You will love this aromatic melt-in-your-mouth beef stew with a hint of sweetness coming from the tender onions and tomatoes. This traditional Greek dish is great for batch cooking. We have included both slow cooker and oven methods so you can choose which one you prefer.
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Instructions
Slow-cooker method
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Mix together all the ingredients for the marinade in a big bowl (or in a Ziploc bag). Stir in the meat. Cover and set aside for at least 20 minutes at room temperature or refrigerate overnight to let the flavors develop even more.
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In a large frying pan on medium-high heat add the olive oil and the onions. Fry for about 6 minutes or until they start to turn golden. Remove from the pan and set aside.
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Drain the beef as much as possible but reserve any remaining marinade juices. Add the meat to the same pan you fried the onion in. You might need to fry the meat in batches depending on how many servings you are preparing. Season generously with black pepper.
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When the meat is seared on all sides, transfer the meat to the slow-cooker. Add the marinade juices and water to the frying pan and deglaze the pan, scraping the bottom of the pan to get out all the flavors. Pour the liquid into the slow-cooker.
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Add the tomatoes, tomato puree, and bay leaves to the slow-cooker and mix. Set the slow-cooker at 6 hours at low or 3 hours at high. Add the onions when there's about 1 hour left. Taste and season with more salt and pepper if needed.
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Serve in bowls. Garnish with fresh oregano for added color.
Oven method
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After the marinade of step 1 above, set oven to 260°F (130°C).
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Instead of the frying pan, use a dutch oven when frying the onion and meat.
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When you are done sautéing the last batch of meat, deglaze your dutch oven with vinegar, then add the marinade juices.
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Add all the ingredients except for the onions to the dutch oven and cover with the lid. Cook in the oven for one and a half hours.
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Add the onions, mix, and cook for another hour and a half or until the meat is fall-apart tender. Taste and season with more salt and pepper if needed.
Tips
In Greece, you traditionally use rabbit for stifado. But you could even use chicken thighs if you don't eat red meat.
You could serve this hearty stew in a bowl as is, or team it with a low-carb bread. Or why not with cauliflower rice to soak up all that aromatic sauce?
Make a big batch and freeze the leftovers! Reheat on busy weeknights to make sure you stay on plan.
For extra flavor, top it with some feta cheese, Greek yogurt or sour cream.
In order for the pearl onions to hold up, peel them and trim the root not too high.
