Give me your favourite beef stew recipe with dumplings…

[Tinks15]

I’ve googled lots of recipes but I like to get opinions on here as to which ones are the best. I don’t want anything OTT tbh as I want my two DD’s to eat it.

Please can you share your favourites

Thank you!

It’s not strictly stew and dumplings but I thoughts it’s worth posting as you said you wanted your kids to eat it. Mine find mince easier to eat than chucks of meat and love this.

https://www.hairybikers.com/recipes/view/mince-and-herby-dumplings

My tip is to add a decent strip of orange peel and the juice of an orange to beef stew. You can't taste orange as a separate flavour but it gives it a lovely complex taste.

I think that the 'stewing meat' you find in supermarkets is too lean. Needs to be quite fatty in my view.

I make this with lamb and cider but you can switch to Guinness.

sauté onions Add mace to flour and toss the meat in. Add to pan. Brown. Add stock and the alcohol. Leave to simmer. Add dumplings. I sometimes swap dumplings for pastry.

1 onion
1 carrot
1 celery stick
2 tbsp tomato puree
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 small bottle red wine (I think it's 187ml?)
1 beef stock pot and 1 beef Oxo cube
400ml hot water
600g pack diced beef
1 tsp thyme

Brown beef then chuck everything in the slow cooker. Low heat 8 hours.

1 hour before serving check consistency and add cornflour if you wish then make dumplings:

250g self raising flour
140g butter

Mix into "breadcrumb" consistency. Mix in 2tbsp dried herbs. Add small amount of water until dough formed. Roll into balls, pop on top of stew, put slow cooker on high for 1 hour and serve.

It's really delicious 😋

Mine tends to be:

onion, fried until golden brown
beef shin (coated in seasoned flour and browned)
carrot
parsnip
swede
potato
bay leaf
beef oxo
Worcestershire sauce
red wine if we have any open
salt and pepper

Cooked in the oven for three hours. Beef suet dumplings (as per the recipe on the Atora packet but I scale up by 50% as they are so popular) added for the last 20 minutes.

I do like a richer, winier beef stew too, or with Guinness, but the above is my go-to; it’s what I grew up eating and my kids love it too.

Jade's Bites on Instagram has a recipe for beef stew with cheese dumplings which is my go to recipe now, have done in slow cooker and oven and always perfect. Need to scroll a bit on her page to get to it but she's got loads of recipes which are really good

Thanks everyone. I’m going to test these out!

@BakingBrenda I managed to find it after scrolling for ages!
Can I ask do you cut the potatoes & carrots into chunks?

I actually don't always put potatoes in as I prefer to just do mash with it but would dice them if I did as think that's what she does too! And carrots I just slice or use tinned 😊

Delia's recipe is my go-to - when made with shin, it is delicious. (agree with what a pp said, fat in the meat makes a big difference)
Delia's stew & dumplings

https://www.jamesmartinchef.co.uk/recipes/beef-stew-and-dumplings-2/

I’ve made this once and it was delicious - we were glad it made such a lot, we had it a few nights in a row instead of freezing it!

This one! It's a bit of a pain in the arse but absolutely incredible:

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/jan/10/hugh-fearnley-whittingstall-recipes-stew

This: slowly cooked shin, browned for flavour, traditional ingredients. Hard to beat. Even with dumplings my DH has a slice of bread and butter to finish off the sauce (if the DC are out and we don't have guests, obv!😀) as it's to good!

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/beef-guinness-stew-bacon-dumplings

Can’t go wrong with beef shin, bacon and Guinness. Recipe says boneless shin but I tend to use on the bone and then remove the bones and cut up the beef later.

That James Martin recipe looks v similar to how I make mine. I use dried mixed herbs rather than fresh and add 2 tablespoons of tomato puree when I'm frying the meat - makes a lovely rich gravy.

This is my go-to recipe as well. I don't use Star Anise in mine and just do plain dumplings (no bacon) for ease. It doesn't smell all that great when you put the Guinness in, but it's absolutely delicious when cooked.

Chop carrots, swede, 2 onions, 1 parsnip finely chopped, 4 large sliced potatoes, and 1 litre of vegetable stock cube plus seasoning, in a large pressure cooker. Add cubed beef rolled in plain flour to stop it sticking. Add a couple of handfuls of pearl barley. Bring to the boil, then simmer slowly. Make dumplings, pour 1/3 of a box of Atora suet into a mixing bowl, add salt, add 2 cups of self raising flour and water and stir in until it makes a large ball. 30 mins before stew cooked add 2 handfuls of frozen peas. Pull off chunks of the dough and roll into a ball, roll in flour then drop into the top of the pressure cooker so not quite touching the next dough ball. Put all around in a circle and one in the middle. Fasten the lid tightly. Make sure enough liquid in the pressure cooker you might need to add a little more water and a few gravy granules. Cook for a further 30 minutes. Cooks for about 70-75 mins on very low. Feeds 4 plus some left for next day lunch. I don't put weight thing on top of pressure cooker but use it as a large airtight saucepan.

That was my Mum's recipe. Also you can crumble an Oxo beef cube into dumplings.

https://www.talesfromthekitchenshed.com/2016/11/slow-cooker-beef-stew-herb-dumplings/

I usually make this one but might try some of the others posted here and see how they compare.