When you're in the mood for comfort food, nothing hits the spot like a nourishing stew. Simple to make – usually in just one pot with little hands-on time – these hearty recipes make the ideal vehicles for wonky or otherwise imperfect vegetables, economical cuts of meat, leftovers and many ingredients that usually go to waste. Ready to slow cook your way to a seriously satisfying meal? Read on...
Click or scroll through our gallery to discover our best-ever stew recipes, from fancy French classics to aromatic Asian-inspired dishes.
North African lamb tagine is spicy and aromatic, rather than hot and fiery. This tasty take on the recipe is made with lamb neck fillet, which is perfect for slow-cooking – and happily, you're likely to have most of the other ingredients in your store cupboard already. Dried apricots are listed among the ingredients, but you can use any dried fruits you like; figs or dates would work well. Serve your tagine with couscous or rice for a well-rounded meal.
The smokiness in this hearty fish stew is all thanks to a little Spanish smoked paprika. Monkfish can be quite expensive, so if you prefer, you could use thick chunks of hake instead. This Mediterranean-inspired dish contains a whole can of cannellini beans, so it's quite filling – all you'll need to serve it with is a hunk of crusty bread. It's a simple dish that requires little preparation, and it's ready in just 30 minutes.
Food doesn't get more comforting than this British classic. It's also a very thrifty dish; you can use any cut of beef suitable for slow cooking, such as chuck or shin. A few spoons of Worcestershire sauce add a tasty savoury note to the rich beef gravy – which the dumplings (added towards the end of cooking) soak up in the most delicious way.
Here's a really simple recipe you can rustle up using a can of chickpeas, a can of chopped tomatoes and a can of spaghetti hoops – though if you're not a fan of hoops, you could also use small cooked pasta shapes like macaroni or orecchiette. This soul-nourishing stew contains plenty of garlic, which is slowly cooked with the chickpeas until it's gorgeously sweet. Adding a pinch of chilli at the end of cooking lifts the dish and balances out all the flavours.
If you love garlicky, hot and fiery food, this Palestinian dish is for you. To make it more economical, you could try using a mixture of squid rings and prawns; just be sure to cook the squid rings for a few minutes only (if you cook them for too long, they'll become tough and rubbery). Depending on your preference, you could serve it with flatbreads or rice, with a green salad on the side.
Stews don't get any easier than this! Here, everything is cooked in one pot – including carrots and potatoes – so there's no need to add a side dish. The recipe calls for diced leg of lamb, but you could save some cash and use lamb neck fillet instead. Made with plenty of beef stock and red wine, it's a beautifully rich stew perfect for a gathering or just a comforting bowl for one (with lots of lovely leftovers).
Packed with fresh thyme, rosemary, sage and parsley, this is a healthy stew recipe that just so happens to be vegan, too. It contains lots of filling protein in the form of lentils and cannellini beans, and is seasoned with yeast extract and Dijon mustard to add a sumptuously savoury taste. Best of all, it's on the table in just 45 minutes. Serve it up with some wholemeal bread for a healthy, balanced meal.
The smokiness in this earthy stew comes from a tasty combination of chorizo and smoked paprika. It's made using boned and skinless chicken thighs, which are perfect for slow cooking (and good value for money, too) – and the black beans make it extra filling. You could try serving it with crusty bread, or some rice or mashed potato.
This classic 1970s recipe sees strips of beef cooked with paprika, mushrooms, onions and sour cream. Though it's traditionally made with beef fillet, strips of rump steak will work well as a substitute. If you're feeling fancy, you can flambé it with brandy – but if you'd rather stay on the safe side, you can just heat the brandy until it bubbles. This will ensure that the alcohol burns off before you add it to the finished dish.
This super-simple dish is so tasty, it's sure to become a midweek favourite. First, roast your sausages on a bed of diced squash, chopped celery and onion along with rosemary and tomatoes. Next, add more tomatoes, chicken stock, cannellini beans, honey and balsamic vinegar – this will help to create a sticky sweet and sour flavour. A meal that's as speedy as it is nourishing, it's ready in under an hour.
Made by cooking black-eyed beans in a spicy tomato sauce, this vegan stew is a staple in Ghana, whether for breakfast or as a main meal. It does take a while to put together, but an easy way to save some time is to use canned beans instead of dried. It comes served with fried plantain, which is definitely worth a go if you've never tried it – but if you fancy an alternative, it'd taste great with flatbreads too.
In this wonderfully easy recipe, chunks of lamb are slow cooked in a mixture of ale, chilli, spices, dates and sultanas, resulting in a tender, rich stew with a hint of sweetness. Fresh tomatoes are added towards the end of cooking, but you could use canned, drained plum tomatoes instead, if you prefer. Save the leftovers for tomorrow's dinner – this is a dish that tastes even better the day after it's made.
Great value for money and full of flavour, lamb shanks are tough cuts of meat that are just perfect for slow cooking. In this simple dish, they're cooked with fennel, tomatoes, white wine and fresh herbs until the meat is so tender it falls away from the bone. For a hearty meal, serve your creation with a side of indulgently cheesy mashed potato – the steps are in the recipe.
This Vietnamese seafood stew is wonderfully aromatic. You'll need a firm white fish for this recipe (think hake or cod), as well as a mixture of prawns and clams – though mussels would work, too. The sourness of the fish sauce is counter-balanced by juicy chunks of fresh pineapple, which add a touch of sweetness. Serve it up with warm tortillas or rice. The choice is yours!
Here's an easy one-pot meal from South West France. Cooked in white wine and tomatoes – along with red peppers, a little chilli, a handful of herbs and garlic – it's a tempting combination of potatoes and chicken legs (though you could use chicken thighs instead, if you prefer). This is another dish that gets tastier the day after it's made, so be sure to cook more than you need.
Stifado is a traditional Greek dish that sees beef cooked in red wine and tomatoes, with lots of pickling onions. These can be a pain to peel, but if you cover them in boiling water for five minutes, it'll make things much easier. Ideally, the beef should be marinated overnight in the wine, along with a strip of orange peel and some garlic and spices – so you'll need to set aside some time for this recipe (though we promise it'll be worth it).
Here, hunks of lamb neck fillet are made into a hearty stew along with sweet potato, tomatoes and haricot beans. The sauce has a pleasingly sweet and spicy kick, thanks to the addition of mango chutney and curry powder. With just 15 minutes' preparation time required, this dish couldn't be easier to make – plus, it'll comfortably feed six hungry people.
Not only is venison leaner than beef, but it's also lower in saturated fats, making it the perfect choice for a healthy dinner. In this nourishing recipe, venison is slowly cooked in stock with onions and garlic, with a little tomato purée to add sweetness – and a hearty selection of root vegetables are added to bulk things up towards the end. The sauce is rich and thick, with a gorgeously glossy appearance.
This aromatic dish is filled with the flavours of South India, with coconut, curry leaves, lime, tamarind and chilli all in the mix. The recipe calls for fillets of sea bass, but if you like, you can just make up the sauce, then simmer some chunks of white fish, squid or prawns until they're cooked through. Aubergines and okra help to boost the veggie content (though you could use green beans or sugar snap peas instead of the okra, if you prefer).
Don't be put off by the fact that this stew is made with ox cheeks; cooked long and slow, they're full of flavour, and meltingly tender too. Top tip: start prepping this dish the day before you plan to eat it, as the ox cheeks need to marinate for 12 hours before cooking. As for the cheese cobblers, they're a bit like savoury scones. As they cook, they'll crisp up on top, while the underside will absorb the delicious sauce from the stew.
Get the recipe for ale-braised ox cheek with Cheddar cobblers here
Made with saffron, dried apricots, chickpeas, cinnamon and honey, this Persian stew is wonderfully sweet and flavourful. The recipe calls for lean leg of lamb, though you could also use lamb shoulder; if you cook it for twice the time listed in the method, it'll become meltingly tender. When it's ready, serve it up with a heap of rice on the side for your daily dose of carbs.
A dish that hails from Southern France, this Mediterranean fish stew is served with croutons and garlic mayonnaise, making it a fabulously filling meal. The basic broth is a flavour sensation of fennel, tomatoes, white wine, peppers, orange and aniseed, and you can add whichever fish you like – though red mullet (or another white fish), mussels and prawns are a good combination.
This sweet, mild, wonderfully warming Burmese curry consists of slow-cooked chunks of pork shoulder, soy sauce, onions, ginger and sugar. After about an hour and half of cooking time, you end up with deliciously tender meat, and a sweet, sticky sauce. Serve it with plain rice and some stir-fried greens for a healthy, satisfying meal.
The great thing about fish stews is that they're so quick to make – and this one's ready in under an hour. A Moroccan-inspired tagine, it's packed with spices, with a mixture of tomatoes, saffron, ginger, chilli and garlic forming a tasty base in which to cook the fish. With potatoes and salty-sour pitted green olives providing a veggie hit, it's a perfect one-pot dish that doesn't need any accompaniment.
Get the recipe for cod and prawn tagine with olives and lemon here
Made with a tongue-tingling combination of chillies, ginger, spices and tamarind, this Goan stew is a real crowd-pleaser. Not only that, but it takes just five minutes to prepare, then cooks happily all on its own for 45 minutes. Using just one pan, it could become a new weeknight favourite, with chicken thighs and chorizo the stars of the show. Serve it with crusty bread, et voilà – a filling meal in next to no time.
Here's our 'almost Irish' stew recipe, made with lamb shoulder – a thrifty cut that's full of flavour (though for it to be an authentic Irish stew, you'd need to use mutton instead). It's made in one pot, with plenty of carrots, swede, onions and potatoes, so there's no need to serve it up with extra vegetables on the side. However, if you feel like adding some more, buttered kale or cabbage would be lovely.
This stew takes a little time to bubble away until the meat is perfectly tender but, cooked in a bottle of red wine, the beef shin adds plenty of thickness and richness. Any full-bodied wine with a good amount of tannins would work here – so if you can't find Chianti, a Cabernet Sauvignon would make a great alternative. When your stew is ready, serve it with crusty bread, mashed potato and seasonal greens.
You can choose any cheap cut of beef to make this French classic; brisket, chuck and shin would all work perfectly. Whatever you go for, you'll need to allow time for the meat to marinate in a heavenly mixture of red wine, thyme, garlic and Cognac before you start cooking. When everything's nearly done, add in some small onions, crisp lardons (or pancetta), and button mushrooms for a tasty finishing touch.
A feijoada is a black bean stew that's traditionally made with pork or beef – but here's a vegetarian version made with roasted sweet potatoes and peppers. The sauce a healthy mix of onions, garlic, paprika, ground coriander, fresh thyme, stock, and rinsed black beans. Served with punchy tomato salsa, sour cream and wholegrain rice, it's one delicious dish.
Get the recipe for Brazilian roasted vegetable feijoada here
A daube is a French favourite, featuring slow-cooked beef that's marinated in – and then cooked in – red wine. The recipe has steps to help you make your own lardons, just you can also buy pre-cut bacon lardons or pancetta to make life easier. You'll need to marinate the beef overnight and allow for six hours' cooking time, but with hints of orange, fresh herbs and garlic, it will be time well spent.
Get the recipe for daube of beef here
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Last updated by Jessica Morris.