½ hours or until the beef is tender.
- At the end of the cooking time, remove the herb stems and the bay leaf and give everything a good stir. The cooked garlic will dissipate into the stew.
- Sprinkle a little fresh thyme on each serving for garnish if you like.
🔀 Recipe Variations
- Add more vegetables. Celery, green beans, peas, mushrooms, pearl onions, and potatoes make great additions. Not all vegetables can withstand the full cooking time required for the stew. Add long-cooking vegetables, like turnips and potatoes about halfway through cooking, and very delicate ones such as peas near the end of the cooking time.
- Add herbs and seasonings. I often add a couple of teaspoons of herbes de Provence to the stew for a little French flair. A dash of balsamic vinegar is also superb.
😎 Make it Ahead
This recipe is a fantastic choice for making in advance! The stew becomes even more flavorful and delicious as the flavors develop over time. Make it up to two days in advance of serving and keep refrigerated in a tightly closed container. Reheat over low heat when ready to serve.
🍚 How To Store
Store in an airtight container under refrigeration for up to 4 days. May be frozen for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to serve it, just let it thaw in the fridge for 24 hours before reheating it.
❗ Recipe Tips
- For tender meat, be sure to find a chuck roast that is well-marbled but without excess fat. Very lean meat will not result in the melt-in-your-mouth stew you’re looking for!
- Be careful when trimming the roast not to remove too much fat. You want to retain a good amount for both texture and taste.
- Use vegetable or canola oil if you don’t have olive oil.
🍴 Serving Suggestions
This Red Wine Beef Stew is a hearty meal all by itself! However, if you’d like to round out your menu a bit, I would suggest serving Steakhouse Honey Wheat Bread, a loaf of Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread, or even some Herbed Drop Biscuits. With butter, of course! And a simple Garden Salad with Classic Vinaigrette is always appropriate.
❓ Questions About Red Wine Beef Stew
I prefer to purchase a chuck roast and cut it into cubes myself. The packaged beef stew meat that you find in most grocery stores likely contains bits and pieces left from processing other cuts for sale. Because it’s not all from one cut, it likely has varying textures and cooking times so it won’t all turn out the same. Using a roast that you cut yourself ensures that all the meat cooks at the same rate.
For this beef stew recipe, I like a rich, intense red wine. I’d suggest a shiraz, a chateauneuf-du-pape, or a red zinfandel. A blend such as the Gigondas Duc de Mayreuil is perfect.
Questions? I’m happy to help!
If you have more questions about the recipe, or if you’ve made it and would like to leave a comment, scroll down to leave your thoughts, questions, and/or rating!
Thanks so much for stopping by!
📖 Recipe
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Red Wine Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 12 garlic cloves crushed
- 2 pounds chuck roast trimmed and cut in cubes
- 2 teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 cup red wine
- 8 carrots peeled and cut in pieces
- 2 medium onions roughly chopped
- ½ cup beef broth or stock
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 14.5 ounces canned diced tomatoes
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary
- several springs fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
- Prepare the chuck roast by removing any excess fat and connective tissue from the roast. Cut the roast into bite-sized pieces.
- In a heavy-bottomed pan such as a Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over low heat.
- Add the crushed garlic cloves and cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes until the garlic is fragrant and has begun to brown slightly. Use a slotted spoon to remove the garlic and set it aside.
- Increase the heat to medium-high and add the beef cubes to the pan. Generously season with salt and pepper.
- Cook until the beef is brown on all sides. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Add the wine to the pan and bring it to a boil. Stir and scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen any browned bits from the bottom.
- Add the garlic and beef back to the pan along with the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil.
- Cover the pot, transfer to the oven, and bake for 2 ½ hours or until the beef is tender.
- At the end of the cooking time, remove the herb stems and the bay leaf and give everything a good stir. The cooked garlic will dissipate into the stew.
- Sprinkle a little fresh thyme on each serving for garnish if you like.
Notes
- Store in an airtight container under refrigeration for up to 4 days. May be frozen for up to 3 months. When ready to serve, thaw in the fridge for 24 hours before reheating.
- For tender meat, be sure to find a chuck roast that is well-marbled but without excess fat. Be careful when trimming the roast not to remove too much fat. You want to retain a good amount for both texture and taste.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information is calculated by software based on the ingredients in each recipe. It is an estimate only and is provided for informational purposes. You should consult your healthcare provider or a registered dietitian if precise nutrition calculations are needed for health reasons.
— This post was originally published on October 3, 2011. It has been updated with new photos and additional information.
Only thing I would add is potatoes.
This was amazing! I added potatoes and corn and it was perfect.
Thanks,
-R
Very glad to hear that you enjoyed it, Ricky.
Love beef stew! Sometimes I make lamb and beef stew, the addition of lamb makes the stew even more flavorful.
Sunday is our big dinner night too. Going to try this in the oven, have always done mine on top of the stove. Glad to find another garlic enthusiast!
Oh Lana I love beef stew. As you say it makes winter worth it! Looks good.
What a delicious and warming stew! It’s times like these I miss cooking for a carnivore. Sigh. But beef stew is always even better reheated the second (or third, or fourth) day, so perhaps a big vat of it just for me? I could also see adding some cornmeal dumplings to make it even heartier (when it becomes blizzard weather).
Ooo this looks beautiful! And I really like the way you do a mini collage of your prep pics. I always wanna include mine, but since they’re not as pretty as the final product I haven’t found a way to include them, but not make them front and center. Props on a great post!
yum, yum, yum! This looks delicious, Lana. I love a beef stew with red wine and thyme. Nothing like it!
Hi Lana!
Oooh…. I love stews… all kinds, all flavors.. and ones with some good red wine are my favorites! Love the addition of all that garlic!!
looks SO delicious, tender and juicy! Fabulous stew :)
Mary
A great way to kick off the cool weather! Looks like a great classic recipe that everyone should have in their winter repertoire. I made one last week and it was nice to have the leftovers for a few days…even made pulled beef sandwiches that were really a nice change….thinking about soup this week too!
Oh yea! It’s stew time. That’s nice and meaty, just the way I like it!
Yes, Curt, it’s stew time and soup time and all those great long-cooking, hearty recipes time :-)
Hi!
I am in LOVE with this site and your recipes! I’m so sad I haven’t found you earlier. Oh well, better late than never! Looking forward to spending some time to “poke around” here. Bookmarked! :)
Hi Michelle! I’m glad you found my blog and are enjoying browsing the recipes. There’s a recipe index, too, where you can find everything listed by category. Just click on “Recipe Index” in the menu bar above.
This Sunday Stew reminds us of family time. The magic that happens when the ingredients are mixed and the fire burning underneath the pot — are comparable to the blend of conversations, anecdotes and experiences shared by everyone while dining. Come to think of it, everyday should be family day! Such a great recipe!
Thank you, Anna. Family time is the very best time, isn’t it?
I’ll take a bit of meat with my garlic any day Lana. Not quite stew weather here…I need something less than 85 degree days but soon a dish like this will be perfect to stave off the cold.
So strange how your area is having hot weather at this time and we’re in the low 40’s at night! Oh well, I’m sure you’ll have your fair share of cold weather soon enough.
comfort food at its best!
You can never have too much garlic in beef stew! This looks great.
Gorgeous color on the beef–looks mouth watering.
Thank you, Angela. That red wine really brings out a lovely color on the beef, doesn’t it?
I can eat Sunday stew everyday of the week looks amazingly delicious!
Thanks, Claudia.