Ingredients
Equipment
Method
Prep
- Add beef stock to a large stockpot over medium-high heat.
- Add fresh thyme sprigs and black pepper.
- Bring to a rolling simmer.
Cook Dumplings
- Add the dumplings one at a time into the simmering broth.
- Stir occasionally between additions so they do not stick together.
- Simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Check doneness by cutting a dumpling in half until it is cooked through with no raw flour center.
- If the sauce is thinner than desired and the dumplings are done, simmer uncovered for another 5-10 minutes to reduce.
Add Beef and Serve
- Once the dumplings are tender and the broth has thickened, gently add the batch stew beef with its gravy.
- Bring back to a simmer just long enough to heat the beef through.
- Turn off the heat.
- Remove thyme sprigs.
- Ladle into bowls carefully, scooping beef and dumplings together.
Disclosure: Nutrition is estimated and provided for general guidance.
Notes
This is my own creation. I have never seen beef and dumplings anywhere, but one day while making beef stew meat I thought — this would be the best comfort beef dish the way chicken and dumplings is with chicken. The result exceeded expectations. The key is using cut dough dumplings, not biscuit dough. Biscuit dumplings have too much fat and they fall apart in the broth like wet doughy bread. Cut dough dumplings are lean — flour, water, oil, salt — so they absorb the broth while maintaining their chew and structure. This is restaurant-style worthy, not a homemade approximation. The batch beef stew meat is pressure-cooked chuck roast in a flour-thickened broth with mirepoix that dissolves into the sauce, so when you add it to the stock it brings its own roux-based gravy. Combined with the starch the dumplings release, the sauce thickens itself. The beef goes in last — after the dumplings are cooked and the broth has thickened. Adding it too early will shred the chunks from the simmering and stirring. You can make dumplings fresh at dinner time but that adds about 30 minutes and a lot of mess — the batch method with frozen vacuum-sealed dumplings makes this a true assembly meal.
