Hot, hearty, comforting, and utterly delicious! Beef Stew for a Crowd is best made in advance, which is perfect for entertaining!
Hot and hearty comfort food recipes are in my wheelhouse. Whether they're recipes that will feed a crowd like Slow Cooker Pulled Pork, or recipes that will feed one or two like Bagel Tuna Melt Sandwiches, or my famous French Onion Sloppy Joes - I've got you covered.
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Table of Contents Found Here
- The ingredient list:
- Kitchen tools and equipment needed:
- Beef Stew for a Crowd is easy to make
- Why this comfort food recipe works
- The easy step-by-step photo instructions:
- Do I have to make this in advance?
- How to reheat this beef stew after it's been chilled overnight in the fridge:
- Will this stew freeze well if I have leftovers?
- What if I don't like parsnips and/or carrots? Do I have to use them?
- Do I have to make this stew in such a large quantity?
- How to reheat this beef stew from frozen?
- Additional crowd pleasing recipes:
- Additional Comfort Food Recipes
- Printable Recipe Card
- Beef Stew for a Crowd
- Please comment if you've made this recipe.
The ingredient list:
*Please note that the exact measurements along with a "shop the recipe" feature from Instacart and Walmart is available inside the printable recipe card.
- ¾ pounds of Bacon
- 5 pounds of Beef Top-Round
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 8-10 Yukon Gold Potatoes
- Beef Stock
- Strongly Brewed Coffee
- Worcestershire Sauce
- Ground Thyme
- Dried Rosemary
- Bay Leaves
- Salt and Pepper
- Seasoning Salt
- Garlic Powder
- Parsnips
- Carrots
- Frozen Italian Green Beans, or Green Beans
- Frozen Peas
- Jarred Cocktail Onions (not pickled onions)
- Cornstarch
- Water
- Kitchen Bouquet (optional)
Kitchen tools and equipment needed:
- Large Skillet
- Large Slotted Spoon
- Extra-Large Covered Roaster
- Chef's Knife
- Cutting Board
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Vegetable Peeler
- Bench Scraper
- Large Containers for Storage
Beef Stew for a Crowd is easy to make
Please be aware that it will take extra time to prepare a large amount of stew, but once it's finished the results will be worth every moment spent. I guarantee it!
Why this comfort food recipe works
Making the beef stew in advance and allowing it to chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours (overnight is best), will give your stew optimal flavor.
If you don't have the luxury of allowing the stew to chill overnight, it will still be delicious, however, the depth of flavor really intensifies if allowed to chill.
The easy step-by-step photo instructions:
Make this beef stew recipe a day in advance for the best flavor.
- In a large skillet, brown the bacon until just crispy.
- Place the browned bacon in an extra-large pot with a lid. Set aside.
- In the same skillet, add the bite-sized pieces of beef and brown (in batches). Season with salt and pepper.
- After the beef is browned, add it to the same large pot with the bacon.
- Dice the potatoes into bite-sized pieces and stir them into the pot with the browned beef and bacon.
- Add the beef stock and coffee into the skillet along with the bay leaves, dried herbs, and remaining seasonings. Stir well.
- Peel and dice the parsnips and carrots into bite-sized pieces and add them to the pot along with the seasoned beef broth and coffee mixture.
- Cut the frozen Italian green beans into bite-sized pieces and add them to the pot along with the frozen peas, and the cocktail onions and their liquid.
- Cover the pot and refrigerate for at least 6 hours (recommended, but optional).
- To cook, preheat the oven to 325-degrees and allow the refrigerated stew to sit on the counter for 30 minutes.
- Place the uncovered stew in the oven and cook for 2 hours, uncovered, and two hours covered.
- Before serving, thicken the gravy by stirring cornstarch into hot water and stir it into the pot along with a little Kitchen Bouquet to deepen the color, if desired.
- Simmer on the stovetop (or return to the oven) stirring occasionally until the sauce thickens.
- Serves 25-30 very hungry people.
Do I have to make this in advance?
- No, but the flavors will have a chance to marry and improve if allowed to sit in the refrigerator for that extra time.
- Overnight is optimal.
- Plus, if you're entertaining, having it already made will be one last thing you'll have to worry about on the day of the party.
How to reheat this beef stew after it's been chilled overnight in the fridge:
I like to take the stew out of the refrigerator to warm at room temperature for at least 1 hour before adding it to a preheated 325-degree oven.
Add the stew, uncovered, into the oven and cook for 2 hours. Stirring occasionally.
Cover the roaster after 2 hours, and continue to cook for an additional 2 hours for the beef to become fork-tender.
Will this stew freeze well if I have leftovers?
Certainly! I recommend cooking it first and then portioning it out into smaller freezer-safe containers.
Cool the stew completely before adding it to the freezer.
Freeze for up to 3 months.
What if I don't like parsnips and/or carrots? Do I have to use them?
Nope, you can tailor this beef stew to your own tastes and preferences. However, I do recommend (if substituting them) to substitute with other hearty root vegetables that will hold up to the long cooking time, and not fall apart.
Might I recommend celery root, turnips, rutabagas?
Or, leave the root vegetables out entirely and add more potatoes instead.
Do I have to make this stew in such a large quantity?
No sir.
If you'd like to cut this recipe in half, it's easy enough to do.
However, because this delicious beef stew does freeze so well, making up a big batch and keeping it portioned and tucked away in the freezer for hearty winter meals is a great way to go!
How to reheat this beef stew from frozen?
Allow the stew to thaw completely and then heat the stew in a preheated 350-degree oven until heated through.
The time will depend on how much stew you're reheating at the time.
Additional crowd pleasing recipes:
Extra Cheesy Spaghetti Stuffed Meatloaf (pictured below)
"Your family and friends won’t believe their eyes when you cut into this Extra Cheesy Spaghetti Stuffed Meatloaf. It’s two classic family recipes rolled into one delicious main course. Talk about a crowd-pleaser!"
Family Reunion Pulled Pork Sandwiches (pictured below)
"When you want to feed a crowd, but you don’t want to fuss, reach for this Family Reunion Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Sandwiches recipe and everyone will be happy, and well-fed!!
Make-Ahead Apple Croissant Breakfast Casserole (pictured below)
"Treat your family and friends to a breakfast gift this year with this Easy Make-Ahead Croissant Apple Breakfast Bake. It will be a deliciously sweet start to a very wonderful day!"
Beef Stew for a Crowd (pictured below) This is the place!!
Additional Comfort Food Recipes
Soup, Stews, and Chowders Recipe Roundup (pictured below)
Warm yourself with this fabulous and filling comfort food Soups, Stews & Chowders Recipe Roundup. There is so much goodness here that you’d better settle in with a cup of hot coffee or tea and enjoy yourself while you browse these recipes!
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Printable Recipe Card
Beef Stew for a Crowd
Ingredients
- ¾ pound bacon
- 5 pounds beef top round cut into bite-sized pieces
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons seasoning salt
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 8 medium Yukon gold potatoes cut into bite-sized pieces
- 8 cups beef stock
- 1 cup strongly brewed coffee
- ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
- 3 medium bay leaves
- 1½ teaspoons dried thyme
- 1½ teaspoons dried rosemary
- 6 medium (approx. 1½ pounds) parsnips peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
- 8 medium (approx. 1½ pounds) carrots peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 bag (12 ounces) frozen Italian green beans or to taste
- 1 bag (12 ounces) frozen peas or to taste
- 3 jars (14 ounces each jar) whole cocktail onions not pickled onions
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 tablespoons Kitchen Bouquet browning sauce optional
Instructions
- Cut and brown approximately ¾ lbs. bacon in a large, heavy-duty skillet, over high heat. Place the bacon into a very large covered roaster pan.
- Working in batches, season the beef with salt and pepper to taste. Brown the beef in the olive oil and bacon drippings remaining in the skillet.
- Remove the meat with a slotted spoon when browned and add the browned beef to the bacon in the roaster pan.
- Add the prepared diced potatoes to the beef and bacon in the roaster and stir well to combine.
- Add the beef stock, brewed coffee, and Worcestershire sauce to the skillet, and bring to a simmer, making sure to scrape up all the browned bits from the bacon and beef found on the bottom of the pan.
- Stir in the dried herbs, garlic powder, and bay leaves.
- Add the chopped parsnips, carrots, green beans, peas, and onions with their liquid to the roaster pan and stir well to combine.
- Season the ingredients in the roaster pan liberally with salt and pepper, remembering there are A LOT of ingredients in there. I'd say at least 1 tablespoon salt and ½ tablespoon pepper.
- Pour the simmering liquid carefully into the roaster pot and stir well to combine. If needed, add more water to cover the ingredients ¾'s way.
- Cover the roaster pan and refrigerate at least 6 hours (recommended).
- Preheat oven to 325-degrees and allow the chilled stew to sit on the counter for 30 minutes.
- Add the roaster pot to the oven and cook,covered, for 2 hours.
- Remove the lid to the roaster and cook an additional 2 hours in the 325 degree F oven (165 degrees C).
- Remove the roaster from the oven.
- Stir together the cornstarch and 1 cup warm water. Slowly pour the cornstarch mixture into the pan and stir well. Simmer on the stovetop (or place the roaster back in the oven) and stir occasionally until the gravy thickens.
- Add the Kitchen Bouquet browning sauce if desired.
- Spoon the stew into bowls and serve with crusty bread.
Notes
Nutrition
I sincerely hope you've enjoyed today's crowd-pleasing recipe for Beef Stew as much as I've enjoyed bringing it to you!
Should you have any questions or comments regarding anything you've seen on my site, please don't hesitate to reach out to contact me. It is always my distinct pleasure to get back with you just as soon as I possibly can!
Thank you so much for visiting me today in my Kudos Kitchen. I hope you found something you'll love and that you will come back and visit me often. Please know that there is always room for you around my kitchen table!
Until we eat again, I hope you have a delicious day!
Laurie in Virginia says
I am making stew for 50 or more for the Hypothermia Prevention shelter soon. We have been asked not to include any pork due to religious restrictions for some of the expected guests. Any suggestions to amp up the flavor, in the absence of bacon? Maybe adding mushrooms would help? Any idea what volume of stew this will make? I will probably triple the recipe - but I want to make sure I have enough pots on hand!
Renée says
Hi, Laurie!
This recipe, as written, will serve 25 people.
I recommend adding liquid smoke (about one tablespoon per batch of stew) to give that smoky component without using bacon.
I also think adding mushrooms is a great idea as they'll add additional hardiness and flavor.
I hope this information is helpful. I trust your stew will be a complete success. I'm happy to answer any additional questions you may have.
Please come back and let me know how it turned out.
Warm wishes,
Renee
Laurie in Virginia says
Thanks so much for all of your updates! SOOO helpful!
Renée says
My pleasure. Thanks for the prompts.
Sandy Whitmarsh says
Could I divide the stew and cook in 2 crock pots? On high heat?
Renée says
Hi, Sandy!
Sure. That should work just fine. I'd suggest still browning the meat ahead of time before adding it to the slow cookers.
As far as the heat goes, I'd do high for 4-6 hours and then switch it to medium/low until serving.
I hope this helps.
Enjoy the stew and please come back and let me know how it works for you. Thanks.
Renee
Gail Thompson says
I am not seeing the amount on ingredients list except for meat and potatoes. Where can I get that information?
Renée says
Hello, Gail!
Thank you for alerting me there about the problem with the recipe card for this post.
I had no idea.
I've fixed it now so you should be able to see all the ingredients, instructions, and print it if desired.
Thanks again, and I apologize for the inconvenience.
I do hope you'll enjoy this recipe.
Take good care,
Renee
Laurie in Virginia says
When the recipe says "1 bag frozen peas" or "1 bag frozen green beans" - can you translate that to weight? Since "8 medium carrots" is about one pound, perhaps you are using one-pound bags of vegetables?
What about "1 jar cocktail onions"? I will probably chop and saute fresh onions instead.
Using weight or volume to measure rather than bag size or carrot size is so much easier, especially for a recipe that some may want to halve or double!
Renée says
Hi, Laurie!
Sorry I didn't specify things more clearly in the original recipe.
I've since gone in and updated the recipe card with volume weight measurements.
This should make things easier. However, none of these measurements are set in stone.
If you'd like to add more (or less) of any of the ingredients, you're perfectly fine to do so.
I hope this is helpful to you.
Take good care and please let me know if there is anything else I can help you with.
Renee
Nell says
What is the approximate serving size? We're using this recipe for an event and want to calculate how many bowls we'll get out of it as the bowls at our venue are on the small size.
Renée says
Hi, Nell!
One serving equal about 1 cup.
You'll get roughly 25 servings.
I hope you enjoy this recipe and will
come back and let me know what you think.
Take good care,
Renee
Jerry Davis says
I made this for about 30 guys for a men's group at church last month. I went with about 50% more meat, no coffee, no parsnips, no cocktail onions, but I added four large chopped onions. It was a HUGE hit!!! Served with cocktail buns to finish off any juices left in the bowls.
Today, my pastor asked me if I could make it again to serve 150 men at a Men's Conference this weekend. We will get it done, my only concern is how to chill everything overnight.
Jerry
Renée says
Wow, Jerry, how exciting!! I'm glad that this recipe has played a unique part in your group's (and soon to be conference's) success.
Maybe a bunch of coolers all filled with ice and containers of beef stew would be a fun and functional way to keep everything chilled.
I'm excited for you. It sounds like quite the challenge, but I'm sure you'll be successful.
Thanks so much for letting me know and also for the 5-star rating!
I appreciate it.
God bless, and happy cooking!!
Renee
Kirsten says
I made a double recipe for my son's rehearsal dinner. I don't know what I did wrong but it was so sour! I added baking soda and that helped, but too much would have affected the taste and also made the sweetness from the carrots come through too much. I spent all evening the day before and all day the day of the dinner trying to fix it. I finally realized it had no mushroom or normal onions, nothing to give it an earthiness. I had to take all the veggies and meat out of the broth, buy more meat to be able to brown and finally fixed it buy making a onion and mushroom gravy with more broth! As my husband said afterward, you put yourself through hell for that stew! The veggies still had a lot of tang but overall it ended up being a success.
Renée says
Hello, Kirsten!
Thanks for writing but I'm totally perplexed as to why your stew would have had a sour taste. There are no sour ingredients listed in the recipe at all.
Perhaps you purchased pickled onions instead of the jarred pearl white onions? I suppose this could be considered my error because I don't think I specified "Not pickled onions" in the instructions. I'm going to fix that immediately so it doesn't happen to anyone else.
I'm very sorry you had such trouble with this recipe, but I'm also glad it did wind up being a success after all your hard work.
Thank you for letting me know how to improve on this recipe for others. I wish I had done it sooner so you wouldn't have had such problems.
Take good care,
Renee
Kirsten says
Hi Renee. Thanks for you response. Yeah, I am not sure if it was the onions or maybe my bay leaves were stronger than I thought. They were pretty small and rather old so I used 8 instead of 6 for the double recipe. The onions I used were 2 8oz jars of Tipsy onions which was all my hubby could find. My daughter was able to find 3 jars of Mezzetta Cocktail Onions so we added those. In my haste, I forgot to taste them so I don't know. The mezzetta was the only thing that came up besides amazon when I googled it but are those pickled?
Renée says
Well, whatever the problem was I'm glad you were able to salvage it and have it all work out.
BTW, I'm always happy to reply even if it's not under the best of circumstances.
Take good care, Kirsten.
Renee
Joey Shreve says
I have made this twice now and have to say this is the best beef stew I have ever had. I can't wait to make more of your recipes.
Dina says
I’d put onions and corn in mine as well
Beth says
This beef stew is the classic Fall comfort food! It's a good thing that you've made it to feed a crowd because, I'm going to need it! Delish!
Taryn says
Pure comfort food! And so easy!
Lauri says
This is my go-to recipe when I need to feed a large crowd of hungry guys (and gals!). I have made this a few times for our club events and get raves every time! I am considering also replacing 2 cups of the beef broth with a nut brown ale. Thoughts?
Jan says
We served this yesterday afternoon to "feed a crowd" and everyone loved it! The flavor was fantastic! We also enjoyed being able to do all the prep the day before and simply slow-cook in oven the day of our event. The only changes we made to the original recipe were to add mushrooms to the ingredients list and we used a full pound of bacon. Thank you for this recipe!
Renée says
Hi, Jan!
Thank you so much for letting me know this recipe was a success for you! It makes my heart happy to hear it!!
I'm glad you also made it your own by tweaking the recipe to suit your tastes.
As far as I'm concerned, you can never go wrong with adding more bacon, and I think the mushrooms were a fabulous addition!
Wish I could have had some! 🙂
Thanks again for taking the time to comment! Love it!
Have a wonderful day, and stay warm!!
Renee
Nicole Persson says
Just wanted to let you know that in the recipe, it says to cook uncovered for both 2 hour time slots. I scrolled up to the longer version to make sure which was correct but thought you might want to edit. Thanks!
Renée says
You are so kind, Nicole.
Yes. I will fix that right away.
I do need an editor, but alas, it's only me.
Thank you.
Renee
Bradley says
Your style is very unique in comparison to other folks I
have read stuff from. Many thanks for posting when you've got the opportunity, Guess I'll just bookmark this site.
Renée says
Thank you. I'll take that as a huge compliment!
Flo Conklin says
I have made this stew recipe at least four times--for family and for parties. It is my go-to stew. Thanks for a winner!
kat says
Stew just seems to be one of those things that pleases everyone.
RJ Flamingo says
Looks delicious,Renée! That would definitely be a Super Bowl party crowd-pleaser!
Elle says
Oh, so comforting and hearty looking!
Amanda says
That looks fantastic!!! Great job girl!!!
Paula says
Wow Renee, that's a big pot of delicious looking stew! I'm sure everyone's tummies were full and smiles were on all their faces.
Linda says
This was so delicious. Almost thought about asking you if you wanted us to take any home. 🙂