French Beef Stew with Red Wine (2024)

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Rich and delicious French beef stew with red wine and vegetables. You’ll love the intense flavor and it’s so easy to make in a Dutch oven, low and slow! Serve this stew with wide egg noodles or simply with crusty bread and a salad.

This is my version of a Provencal-inspired French beef stew, chock-full of classic beef stew ingredients. Think fork-tender braised beef, beef broth, chunky vegetables, hearty red wine and aromatic fresh rosemary and other herbs.

Traditionally made on the stovetop in a very large earthenware dish called a daubiere, it’s slow-cooking at its best – rich with tender beef, herbs and red wine.

This beef stew recipe is based on a French-style beef daube, which is just a fancy name for you guessed it! Beef stew.

Slow-cooking in a Dutch oven
Best beef cuts for beef stew
Red wines to use in beef stew
Jump to recipe

Slow-cooking beef stew

Make this stew when life gives you atiny bit more time.

The prep work is mostly (all) up front, so it’s perfect to make on relaxed day or on the weekend. Put on something comfy to wear and turn on the oven! Because the flavors meld for days, you’ll be rewarded with very tasty leftovers during the week.

Sliding a Dutch oven full of meat, vegetables and wine-rich broth into the oven for a few hours not only fills the house with amazing smells, but leaves you hands-free to do other things for a couple hours.

While dinner is bubbling away in the oven, all you’ll need to do later is slice some crusty French bread and toss mixed greens for a salad. Win!

A Dutch oven is the best slow-cooker!

Along with the pasta pots and cast iron skillets, my enameled cast iron French ovens are my most cherished kitchen tools.

I know some of you are thinking – hasn’t this girl ever heard of a Crock-Pot?! I l-o-v-e my pressure cooker and slow cookers, and I have so many great recipes for them.

It just that there’s something special about a an old-fashioned braised beef stew that cooks for hours in the oven.

A good enameled cast iron pot is an investment, but it’s beautiful and will last a long, long time.
It’s heavy-duty and reliably retains even heat distribution over long, slow cooking times.
For slow-cooker recipes, a Dutch oven is a true one-pot vessel — sear meats and sauté vegetables on top of the stove, and place in the oven to slow-cook.
You can cook dinner in the oven while doing other things. Nothing is cozier than a warm kitchen in the cooler months.

The best beef cuts for cooking beef stew:

When you shop for meat for beef stew, I recommend avoiding the shrink-wrapped packages of meat labeled “stew meat”.

The meat in those is often a mixture of trimmings from a variety of beef cuts, which means they vary widely in fat content and tenderness.

Beef chuck: Boneless chuck is my top choice for beef stew. The chuck comes from the shoulder portion of the cow between the ribs and the brisket.

This heavily exercised muscle contains a lot of connective tissue and fat marbling, which makes for a tastier piece of meat.

Look for chuck roasts labeled blade roast, chuck shoulder, top chuck or shoulder clod roast. If you don’t want to bother cutting up the meat yourself, ask the staff behind the meat department to do it for you.

Basic steps:

See Also
What is another word for cioppino? | Cioppino Synonyms - WordHippo Thesaurus cacciucco vs. cioppino Cioppino Recipe rn Your Guide to Cioppino Wine Pairing

Vegetables in stew

It’s not traditional, but I prefer to cook the vegetables separately from the stew. It’s a tip I learned when I worked in restaurants. The method is a great way to keep the vibrant color, texture and flavor intact.

I like to use a fresh fennel bulb in place of celery for a little Provencal twist, along with the traditional celery. You can use more celery instead of the fennel (3-4 stalks total).

It’s probably not the way your mom or grandmother made stew, but I think it’s an improvement. The veggies in my mom’s stew were boiled to a gray mush — not very appetizing to a kid like me!

Red wine in French beef stew:

Why add red wine to beef stew?

When you slow-cook tough cuts of meat like beef chuck, the acid present in the wine eventually helps to break the meat down, making it more tender.

Red wine in beef stew also adds depth of flavor — some of the liquid evaporates in the oven, which concentrates the flavors going on in the pot.

So, which red wine should you use? If you’re a regular red wine drinker, a good rule of thumb is to cook with wine that you already love to drink.

You don’t need to spend big bucks on a bottle of wine for beef stew. There are lots of affordable, tasty dry red wines that are both delicious to drink and cook with.

good value (under $15) red Wines for COQ AU VIN

Bordeaux-style Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot blends
California Pinot Noir, Syrah, Zinfandel
French Cotes du Rhone, Bourgogne (pinot noir), Syrah
Italian Chianti, Barbera D’Asti, Montepulciano
South American/Australian Malbec, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon

What to serve with it:

This stew is delicious as is, but we also love it served over wide pasta noodles like pappardelle or cheesy polenta.

Keeping leftovers:

The stew will keep for up to 5 days in the refrigerator. When reheating, add a bit more stock or water to the stew as the sauce will thicken as it cools.

Slow-Cooked Red Wine Beef Stew

Karen Tedesco

A rich French-style beef stew with red wine and vegetables. You'll love the hearty flavors and it's so easy to make in a Dutch oven, low and slow! Serve the stew over wide egg noodles, parmesan polenta or with crusty bread alongside for hearty meal.

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4.85 from 121 community reviews

Prep Time 25 minutes mins

Cook Time 2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Total Time 2 hours hrs 55 minutes mins

Course Meat

Cuisine French

Servings 6 servings

Equipment

Dutch Oven

Ingredients

Stew

▢ 3 pounds (1350 g) beef chuck roast
▢ 1 tablespoon kosher salt, or 1 ½ teaspoons table salt
▢ 3 tablespoons (45 g) olive oil
▢ 2-3 shallots, finely chopped (1 cup)
▢ 3 tablespoons (45 g) all-purpose flour
▢ 1 tablespoon (15 g) tomato paste
▢ 4 whole garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
▢ ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
▢ 1 ½ cups (375 ml) hearty dry red wine, such as syrah, merlot or Cotes-du-Rhone
▢ 1-2 cups (250-500 ml) chicken broth, or beef broth
▢ 2 bay leaves and 4 sprigs each thyme and rosemary, tied into a bundle with string

Vegetables

▢ 1 pound (459 g) carrots, peeled and sliced into 2-inch chunks
▢ 2 leeks, chopped
▢ 2 stalks celery, chopped
▢ 1 fennel bulb, stems and tough outer layers trimmed, sliced into ½-inch wedges (optional)
▢ 1 tablespoon (15 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
▢ ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
▢ ½ teaspoon kosher salt

US Customary – Metric

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 (175C) degrees with the rack in the center.
Prep the beef: Trim the meat of excess fat and slice into 3-inch chunks. Season evenly on all sides with 2 teaspoons salt.
Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy casserole over medium-high heat. Sear the beef in batches until browned on all sides, turning with a pair of tongs. Tip: To get the best sear, try not to crowd the pan. Remove the meat to a platter as you go.
Lower the heat to medium and add the shallot to the pot. Cook 5 minutes in the pan fat, stirring every now and then, until softened. Return the beef and all the reserved juices that have collected on the plate to the pot. Sprinkle the flour over the beef and stir to coat. Add the tomato paste, garlic, wine, 1 teaspoon salt, and black pepper, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to release the browned bits.
Bring to a simmer, then add enough broth to just cover the beef. Toss in the herb bundle. Cover the pot with a sheet of parchment or foil, then top with the pot lid.
Place in the oven to braise for 2 ½-3 hours. The cooking liquid will be slightly reduced and the meat should fall apart when prodded with a fork.

Cook the vegetables

While the beef is in the oven, put the carrots, leeks, celery and fennel in a large skillet with ¼ cup water, 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil and ½ teaspoon salt. Place over high heat until the water boils. Lower heat to a simmer. Cover the pan and cook until the vegetables are fork-tender but still colorful, about 10-12 minutes. If there's liquid left in the pan, simmer uncovered until it's mostly evaporated. Remove the vegetables from the heat and set aside.
To serve: Stir the vegetables into the stew. Taste for seasoning, adding more salt and pepper as desired. Pick out and remove the bay leaf and herb bundle stems.Sprinkle with the parsley and ladle into bowls.

Karen’s Notes and Tips

Use a 5-6 quart capacity heavy pot or Dutch oven for the best results.
The stew will keep for up to 5 days in the refrigerator. Reheat gently in a saucepan on the stovetop, adding a bit more broth or water to the stew as the liquid will thicken as it cools.

Nutrition

Nutrition facts are calculated by third-party software. If you have specific dietary needs, please refer to your favorite calculator.

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Hey, I’m Karen

Creator of Familystyle Food

I’m a food obsessed super-taster and professionally trained cook ALL about creating elevated dinners with everyday ingredients. Find simplified recipes made from scratch and enjoy incredibly tasty food! Read more about me here.