A rich Braised Beef with Balsamic Roasted Tomatoes, where all the ingredients, including the tomatoes cook down and become this lovely thick sauce over the tender beef.
It’s a great meal for company, or just to show your family you love them.
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Husband approved
I know, this isn’t my normal recipe! It’s not vegetarian! Well, my husband does eat meat, and he loves beef. In fact, after eating this the first time he said, “I think I’ll become a cow-atarian”.
He loved it so much, it was part of our Christmas Eve Meal, and it’s a fairly healthy dish (if you eat meat), so I thought I’d share it. And, I admit, it smells fabulous while it cooks.
We first made this Braised Beef with Balsamic Roasted Tomatoes for Christmas Eve Dinner. Dan asked if I would please make my Balsamic Roasted Tomatoes with Onions instead of simply buying jarred Sun-dried tomatoes.
Making the tomatoes isn’t much work, so that was a request I could go for, and I suspected he was right that the homemade ones would give more flavor to the dish.
Basically, everything including the tomatoes cooks down and becomes this lovely thick sauce over the tender beef.
Recipe tips
This really smells awesome while it cooks, even to this vegetarian. My husband loved it! And, he’s made it twice now, so it must be good!
The beef stew meat at my store is already cut into cubes, so it saves me some time. Look around for that, or if your store has a butcher, you can ask them for cubed stew meat. The recipe calls for 1-inch cubes.
Really the most important part is that the cubes are roughly the same size, so they all cook at the same rate; the larger the cube, the longer the cooking time will be. I also like the idea of beef stew meat because it’s a relatively inexpensive cut of meat.
For the wine, we used Pinot Noir. It’s a nice dry neutral red wine, not overly heavy or sweet. It’s also the same wine that I used in the Lentils with Winter Veggies.
How to make
The full printable recipe ingredients and instructions are available in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. You can find important tips and tricks in the post.
And, like several of my other recipes, I’ve written this one to use the dry ingredients first so your measuring spoons stay clean and dry until you need to get them wet.
Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Working in batches so as not to crowd the pan, add cubed beef, cooking until well browned on all sides, about 10-20 minutes per batch.
Remove beef from pan once it is browned.
In the same Dutch oven, add sliced onions to beef drippings, and cook until onions are caramelized, about 20 minutes, add in a couple tablespoons of water if the onions appear to be burning or cooking too quickly.
Once the onions are nice and caramelized, add browned beef back to the pot.
Stir in the flour, and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes.
Stir in broth mixture and Balsamic Roasted Tomatoes. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and simmer 1 hour. Uncover and simmer 30-60 minutes or until beef is very tender.
When it comes time to simmer the beef, it simmers at a high simmer, or a low boil. It was a bit more activity than we expected, but each time it was the same. So, that’s normal, and just let it cook away. Dan loved it when it cooked for a little over 2 & 1/2 hours, so that it was so tender it was falling apart.
Discard bay leaf. Sprinkle each serving with chives.
I’ve served the Braised Beef with a side of Mashed Potato Casserole. This Potato Casserole has a crunchy bread crumb and Asiago topping that’s super yummy.
It’s also great with Sweet Potatoes Au Gratin.
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Braised Beef with Balsamic Roasted Tomatoes Recipe
Braised Beef with Balsamic Roasted Tomatoes
Ingredients
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ tablespoon brown sugar
- ¾ teaspoon dried rosemary
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 cup low-sodium vegetable broth
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup dry red wine
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 pound beef stew meat cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 medium onion vertically sliced
- 1 cup Balsamic Roasted Tomatoes with onions or sun-dried tomato halves
- ½ tablespoon all-purpose flour
- chopped chives for garnish
Instructions
- In a medium bowl or a 4-cup Pyrex measuring dish, mix together first 10 ingredients (garlic powder through red wine). Set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Working in batches so as not to crowd the pan, add cubed beef, cooking until well browned on all sides, about 10-20 minutes per batch. Remove beef from pan once it is browned.
- In the same Dutch oven, add sliced onions to beef drippings, and cook until onions are caramelized, about 20 minutes, add in a couple tablespoons of water if the onions appear to be burning or cooking too quickly.
- Once the onions are nice and caramelized, add browned beef back to the pot. Stir in the flour, and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes. Stir in broth mixture and Balsamic Roasted Tomatoes. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and simmer 1 hour. Uncover and simmer 30-60 minutes or until beef is very tender. Discard bay leaf. Sprinkle each serving with chives.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations, and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.
Robin Rue (@massholemommy)
That sounds like a nice, hearty winter meal. Absolutely delicious.
burlapandblue
This looks AMAZING!! Love a good hearty meal in the Winter. Thanks for sharing.
Moore or Less Cooking Food Blog
It’s amazing dishes like these that made me go from being a vegetarian for years to eating red meat. Just the smell of it alone is intoxicating! Hubs would go crazy for this dish!!
Dan from Platter Talk
Unbelievably delicious; no wonder your husband Dan loves this one! This Dan does as well!
Mike Benayoun
Great Job Debi. This really looks very appetizing. The picture reminded me of the rendang I published a couple weeks ago.
Angela
What a stunning hearty and delicious looking recipe!!! Sounds absolutely perfect and family pleasing! Thanks so much for sharing this!
Lovefoodies
ok, so first I am teased with this delicious looking beef recipe.. oh boy! I need it! and then I spot the potato casserole….. I am patient 🙂 ……
Hurry with that recipe too! It’s killing me to wait!
Loriann Cargill Bustos
Looks amazing!
Culinary Ginger
What a great comforting, tasty dish. I need to try this.
peter @feedyoursoultoo
This looks totally awesome. Perfect for the winter.
kristi@ishouldbemoppingthefloor
This looks delicious…and so warm and hearty for these cold days! YUM!
Cindy @ Hun... What's for Dinner?
This looks fabulous! I can almost taste the melt in your mouth beef.
April J Harris (@apriljharris)
This sounds SO good and it looks delicious too. Love the idea of the balsamic roasted tomatoes and the spices in this recipe are fantastic.
Kelly Hutchinson
This is a perfect dish for this terribly cold weather we are having. I think I will put this on the weekends menu!
Sophia @ NY Foodgasm
Absolutely gorgeous and mouthwatering! BEAUTIFUL work Debi!
Michele
That really sounds like something I would enjoy eating–I am an omnivore-no doubt about it! I don’t thoink I would make that for just me-but maybe if I was having guests.
vegetarianmamma
This looks great, I can’t wait to share the recipe with my mother in law. I think she will really love it!
grabaplate
Looks like a keeper! I can practically smell it from here!
Simply Sated
I LOVE this recipe, Debi. It is not only gorgeous, it sounds amazing and I look forward to trying it. Great job!
Mary
Looks like a Seahawk game day recipe for me! Both look like winners!!!!!!