Spanish Beef Stew

by Sabrina Snyder

Published on

10 Comments

5 from 5 votes
8 servings
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours 45 minutes
Total Time 3 hours 15 minutes
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Spanish Beef Stew is a hearty one pot dinner with chuck roast slow cooked in a tomato sauce flavored with bell peppers, green olives, and Spanish paprika.

Classic Beef Stew gets a rustic, old world Spanish twist in this new one pot recipe. For more hearty, savory stews and soups, check out our full Soup Recipe catalog.

Spanish Beef Stew in Yellow Dutch Oven

SPANISH BEEF STEW

This Spanish Beef Stew is a great one pot dinner full of warm savory flavors, tender chunks of beef stew meat, and a thick vegetable and tomato sauce. This hearty and rustic dish is perfect for cool fall evenings. Spanish Beef Stew can be made in the oven, on the stovetop, in a slow cooker, or with an electric pressure cooker. This post contains instructions for every method to make Spanish Beef Stew, so find the way that is easiest for you!

This Spanish Beef Stew recipe has a longer list of ingredients but it’s actually very simple to bring the whole dish together. This beef recipe can be broken down to three parts: browning the beef, making the sofrito, and finishing off the beef stew in the oven (or one of the other methods). Plus using canned tomatoes and dried herbs mean less chopping for you!

The signature warm and slightly smoky flavor of Spanish Beef Stew comes from the Spanish paprika. You may need to make a special trip to the store for this ingredient. The paprika most people have in their pantry is actually called “sweet paprika”. Spanish paprika is also known as smoked paprika and it’s a must have for the rustic smoky flavor of this dish!

Like most Spanish and Latin American soups, Spanish Beef Stew starts with a sofrito. This sofrito recipes is made with diced onion, green peppers, carrots, and minced garlic cloves. Sofrito is a combination of aromatic vegetables and herbs sautéed in oil (or braised in stock) used to flavor sauces, stews, and many dishes. Most cuisines have a version of a sofrito, just by another name.

Spanish Beef Stew is a one pot meal that can be enjoyed all by itself with a side of crusty Dinner Rolls, perfect for soaking all the rich sauce. For heartier meal, serve Spanish Beef Stew over White Rice or Mashed Potatoes.

MORE DELICIOUS CHUCK ROAST RECIPES:

VARIATIONS ON SPANISH BEEF STEW

  • Potatoes: Make this an even heartier dish by adding 3 medium potatoes, roughly chopped, to the Beef Stew about 45 minutes before it’s done cooking.
  • Red Wine: You can add a ½ cup of dry red wine when you add the beef back to the pan, cooking until the liquid has reduced by half.
  • Vegetables: Use other vegetables like red peppers, green beans, or fresh diced tomatoes. You can substitute green olives for capers too.
  • Spicy: Add some heat to this Spanish Beef Stew with chipotles in adobo, crushed red pepper flakes, or spicy dried chiles.

Bowl of Spanish Beef Stew with Latin Rice

Stove Top Spanish Beef Stew

Instead of finishing Spanish Beef Stew off in the oven, you can cook the entire thing on the stove top. Once you add the seasonings, tomatoes, and beef to the pan, bring to a boil. Cover the dutch oven and reduce the heat to a simmer. Simmer on low heat for 2 ½ to 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Add in peas and olives during last 15-20 minutes of cooking.

Slow Cooker Spanish Beef Stew

  • Follow instructions to brown beef chuck and sauté sofrito (onions, carrots, bell pepper, garlic) separately.
  • Add chuck roast and sofrito to slow cooker after they are prepared.
  • Add remaining ingredients except the peas to the slow cooker and stir to combine.
  • Cook on low for 6-7 hours, or until beef is fork tender. Stir in peas and cook an additional 30 minutes.

Pressure Cooker Spanish Beef Stew

  • Set Instant Pot to Sauté Function. 
  • Coat the bottom of your electric pressure cooker and brown the chuck roast in batches. Set aside.
  • Sauté onions, carrots, and bell pepper for 1 minute. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
  • Deglaze pot with a ½ cup beef broth or red wine, scraping up browned bits from sides and bottom.
  • Add meat back to pressure cooker and add the remaining ingredients except olives and peas. Stir to combine.
  • Lock lid and seal valve. Cook on Manual High Pressure for 15 minutes. Let pressure naturally release, about 10-15 minutes.
  • Remove lid and stir in peas and olives. Cover and cook on Manual High Pressure 5 minutes. Quick release pressure and serve.

OTHER HEARTY SOUP RECIPES TO TRY

 

HOW TO STORE SPANISH BEEF STEW

  • Serve: Spanish Beef Stew can be kept at room temperature for up to 2 hours, or warm in a slow cooker for 4 hours.
  • Store: Place Spanish Beef Stew in an airtight container (after it has cooled) and refrigerate for up to 4 days.
  • Freeze: Cool stew completely and freeze in a sealed container for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating in the oven or on the stovetop.

Spanish Beef Stew with Carrots and Olives

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Dinner, then Dessert

Spanish Beef Stew

Spanish Beef Stew is a hearty one pot dinner with chuck roast slow cooked in a tomato sauce flavored with bell peppers, green olives, and Spanish paprika.
Yield 8 servings
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours 45 minutes
Total Time 3 hours 15 minutes
Course Dinner
Cuisine American, Spanish
Author Sabrina Snyder
Spanish Beef Stew with large wooden spoon
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Ingredients
 

  • 3 pounds beef chuck roast , cut into 2 inch cubes
  • 3 tablespoons flour
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 yellow onion , chopped
  • 2 carrot , peeled and cut into ½ inch thick coins
  • 1 green bell pepper , cut into ½ inch cubes
  • 4 cloves garlic , minced
  • 1 tablespoon Spanish paprika
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 28 ounces diced tomatoes
  • 15 ounces crushed tomatoes
  • 1/3 cup tomato paste
  • 1/2 cup green olives , sliced
  • 1 cup green peas

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees and toss beef cubes with flour salt and pepper.
  • Heat oil in large dutch oven on high heat and cook the beef on all sides until well browned then remove from the pan.
  • Lower heat to medium, add in the onions and cook until translucent, about 5-6 minutes.
  • Add in the carrots, bell pepper and garlic and stir well.
  • Add in the paprika, oregano, bay leaves, died tomatoes, crushed tomato, tomato paste and the beef and stir well.
  • Cook, covered in the oven, 2 to 2 ½ hours.
  • Remove from the oven, add peas and olives and stir well.
  • Place back in the oven for 15 minutes.
  • Remove from oven. Stir and serve.

Nutrition

Calories: 453kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 37g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 117mg | Sodium: 740mg | Potassium: 1183mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 3624IU | Vitamin C: 38mg | Calcium: 109mg | Iron: 6mg
Keyword: Spanish Beef Stew

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Spanish Beef Stew collage

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. Since I only had a pound of beef, I made 1/3 recipe (substituting mirepoix for sliced carrots and onions) in a small crockpot, 6-8 hours on low. I served it on rice and it was tender and delicious! Definitely a keeper!

    Reply

  2. This is a new staple in our house. It’s like a pot roast but so much more tender and flavorful. 5 robust stars! To make the second day streach a little further I served it over oven roasted potato wedges. Day 2 of joy.

    Reply

  3. Tried this last night. Easy enough. Unfortunately, in the instant pot it ended up getting burned on the bottom. Would have to try it again in the slow cooker. Flavour was pretty good overall.

    Reply