The Best Spices for Beef Stew: What Each One Does and When to Add It

A good beef stew needs less from the spice rack than you’d think. Two university extension recipes get by on salt, black pepper, onion, garlic and celery, plus a single herb or spice like rosemary, bay leaf or paprika. Browned beef, aromatic vegetables and a long simmer do the rest. The details are where it gets interesting: the sources disagree on when herbs should go in, California bay is far stronger than Turkish, and that bay leaf has to come out before anyone takes a bite.

At a glance

Two baseline recipes

Those are the extension services’ recipes, not ours. Both go easy on the seasoning and let the beef and vegetables lead.

The core seasonings and what each one does

Onion, garlic and celery: the savory base

You’ll find all three in both recipes. The Iowa recipe adds the onion and garlic powder early, stirring them with the browned beef for 2 minutes before the broth goes in. The celery goes in with the broth. The Illinois slow-cooker version just puts everything in at the start.² You’ll sometimes see advice to add onions near the end of cooking. Neither recipe does that; both cook them the whole time.

Using fresh garlic? Wait until the other vegetables have softened. Garlic that hits a hot pan too soon can scorch and turn harsh and bitter.⁸ Garlic powder is fine too. The Iowa recipe uses 1 teaspoon and offers 2 fresh cloves as the swap. More in garlic powder vs. garlic and onion powder.

No celery in the fridge? You can get its flavor from celery seed or celery salt, though neither recipe uses them. Escoffier’s brown stock ties a stick of celery into the herb bundle with thyme and bay.⁹ See celery seeds, celery leaves and celery salt.

Thyme: the classic stew herb

Thyme tastes sharp and savory. America’s Test Kitchen counts thyme as a hearty herb you can add early, since the flavor compounds in hearty herbs are somewhat more heat-stable.³ It’s also one of the three herbs in a classic bouquet garni, along with parsley and bay. See cooking with thyme and fresh vs. dried thyme.

Bay leaf: a background note, then out it comes

Bay is subtle: herbal, bitter and slightly piney. J. Kenji López-Alt told The Splendid Table that bay leaves bring out the meaty flavors of beef and chicken. He calls them optional, but says things are better with them. Watch which kind you buy. Turkish bay is milder and sweeter, while California bay has a much stronger menthol flavor, and López-Alt suggests starting with a quarter to half as much of it.⁴

Remove it before serving. Dried bay leaves don’t soften, and López-Alt compares eating one to eating a fish bone.⁴ Medical case reports go further, describing whole bay leaves lodging in the esophagus and one perforating the bowel. The authors point out that the leaves are rigid, can have sharp points and edges, and stay intact.⁵¹⁰ Count the leaves in and count them out. See cooking with bay leaves and too much bay leaf.

Oregano and rosemary: alternatives to thyme

The Iowa recipe actually uses rosemary, and offers basil or oregano as swaps. Oregano has a warm, pungent flavor. America’s Test Kitchen puts it with thyme and rosemary as a hearty herb you can add early.³

You’ll often read that dried oregano is milder than fresh. The University of Delaware’s extension guide says the opposite as a general rule: dried herbs are stronger, and 3/4 to 1 teaspoon of dried crumbled herb equals 2 to 3 teaspoons of fresh.¹¹ See fresh vs. dried oregano and too much oregano.

Paprika: color and, in goulash, the main event

In an American-style stew, paprika brings color and a mild pepper flavor. The Illinois recipe uses 1 teaspoon. In Hungarian goulash it’s the star, a key ingredient in traditional Hungarian dishes like goulash and paprikash. It’s ground from dried peppers.

Which paprika you grab matters. Hungary’s food codex grades paprika by heat, from non-pungent to very hot.¹² Spain’s Pimentón de la Vera is smoke-dried and tastes and smells smoky and intense.¹³ Smoked paprika will take your stew in a different direction. Whether that’s a good thing is up to you. See smoked paprika.

Parsley: the finish

Parsley goes in last. It’s a delicate herb, and the LSU AgCenter says to add delicate herbs like parsley, chives and basil a minute or two before the end of cooking, since long heat costs them flavor.⁷

When to add each seasoning

Sources don’t agree on when herbs should go into a long-simmered dish:

Both approaches work, and we haven’t tested which tastes better. If you want a place to start, put whole thyme sprigs and a bay leaf in early, where they can infuse and you can fish them out later. If the stew cooks for hours, add dried ground herbs in the last 45 minutes. Finish with fresh parsley.

A few more timing notes:

• Salt and pepper: the Iowa recipe seasons the meat while it browns. Taste again at the end.
• Garlic: wait until the onions soften so it doesn’t burn.
• Bay leaf: in early, out before serving.⁵

Regional and stylistic variants

• American beef stew: onion, garlic, celery, thyme or rosemary, bay, salt and pepper, like the extension recipes.
• French-style braises: a bouquet garni of parsley, thyme and bay. Tie it together if the herbs are fresh, wrap it in cheesecloth if they’re dried, and pull it out before serving. See bouquet garni and herbes de Provence.
• Hungarian goulash: it’s all about the paprika. See Hungarian spices.

Related

• Corned beef and cabbage spices
• French onion soup spices and spices for chicken soup
• Potato soup spices
• Bay leaf substitutes and thyme substitutes
• The master list of herbs and spices