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Low FODMAP Beef Stew is so delicious, filling, comforting and (of course) soy free. There is nothing like a big bowl of Low FODMAP Beef Stew to chase away the winter doldrums and warm up your belly. Tons of vegies, nice pieces of beef, and rich flavorful broth make Low FODMAP Beef Stew not only a tasty dinner but super healthy for our tender tummies.
I’ve been making beef stew since I was about 13-14 years old. I first learned my mom’s basic recipe for beef stew when she made me my first personal cookbook filled with her favorite recipes. I still have that cookbook! 🙂 (although, I have had to replace the binder several times throughout the years)
For years and years, I made beef stew more like my Auntie Gayle’s Elk Stew recipe, with tomatoes, wine and an Italian spin on the herbs. Oh man, I do ♥LOVE♥ that version of stew! However, since I am following a Low FODMAP diet, I had to modify the recipe to fit within Low FODMAP guidelines. When, I get to have nightshades, garlic, and onions again, I will ABSOLUTELY post the recipe 😉 (Notice, I said when, not if! I am choosing to remain hopeful and be positive that we will figure out my food sensitivities, and that I will be able to once again enjoy my fave’s! Power of positivity!!! )
Low FODMAP Beef Stew as economical convenience food
Low FODMAP Beef Stew can really help to stretch your food dollars. Not only is this stew super delicious and healthy, but I love how you can really stretch a buck with inexpensive (still Organic!) vegetables and only one pound of meat per pot. This recipe makes a really BIG batch of soup! We usually eat it for dinner on two different nights, freeze a couple portions and still have enough to have some for lunch or breakfast.
One of my tricks lately is whenever I make soup or stew, I freeze up a couple of portions of soup to have as my “convenience” food on different days when I don’t have the time or energy to cook. Every time I make soup, I portion out some into freezer safe glass containers and freeze. I always let it cool thoroughly and make sure I leave about an inch of head space in the container before putting into the freezer. By having extra portions of soup in the freezer, it is easier to make sure I am eating something healthy, filling, and nutrient dense. With all of my food sensitivities and soy allergy, I can’t go out and just buy fast food or even packaged food from natural food stores. Having pre-portioned soup in my freezer is quite literally a life saver (at least for my tummy). 😉
Low FODMAP Beef Stew Variations and Notes
Feel free to make your own substitutions to this recipe choosing different herbs and vegetables to suit your own tastes and what is available seasonally. Turnips, Rutabaga, sweet potato, squash, zucchini or greens, would all be welcome additions to this soup. Varying the herbs and vegies will lend you quite a different flavor profile, but still yummy. I love “hiding” vegies my family wouldn’t normally eat in soups. Its amazing how much kale and parsnips you can eat when its in soup! 🙂
There is no thickener in the broth for this soup. The starch from the potatoes will thicken the broth a little bit. We prefer to have a more “soupy” texture. You could certainly consider dusting the meat with flour (gluten free flour for gluten free folks) prior to browning, which would add some thickening. You could also make a slurry with arrowroot if you prefer to have a thicker stew.
The protein for Low FODMAP Beef Stew doesn’t have to be beef. Consider using buffalo, bison, elk, or venison for this recipe. If using stew meat, I usually cut the pieces in half. I find smaller pieces of meat distributes throughout the stew more thoroughly and everyone is getting enough meat in their portion. The meat will also cook and become tender much more quickly. Roasts, steak, etc could also be used instead of stew meat. Usually we let our wallet do the talking, in other words, whatever is least expensive. 🙂
Recipe Notes
Typically, my recipes will have a range of quantity on vegies, spices, herbs and salt to allow for personal preference and the size of your produce. Obviously, vegies can vary greatly in size depending on the variety, season, etc. A great example is parsnips. For a while we have been seeing humongous parsnips. In this case, I would use one parsnip per batch, but when the parsnips are tiny (like carrots) then a couple would be good. Another example would be yukon gold potatoes vs huge russets. Obviously you would need more gold potatoes than russets to end up with the same amount. When using large bakers (russets), I usually use 3-4 per batch. Please use your judgement based on your ingredients, tastes, and dietary needs. As you can see there is a lot of room for personalization with this recipe.
Regarding seasonings, I really hesitate to put quantities for ingredients like salt. Everyone is different. What is bland for one person can be too salty for the next. My mom avoids and is hyper aware of sodium due to blood pressure issues, whereas many people I know add salt without even tasting the dish first. I prefer to season each layer as I go. So when I add vegies, I season, then when I add potatoes, I season. Mentally, I am just seasoning the potatoes at that point. Also, I typically measure into my hand or just sprinkle “until it looks right”. 😉 That said, I measured out what I usually use to give you a baseline for your seasonings. The seasoning measurements are just a general starting point. Please adjust to your personal tastes.
Meal Prep for the win! Prep veggies ahead of time saves so much time during cook time.
Meal Prep Tip
Another thing I love about Low FODMAP Beef Stew (or any soup recipe for that matter) is that most of the vegetable prep can be done ahead of time. Yay! This saves me a lot of time (and energy) when I go to actually cook the stew. Meal prepping the vegies, turns this recipe into mostly passive cooking, which I love!
Often, I will wash (with Produce Wash, of course! 😉 ) and chop the carrots, celery, and parsnips ahead of time. Then just store the prepped vegies in the fridge. I like to put them in one container in between pieces of paper towel.
I’ll usually scrub and produce wash the potatoes too. Just, don’t chop your potatoes in advance or they will get brown and yucky. I like to chop them while the meat is browning, then put them in a bowl with water. After all the potatoes are chopped, I drain off the potatoes, kinda rinse (in the bowl) and refill the water. This removes the extra starch from the potatoes which reduces the grittiness that potatoes can put in the broth and reduces the carbs a little bit for this diabetic gal. However, as noted above, if you like your broth thicker, then consider not rinsing the potatoes. The extra starch from the potatoes will naturally thicken up the broth a little bit.
Recipe Modification for those not following Low FODMAP
For those folks not following a Low FODMAP diet, feel free to add in some onion and garlic. Trust me, I would totally be adding garlic and onion if I could. We LOVE garlic and would have used about 6-8 cloves per batch of soup.
Chop two medium or one large onion into 1 inch chunks and peel and mince 2-8 cloves of garlic. Let the garlic sit for about 10 minutes while you saute the onions. After the beef has been seared (step 1 below), remove from the pan and reserve. If needed, add a little bit more oil to your pan. Add the onions and saute over medium heat. After they have been working for about 5-7 minutes, season with salt, then add in minced garlic. Stir in and cook for another 1-2 minutes before proceeding to step two of the recipe.
AIP Paleo Low FODMAP Beef Stew Variation
For those following the AIP Paleo diet, remove the potatoes and replace with white sweet potatoes. Other options might be butternut squash, zucchini, yellow squash, turnips, rutabaga, or greens.
Low FODMAP Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 1 pound Stew Meat, Beef, Elk, etc Cut into 1 inch pieces
- 2 tsp Garlic infused Oil
- 1 Tbsp olive oil approximately
- salt (Himilayan Sea Salt or Coarse Salt
- 1 Tbsp Rosemary, dried crushed
- 1 - 1 1/2 Tbsp Thyme, dried lightly crushed
- 1 tsp Oregano or Marjoram, dried lightly crushed
- 2-3 each Bay Leaves, dried 2 large or 3 small
- 6-8 each carrots cut into 3/4" pieces
- 6-8 stalks celery cut into 3/4" pieces (include leafy tops)
- 1-2 each parsnips cut into 1/2 - 3/4" pieces
- 6-8 each potatoes cut into 1 - 1 1/2" pieces
- 6-8 cups Beef Stock
- 2-4 cups water
- 1 14 oz can green beans drained (optional)
Instructions
- In a large stockpot or dutch oven, heat 1 tsp garlic infused oil and about half the olive oil over medium high heat. Add half the meat to the pan in an even layer. Season meat with salt to taste. Sear the meat until you have nice browning, then remove and reserve. Repeat as needed until all the meat is seared adding additional oil to the pan as needed.
- Return the reserved meat to the stock pot and add in the stock, 2 cups of the water, bay leaves and other herbs. Cover the stock pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to hold at a simmer. Simmer 1 to 1 1/2 hours. (tougher cuts of meat will benefit from a longer simmer)
- Add the carrots, parsnips, and celery to the pot. Season with a little salt. Return stew to a simmer and cook about 20 minutes. (Pierce carrot with a fork, if really firm cook another 5-10 minutes otherwise proceed to next step.)
- Remove bay leaves from the stew. Add in the potatoes. Season with salt. Add in the last two cups of water if needed. Return to a simmer and cook for about 12-15 minutes. (Potatoes should pierce easily with a fork and other vegies should be tender.)
- Add in green beans if using. Turn off stew and allow green beans to heat through. Enjoy!
Notes
I hope you love this Low FODMAP Beef Stew as much as our family. I would love to hear from you. If you try this recipe, please snap a pic and share on Instagram #naturallyliz
~Naturally yours~
Liz
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