Beef Stew with Puff Pastry
Mouth-watering Beef Stew with Puff Pastry is easy to make and perfect for a chilly evening. Make it on the stove top or in a slow cooker-either way it’s a hearty beef dish and an all-time favorite comfort food. Tender bites of seasoned beef in a savory broth with carrots and topped with a buttery puff pastry.
Break away from canned Dinty Moore™ Beef stew with this easy and delicious homemade beef stew recipe!
You’ll love this recipe!
The beef stew seasonings are simple, yet delicious and the side of puff pastry really finishes out this hearty winter stew! The addition of topping it with a puff pastry makes this beef recipe resemble an “unassembled” beef pot pie, which is always good on a chilly night.
- Great flavor – the bay leaves and coriander give traditional beef stew a nice hearty and savory flavor
- Easy to make! Stovetop or slow-cooker
- Cost-efficient – you can use the toughest, cheapest cut of beef for this recipe. The low and slow braising method tenderizes even the toughest meat.
This is a winter favorite at our house, along with Louisiana Seafood Gumbo and Texas Chili.
Here’s what you’ll need
The ingredients for a really hearty beef stew are pretty simple.
- About 1½ pounds of beef- I get a sirloin steak and cut it into 1″ cubes
- Onion- I use sweet yellow onion, but you can use plain yellow or white onion
- Celery
- Carrots – I prefer fresh organic carrots, but you can use frozen if you like
- Sweet peas (frozen and optional)
- Dried bay leaves
- Ground coriander
- Worcestershire sauce
- Beef broth or beef stock,
- Tomato paste
- Butter
- Prepared puff pastry-make sure you don’t get Phyllo dough; it’s a common occurence to accidentally buy phyllo instead of puff pastry because they’re right next to each other in the grocery store
Stovetop method
This hearty beef stew is relatively easy to prepare. Here’s an overview of the steps to follow for the stove top method. For complete recipe measurements and instructions, see the recipe card below.
- Sauté onions, cubed beef and celery in a little butter or oil in a large Dutch oven on medium heat. (You can use olive oil or vegetable oil-either works well on low heat)
- Add broth, carrots and seasonings
- Bring stew to a boil, and add a thickening slurry; combine well
- Cover and continue to cook low until carrots are tender and beef reaches an internal temperature of 145ºF.
Lightly season the cubes of beef with salt and ground black pepper
Combine sautéed beef, onion, carrots and celery into stockpot; add bay leaves, broth and remaining ingredients; allow to simmer until beef and carrots are tender.
Meanwhile, heat the oven and cook the puff pastry. Once it’s done, top the beef stew with a puff pastry and dig in.
Slow Cooker method
If you choose to use a slow cooker for this hearty recipe, simply add all the ingredients into the slow cooker and cook on low setting for 8 hours, or high for 5-6 hours. You don’t have to brown the meat before you put it in the slow cooker, but you can if you want to.
Make the Puff Pastry
I use store-bought, prepared pastry sheets and they work fine. Pastry “puffs” best when the dough is slightly chilled and the oven is HOT. Do not bring the pastry dough to full room temperature first.
- Thaw frozen pastry sheets and roll-out dough (while it’s still cool) onto a lightly floured surface; cut pastry sheets into quarters
- Place the pieces of pastry on a lightly oiled and floured baking pan
- Coat each pastry with an egg/water mixture and bake for 15 minutes at 400°F
- Top individual bowls of beef stew with puff pastry and enjoy
Best cut of meat for stew
The best cuts of beef for tender stew are usually sirloin, chuck or rump; however, it isn’t necessary to buy the most expensive cut because the beef simmers in the broth and tenderizes naturally. Have the butcher cube the meat or, slice it into bite sized pieces using a sharp knife.
How to make a slurry to thicken beef stew
If you want a thicker beef stew, just add a slurry to it. A slurry is a combination of a starch and water that is added to a soup or stew to thicken the dish. Typical starches include cornstarch, arrowroot and flour.
To make a thickening slurry, use a 1:1 ratio of water and starch (usually cornstarch or flour.)
Mix it together in a measuring cup and add it to your soup or stew near the end of the cooking time. If you use cornstarch, you’ll want to turn the heat up to medium-high becuase cornstarch thickens at a higher heat than a flour slurry.
Storage and reheating
You can store homemade beef stew in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 3 days or freeze it up to 3 months! When you’re ready to re-heat, I recommend using the stovetop method because the liquid may thicken a little upon storage. You may have to add a little water when reheating.
I usually serve beef stew with puff pastry as a “one-dish-dinner” however, if you want a side dish, serve this with mashed or baked potatoes!
Related recipes
- Chicken and Dumplings
- Bolognese Sauce
- Mom’s Pot Roast
- Mississippi Pot Roast
- Beef Tips with Rice and Gravy
- Southern Pecan Pie
- How to Fix Over Salted Soups and Stews
If you make this recipe, please scroll down and leave a comment and rating! I love to hear from you! Thank you!
Beef Stew with Puff Pastry
Ingredients
- 1½ lbs. sirloin seasoned with salt and pepper and cubed
- ½ stick butter , or oil
- ½ large yellow onion diced
- 6 large carrots diced
- 2 stalks celery diced
- 6 cups beef broth
- 3 ounces can tomato paste (about ½ of a small can)
- 1 cup red wine -(optional) Merlot, Cabernet, Pinot Noir
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 cup sweet peas - (optional) frozen or canned (drain if canned)
Slurry Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons flour
- ¾ cup water
Puff Pastry
- 1 pkg. Puff Pastry from frozen aisle
- 1 whole egg
- 1 teaspoon water
Instructions
- In large stockpot, melt butter; add onion and celery and cook until tender½ stick butter, ½ large yellow onion, 2 stalks celery
- Add seasoned, cubed beef to mixture and allow to brown on all sides1½ lbs. sirloin
- Add remaining ingredients except for the peas; Reduce heat to medium, cover and allow to cook for about 20 minutes, or until carrots are tender6 large carrots, 6 cups beef broth, 3 ounces can tomato paste, 1 cup red wine
- Add peas and cook for 5 minutes
- If you want to thicken the broth, add a flour slurry (3/4 cup water with 3 tablespoons flour; mix in a separate bowl and add to hot soup); add peas (optional)2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- Allow soup to simmer with no lid until it reaches desired consistency
- Season generously with pepper ; taste for salt; remove bay leaves
Puff Pastry
- Preheat oven to 400ºF
- Lightly oil baking sheet
- Unroll packaged pastry onto a lightly floured surface; cut pastry into fourths and place on baking sheet
- In a small bowl, combine egg and water; brush pastry dough with egg/water combination and place in oven. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown1 whole egg, 1 teaspoon water
- When pastry has browned and soup has thickened, remove bay leaves from soup and ladle soup into bowl; top with pastry
Notes
- Beef stew usually consists of some potatoes, but I wanted to make a carb-free stew! If you use potatoes, simply peel and cube Yukon gold potatoes and add them when you add the carrots; you may have to add more beef broth, as potatoes absorb liquid.
- If you want to add pasta or barley, do so after the soup is done. Both will cook on a low heat in about 10 minutes. Note: if adding barley, add more water or broth as barley absorbs liquid
- If adding frozen or canned (drained) peas, add them at the end
