A delicious, rich, and slightly unique take on beef stew. Not so many people have heard of using coffee with beef in a stew, but trust me when I say this – you need to try it! The deep flavors that it produces is fantastic, almost similar to fish sauce that I add in other stews or chili’s of mine.
When you’re cooking the beef, it’s imperative that you don’t overcrowd the pan. You want nice caramelized browns on the cubes of beef – adding more flavor as they cook down with the rest of the ingredients. For red wine, I normally choose a Merlot. Anything that’s under $12 but above $5 works best for me. Not too expensive, but not too cheap. Cooking with wine can add great depths of flavors – and even unique flavor combinations you might have not tasted before.
You might call me lazy on this one (and I know sometimes I am), but I bought my mushrooms pre-sliced. The measurement of grams wasn’t taken, but if you slice your own mushrooms, it was just over 1 1/2 cup that I added to the entire recipe. The mushrooms help soak up some of the juices, and also add an essence of savory that I really enjoyed. You can garnish with a sprinkling of oregano and turmeric, but it’s not required.
Yields 6 Total Servings
The Preparation
- 40 ounces beef stew meat
- 3 cups brewed coffee
- 1 cup beef broth
- 4 1/2 ounces cremini mushrooms
- 2/3 cup dry red wine
- 1 medium onion
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil
- 2 tablespoons capers
- 2 teaspoons fresh garlic
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
The Execution
1. Cube all stew meat into bite-size chunks. Cut off excess grit. Season with 1 tsp. Salt and 1 tsp. Pepper.

2. Slice onions, mushrooms, and mince garlic.

3. Bring 3 Tbsp. Coconut Oil to its smoking point in a pan on the stove.

4. Brown your beef in batches that don’t overcrowd the pan.

5. As you finish a batch, remove the beef to a plate and continue with your other batch (or batches).

6. Brew 3 cups of strong coffee. I use a Keurig coffee maker for this.
7. Once the beef is finished, start sauteing 1 Medium Onion, 1 1/2 Cup Mushrooms, and 2 tsp. Minced Garlic in the remaining fat.

8. Once the onions are translucent, add 3 Cups Coffee, 1 Cup Beef Stock, 2/3 Cup Red Wine, and 2 Tbsp. Capers.

9. Mix everything together well, then add your beef. Bring the mixture to a boil.
10. Once mixture is boiling, turn the stove to low and cover the pan with a lid.

11. Let this cook for 3 hours on low.
12. If you want to, you can let this simmer without a lid for 30 minutes after the 3 hour mark. This will help reduce the liquids if you want a thicker sauce.

This makes a total of 6 servings of Coffee and Wine Beef Stew. Each serving comes out to be 467 calories, 20g fats, 3.1g net carbs, and 63.4g protein.
| NUTRITION | CALORIES | FAT | CARBS | FIBER | NET CARBS | PROTEIN |
| 40 ounce beef stew meat | 2166 | 77.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 367.5 |
| 3 cup brewed coffee | 7 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.9 |
| 1 cup beef broth | 40 | 1.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.6 |
| 4 1/2 ounce cremini mushrooms | 36 | 0.1 | 5.2 | 0.8 | 4.5 | 3.2 |
| 2/3 cup dry red wine | 134 | 0 | 4.1 | 0 | 4.1 | 0.1 |
| 1 medium onion | 38 | 0.1 | 8.8 | 1.6 | 7.2 | 1.3 |
| 3 tablespoon coconut oil | 365 | 40.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 tablespoon capers | 4 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| 2 teaspoon fresh garlic | 8 | 0 | 1.9 | 0.1 | 1.8 | 0.4 |
| 1 teaspoon salt | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 teaspoon black pepper | 5 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.2 |
| Totals | 2803 | 119.7 | 22.2 | 3.6 | 18.6 | 380.5 |
| Per Serving (/6) | 467 | 20 | 3.7 | 0.6 | 3.1 | 63.4 |

Coffee and Wine Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 40 ounce beef stew meat
- 3 cup brewed coffee
- 1 cup beef broth
- 4 ½ ounce cremini mushrooms
- ⅔ cup dry red wine
- 1 medium onion
- 3 tablespoon coconut oil
- 2 tablespoon capers
- 2 teaspoon fresh garlic
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Cube all stew meat into bite-size chunks. Cut off excess grit. Season with salt and pepper.

- Slice onions, mushrooms, and mince the garlic.

- Bring coconut oil to its smoking point in a pan on the stove.

- Brown the beef in batches that don’t overcrowd the pan.

- As you finish a batch, remove the beef to a plate and continue with the remaining batch (or batches).

- Once the beef is finished, start sauteing the onion, mushrooms, and minced garlic in the remaining fat.

- Once the onions are translucent add coffee, beef stock, red wine, and capers.

- Mix everything together well, then add your beef. Bring the mixture to a boil. Once mixture is boiling, turn the stove to low and cover the pan with a lid. Let this cook for 3 hours on low.

- If you want to, you can let this simmer without a lid for 30 minutes after the 3 hour mark. This will help reduce the liquids, if you want a thicker sauce.

this looks fantastic! I am going to try this in the crockpot this weekend.
Glenda, sounds like a plan! Just make sure you cook it longer than 2 1/2 hours in the crock pot. Crock pots tend to cook slower than the stove top 🙂
I was a bit dubious about trying this as I am really not a “stew person” after years as a child of having watery un-tasty stews shoved down my throat at least once a week. The combinations of coffee and red wine had me intrigued so decided to give it a go. Cooked this in my slow cooker – my only tweak was to add a couple of bay leaves. The smell through the house as it was cooking was unbelievable and the finished product would have to be one of the best meals I’ve had since starting this way of living. The flavours were amazing, the meat was so tender – what can I say – a winner all round. Big thumbs up!
Sue, thanks for leaving the awesome feedback – the bay leaf sounds like a great idea for sure, but I’m excited to hear you loved it! See, not all stews need to be terrible 😛
This was AMAZING! Just the change of pace I needed from too much bacon this week, lol. It was hearty and tasty. I made a half batch (3 servings) with the thought of trying different toppings on each. Had my first helping tonight garnished with sour cream, fresh cilantro and a little fresh lemon zest (I would have preferred orange but didn’t have any on hand). Awesome! I am not real sensitive to tastes so I did add some basil, oregano, rosemary and parsley while it was cooking and I did cook it down a bit as I like a thicker broth (part of the reason I added sour cream when served).
I wish I would have braised the beef to get it more browned. When I browned it in the oil I ended up with too much juice to do so. I think next time I will brown it in the pan with no oil first then sautee everything in the coconut oil. One of my next toppings with be a little cheddar cheese and I pinch of smoked paprika.
Again, great recipe Craig – my favorite so far!
Thanks Darla! A suggestion if too much juice came out is to let it rest until it gets to room temperature before anything. Normally I prep absolutely everything before I start cooking, that way the beef is about room temp when I start to brown it. Normally I do it in small batches so even if some juice does come out, it doesn’t stop it from messing up the browning process.
Anyway, glad you liked it! I normally reduce my broth a bit more, as I like it thick myself, but in the picture of this one I wanted to get it during daylight hours so I took it out for the picture a bit early 😉
I like this stew a lot! The meat is perfectly tender and it’s loaded with umami. I have one question for you, though…
Where are you getting your numbers for the stew meat? When I calculate the nutrients from various sources, I only get about 1300 kcal, 52g fat, and 212g protein, which is very different from yours. My grocery doesn’t specify which cut their stew meat comes from, so I’ve never been certain how to track those nutrients, but it seems like 52g would make more sense for 2.5 lbs of trimmed beef. And I felt like the calories seemed really high for six pretty small servings. I’m just wondering if maybe you were looking at information for an untrimmed cut or I suppose I may be looking in the wrong place altogether.
Anyway, thanks for the recipe! And I’m really enjoying the whole site; it’s put together very attractively and the content is quality. Keep it up!
Hey Zakk!
I used the nutrients that were listed on the stew meat that I got at my butchers. I would trust that (for me) over the stuff I can find online as stew meat can pretty much come from anywhere on the animal. Glad you like it, though!
Gotcha. I would agree with you about trusting the sticker first. I wish mine came with one!
You should ask about it from your butcher 🙂
Hello – can I skip the mushrooms for the recipe? We are not big fans of mushrooms!
No, without the mushrooms the soup will cause you to combust.
I made this tonight, meat was tender, mushrooms and onions perfect but there was an incredibly bitter aftertaste. I tried adding thyme, rosemary and lemon, gave it more flavor but still can’t kill the bitterness.
Do you think it might have been the brand of wine used?
How many cups in a serving?
Serving sizes are generalized based on how many calories are in the whole recipe and how much volume was produced by the recipe. There is no set in stone serving size – it is all up to you. Some people prefer fasting and eating 1-2 meals a day, some people like to spread their meals out. It all depends on your macros.
Any recommendations on how to do this in the instant pot?
I would follow this recipe using the saute setting then pressure cook when you get to the boiling step. I’m not sure exactly for how long though.
Any suggestion as to how you might be able to finish this stew in a crockpot / slowcooker?
You could just put it in a slow cooker on low and let it cook until ready to serve.
THIS WAS AMAZING! While the comment I got from my husband was, this doesn’t smell like it tastes, is not what I was expecting, this was so yummy!
Really glad to hear!