Grandpa Henderson's Classic Old Fashioned Stovetop Beef Stew

My grandpa made the BEST old-fashioned stovetop beef stew! This hearty recipe makes for a perfect, cozy comfort food dinner. It makes a big batch, tastes even better the next day, and freezes beautifully. This tomato-based recipe has been a hit with Big Flavors readers for many, many years now.

I spent a lot of time with my grandparents as a child. It was in their kitchen in Indiana that I learned to cook and bake by doing it alongside them.

My grandma did most of the cooking and all of the baking (like these classic cut-out sugar cookies and this Dutch apple pie), but there were a few things that my grandpa made regularly that I loved. This beef stew was absolutely one of those things!

This recipe is one that I learned from him and then tweaked a bit to make it for my family. The main differences between my version and his are that he added cabbage and sometimes corn to his stew, and I add peas to mine.

If you're interested in learning more about modernizing old family recipes, check out episode 3 of my podcast where we dive deeper into this topic.

Jump to:

• 🧡 Why we love this recipe
• 📝 Ingredients
• 🥕 Root veggies: to peel or not to peel?
• 🥣 Substitutions
• 📌 Tips
• ✅ How to make this recipe
• 📝 Streamlining beef stew prep
• 💡 What to serve with beef stew
• 🥡 Storage recommendations
• 🍽️ Still hungry? You may also like...
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

🧡 Why we love this recipe

• It makes a big batch!
• The house smells incredible while it simmers away on the stovetop.
• It tastes better the next day.
• The components for this recipe can be prepped in advance, reducing the amount of hands-on time you need the day you plan to cook.
• Beef stew is one of those recipes that freezes beautifully, making a homemade dinner easy to have at a future point in time in just minutes.
• It reminds me of my grandpa, and my husband says it also reminds him of the beef stew that his grandma used to make.

📝 Ingredients

Here's everything you need to make this classic beef stew (see recipe card below for ingredient amounts and full directions):

• Olive oil, for browning the meat
• Beef stew meat - I often buy a full roast, like a chuck roast, and cut it into bite-sized pieces. When buying pre-cut "beef stew meat", I typically cut it into even smaller pieces.
• Green bell peppers
• Carrots
• Onions - I usually use yellow onions here, but white onions would also work.
• Celery
• Tomato juice
• Beef broth - I like using an unsalted or low-sodium variety.
• Ketchup
• Worcestershire sauce
• Garlic powder
• Dark brown sugar - pack it into the measuring cup.
• Ground black pepper
• Hot sauce - Grandpa always used Tabasco hot sauce. I usually use Crystal hot sauce.
• Dried parsley
• Russet potatoes - up until recently, I'd use 3 in this recipe, but I've found that 2 is plenty.
• Pearl barley
• Frozen sweet peas

🥣 Substitutions

Feel free to switch up the veggies in this recipe. If you don't like potatoes, leave them out! You can replace them with another veggie that you like.

You can also add additional veggies that you have on hand to help use them up and minimize food waste.

My grandpa used to cut up green cabbage and add it to his beef stew. He also would sometimes add canned or frozen corn.

There's no right or wrong answer here - just be sure to give the veggies enough time to cook through while the stew simmers away.

📌 Tips

The exact size of the pieces you cut your beef stew meat into isn't important. I usually aim for somewhere around an inch and a half cubes.

This means they're small enough that they're bite-sized, and there are a lot of pieces throughout the pot of beef stew.

You could absolutely brown the meat in batches to really get a good sear on the outside of each piece of beef. I find this unnecessary, personally.

I like to just put all of the beef cubes into the hot oil in the pot and let it cook, stirring occasionally, until the beef is brown on all sides.

This is going to be simmering for a few hours, so it'll be super tender when it's done cooking. Getting a "crust" on the outside isn't something that I find worth the time it would take.

✅ How to make this recipe

1. Brown beef in a large stock pot.
2. Add bell peppers, carrots, onions, celery, tomato juice, beef broth, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, brown sugar, black pepper, hot sauce, and dried parsley and stir to combine.
3. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
4. Add potatoes and barley and simmer, covered, for 45 minutes. Stir in the frozen peas and cook for another 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.
5. Taste for seasoning and add salt, if needed.

See recipe card below for full instructions.

📝 Streamlining beef stew prep

When prepping this beef stew, I like to do one of 2 things. I’ll either prep everything the day before or chop my veggies while the meat is browning. Both of these things save time in different ways.

If I’m prepping and cooking at the same time, I find that chopping the veggies while the meat is browning in the pan gives me just the right amount of time.

You don’t have to get your meat super brown – I don’t get finicky and do it in batches or anything. Just a few stirs until the outer edges are mostly browned before adding the other ingredients.

If I’m prepping the day before I plan to cook, I’ll go ahead and cut the beef into smaller chunks and put it all into a container, pop the lid on, and put it into the fridge.

I cut up all the veggies and put them in a sealed container in the fridge, too, keeping the potatoes separate since they go in at a later point in the recipe.

If you cut up your potatoes ahead of time, be sure to put them in a container and cover them with cold water before refrigerating them. This will ensure they don’t get brown and funky before you get around to using them.

When you add them to your pot of stew, be sure to drain the water off first. The liquid was just there to help keep the potatoes from oxidizing.

I find that this prep-in-advance method really helps when it comes to saving time. This beef stew recipe isn’t super involved, but the chopping takes a bit of time, and I’m all about making things easier for "future me" whenever possible.

💡 What to serve with beef stew

Beef stew is pretty much a meal all on its own. My grandpa always served it with bread and butter. He'd just use sandwich bread and it was delicious!

I'll often either buy or make a nice loaf of sourdough or ciabatta to go with the stew. It's great for dunking!

🥡 Storage recommendations

One of my very favorite parts of this beef stew is enjoying it as leftovers! It tastes even better the day after you've made it, and it freezes beautifully!

For freezing, I like using Souper Cubes - they're silicone trays that have portioned measurements on them. I have the one-cup size and they get a ton of use!

I typically fill the four portions with stew, freeze overnight, and then transfer the frozen stew into a freezer bag. Whenever I want to have beef stew again, I'll either thaw a portion in the fridge or just heat it up in the microwave or stovetop.

I vacuum-seal my bags of stew cubes with my Foodsaver, but you don't need to do that if you don't have one. Just be sure to get as much air out of the bag as possible to help prevent freezer burn.

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