Pot au feu recipe (classic French beef stew)

Pot au feu is a traditional French beef and vegetable stew. Prepare your cast iron Dutch oven to make this easy stove top beef stew. You will also get a delicious bone broth to drink with your stew. All of this, in just one pot and one recipe!

Jump to:

• ⭐ Why you'll love this recipe
• 📖 Ingredient notes
• 🔪 Step by step instructions
• 👩🏻‍🍳Top tip
• 💬 Frequently Asked Questions
• 🍲 Other recipes you might like
• 📋 Recipe / Recette

Although in need of cooking for a long time, pot au feu doesn’t take long to prepare. So you won’t slave for hours in the kitchen. And this no wine stove top beef stew recipe is easy to make and only requires one pot (preferably, a cast iron Dutch oven). Added bonus: you will get a delicious bone broth to drink with it (I’m not kidding here, it really is the best bone broth ever!!)

This French beef stew is so delicious that my mom, often says on Sundays "do you want to come over for lunch? I’ve made pot au feu." Emphasizing on the second part, just to make sure that I won’t say no, as if she needed to. 😂

⭐ Why you'll love this recipe

• Stove top recipe.
• One pot recipe.
• Easy recipe.
• No wine, no tomato beef stew.
• Ultimate comfort food.
• Meltingly tender beef.

📖 Ingredient notes

• Beef stew meat. In the traditional French recipe we use beef shank and short ribs. If you can't find those, any kind of beef stew meat will do. But try to choose high quality meat, as this stew will taste much better if your meat is super tender. And this doesn't depend on the recipe but on the quality of your meat.
• Bone marrows. This is what's going to give this stew its delicious hearty flavor. If you can't find bone marrows that are sold separately, choose beef meat that includes it (as you can see on one the the pictures below). The inside of the bone marrow (well, the marrow itself) is super super delicious. In my family we fight over it! In some French traditional restaurants you can order bone marrows as a starter. They are served with toasted bread.
• Yellow onion. If you can't find yellow onion, white onion will also work.
• Vegetables. Turnips, carrots, leeks and potatoes (skip the potatoes for the paleo and AIP diets or use white sweet potatoes).
• Bouquet garni. A bunch of rosemary, thyme and bay leaf. You can either buy a ready made bouquet garni or make it yourself.

🔪 Step by step instructions

• Peel the onion and pierce it four times with a knife to pin the cloves

• Pour the water in a large Dutch oven, add a pinch of salt, the bouquet garni and the onion studded with cloves. Add the beef.

• Bring to a boil and simmer for 2.5 hours. In the meantime, peel and wash the turnips, potatoes, carrots and leeks.

• At the end of the 2.5 hours, add all the vegetables to the pot.

• Let it cook for 30 more minutes or until vegetables are tender. And voilà! This beef stew is traditionally served with cornichons (pickles) and coarse sea salt but all of this is optional. Bon appétit!

👩🏻‍🍳Top tip

Serve the pot au feu broth in tea cups, to drink while eating the beef stew. I can assure you this broth is out of this world!

💬 Frequently Asked Questions

🍲 Other recipes you might like

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📋 Recipe / Recette

This French beef stew "pot au feu" recipe has been selected as one of the featured recipes in the “My picks” category from Phoenix Helix Paleo AIP Recipe Roundtable #359!! 🥰 Thank you!!!