Beef Stew with Dumplings — Beef roast, potatoes, carrots, and more are simmered to tender PERFECTION in a rich and savory broth for the best beef stew that’s easy to make! Cheesy dumplings on top are the final comfort food touch making this a classic family favorite recipe especially when the weather is chilly!
Beef Stew and Dumplings Recipe
When you’re in need of a comfort food dinner, especially in the middle of winter, and you want something to warm you up from the inside out, this easy beef stew and dumplings recipe is just what the doctor ordered.
Bites of fork-tender beef, along with onions, carrots, potatoes, and more all simmer together in a rich and savory beef broth, plus some red wine, to create the most flavorful beef stew recipe.
As if that wasn’t already enough comfort, cheesy warm drop dumplings top the stew and give it all the comfort food nostalgic feels that classic beef stew is known for.
Trust me, no one’s leaving the table still hungry after enjoying a big bowl of this beef stew with dumplings!
Cheesy dumplings with beef stew is a hearty, filling, flavorful, and delightfully simple yet rustic recipe that checks all of the right boxes.
Ingredients in Beef Stew with Dumplings
The ingredients for beef stew with dumplings are common, easy to find fridge and pantry ingredients from your local supermarket. Here’s what you’ll want to have on hand to make beef stew and dumplings:
Beef Stew:
- Olive oil
- Chuck roast OR beef stew meat
- Yellow onion
- Garlic
- Carrots
- Yukon gold potatoes
- Tomato paste
- Reduced sodium beef broth
- Dry red wine
- Lite soy sauce
- Worcestershire sauce
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Bay leaves
- Thyme
Dumplings:
- Bisquick OR canned biscuit dough OR your favorite scratch recipe
- Shredded cheddar cheese
- Whole or 2% milk
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Beef Stew with Drop Dumplings
Your kitchen will smell like absolute heaven as this stew slowly cooks. Be ready to answer the classic question “what are you making?” many times while this is on your stovetop!
Follow these easy and straightforward directions for easy beef stew with dumplings.
Step 1: Add olive oil to a large stock pot or Dutch oven and brown the meat.
Step 2: Add the the onions, garlic, and sauté for a couple more minutes.
Step 3: Add the carrots, potatoes, tomato paste, beef broth, and mix in the tomato paste well before adding all remaining ingredients.
Step 4: Simmer over medium-low heat for about 1 hour.
Step 5: After an hour, mix together the Bisquick, cheese, and milk until combined to form the dumpling dough.
Step 6: Stir the stew and add more broth if needed.
Tip: The broth level will seem to reduce even more after you add the dumpling dough because it’ll soak it up. So if you think you need more broth, add it now.
Step 7: Drop in the dumpling dough by rounded tablespoons over the top of the stew.
Step 8: Cover and simmer over low heat for 45 minutes or until the dumplings are cooked, remove the bay leaves and thyme sprig, and serve!
What Cut of Beef is Best for Beef Stew?
For my beef stew recipe, I use Chuck roast. I use it because the fat content and internal marbling creates finished beef that is just so tender and juicy.
Plus, it tends to be a pretty inexpensive cut of beef which is always nice since beef can get expensive in a hurry!
Sometimes you can find beef that’s labeled as ‘stew meat’ and can be a mixture of Chuck roast with other cuts of meat. This is also fine.
Can I Make This Recipe in a Slow Cooker
Yes you sure can! I have an excellent recipe for Slow Cooker Beef Stew.
I suggest following that recipe as written, and towards the end, you can add the dough for the biscuits, noting they’ll take at least an hour or so to fully set and cook through.
Do I Have to Make Beef Stew with Red Wine?
Technically, no you don’t need to use red wine. However, anything hearty, and that simmers for a long time like this stew, tastes better with the addition of red wine.
It’s only 1/2 cup in the entire big batch recipe so no one is going to end up with more than a tablespoon, max. Plus the alcohol content burns off in the long simmering process.
What Can I Substitute for the Red Wine?
Not a wine fan but prefer beer? Great! Because almost any beer, but especially a heavier beef like an Irish Stout (hello, Guinness!) are perfect in this beef and dumplings stew recipe.
If you’re someone who doesn’t drink alcohol or are serving it to those who don’t, just omit the alcohol. Instead, substitute the one-half cup wine (or beer) with an extra one-half cup of beef broth.
Serving Suggestions for Beef Stew and Bisquick Dumplings
This hearty beef stew and dumplings recipe truly doesn’t need anything else! It’s so filling and comforting on its own.
Storing Beef Stew
Your big pot of beef stew with cheesy dumplings will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days. And you can freeze it for up to 4 months.
Note that the dumplings will get soggy and potentially disintegrate a bit into the stew itself so don’t be surprised if your leftovers are even thicker.
Tip: If you know you’re going to store this and are making it so you have planned leftovers, I suggest baking biscuits separately and then topping the stew with warm, oven-fresh biscuits before serving. Use canned biscuit dough to save time!
Tips for the Best Beef Stew and Dumplings
Potatoes – I used Yukon gold potatoes that I diced into bite-sized pieces. Baby Yukon gold are also fine. I peeled mine but you can leave them unpeeled if you prefer.
Or try baby red potatoes. They’re waxier and will hold their shape during the long slow cooking process.
I do not recommend using Russet potatoes or any type of high starch potato which will get mushy and disintegrate.
Make sure to cut them into bite-sized pieces or about 1-inch chunks. Not too big (they won’t soften up nicely) and not too small (they’ll fall apart more easily).
Dumplings – There are a few ways to make dumplings on beef stew:
- Bisquick mix or similar (mixed up as directed and added directly on top of the stew while simmering in the pot)
- Refrigerated canned biscuit dough like Grands (bake them and then halve them before topping the stew with them)
- Scratch (added directly on top of the stew while simmering in the pot)
Beef Broth – You may need to add more broth to your stew, especially after the dumplings are added. As they cook, the dumplings will thicken the stew, so add more broth now if desired.
I also recommend reduced sodium beef broth so that as it evaporates and concentrates while it cooks, and naturally become saltier, that your finished stew isn’t too salty. You can always add more salt, but can’t take it out.
Dried vs. Fresh Herbs –This recipe calls for two bay leaves and sprig of fresh thyme. If you want to use dried thyme instead, use about 1/2 teaspoon. It may not seem like a lot, but it’s equivalent to a sprig of fresh thyme since fresh herbs aren’t quite as potent as dried herbs are.
Also, if you’d prefer an even more herbaceous flavor profile here, feel free to sprinkle in some rosemary as well.
Red Wine – I recommend a dry red wine such as:
- Cabernet sauvignon
- Merlot
- Syrah
- Pinot Noir
As I mentioned in a previous section, alternatively you can:
- Use 1/2 cup dark beer instead of red wine
- Use 1/2 cup extra beef broth instead of any alcohol
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Beef Stew with Dumplings
Ingredients
Beef Stew
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 pounds Chuck roast OR beef stew meat, cubed into bite-sized pieces
- 1 white or yellow onion, diced small
- 3 to 5 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced
- 3 large carrots, peeled and diced into 1/2-inch slices
- 3 medium to large Yukon gold potatoes, OR 1 pound baby Yukon gold OR baby red potatoes, peeled if desired and diced into 1-inch chunks
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- 4 cups reduced sodium beef broth, plus more if desired
- ½ cup dry red wine
- 3 tablespoons lite or reduced sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 sprig fresh thyme, or 1/2 teaspoon dried
Dumplings
- 1 ½ cups Bisquick mix, or similar product OR canned biscuit dough OR your favorite scratch dumplings/biscuit recipe
- ¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese
- ½ cup whole or 2% milk
Instructions
- Beef Stew - To a large stockpot or Dutch oven, add the olive oil, beef, and cook over medium-high heat to sear and brown the beef. Stir and flip intermittently as the beef cooks to ensure even cooking. Cook for about 5 minutes. Beef does not need to be fully cooked through, just browned on the outside.
- Add the onions, garlic, and cook for 2 minutes; stir nearly constantly.
- Add the carrots, potatoes, tomato paste, beef broth, and stir or whisk to encourage the tomato paste to dissolve.
- After it has dissolved, add all the remaining ingredients (in the stew portion of the recipe), and simmer over medium-low heat, uncovered, for about 1 hour. Stir only very occasionally.
- If the stew is low on broth, add some now. Tips - After the dumplings are added and while they cook, they will thicken the stew, so add more broth now if you think it needs it. I also recommend reduced sodium beef broth so that as it evaporates and concentrates while it cooks, and naturally become saltier, that your finished stew isn’t too salty. You can always add more salt, but can’t take it out. Now is a good time to taste and check for seasoning balance and add more salt or pepper, if desired.
- Dumplings - To a medium bowl, add the Bisquick mix, cheese, milk (OR bake Grands Biscuits or similar according to package directions to save time OR make scratch dumpling dough).
- Drop the dumpling dough mixture by rounded tablespoons evenly over the top surface of the stew.
- Cover and simmer over low heat for 45 minutes, or until dumplings are fully set. Use a toothpick or break one open to test for doneness. If you baked Grands biscuits separately, halve them and place on the top of each individual bowl of stew before serving. Remove bay leaves and thyme sprig before serving.
Notes
- Cabernet sauvignon
- Merlot
- Syrah
- Pinot Noir
- Use 1/2 cup dark beer instead of red wine
- Use 1/2 cup extra beef broth instead of any alcohol
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Do you have a recipe for chicken stew?
Thanks
I have lots of recipes for chicken soup variations https://www.averiecooks.com/tag/chicken-soup/
To make them more stew-like, cut down on the amount of broth by about 25% of what the recipe calls for.
I also have this one. Add shredded rotisserie chicken to it if desired. It’s a great recipe!