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This hamburger stew recipe is thick, hearty, and easy to make! It’s a delicious family meal that uses inexpensive everyday ingredients.
You may also like my Hamburger Soup, Ground Beef Alfredo Bake, or this American Goulash recipe.
Why you’ll love it
Ground beef stew is sometimes referred to as “poor man’s stew”, but this dish is full of rich flavors! Sometimes it’s nice to spend some extra time making a Classic Beef Stew, but when you’re looking for a comforting stew that’s ready fast, this is your recipe!
Your whole family will devour this budget-friendly stew, and you can feel good knowing you’re serving up a complete one pot meal with real ingredients like beef, vegetables, and hearty potatoes. It’s ready in under an hour, and a lot of the cooking time is hands off.
What you’ll need
- Celery, onion, garlic, and olive oil – sauté these aromatics to make a wonderfully flavorful base
- Beef – I use lean ground beef. It’s a good compromise between saving a few calories but keeping flavor and moisture, and you typically don’t have to worry about draining extra fat after it’s been browned.
- Flour – don’t skip the flour as it’s a thickener
- Tomato paste – an easy way to add more savory flavor
- Beef broth – way tastier than simply using water
- Worcestershire sauce – it gives this stew more depth of flavor; it’s not overpowering!
- Italian seasoning – a blend of dried herbs that comes in a single jar
- Potatoes, carrots, and peas – hearty and filling vegetables to round out this stew
Tools for this recipe
Check out Natasha’s favorite kitchen essentials, gadgets, and cookware!
- Any soup pot will work, but I love my Staub Dutch oven.
- I quickly crush the garlic using my garlic press. I do this for most recipes that call for minced garlic!
- Chop up the veggies with a quality chef’s knife.
How to make hamburger stew
This is an overview with step-by-step photos. Full ingredients & instructions are in the recipe card below.
Sauté the onion and celery in a soup pot until softened, then add in the garlic. Stir in the ground beef and cook until browned.
Sprinkle in the flour and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring often (this cooks the floury taste out). Stir in the tomato paste.
Add the broth, Worcestershire sauce, Italian seasoning, potatoes, and carrots. Bring the stew to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes and carrots are tender. Stir in the peas and season with salt & pepper to taste.
Substitutions and variations
- Feel free to throw in any extra veggies you happen to have on hand! This is a very forgiving stew, and you can clean out your fridge of any extra vegetables. Root vegetables would work especially well.
- I used Italian seasoning to give the stew some extra flavor, but you could use a different kind of dried herb blend or even something like steak seasoning if you prefer.
- Like a little heat? Add in some crushed red pepper flakes.
What to serve with hamburger stew
- It’s a complete meal in itself, but I’ll never say no to a slice of crusty bread to make it even heartier. Or go all out with a slice of Extra Cheesy Garlic Bread.
- You could also pair it with a side salad. Try mixed greens and this Homemade Ranch Dressing. You’ll never buy the bottled stuff again!
Leftovers and storage
- This stew is even better the next day after the flavors have a chance to meld more. Reheat on a low heat, and if you find the leftovers are a little dry, simply add a splash of beef broth when reheating to make more sauce.
- Leftovers will keep in the fridge for 3-4 days in an airtight container, and this stew also freezes well.
If you made this ground beef stew recipe, please leave a star rating and review below! You can also tag me on Instagram if you made it.
Hamburger Stew
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 3 sticks celery chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
- 4 cups beef broth + more if needed
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 2 Russet potatoes peeled & diced
- 4 medium carrots peeled & sliced
- 1 cup frozen peas optional
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add the oil, onion, and celery to a soup pot and sauté over medium-high heat for 5-7 minutes.
- Stir in the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
- Add the beef to the pot and cook, breaking it up with your spoon as you go along, until it's browned (about 8 minutes).
- Sprinkle in the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes (stirring often).
- Stir in the tomato paste.
- Add in the broth, Worcestershire sauce, Italian seasoning, potatoes, and carrots. Increase the heat to high and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat to a rapid simmer and cook, covered (with the lid slightly open), stirring occasionally, for at least 30 minutes or until the potatoes and carrots are tender and the flavors have had some time to build. Add more broth if the stew starts to get too thick, and if you want it thicker, cook it for longer with the lid off.
- Stir in the frozen peas and season with salt & pepper as needed.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Fantastic! Easy, hearty, very flavorful! Thanks for the recipe!
You’re very welcome, Shannon!
My husband was sick without an appetite but devoured this and couldn’t stop having! I added a small bay leaf and 1/2 C frozen corn, but other than that followed the recipe exactly. It just replaced my other hamburger soups/stews!
Fantastic! Hope he feels better soon, Chandler.
This is the best beef stew recipe, ever! It was such a hit with everyone, we couldn’t get enough! We don’t care for celery, so I left that out but added a bag of frozen corn to it. It’s very versatile. Amazing for a cold day!
I’m thrilled it was a hit!
This was so good! I needed to use the ground beef and veggies before they went bad and didn’t know what to make so I tried this recipe. I am retiring my go-to beef stew in the crock pot now that I’ve found and made this stew! Thank you!
You’re very welcome, Tina!
The only change I made to the recipe was to add approximately 2 cups of frozen peas. It was good but I thought it was missing something. I grabbed cinnamon and chili powder. I added a tiny pinch of cinnamon to my serving and it added the perfect amount of complexity to the dish so I didn’t bother with the chili powder. BTW my husband thought it was great the way it was.
Thanks, Jan! Yup, definitely an easy one to tweak.
Amazing! I love all of your recipes. This one was very easy and hit the spot on a brisk night. Only change I made was instead
Of Italian seasoning I used a seasoning blend made by our local butcher. It turned out amazing!!!!!
Thank you so much, Erinn! 😀
5 star. Excellent and fairly easy to put together. Thank you!!
Thank you, Tom!
This was amazing. Didn’t change anything.
Thanks!
So hearty and yummy! Made some as a meal for a family dealing with health issues and they said it was one of the best stews they’ve ever had!
That’s awesome!!