21 Hearty Stew Recipes For Winter Warmth

Stews are healthy, nutritious, nourishing dishes that help you fight the cold.

From Hungarian goulash, Borscht, and Irish beef stews to chicken and beef one-pot stews, our hearty stew recipes are eclectic. Most recipes are highly flexible, letting you make tweaks per your taste and what you have in the cupboard and fridge.

If you ask me, there are a few things I would rather eat on a cold evening than a delicious, hearty bowl of steaming stew. Stew is the ultimate comfort food for winter’s cold, warming you inside and out, and best enjoyed tucked into a comfortable chair with your favourite season’s special on!

Depending on your time, your stew can be as elaborate or as basic as you’d like. Here’s a list of my favourite hearty stew recipes to ride out the winter cold.

Make these dishes with:

• Multi-Cooker
• Saucepan

21 Hearty Stew Recipes To Beat The Cold

1. Hungarian Goulash

This Hungarian classic is the perfect way to warm up your insides—if the temperature of the stew itself doesn’t do it for you, the paprika definitely will!

This dish is cooked just as normal stews, but the secret is flavouring it with high-quality Hungarian paprika. This is easily available in supermarkets, and it’s ridiculous how much of a difference it can make to the taste and flavour of your goulash.

Add red peppers, celery, carrots, and onion to the mix to dial up the flavour. Let this simmer while you briefly lose yourself to a Bridgerton or a Heathcliff!
Click Here For Our Hearty Hungarian Goulash Recipe.

2. Chicken Stew With Onions, Potato, And Tomatoes

This is my go-to recipe on a cold day when I’m craving stew but have just gotten home from work. If you’ve got a pressure cooker in your kitchen, this simple but comforting stew will take you hardly any time.

Just break down about a kilogram (or whatever you want) of chicken and chuck it into your pressure cooker with onion, tomatoes, and potatoes (yes, the title really is the recipe!).

For a kick of flavour, I turn to bay leaves. This spice is the perfect mix of a minty, peppery, and piney flavour, and it’s also quite healthy and cuts through the heaviness of any stew.

You don’t need additional water or stock for this recipe, as the vegetables will release liquids when the cooker reaches the pressure point.
Click Here For Our Chicken Stew With Onions Recipe.

3. Chickpea, Chorizo, And Spinach Stew

This might seem like an unusual blend of ingredients, but the result will have you convinced. A Catalonian recipe, this stew, like all things Catalonian, begins with a good sofrito sauce.

4. Chorizo, Braised Chicken, And Black Bean Stew

No, you don’t always need a pressure cooker to create a magical stew—some willpower, time, and a good pot are all you need!

Because I don’t use a pressure cooker for this one, the cooking time is slightly longer, so save this recipe for a day when you have the time. Add chorizo, chicken, and black beans to your pot, and flavour this with cumin, garlic, serranos, and adobo-flavoured chipotle.

While using dried black beans is the best way to get the most out of this recipe, you can substitute them for canned beans (note that there will be some compromise on the flavour absorption and texture).
Click Here For Our Chorizo, Braised Chicken And Black Bean Stew Recipe.

5. Beef Stew In Red Wine Sauce

Sometimes, nothing is more comforting than a classic. I take a page from chef Jacques Pepin’s book for this beef stew and use a flat iron cut from the shoulder. This cut is moist, tender, lean, and perfect stew meat.

The secret to a delicious sauce is to use only red wine as the base and not dilute it with any water or stock.
Click Here For Our Beef Stew In Red Wine Sauce Recipe.

6. Awaze Tibs

This mouthwatering recipe came to me from a dear friend in Ethiopia, on whose dinner table this delicious stew was a staple. In this recipe, the awaze sauce is non-negotiable, but luckily, this sauce is easy enough to whip up at home (a basic version, at least) or buy from the supermarket.

This spiced stew uses tender, boneless meat from a lamb’s leg. You can add the sauce depending on how dry or saucy you like.

We just had to eat it once for this delicious stew to join the list of staples at my dinner table, too!
Click Here For Our Awaze Tibs Recipe

7. Pork Stewed In Red Wine

On days when I want stew for dinner but don’t want to devote too much attention to making one, I turn to this recipe. Though pork is often passed over for beef in stews, it can give you some delicious, easily pull-apart results when slow-cooked.

All you need to do is brown your pork shoulder and add it to some sauteed garlic and onions. Pour in the red wine (generously!), add a can of tomato juice, and season with nutmeg, cayenne, and oregano. Again, for a kick of flavour, don’t forget the bay leaves.

Let this simmer in your oven—we want the pork to be melt-in-the-mouth tender!
Click Here For Our Pork Stewed In Red Wine Recipe.

8. Green Chilli Pork Stew

If you’re a fan of the Mexican classic chile verde, you’ll probably love this green chilli pork stew. Like the previous recipe, this one also heroes pork shoulder.

Cube your meat and braise it till it’s tender (a chance for you to chill for a bit), and then add in tomatillos and green peppers and simmer till it’s all cooked.
Click Here For Our Green Chilli Pork Stew Recipe.

9. Sinigang

Sinigang, meaning “stewed dish”, is a Filipino classic that hits all the right notes on a cosy day. Since it’s such a broad term, you’ll find many different versions of Sinigang, but that’s the beauty of it—there are no limits on what you can add or do with this dish!

This one-pot stew features eggplant, cherry tomatoes, tamarind, and pork as the protein. If you’re a fan of spicy food, add shishito peppers to the mix; if you’re unsure of how spicy you want it, you can serve these on the side or completely skip them.
Click Here For Our Sinigang Recipe.

10. Boeuf Bourguignon

This French classic may sound fancy (but then again, what doesn’t sound fancy in French?), but it’s surprisingly simple to make.

This hearty stew, also known as beef Burgundy, features beef braised in red wine and cooked in wine and beef stock, with garlic, carrots, onion, mushrooms, and bacon added for flavour.

You can use beef chuck for this stew, but any other cut will also work. Similarly, you can use any dry red wine for this stew. By the time the beef is tender (a long time later!), the vegetables in the stew will be quite overcooked and mushy so you can serve the meat with freshly sauteed vegetables for a mixture of textures and flavours.
Click Here For Our Boeuf Bourguignon Recipe.

11. Coconut Chicken Stew

This is a healthy, nourishing, comforting, flavourful, one-pot stew that I can’t get enough of because it’s so easy to make and because I love coconut milk’s subtly sweet and rich creaminess!

For this recipe, you need cubed chicken breast, coconut milk, Yukon potatoes, peas, onion, carrots, celery, chicken broth, and the seasoning of your choice. All of this goes into a crockpot.

Though this is a simple enough recipe, it demands a lot of patience—your stew needs to cook for at least four to six hours on high or seven to nine hours on low.
Click Here For Our Coconut Chicken Stew Recipe.

12. Jamaican Oxtail Stew

This rich, fragrant stew is a flavour bomb, the tender meat perfectly complemented by creamy butter beans. A good Jamaican oxtail stew will warm you while you eat it and for long after, with a delicious lingering heat from the ginger, thyme, soy, and allspice that go into it (the allspice is the dish’s star ingredient, after the oxtail).

This rare stew tastes just as good immediately eaten or left to “percolate” overnight.

Pair it with peas and coconut-scented rice; this stew will warm your heart and soul as it warms your body.
Click Here For Our Jamaican Oxtail Stew Recipe.

13. Borscht

Borscht is an Eastern European classic that is also quite popular in Northern Asia. Sour and generally made with cabbage and red beets (the reason for its rich redness), borscht is wholesome, nutritious, and comforting.

This recipe calls for meat—a lot of it! I use pork belly, short ribs, marrow bones, kielbasa, smoked ham hock, celery root, potatoes, and turnips. Let this simmer, and et voila! It’s a simple but unbelievably delicious stew to relish.
Click Here For Our Borscht Recipe.

14. Vegan French Onion Stew

Stew isn’t just for the meat eaters! This delicious French onion stew recipe was discovered and employed when I had to host a few vegan friends, but a spoon is all it took to convince me, a religious meat eater, that the vegans don’t have it so bad, after all!

This delicious stew is bursting with complex flavours resembling classic French onion soup. You must caramelise your onions (slow) in oil and cook them with garlic, green lentils, and fresh thyme in vegetable broth. This stew is best enjoyed with warm slices of toast.
Click Here For Our Vegan French Onion Stew Recipe.

15. Irish Beef Stew

This beef stew’s beautiful flavour depends on an Irish icon—Guinness beer! Though Irish stews traditionally feature lamb, you can substitute lamb for beef chuck and get equally delicious results.

Use root vegetables for this stew if you’re going the traditional way, or use whatever you have in your fridge—the best part about traditional recipes is that there are hardly any consistent recipes. You have all the freedom to tweak them as you need!
Click Here For Our Hearty Irish Beef Stew Recipe.

16. Seafood Stew

A homely meal on a cold evening or an elegant dish at a cocktail party—the glove fits on both hands with this beautiful stew.

Add just about any fish to this stew, mussels and prawns, or any seafood you’d like! With the meat, add in garlic, onion, celery, tomatoes (fire roasting them will give you an “oomph” flavour!), thyme, and smoked paprika, and cook this in tomato paste and fish stock (or water, if you prefer).

If you like it spicy like me, add some chopped bird’s eye chillies and get ready to sweat it out despite the cold!
Click Here For Our Delicious Seafood Stew Recipe.

17. Pressure Cooker Chicken With Bacon, Lentils, And Carrots

This recipe is as simple as popping a whole chicken, dried lentils, parsley, pancetta, carrots, and onion into a pressure cooker. Most pressure cookers can tenderise a whole chicken and cook dried lentils in a mere 20 minutes, making this a quick and easy recipe.

The best part is that the fat from your pancetta will render out and mix with the juices from the chicken and the lentils’ starch, creating a highly flavourful, thick sauce.
Click Here For Our Pressure Cooker Chicken Stew Recipe.

18. Chicken Fricassee

I’m a sucker for anything white cream, white wine, and the sauce that these two ingredients produce, so this chicken fricassee is a beautiful recipe I keep turning to for easy weeknight dinners.

This French stew involves browning chicken pieces and braising them in a creamy mushroom sauce. With butter, white wine, cream, onion, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, flour, mushrooms, and chicken broth, this dish has the right amount of richness to comfort food on a cosy evening.
Click Here For Our Classic Chicken Fricassee Recipe.

19. Veggies With Beef Stew

You read that right: veggies with beef stew and not vice versa! While most stews (understandably) focus on the meat and veggies are just flavour enhancers, this is a stew recipe that shines the spotlight on veggies.

Though this stew has its fair share of tender beef pieces, the true stars are the seasonal vegetables that go into it, such as parsnips, carrots, and winter squash.
Click Here For Our Beef and Vegetables Stew Recipe.

20. Ribollita

Though more a bread soup than a stew, this stew is another one to add to the repertoire of vegan recipes.

The Italian ribollita was typically made with leftovers (usually minestrone), and bread, beans, and tons of other vegetables were added to enhance the flavour. In this recipe, you can add squash, leek, kale, onion, carrots, garlic, celery, turnip, and any other veggie that captures your fancy!
Click Here For Our Ribollita Recipe.

21. Scottish Rabbit Stew

We round off the list with this traditional Scottish dish enjoyed just as much around the United Kingdom as in its native land, especially on special occasions.

Prepared just like a British rabbit stew, the Scottish rabbit stew has more gravy in it. Rabbit meat, flour, chicken stock, celery, onions, mushroom, bacon, flour, butter, and curry paste go into this delicious stew.

Brown your meat and sauté the bacon before adding in the rest of the ingredients.
Click Here For The Full Scottish Rabbit Stew Recipe.

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Hearty Stew Recipes: The Bottom Line

A stew is the best way to warm you inside on a cold winter evening. These delicious recipes should help you fight off the cold and keep you going until spring, so take your pick and get cooking!