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French Onion Stew Made with Chuck Roast

French Onion Beef Stew

Let's take the base of the classic french onion soup and add some stew ingredients for something entirely new.
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 4 hours
Course Lunch, Main Course
Cuisine French
Servings 8 servings
Calories 350 kcal

Equipment

  • Large Dutch Oven or Soup Pot (Mine is 5qt)
  • Knife
  • Cutting Board
  • Tongs or Large Wooden Spoon

Ingredients
  

  • lb Chuck roast, trimmed of all fat Should be left with about 1½-2 lbs of meat. You also could use any other stew meat you find.
  • 2-3 chunks Beef fat from trimmed roast You can substitute more butter for this if you don't have the fat trimmings.
  • 4 lg Sweet yellow onions I uses Walla Walla sweets but you could use Vidalias or other sweet yellow onions.
  • 2 lb White or crimini mushrooms, stems trimmed and sliced
  • 48 oz Beef stock or broth
  • ½ cup Dry white wine
  • 3 tbsp Butter or neutral cooking oil
  • 2 Whole bay leaves
  • ½ tsp Ground or rubbed thyme You also can use a few sprigs of fresh thyme if you have it.
  • 2 tbsp Soy sauce I used low sodium in this recipe.
  • Salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 300°
  • Trim fat off roast and cut into roughly 1-inch cubes. Reserve a few chunks of fat.
  • Put large dutch oven or soup pot on stove top on medium high heat. Add 2 tbsp of butter and a chunk of beef fat.
  • Once butter has stopped bubbling, add enough beef cubes to cover bottom of the pan and brown on two side for 2 minutes each side. Use tongs to turn the meat.
  • Remove first batch of beef to plate or bowl and do remainder of beef this way (2 minutes per side) until all meat is browned. (It took me 3 batches.) The meat will yield juices as it rests on the plate or bowl. Keep it to add to the stew! Discard the beef fat chunk. You should have some brown bits on the bottom of the pan, which is called fond and adds to the flavor so don't clean it out.
  • While you are browning meat, brush any dirt off the mushrooms (don't wash them) and trim about a ½ inch off the mushroom stems and discard. Slice the mushrooms in ¼-inch slices. Place the mushroom slices in a bowl.
  • Cut the ends off the onions, cut them in half from end to end, then slice them in ¼-inch slices. You also could simply dice them but this way is really fast and easy.
  • Once all the meat is browned, add another chunk of beef fat or a tbsp of butter to the pot, along with the mushrooms and a pinch of salt. Stir every couple of minutes until the mushrooms give up most of their water - about 15 minutes. Remove to a bowl along with any remaining mushroom liquid (yes, you want to keep this, too!)
  • Turn the heat down on the pot to medium. add another 1 tbsp of butter then add all the sliced onions. They should nearly fill the pot! Stir the onions every few minutes until they release most of their water, turn translucent and start sticking to the bottom of the pan - about 20-30 minutes. They will have lost a lot of their volume by now.
  • Once they start sticking to the pan, stir them every minute or so and try not to burn them (this is an important time in the success of this dish). If you burn any, remove them from the pan. Keep stirring them until they turn a light caramel color. (You could try to get them darker if you dare!)
  • Once the onions have reached a sweet caramel color, add thyme, bay leaves and cook another minute, stirring.
  • Add white wine and cook off alcohol for another minute.
  • Add mushrooms and beef back (including any of their liquids) to the onions and stir to combine.
  • Add broth and soy sauce, turn up heat to high and bring to a boil.
  • Once boiling, turn off heat, stir, and cover pot with tight-fitting lid. Place into 300° oven for 3-4 hours or into crockpot on low for 7-8 hours.
  • Remove from oven. If there's a lot of fat on the top, use a large spoon and carefully spoon as much out as you can before you stir the pot. Carefully taste and season with salt and pepper to your taste.
  • Serve with your favorite toasted, crusty bread. You could add cheese to the top or sour cream. We found stronger condiments such as horseradish kills the sweet onion flavor.
Keyword beef, dutch oven, french onion, mushrooms, one pot, onion, stew