Spicy Stewed Beef

Slow cooked beef is fall apart tender and loaded with flavor! This super easy recipe is begging to be served over the pimento cheese grits I shared this week. Your taste buds will thank you!

This dish is the perfect snow day meal. It's warm, simmers on the stove awhile, has a healthy dose of spice, and sticks to your ribs! We had 1-2 ice days this week. I saw 2 flurries of snow and then the ice began. Watching freezing rain fall is not nearly as beautiful as snow! The schools were out 2 days, then had delayed openings the other mornings, and I was off work 1 day. Thankfully, with the sun out, many of the major roadways melted and dried out quickly so the entire city was not paralyzed for long.

You know we don't do ice and snow well in the south :)

The grits I shared Thursday were made for this beef. I decided to share the recipes separately because both stand on their own. However, when you serve them together, something magical happens. The spice of the beef is so tasty poured over top the creamy cheesy grits. It ranks up there with shrimp and grits!

You can adapt the stew to the crockpot if you need to but it's really not necessary, and dirties extra dishes. It can only cook about 4 hours and crockpot recipes are typically only helpful if you can cook them for 8 hours or more. The grits cook so fast that your hands on time is very low and produces a huge amount of food.

The amount of spice is easily adapted. Don't want any at all? Omit the chipotle. Like burning your face off? Double or triple the amount. 

Spicy Stewed Beef
2 Tablespoons canola/vegetable oil
2 Tablespoons butter
3 pounds stew meat or diced chuck roast
2 chipotle peppers (minced) + 1 teaspoon sauce (from canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce)
3-4 cups low sodium beef broth
1 medium onion, chopped
5 cloves minced garlic
1 tablespoon cumin
2 teaspoons chili powder

In a large Dutch oven over high heat, add 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon butter. Brown the stew meat about a minute. Add the chipotle peppers and sauce, 3 cups beef broth, chopped onion, minced garlic, cumin, and chili powder. Stir, scraping the browned bits from the bottom, then bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for about 3 hours, or until the meat is fall apart tender. Check the meat occasionally and add additional beef broth if needed.

Once the meat is tender, remove the lid and let simmer for 30 minutes to allow the liquid to thicken.

Pile meat and it's juices over top mashed potatoes, polenta, rice, or cheesy grits. Or even stuff into soft tacos!

Source: adapted from The Pioneer Woman