Provencal Beef Stew (French Beef Stew)

Provencal beef stew or beef daube is a French beef stew that comes from the Provencal region of France. It is a French red wine beef stew (though white wine is sometimes used) that is rich and delicious and the perfect French stew to make when the weather is cooler. Add it to cooked noodles or dip crusty French bread into this stew for the best experience.

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Total Time: 3 hours 20 minutes

About this French Beef Stew

This provencal beef stew (beef Daube) is cooked on the stovetop for hours until the beef is tender and the sauce thickens. As the name suggests, this French stew is from the Provencal region of France and it traditionally uses ingredients from that region, including the wine.

This French stew is made up of onions, carrots, red wine, beef, mushrooms and a beurre mannie (a French flour and butter thickener).

Making this French red wine beef stew is very easy and most of the cooking is the simmering of the stew on the stovetop. It is rich and delicious and the perfect meal to make when you are home and want a slow cooked stew.

I love making this French stew on the weekends and having leftovers for during the week.

Ingredients you will need

The ingredients in this Provencal beef stew are very straight forward. Most of the ingredients (aside from the beef and mushrooms) will cook down almost completely in the stew making a delicious rich sauce.

• Sirloin Beef. Cut into 1 inch cubes.
• Chopped tomatoes. I chopped my own tomatoes for the recipe but you could use canned diced tomatoes that are drained.
• Onion.
• Garlic.
• Olive oil.
• Carrots
• French red wine. Since this is a Provencal beef stew, a red wine from the Provencal region works best. I like the Côtes du Rhône wines from France for this recipe. You can also use Merlot, Cabernet or Barbera if you cannot find a this variety.
• Tomato paste.
• Bouquet garni. This is made up of fresh oregano, thyme and bay leaf tied together.
• Mushrooms.
• Beef stock.
• Kosher salt
• Softened butter and flour for the beurre manié which thickens the stew.

How to make:

1. Sear the beef on all sides then remove from the pot and set aside.
2. In the same pot, add the onions and carrots and cook them until softened.

3. Once the carrots and onions are softened, you will add the wine and simmer it until it reduces by half.
4. Steps 4 picture shows you what wine reduced by half looks like.

5. Now you can add the beef back to the pot with the onions, carrots and reduced wine.
6. The last thing you do before starting the long simmering of this French stew is to add enough beef stock to almost cover the meat and the bouquet Garni.

Once the French beef stew has simmered for a a few hours, you can add the mushrooms and the beurre manie. The beurre manié which is a mixture of soft butter and flour will thicken up the stew beautifully.

How to Serve this French Beef Stew

This hearty French red wine beef stew makes a delicious meal on its own but it is even more delicious with fresh French baguette bread to dip into it.

The traditional way to serve this is wither with bread (my favorite way) or with wide noodles like egg noodles.

Sides that go well with French Beef Stew

If you want to add some side dishes to this beef daube recipe, here are some of my favorites. These are the sides I like to serve with my slow cooker beef bourguignon and my vegetable cassoulet and they will go really well with this beef stew recipe too.

• Spinach salad. This fresh spinach salad really helps lighten up this rich stew and makes the perfect side.
• If you want to make your own bread to dip in this French stew, homemade ciabatta is a great option.
• Radicchio and argula salad.
• If you are serving a group and want a full French experience, a classic French salad Nicoise is the perfect side.
• Yukon gold mashed potatoes.
• Egg Noddles.
• Fresh French baguette.

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