Rosemary Red Wine Mushroom Beef Stew

Hearty rosemary mushroom beef stew is a comforting, delicious meal that will warm you up on a cold winter day. Instant Pot and slow cooker instructions included. (gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free)

Is anyone else as obsessed with soups and stews as I am? I absolutely love a big, cozy bowl of something hot on cold days to nourish my body and soul. Equally as nourishing to my spirit is the process of cooking stew. Unlike many people, I actually love standing at the stove, stirring and creating a delicious pot of stew while the house starts to smell wonderful. It's very relaxing. And at the end of it, I'm rewarded with a big meal that will feed our family for a few days. It's a great strategy for "meal prepping" without actually having to meal prep.

Why You'll Love This Mushroom Beef Stew

This mushroom beef stew is filled with the rich, savory (or umami) flavors of mushrooms, beef broth, rosemary, and thyme. It's hearty, filling, and so comforting, while also being nutritious. If you love simmering a big pot of stew while the house fills with wonderful smells just like I do, then you'll love this stew. (But if you don't, there are slow cooker and Instant Pot instructions, too.) It's the perfect cozy meal for winter weekends.

Is This Beef Stew Healthy?

The stew is full of nutritious ingredients like iron-rich beef, vitamin-D filled mushrooms and antioxidant-packed red wine. It's got a great mix of protein and fiber to fill you up for hours. To keep the sodium in check, use low sodium beef broth.

What Meat Is Best For Beef Stew?

Stewing is great for tougher cuts of meat. Simmering for long periods of time helps to break down the collagen found in large chunks of meat typically used for stew, so that it becomes tender and moist. (This article on stew meat explains it in more detail if you're curious.) If you don't have stew meat, buy a roast, particularly one that has a good amount of marbling and collagen. A chuck roast is the best bet, especially for the price point. Just cut the roast into 1-inch pieces for stew meat. If the roast is already cut into chuck 'steaks', even better because it will be easier for you to cut into cubes!

How To Make Mushroom Beef Stew

1. Pat the meat dry and generously season with salt and pepper.
2. Heat half the oil over high heat in a heavy bottomed pot. Sear half of the beef, cooking on all sides until browned. Remove the beef and repeat with the remaining oil and beef.
3. Lower the heat and add the onions and garlic to the pot. Cook, stirring, until softened.
4. Stir in the tomato paste and cook an additional 1-2 minutes.
5. Add the red wine and stir, scraping up the brown bits at the bottom of the pan (called 'deglazing').
6. Add meat back to the pot. Stir in the broth, mushrooms, rosemary, thyme and bay leaf. Simmer, covered, for 1-2 hours until the meat is tender.
7. Add the potatoes and simmer 15-20 minutes, until potatoes are fork tender.
8. Stir together the cornstarch and balsamic vinegar. Stir into the stew and simmer, uncovered, until thickened, 5-10 minutes. Remove the bay leaf, rosemary and thyme before serving.

Tips For Making The Best Beef Stew

• Cooking the beef in batches helps the beef to brown, resulting in more flavor. You want the meat to get nice and brown on all sides. Crowding the pot with too much meat at once will cause the beef to steam instead, so you'll lose the flavor from the browning.
• Let the tomato paste get nice and dark when you stir it in for even more flavor.
• Don't worry about the little brown pieces sticking to the bottom of the pot, it will all come up when you add the wine and deglaze the pot (or scrape it all up with your spoon) and mix into the stew, adding much more flavor.
• The cornstarch is what will thicken the stew at the end of cooking. Cornstarch will become clumpy if you add it directly to hot liquid, so make sure you stir it into the balsamic before adding it to the pot. You could also just stir it into some cold water.

Slow Cooker Instructions

To make this beef stew in the slow cooker, you'll still follow the first few steps, searing the beef, cooking the onions and garlic with tomato paste, and deglazing the pan with the wine. Then you'll dump everything into the slow cooker and cook on low heat for 6-8 hours. Crack the lid for the last 30 minutes or so of cooking to let the stew thicken up a little bit, though it won't get as thick as boiling it on the stove.

Instant Pot Instructions

To make this mushroom beef stew in the Instant Pot, you'll sear the meat, cook the onions and garlic with the tomato paste and deglaze with the wine in the pot of the Instant Pot on Sauté mode on the high setting. Then add the rest of the ingredients, leaving out the cornstarch and balsamic, close the lid, seal the vent, and pressure cook on high for 20 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally for 5-10 minutes, then carefully manually release any remaining pressure. Turn it back to sauté mode, stir in the cornstarch and balsamic mixture, and let the stew cook for 5-10 minutes to thicken.

Ingredient Substitutions

There are so many ways to make this stew your own.

• If you don't have (or like) red wine, you can use additional broth.
• You can use 1 teaspoon each dried rosemary and thyme in place of fresh.
• You can substitute tapioca/arrowroot starch for the cornstarch.
• If you don't have balsamic, stir the cornstarch into cold water before adding to the hot stew.

More Cozy Soups and Stews

• Healthy Leftover Turkey Wild Rice Soup
• Healthy Chicken or Turkey Pot Pie Soup
• Easy One Pot Tortellini Lasagna Soup
• Veggie-Loaded Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup
• One Pot Sausage, Kale and Butternut Squash Soup
• (Dairy-Free) Creamy Potato Split Pea Soup
• Veggie-Loaded Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

Did you make this recipe? Please leave a star rating in the comments!

Print

This post was originally published January 2018 and has been updated.