Ground Beef Stew (with a secret!)
My Grandaddy loved stews and soups. He had a special bowl that he liked to eat stew out of and Grandmama always served him in that bowl.
I do much the same thing with my coffee, even though I know it may seem a bit silly. One of my favorite things to do is get up a little earlier than everyone else and creep into the kitchen to make the first cup of coffee in my special cup, then go sit down in the sun room and look out to the trees in the back yard. It is a little ritual that helps to center me, kind of like taking a deep calming breath before the day begins.
I don’t get to do that very often though because my Katy (who has informed us that from here on out she is to be called by her first and middle name of “Katy Rose”) - excuse me, my Katy Rose is an even earlier riser than her Mama. Some mornings I get my coffee made and get ready to head out into the sun room and a little curly headed pixie pops into the kitchen, so I turn around and head to the recliner instead where she will curl up in my lap and let me stroke her hair while we talk about her dreams.
And that’s a pretty good way to start the day, too.
Grandaddy's Favorite Stew Bowl. The pattern is called "Friendship" and is made by Pyrex.
I have one rule in my house about mornings, I don’t care how early you get up as long as you wake up happy. I don’t think this is very difficult to do, either, so I’m pretty serious about enforcing it. I have made my kids go back into their rooms when they emerge with sour faces and turn around and come back out again with a smile (surprisingly, it works!).
A positive attitude will bring you happiness every time, so why not start your day off with one? Even if you find yourself having to go back in your own bedroom and come out again! ~grins~
And to make your day a little brighter, here is a fuss free, economical, and delicious beef stew to warm you from the inside out. I just love stew weather! 
I decided to bring this stew to you using ground beef because it is so economical and most of us have it on hand. This stew is incredibly flavorful and easily adapted to what you have in your pantry and freezer.
I have one special ingredient that I do hope you’ll try though, and that is Spicy Hot V-8 juice. It is what gives my stew such a full bodied flavor without me having to cook it all day and add a gazillion different spices. Don’t worry though, it doesn’t make it hot at all - I promise!
Have you ever had the beef stew from Cracker Barrel? To me, beef stew made with this spicy V-8 tastes a lot like that. I used to have to buy a big old bottle of this juice whenever I needed some but this time I found a six pack of cans, which makes a lot more sense if you are going to put it in your pantry to cook with. If you see a generic spicy hot vegetable juice, that will work just fine (y’all know I love generics).
You’ll need: Potatoes, Carrots, Onions, Diced tomatoes, Green Beans, Beef Bouillon Cubes,Ground Beef, and 1-2 cans of Spicy Hot V-8 juice.
You can use beef broth in place of the bouillon cubes but I prefer them because they are less expensive and take up less space when storing them (a small container makes about as much broth as twenty five cans of beef broth). You can also substitute some other bean of your preference for the green beans or add any number of other vegetables.
Stews are great to tweak and really make them your own. Play! have fun!
When you’re done, you’ll still have supper. 
Peel and dice your carrots, potatoes, and onion. Place in a large pot.
As a shortcut you can use a bag of frozen cubed hash browns for the potatoes.
Add can of tomatoes and bag of frozen green beans.
Add four bouillon cubes and two cups of water.
Add in your Spicy Hot V-8 juice.
I am using two cans in mine but you can use one and taste it to see if you want to use the second.
I used two and it still wasn’t hot, just very flavorful.
Bring this to a boil and then reduce heat and cover and simmer for an hour or so, until vegetables are tender.
Add ground beef.
My beef is already browned and waiting happily for me in the freezer to save making another mess.
To see how I process large quantities of ground beef with ease, click here.
Stir in a teaspoon of salt.
You won’t need any pepper because of the V-8 juice but you should salt it to your personal taste. I like to salt it shortly before serving because that gives me a chance to taste the finished product and see about how much it needs.
Serve with crackers or cornbread. I’m using little pieces of Dixie Cornbread. Oh my goodness, this was a good supper!
These dishes are called “Flamingo Pink” by Pyrex. They were made in three different colors and some of them had a gold band around the outer edge. They are milk glass with a painted on pink. ~sighs contentedly~ I just love them.
Ground Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 1-2 lbs ground beef, cooked and drained
- Carrots, diced
- Onion, peeled and chopped
- 5-6 potatoes, peeled and diced
- 2-3 Cups frozen green beans
- 29 ounce can diced or crushed tomatoes
- 1-2 Cans Spicy Hot V-8 juice (I use two)
- 2 C water
- 4 Beef Boullion Cubes
- 1 tsp salt (more or less to taste)
Instructions
- Place everything in a pot except for ground beef. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmering. Cover and cook for an hour until vegetables are tender. Add ground beef, cook for another thirty minutes.
Google Recipe View Microformatting by ZipList Recipe Plugin
Ingredients
- 1-2 lbs ground beef, cooked and drained
- Carrots, diced
- Onion, peeled and chopped
- 5-6 potatoes, peeled and diced
- 2-3 Cups frozen green beans
- 29 ounce can diced or crushed tomatoes
- 1-2 Cans Spicy Hot V-8 juice (I use two)
- 2 C water
- 4 Beef Boullion Cubes
- 1 tsp salt (more or less to taste)
Instructions
- Place everything in a pot except for ground beef. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmering. Cover and cook for an hour until vegetables are tender. Add ground beef, cook for another thirty minutes.
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*This can be assembled in the morning and put in your slow cooker all day on low. If doing it this way, just go ahead and add the ground beef in at the start. I add it in last to keep it a little firmer.
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BE the change you want to see in the World.
Submitted by Judy. To submit your quote, click here.
Yesterday I had an amazing opportunity that I never thought I’d have and of course, I have you to thank for it. I had a chance to go back to the University of North Alabama in Florence, Alabama (where I graduated) and speak to the freshmen in my department. I also got to tour the new culinary school and their kitchen was the most impressive one I’ve ever seen.
I was so honored to be able to have this bit of time with them and am so grateful that they were kind enough to give an hour of their attention to me and what I had to say.
I told them the story of Southern Plate, how I got started and where it has led with all of the incredible opportunities that have come my way as a result. I told them all about you, my Southern Plate Family. How wonderful you are to me every day and how much all of you have given me.
But most importantly, while I had their ear, I told them what I feel are the three things in life that will guarantee success and happiness to anyone, no matter what you do or where you go. I don’t think this is any secret, but just three things that many of us take for granted from one time to another that really do determine our future.
Good Manners – Good Education- Positive attitude
So thanks to all of the students who listened to me yesterday. I’ve heard from many of you and am going to reply to your emails after I finish this post. I truly appreciate the time you gave me and can hardly wait to see how you are going to make the world a better place!
Gratefully,
Christy
Posted by Christy Jordan
on Sep 25 2009. Filed under Main Course, Soups and Stews.
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I collect the flamingo pink dishes and have the baking and serving dishes but not the plates and bowls….I am so jealous!!! I got the start of my set from my grandmother-her old pie plate!!! Have added pieces as I have found them. Always feel her over my shoulder when I am baking a pie!!! My secret ingredient is to season with love!!!!-MK
Christy–the next time you go to UNA—give Jennifer (aka Fred) a call or text and let her know where you will be. I know she would love to see you!
This looks like my kind of supper and since I live alone, it will take care of meals tomorrow, too, unless I share. Thanks again, Christy!!!
[...] Ground Beef Stew (with a secret!) [...]
I just made this for my family with grilled cheese sandwiches. I added garlic, because I put garlic in everything and elbow macaroni, just because the hamburger soup I ate as a kid had that. I think Mom was just trying to stretch the food budget but memory is the biggest part of the comfort. It was yummy! I plan on fixing this often and maybe someday it will be part of my kid’s comfort repitoire.
I love this recipe. I whipped it up this weekend. I add sliced cheese to mine, because…..that’s how I ate it growing up. I threw in some lima beans and okra along with the other veggies. YUMMMMMMMMMMM
I make mine very similar to this but I use a couple of cans of Rotel instead of the V-8 juice. And if I need to stretch it, I add some elbow macaroni about 20 minutes before it is done cooking. Thanks for sharing!
I just made this tonight. It tastes just like my Nanny’s back home in Alabama. Yummmm! Thanks for the easy recipe!
This is VERY similar to a stew/soup my Daddy used to make. He called his V-8 soup or KITCHEN SINK SOUP. He put whatever veggies he could find in there, and ALWAYS put the V8. Talk about good memories….
I swear girl, I feel like you and I are best friends after reading a few of your posts. I love the HOME-EY feel of your site, AND I love that you take pictures of all the ingredients. I recently showed a colleague of mine you site and said, NEXT time you give me a recipe, take a picture like THIS(showing her your ingredients pic). I didn’t know you couldn’t substitute ANYTHING for Almond bark?!? If I’d had a picture, I might NOT have made that mistake! :O) TTFN!
Christi,
My husband has made this stew for years! He calls it You’ll See Stew. When our boys were little he was in the kitchen whipping this up and they said Whatcha cooking Daddy and he said you’ll see! Since then it’s always been You’ll See Stew! Love your website, been recommending it to all our friends and family!
Wow, your hamburger stew is just like mine, and I use the spicy v8 too and in chili! Great minds! lol I too have my special coffee cup so I understand!
Looks easy and yummy!!! can’t wait to try it for a chilly day. I remember my grandfather having a special bowl for his oatmeal and cream of wheat. It was a green & white Currier & Ives. It had a winter scene on the side, which was very appropriate for our winter mornings growing up in VA. It was a special treat to get those dishes out of the oatmeal boxes!!!
I always wanted one too 
Thanks for sharing
I can’t wait to try your stew recipe! If I didn’t already have supper planned, I make it today.
My husband is picky about his bowls too. A year or so ago I bought some really cute dishes that are taupe on the outside and black on the inside. He refuses to eat out of the bowls or drink coffee out of the cups. He says the black interior makes the food look funny so he went to Big Lots and bought some big white bowls and mugs. Go figure!
Hey, Christy! You’ve sure made a big difference in my kitchen (and my life). I love you. We really like this soup but we call it “Grandma’s soup” because it just seems like it’s what grandma would have simmering on her stove. It makes us feel warm and fuzzy to call it that. Hope you don’t mind.
I grew up eating this stew. My mom made it probably because it was cheaper than stew beef and my sister and I would eat hamburger any day of the week. I make it for my family, however I must have dropped my children on the head, they won’t eat potatoes cooked this way. Well, I got around that one, I just leave the potatoes out of the stew and make a pot of mashed and serve the stew over those. They love it because it reminds them of a big ole bowl of mashed potatoes and gravy. ta-da. Mom wins again.
This is very similar to the vegetable soup my mom made–she spiced hers up with pepper though–I don’t remember V8 juice being around when I was growing up. She also put cabbage in it.
I can get mine to taste almost like hers, but not quite; but there’s nothing like a pot of vegetable soup with cornbread or a peanut butter sandwich on a cold snowy day.
Just a short story–when I was in college, as part of one of my classes, I had to work 2 days a week at a hospital. It was about 40 miles from home. One day when I was at the hospital,it started snowing, and was dreadfully cold. I reemember telling one of my coworkers, “This would be a really great day if my mom made vegetable soup for dinner.” Several hours and a really long drive across a snow, ice-covered, curvy mountain road to get home, I walked into the front door of my mom’s house to the smell of vegetable soup. I hugged her and told her about what I had said earlier. She smiled at me and told me she loved me.
Tried this tonight and loved it!! Thank you
I made this on Friday and it was awesome!
So glad you liked it Jeanne!!
Can I toss all of this in a crock pot & cook it up like that? I’m telling you w/ these kids running around making me crazy, the crock pot & I have become VERY good friends.
I have this on the stove cooking right now…it smells delicious already! I am making cornbread to go with it for dinner tonight. Thanks, Christy!
Yummy!!!
your recipes are wonderful, its so hard for me to find things my husband really like. And so far all your recipes ive tried he loves so thank you very much for posting them here, also is there any sub. for the spicy v8 i dont have any?
My Pastor’s wife several years ago gave me her recipe for vegetable beef soup and Spicy V-8 is one of the ingredients that she used. Soooo goood!! I cook my soup on the stove and use the Spicy V-8 (big bottle) to simmer my stew meat for about an hour to tenderize it before I add the rest of the ingredients for my soup! YUMMY smells in the house ALL day!!
Oh yummmm!! I can’t wait to try this one, especially with the 10-Minute Rolls recipe!!!
That looks so good. I have a recipe similiar to it and it is my favorite soup ever. We call our soup “Soup Supper Soup”. I got the recipe from a preschool I used to substitute teach at. So good any time of the year.
I made this a couple of weeks ago and it was the best veggie soup I’ve made. I used canned vegetables, and frozen okra, because that is what I had. The whole family loved it!
So glad to hear that you like it Connie!
Oh Christy that stew is so good. I made it for the first time tonight and 3 large bowls later I still want more. I used 2/3 of a quart jar of Italian beans that I had canned last year adding them about 20 minutes before dishing up. The only thing I will do different next time is add a 2nd small can of the V-8. It is so good! By the way it is snowing here in the Spokane Area at 8:30 pm. Christy I love you site, cook book and your posts. Thanky you.
Thank you so much Wil!! You are so sweet. I am so glad you liked the stew.
[...] Thompson I have made the Apple Butter, Broccoli Salad, Jordan Rolls, Hamburger Stew,BBQ joint Stew and the Brownies with PB icing…..My kids are glad that all your recipes are [...]
I will be making this stew in the crock pot tomorrow, using stew meat, cause I have it in my freezer. I bought the big bottle of V-8, how much do I use? I will be serving it with Dixie Cornbread, which has become a favorite of my family.
Just like my version to Poor Mans Soup,
[...] – I made the ground beef stew last nite. I’m on a low carb diet so I substituted cabbage for potatoes and nixed the corn. [...]
We love this in the winter. I use a can of corn, peas, green beans, (undrained canned veggies) fresh potatoes, carrots, celery, an onion chopped, a can of ro-tel tomatoes, tomato sauce, a can of fire roasted tommatoes and the beef cooked or makes a wonderful vegetable soup. Put it in crockpot and when you are ready for dinner it is a wonderful meal with some hot buttered cornbread.
I have used Spicy Hot V-8 for my soups and stews ever since it’s been on the market…and everyone LOVES my soups and stews! It’s so good in Beef Barley Vegetable Soup!
YUP!! It’s a KEEPER!!
This is how I always make my veggie soup. A dear friend taught me this many years ago. My kids love it and this is the meal I take to someone sick or in need of a good dinner.
I keep a freezer container handy so that when I cook a veggie for supper and have a spoonful or two leftover, it goes into the container juice and all. By the time I make soup, that container has several different veggies in it and it goes right into my soup pot. I only usually have to add potatoes and carrots to the mix.
That is exactly what I do also. I also have another little secret that I do through the Summer grilling months. I always throw on the grill an extra piece of chicken..steak..pork chops..tenderloin whatever we are grilling and then I cut that up also to go in my soup that I make. Never know what ya bite into with a bowl of my home made soup!!!!
we call this hamburger soup and use diced tomatoes instead of the v-8 and no bouillon cubes and I normally add corn. We like to eat this ladled over cooked macaroni and a sprinkle of cheese on top to switch it up a little but by far the favorite in this house is with buttered crackers. Me personally prefer fritos, but you have to be careful with the salt eating that way.
it always amazes me just how much your recipes mirror my own. thanks Christy, I’ll have to try it your way and see if the family likes it as well.
I hope it turns out as good as yours!
I have just started collecting pyrex due to your collection. Got any suggestions to clean film off of the older ones (brown in particular). Seems to have a film on it.
What size cans of spicy V8, please? this sounds so good. might be tomorrow’s supper. Individual cans or 12 oz cans?
thanks for sharing!
I used 12 ounce but have a hard time finding those now so you may need to use two small ones. More to taste. I love this stuff!
I’ve been looking for a tomato based vegetable soup for so long. My mom made one that was excellent, and my husband loved it. Unfortunately, she passed away and I do not have any of her recipes. This may just save me. I thank you for posting this.
I think I’ll try throwing some cabbage in as well. My mom always put macaroni noodles in or cabbage.
No garlic? No celery? No peas or corn? No black pepper? No parsley, basil, oregano? No paprika? What….? Regardless had to comment that you got the secret ingredient right! I’ve been making my famous vegetable beef soup with V-8 for 20 years, it’s for sure a must.
But I can’t imagine it without the ingredients I mentioned, OR without red wine vinegar and/or red wine. Those give the soup that special tang that you just want to keep picking up that spoon and you can’t stop eating it! Also great if you add tomato paste, for a tomato based soup! To die for!!!
Isn’t that the most wonderful thing about recipes! We can add or take away different things and make it our own!! I haven’t ever tried it with Red Wine Vinegar but I have added some of the other ingredients you mentioned from time to time, all depends on what kind of mood I am in.
[...] Ground Beef Stew (with a secret!) [...]
This is a yummy-licious and easy recipe….love the V-8 secret….and you can adapt it to what you have on hand or what you like.
Can I substitute ground turkey or chicken for this recipe?
Absolutely!
Got 3 qts. of the homemade soup in the fridge left from Sunday, now I am going to add the ground beef four serving it the ‘second time around!” Another great recipe for our southern plates and bowls.
I used to make this stew all the time. need to do it again soon.
I make my “Veggie” Soup almost the same way. I use tomato juice instead of the V-8. I am going to make that sub it next time and see what the family says.
Sounds great! I usually use Zing Zang Bloody Mary Mixer which is made by Lee and Perrins to spice up my spaghetti sauce, chili, and all soups and stews. It has to be similar to the spicy V-8.
Christy…I have ONE of these plates. ONE. I’m over sixty now, and this was ‘my plate’ as a child. I don’t know what happened to the rest of the ‘set’, but I took ‘my plate’ with me when I left home at 17. It hangs on my kitchen wall but I had NO CLUE the pattern or anything
You just NEVER know what you’ll find out here at Southern Plate!!!
This is the recipe that guided me to your wonderful blog! I was looking for recipes for ground beef instead of tacos or spaghetti and found this. It is still my favorite of your recipes although the cheesy chicken and rice is a close second!
<3
I have a friend named Laura Lynn who made this for me years ago and I loved it! Now I want to make it for my “all the single ladies” Valentine’s lunch ! How many servings do you think are in this recipe?