Hearty Beef Stew: 3 Variations of Beef Stew

Beef stew is a comfort food staple consisting of beef cooked with vegetables and aromatics in a flavorful broth. You can make beef stew with tougher cuts of beef, like beef chuck, which becomes tender with prolonged cooking. Beef stew can taste even better the next day once the flavors have had time to meld.

There are endless ways to make beef stew, but here are three great options:

1. 1. Beef bourguignon: Beef bourguignon, or bœuf à la Bourguignonne, is a French beef stew featuring pieces of beef and veggies like carrots, pearl onions, and mushrooms braised in a red wine sauce until deeply tender. The stew is typically served as a main course, sometimes with mashed potatoes or crusty bread.
2. 2. Ghormeh sabzi: Ghormeh sabzi is a Persian stew, or khoresh, made with fresh herbs, beans, and meat, such as beef. (Ghormeh means “braised” and sabzi means “herbs” in Farsi.) This Persian food gets its distinctive flavor from limoo amani (dried Persian limes) and shanbalileh (dried or fresh fenugreek leaves), both of which are available at Middle Eastern grocery stores. Ghormeh sabzi is typically served with chelow (steamed Persian rice) with tahdig (a crispy crust) and yogurt.
3. 3. Gluten-free beef stew: Although beef stew can easily be made gluten-free, many cooks thicken their stews with all-purpose flour (a cornstarch slurry is an easy, gluten-free swap). Worcestershire sauce is another popular beef stew flavoring, but some brands contain wheat, so check the label.

The best beef stew meat recipes will use stew meat from tough cuts of meat with high-fat content for a rich flavor. Tender beef cuts, such as filet mignon, will become tough with a longer cooking time and should be avoided for stew. There are many cuts of beef you can choose from for your beef for stew ranging from cheap to more expensive:

1. 1. Round: Round cuts of beef are taken from the cow’s rear legs and are generally very tough with relatively low-fat content. You will often have the choice between a top round or bottom round cut. While both are great for stews, bottom cuts are tougher and better for slow cooking. Round roasts are a very popular choice for stew meat for their low cost.
2. 2. Chuck: Chuck meat is taken from the shoulder and is one of the most popular choices for stew meat due to its high toughness and medium fat content. Beef chucks are usually large cuts of meat and are only a little more expensive than a round roast. They’re often called chuck roasts since they are popular for making chuck pot roasts.
3. 3. Sirloin: Sirloin cuts are taken from the back of the cow. The sirloin cut falls somewhere in between a chuck and round roast in terms of toughness and fat content, and they will often be somewhat more expensive.
4. 4. Brisket: Brisket cuts are taken from the breast or chest of the cow and are typically inexpensive. You can use a whole brisket for a stew or choose between flat and point cuts. The point cut will have a better ratio of tough tissues and fat content and will be better for stewing than the less fatty flat cut.
5. 5. Bone-in short rib: Short ribs are from the cow’s underbelly and are usually sold with the bone in. Short ribs have a rich flavor with a good balance of toughness and fat, though they are often expensive.
6. 6. Oxtail: Oxtail cuts are a very tough cut of meat taken from the tail of the cow. They have a very high-fat content, and the gelatin from the bone makes them delicious, but they are often expensive due to their low availability.