This Greek Beef Stew and Baked Orzo Recipe (Yiouvetsi) is for a hearty and comforting dish that I always make for my family when the temperatures start to drop. Yiouvetsi, pronounced you-ve-tsi, is a beloved Sunday family meal; flavorful, satisfying and very easy to put together.
For this dish, pieces of meat and a handful of vegetables are braised slowly in a flavorful sauce of red wine, tomatoes and warm spices. Once the meat is fully cooked and tender, it is transferred to a baking dish along with some orzo pasta and, after a short time in the oven, this delicious dish is ready!
Ingredients for the Greek Beef Stew and Baked Orzo Recipe (Yiouvetsi)
- Olive Oil: use extra virgin olive oil for best flavor and avoid any vegetable seed oil
- Beef Chuck: do not buy “stew meat” as it might include different cuts of meat which cook at different rates. Instead, purchase beef chuck roast, or, boneless short ribs. Your butcher can trim it and cut it for you
- Leek, Onion & Garlic: if you do not have a leek, use more onion
- Carrots: for an added sweetness
- Tomato Paste: a small amount goes a long way in this dish and stirred in with the vegetables gives the dish a great depth of flavor
- Crushed Tomatoes and a couple of Campari Tomatoes (optional)
- Red Wine: use the same full-bodied wine that you will enjoy with the meal
- Sea Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper
- Spices: Bay Leaves, Cinnamon Stick and Allspice Berries – they all add a wonderful warmth to the dish
- Orzo Pasta: preferably Greek orzo, if you can find it at the Mediterranean markets
Important steps in making the Greek Beef Stew and Baked Orzo
Step 1: brown the meat in small batches without overcrowding the pot. Once the meat is nicely seared, add the vegetables, tomato paste and warm spices. Direct contact with the heat of both the tomato paste and the spices will intensify the flavor of the dish
Step 2: allow plenty of time to caramelize the vegetables, making sure you do not rush this step. Once the vegetables all soft and lightly browned, add the wine to deglaze the pot, followed by the tomato sauce. After that, allow the meat to slowly braised until soft and succulent.
Step 3: transfer the meat to a baking pan or casserole dish, add some hot water, and stir in the orzo. In about half an hour this delicious dish will be ready!
How to serve it
A meal on its own, and an unbeatable flavor combination of a lein protein and a starch, this dish is always served with a generous sprinkle of Greek kefalotiri cheese, or, if you cannot find that cheese, some grated Parmesan cheese will do. A hearty red wine, good crusty bread, and a Greek lettuce salad, are almost always present too!
Making it ahead of time
This Greek Beef Stew and Baked Orzo will taste even better the next day, after all the flavors had the time to develop and meld. The next day you will need to add some hot water as you reheat it, because the orzo tends to absorb most of the liquid. You could also just cook the meat the day before and bake it with the orzo the next day!
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1.5 lbs. chuck, cut into 1½”-2” pieces
- 1 leek, sliced
- 1 small red onion, roughly chopped
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
- 2 garlic cloves, cut into large pieces
- 1 TBSP. tomato paste
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 3-4 allspice berries
- ½ cup dry red wine
- 14 oz. crushed tomatoes
- 3 small Campari tomatoes, diced (optional)
- 3 cups hot water
- 1 tsp. sea salt
- ½ tsp. freshly ground pepper
- 2 TBSP. olive oil
- 8 oz. large orzo
- --- hot water
- --- extra Virgin Olive oil for topping
- --- grated cheese for serving
- Trim the meat from extra fat and cut it into pieces. Pat dry with some kitchen towels.
- Heat a deep pot over medium and add ¼ cup of olive oil once the pot comes to heat. Add the beef in batches, making sure not to overcrowd the pot. Brown the meat for about 4 minutes on each side.
- Add the vegetables and stir well to coat with olive oil. Next, add the tomato paste and allow it to caramelize on its own at the bottom of the pot before stirring it into the vegetables.
- To the meat and vegetables, add the bay leaves, cinnamon stick and allspice, then stir to combine.
- Deglaze the pot with the red wine and cook briefly to allow the wine to evaporate slightly. Add the crushed tomatoes and the diced fresh tomatoes (if using).
- Add the hot water, cover the pot, and simmer for about two hours or until the meat is tender. At this point, season with the salt and pepper and set aside.
- Heat your oven to 350º F.
- In a medium pot or skillet, heat the 2 TBSP. of olive oil and stir in the orzo to be well-coated. This step is important, as it prevents the orzo from becoming mushy in the oven.
- Empty the meat with its juices into a 13" x 9" oven-proof casserole dish. Stir in the orzo and add enough hot water to come about 1½" over the orzo. Top with more olive oil, season with a little more salt and pepper and bake uncovered for about 30 minutes, stirring a couple of times. There should still plenty of sauce in the casserole, when this dish comes out of the oven.
- To serve, allow it to sit for 5 minutes or so, to cool slightly, sprinkle with the grated cheese, and enjoy!
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That sounds so good especially in the fall!
Thank you Kathy! It is perfect for cold fall days like today:)
Marilena,
This looks delicious! I bought the ingredients yesterday and plan to make it today. It is especially appealing, with the drop in temperature this morning –perfect timing on your part!
I am so glad you are going to make it, I think you are going to love it!
Marilena,
I made it last night and it was just delicious! We especially liked the warm spices. I made it exactly according to your recipe, though for some reason, I did not need the extra water to cover the orzo–maybe because my pan was smaller and the liquid rose higher. In any case, it was perfect, and we have enough leftover for at least one more meal.
This morning, I sneaked a taste, cold, and you’re right: it only gets better!
Thanks for another winner!
– Dianne
Thank you so much for the feedback and for your kind words! I am so happy you made it and liked it so much – it is a family favorite for sure. As you said, it will taste even better the next day, just add some hot liquid if needed as you warm it up!
Tried this and it was a huge hit. Suffice it to say that three of us ate the whole recipe meant to 6… ! It was so tasty and warming on a cold autumn’s night.
I am so glad you tried this recipe and that it was such a huge hit with your family! It is one of my family’s favorite recipes too! Thank you so much for sharing, Frank!
This is a very good recipe – thank you for sharing it. The seasonings are spot on which is very important to me – I used about 1/8 tsp of powdered allspice in place of the berries. I did not have a leek on hand so I doubled the onions and admittedly used a little extra garlic because I’m like that. I used some poor quality ribeye that I had in the freezer and it worked very well in place of the chuck – I decreased the cooking time by about 30min. I like the carrot chunks in there – it is not very usual but it gives extra flavor and interest to the dish. Thank you again. It’s a keeper!
That is great, Ruth, thank you so much for sharing! I am so happy to know you liked the recipe and it was successful with a different cut of meat. This is such a favorite recipe – my family absolutely loves it!
This is one of the first meals I have in a restuarant when we go to symi (2005 to present)It’s fantastic. I will try your recipe.