Spare Spoons Kitchen
Aunt Betty’s Comfort Kitchen · Beef

Betty's Oven Stew

The hands-off oven stew — floured beef cubes browned and braised low with potatoes, carrots, and peppers until everything's fork-tender. Spoon it over rice, noodles, or biscuits.

~2 hr 20 min total 20 min prep 2 hr oven
Effort ●●○○ Time ●●●○ Some Doing
Servingsamounts scale to match
4
Units

Ingredients

Brown the floured beef first, then let it go low and slow. Dredging the cubes in flour and searing them builds the stew's deep flavor and thickens the gravy. After that it's hands-off — a low oven (about 300°F / 150°C) for ~2 hours, until the beef is fork-tender. Don't rush it; the long, gentle cook is what makes tough cubes melt.

Easier, if you like

  • Pre-cut stew meat from the meat case and a bag of baby carrots skip the knife work.
  • Make it in a slow cooker — brown the beef first, then everything on low 7–8 hours.

Method

    Cook's notes

    Brown the floured beef well — the seared crust and the flour are what give the gravy its color and body.

    Low and slow is the whole recipe: a 300°F oven for about 2 hours. Cheaper cuts (chuck, round) turn tender with time.

    Cut the vegetables in big, even chunks so they hold up over the long cook.

    Serve over rice, egg noodles, or with biscuits, the way Betty did.

    Make it gluten-free

    Gluten-free: dredge the beef in a gluten-free flour blend or cornstarch instead — it browns and thickens the same. Everything else is naturally gluten-free.