Estofado recipe | Spanish food and recipes | Spain Buddy (2024)

This estofado recipe is a truly classic winter warmer from Spain. Now that winter is drawing closer, we are enjoying some heartier dishes. This Spanish recipe for beef stew is guaranteed to keep you warm on chilly evenings. Of course, this is just one variation… but we like to make things as simple as possible for your enjoyment!

Estofado recipe: Ingredients

• 1 kilo of stewing beef, cut into 1 inch chunks
• 1 tablespoon of flour
• 200 millilitres of beef stock
• 1 glass of red wine
• 2 leeks, trimmed and sliced into 1/4 inch slices
• 6 to 8 garlic cloves, pelled and finely sliced or chopped
• 2 medium onions, finely chopped
• 1 large carrot, finely sliced
• 1 celery stick, finely sliced
• 1 small tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon of paprika
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Estofado recipe: Method

• Pour a couple of good glugs of olive oil into a large saucepan, casserole dish or cazuela and pop onto a med/high heat
• Add the beef, and seal it until browned
• Add in the flour, cumin and paprika and give it a good stir
• Pour in the wine and stir again
• Throw in all the veggies and stir well
• Add the beef stock and bring to the boil
• Reduce the heat down really low, cover it and leave it for a couple of hours
• When the meat is tender, serve… with plenty of freshly cut bread.
• Enjoy!

Instead of the low heat stage of cooking on the hob… you could pop it into a really low oven, or onto the hotplate of your log burner. It also works well in a slow-cooker… but whichever method you choose, you must brown the meat first.

You can replace the beef with pork – we have found that works well. Don’t be shy about throwing any other veggies like potatoes, mushrooms or peppers into this estofado dish – it’s yours to play with.

It freezes really well too – so don’t be afraid to portion your estofado out if the quantities are too much for your family. We do – and it tastes even better the second time around. This dish is ideal for when you have visitors coming as you can prepare it well in advance, and just heat it through gently when you are ready to serve it.

Would you like some more meaty recipes? Why not take a look at some of our Spanish meat recipes or perhaps our Spanish recipes for soups and sauces too. Have a dig about – you’re sure to find something you like. If there is a recipe you’d really like to be made simple – let us know! We’ll be happy to provide that for you – tried and tested of course!