How to Make Simple Beef Stock from Scratch

If you need a flavorful liquid base for making homemade sauces and gravies, you can make this simple beef stock from scratch in just a few hours. This simple beef stock is a rich, tasty liquid, and it’ll become a favorite recipe in your traditional foods kitchen!

What is Beef Stock?

Beef Stock is a cooking liquid made by roasting beef bones, usually marrow bones, with various aromatics, including onions, carrots, and celery. (Beef stock is also referred to as Simple Beef Stock or Simple Stock.) After roasting, you’ll add these ingredients to a stock pot, cover the contents with water, and simmer everything for two to three hours. Once strained, you’ll typically use the beef stock as a base to make sauces and gravies.

How is Beef Stock Different from Brown Stock?

Brown Stock, or what is often referred to as Brown Beef Stock, is different from a simple beef stock in two ways:

1. Brown Stock uses a combination of bones (usually beef marrow bones) with the addition of meaty bones (usually beef shanks), which increase the rich brown color of the stock.
2. Brown Stock is simmered longer than a simple beef stock, generally for four to five hours or even longer, to reach the color and richness of flavor desired.

• Learn how to make a Brown Beef Stock from Scratch (Easier than Escoffier’s Technique)

Beef Stock Recipe

I am always looking for efficient ways to use my time in the kitchen while still trying to prepare nutritious and flavorful meals. Having beef stock on hand ensures that I will always have a base for making the tastiest sauces and gravies that are made from real whole food ingredients.

Unlike many of the prepackaged beef stocks sold at the grocery store today, your homemade stock will not contain maltodextrin, yeast extract, food starch, caramel color, and the ever-questionable natural flavors that can include over 100 chemicals! As traditional foods home cooks, these are the ingredients we want to avoid.

You’ll find this method of making Beef Stock easy because it takes less time and uses fewer ingredients than Brown Stock. However, you will still create a semi-gelatinous liquid that will be the perfect ingredient for your meals that call for a sauce or gravy.

Watch the How to Make Beef Stock video tutorial and see just how easy it is to make a simple beef stock. Let’s get started!

Ingredients to Make Beef Stock

Find the full printable recipe with ingredients below.

• Bones – 4 to 5 pounds of beef marrow bones
• Celery – 2 stalks of celery, rough chopped
• Carrots – 2 carrots, unpeeled and rough chopped
• Onions – 2 yellow onions, unpeeled and rough chopped
• Olive Oil – 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Black Pepper – 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper plus 10 peppercorns
• Herbs – 1 bay leaf
• Acid – 1 cup wine or fortified wine
• Water – to deglaze and to cover ingredients in the stockpot

How to Make Beef Stock

Find the full printable recipe with measurements below.

1. Place bones and vegetables on a baking sheet.
2. Drizzle olive oil on bones and vegetables.
3. Roast bones and vegetables in a 425°F (220°C) oven for 30-45 minutes until browned.
4. Transfer bones and vegetables to a stockpot.
5. Add wine or fortified wine to the stockpot and add the bay leaf.
6. Deglaze the baking sheet with water and add to the stockpot.
7. Fill the stockpot with water just to cover the ingredients by no more than one inch.
8. Bring the liquid up to a boil and immediately turn it down to the lowest setting. Skim off any foam that rises to the top.
9. Cover the stockpot with a tilted lid and allow to simmer for two to three hours to allow for some evaporation and a deepening of the color of the liquid.
10. Strain and decant the stock.

Beef Stock Variations

• If you prefer not to use wine or fortified wine when making beef stock, add a small amount of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice to the stockpot.
• If you do not have access to beef marrow bones, you can substitute with beef knuckle bones or beef patella bones (preferably with some of the femur attached).

Beef Stock Recipe Tips

• For the richest flavored beef stock, use a red wine or a dark-colored fortified wine, such as port, as the acidic ingredient.
• Be sure to allow the bones and vegetables to roast until they are well browned.
• Simmer the beef stock until you see about an inch or two of evaporation and the liquid darkens to a rich brown. This process should take two to three hours.
• DO NOT over simmer the stock to the point of significant evaporation. You want to make sure that you have sufficient liquid in the stockpot.

Storing and Reheating Beef Stock

Storing

• Refrigeration – Store beef stock in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week.
• Freezing – When stored in a freezer-proof container and frozen, your beef stock can stay fresh for up to two to three months.

Reheating

• Warming – Gently warm your beef stock in a saucepan on the stovetop.

How to Use Beef Stock

Although not as deeply flavored as a traditional Brown Stock, a simple Beef Stock can be used in a variety of ways to provide a delightful flavor to:

• Gravies
• Sauces
• Stews
• Braising Vegetables
• As a base for making a lighter French Onion Soup*

*Traditional French Onion Soup is made with Brown Stock

How to Reuse Beef Stock Ingredients

• Bone Marrow and Bone Broth – Do not discard the bones used to make the beef stock. First, remove the marrow from the bones and use it as a spread on toasted baguettes. Bone marrow is a nutrient-dense food. (Note you can also make roasted bone marrow by itself.) Next, store the bones in the refrigerator, well-wrapped, for a few days or in the freezer for up to 2 months and add to your next batch of bone broth.
• Thickener – To prevent waste, puree the vegetables used to make the beef stock to create a thickener for soups and stews.

Bone Broth Recipes

If you loved this Beef Stock recipe, check out these traditional bone broth recipes.

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How to Make Brown Beef Stock from Scratch

Use your homemade stock as a base to make braising vegetables, gravies, sauces, stews, and soups.

How to Make Roast Turkey Bone Broth on the Stovetop

Use your leftover turkey carcass to make this flavorful and gelatinous-rich bone broth.

How to Make Collagen Rich Bone Broth for Under $2

Learn the secret ingredient to making the most gelatinous bone broth!

Looking for Beef Bones for Beef Stock?

If you can’t find beef marrow bones to make beef stock in your neighborhood supermarket or farmer’s market, check out US Wellness Meats.

• Use discount code MARYNEST and my link to save 15% off regular-priced items on your US Wellness Meats order. You can shop for a variety of products, including:
  • Beef Bones
  • Grass-Fed Beef
  • Chicken Feet

This post is not sponsored. I’m a long-time customer of US Wellness Meats because I have always been impressed by the quality of their products. Check out my US Wellness Meats unboxing video to see the types of products you can get, including bones for beef bone broth!

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