French Onion Beef Stew
2x the delicious portions!
- Wheat
- Soy
- Milk
This stick-to-your-ribs meal is a true classic with a French onion twist. You’ll sear beef to a deep brown, slowly caramelize thyme-scented onion in butter, then simmer it all with potatoes, carrots and a splash of umami-rich Worcestershire sauce. Fill up those lucky bowls, and serve with crisp, cheesy toasts for dipping (just like the original!). This recipe is double the typical servings, providing 4 servings and 8 servings for a 2 person and 4 person box respectively.
Ingredients
2 unit
Onion
12 ounce
Potatoes
9 ounce
Carrots
16 ounce
Beef for Braising
1 tablespoon
Flour
(Contains: Wheat)
1 teaspoon
Garlic Powder
1 teaspoon
Dried Thyme
2 tablespoon
Worcestershire Sauce
4 unit
Beef Stock Concentrate
2 unit
Demi-Baguette
(Contains: Soy, Wheat)
4 slice
Swiss Cheese
(Contains: Milk)
Not included in your delivery
Salt
Pepper
Cooking Oil
Sugar
Butter
(Contains: Milk)
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
• Wash and dry produce. • Halve, peel, and thinly slice onions. Dice potatoes into 1-inch pieces. Trim, peel, and cut carrots on a diagonal into 1-inch-thick pieces.
• Open package of beef and drain off any excess liquid. • In a medium bowl, combine beef, flour, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir to coat. • Heat a large drizzle of oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Add coated beef and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, 4-5 minutes (for 8 servings, you may need to cook in batches depending on the size of your pot). Wash out bowl. • Using a slotted spoon, transfer beef to bowl used for seasoning.
• Melt 4 TBSP butter (8 TBSP for 8 servings) in pot used for beef over medium heat. • Add onions and 1⁄4 cup water (1/3 cup for 8); cook, stirring occasionally, until browned and softened, 8-10 minutes. TIP: Be sure to scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pot as onions cook! • Add garlic powder, thyme, 2 tsp sugar (4 tsp for 8), and a splash of water; cook, stirring occasionally, until caramelized, 2-3 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper.
• Add beef, potatoes, and carrots to pot with onions. Stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper. • Add Worcestershire sauce, stock concentrates, and 5 cups water (8 cups for 8 servings). Stir to combine.
• Bring stew to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to medium low. Cook until beef is cooked through and veggies are tender, stirring halfway through, 40-45 minutes. • Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• While stew cooks, adjust oven rack to top position; heat broiler to high. • Cut each baguette crosswise into 8 rounds for a total of 16 rounds (32 rounds for 8 servings). • Cut Swiss cheese slices into 4 squares each for a total of 16 squares (32 squares for 8). • Spread out baguette slices on a baking sheet; top each with one cheese square. • Broil toasts on top rack until cheese has melted and is lightly browned, 2-3 minutes. TIP: The broiler is a powerful tool! Keep an eye on the toasts to prevent burning.
• Serve family style or divide stew between bowls and top with toasts (or serve on the side).
Beef is fully cooked when internal temperature reaches 145°.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Apr 2026- Flavor: Many loved the rich, savory broth and French onion taste, though some found it too sweet from the sugar or overpowered by Worcestershire sauce.
- Ease of prep: This recipe takes significantly longer than stated — plan for 90+ minutes with extended caramelizing and simmering time.
- Suggestions: Use less water (3-4 cups instead of 5) and add cornstarch slurry to achieve proper stew thickness instead of soup consistency.
- Leftovers: The generous portions provide excellent leftovers that taste even better the next day, perfect for multiple meals 🍲.
- Cooking tips: Reduce sugar by half, cook beef longer for tenderness, and cut vegetables smaller for more even cooking.
Reviews from our home cooks
This was FANTASTIC! I added a few more potatoes and carrots to bulk it up and stretch it into 1-2 more servings. While the onions were cooking/reducing, I added a splash of red wine, and omitted 1 packet of Worcestershire sauce, and I think it gave this dish an even more rich, complex flavor. This morning when I woke up, my house still had the delicious smell of this stew from last night... I felt like I was back at my grandmother's house. This is a hearty, delicious cold-weather winner and I'd definitely get it again!
This was so delicious with a hearty broth that still somehow had the delicacy of a good French onion soup. I'll order this every time it's offered. The bread was toasty and cheesy at the same time. All around, this was an excellent meal, perfect for a gathering of family and friends.
Hands down the best meal I have had from Hello Fresh! Loved it. I did add one medium carrot and two celery stalks only because I had them on hand and wanted to use them up. But I'm sure the beef stew would have been just as good without these additions. Larger portion size was great for leftovers for lunch the next day and the stew was probably even better heated up.
This is absolutely the most delicious stew! I will be making it over and over again! I like how I have leftovers for another time during the week! The only thing I changed was the 1/4 cup water for sautéing the onions. I replaced with 1/4 cup red wine! So so good!!
Amazing dish. The flavors were amazing. The only criticism would be that if you call it French onion stew that instead of Swiss cheese on the demi baguette it should be gruyere.
The cook times were a bit off. It took an extra 10-15 minutes to properly caramelize the onions. I also could've cooked down the broth for an additional 10-15 minutes for a stew-like consistency instead of a soup-like consistency. The flavors were great!
Directions should be clearer. I received 2 onions. Then it said halve, peel and thinly slice the onions. I assumed I needed to use both onions but it would have been clearer to say "using the whole onion, first half it and then thinly slice it." This happens a lot on recipes with onions. Also, the stew takes 45 minutes but step 6 says while it cooks, make the bread. It should say after 30 minutes of the stew cooking, prepare the bread.
I make a fabulous pot roast, modifying it into stew at times. THIS is better. Not by a lot, but better! To minimize clean-up, I put it all in the crock pot with a liner, only browning the beef and carmelizing the onions before adding them but otherwise dumping all the prepped ingredients in and stirring. Made it a bit simpler, if slower.
Flavor was great but the consistency was pretty thin. I get that French onion soup is thin, but I feel like a stew should be thick. Regardless, it was very good.
Loved the amount of servings for this stew and the flavors. Toast with Swiss cheese was a nice touch.
