Carne Guisada Recipe (Mexican Style)
This easy carne guisada recipe is for Tex Mex style or Mexican beef stew. Chunks of beef simmered in fragrant brown gravy until tender. It's so simple to prepare and you probably already have the ingredients on hand!
Recipe for Carne Guisada
Carne means "meat" in Spanish. Carne de res is how you say "beef" and it often gets shortened to just "carne." Authentic carne asada is grilled and carne guisada is stewed.
Carne guisada is a comforting, filling, flavorful dinner that is traditionally served with homemade flour tortillas, rice and beans.
My cousins in Texas like to serve it over mashed potatoes which is really yummy, too.
You can also roll it up taco style and top with cheddar cheese - yum!
I highly recommend serving with the homemade flour tortillas if you can. They melt in your mouth and complement the meat perfectly.
You don't even need utensils to eat when you can scoop it up with a tortilla!
The beef cooks low and slow so that all the ingredients melt down into a stew.
To make it an even heartier meal, you can add potatoes and carrots while it's simmering.
I love to cook it all in my cast iron skillet for even more flavor.
How to make Carne Guisada
What type of meat is carne guisada? You'll want to use stew meat which can be any kind of beef chuck or beef round.
I typically pick up the packet of meat that says "stew meat" and is already conveniently diced up.
If using a chunk of meat such as top round, you'll need to cut the beef into 1-inch cubes.
Dice up an onion. Optionally, you can also dice up a green bell pepper.
We typically don't make it with the green pepper, but it's a common ingredient in carne guisada.
Some people will even substitute a spicy pepper such as jalapeño or poblano.
You'll also need tomato or tomato sauce. We usually use Spanish style tomato sauce since we always have it on hand, especially when tomatoes are not in season.
The beauty of this recipe is that is can be made on any night with whatever you have on hand.
Besides the beef and vegetables, the sauce is seasoned with ground cumin. Of course, if you can freshly grind your own it tastes the best.
All-purpose flour is used to thicken it up into a nice gravy.
This carne guisada recipe cooks low and slow for at least 1 ½ hours.
The meat should be fall-apart tender and the gravy thick and rich.
It's not a quick meal, but it produces the best flavor!
If you want a delicious dinner in about 20 minutes, try my Mexican Pork Stew (Puerco en Salsa Roja) recipe instead.
That guiso has only two ingredients yet tastes like it was simmering for hours!
Carne Guisada Recipe (Mexican Style)
Tender chunks of beef simmered in a flavorful Mexican gravy. Flour tortillas are the perfect accompaniment for this carne guisada recipe.
Ingredients
- 3 lbs stew meat
- 1 tablespoon oil (lard, bacon grease, etc)
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 small green bell pepper, diced (optional)
- 3 tablespoons tomato sauce or 1 large tomato, diced
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder or 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup water or chicken stock
- Flour tortillas, rice or mashed potatoes, for serving
Instructions
- In a large pan, brown the stew meat in oil of choice with onions and green pepper (if using) over high heat.
- Add the tomato sauce (or tomato), garlic powder (or fresh garlic), cumin, salt and pepper and stir well.
- Sprinkle the flour over the meat and mix well. Add the water (or stock) and mix well so there are no lumps.
- Bring to a boil, cover pan and reduce heat to low. Cook for 1 ½ hours, or until meat is tender.
- Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.
- Serve with rice, tortillas or mashed potatoes.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 8ozAmount Per Serving: Calories: 606Total Fat: 21gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 13gCholesterol: 226mgSodium: 982mgCarbohydrates: 27gFiber: 2gSugar: 4gProtein: 78g
Nutritional information provided is an estimate only. Please consult the labels of ingredients you use for more accurate results.
Try this Mexican pork stew:
You might also like this great Southwestern side dish packed with veggies and cheese! Calabacitas con Queso:
This was a very good recipe! Super easy to follow and taste like the Carne Guisada I had in all the time in San Antonio!
Tried it for the first time, loved it. I added Serrano pepper since we like things a little spicer. Fantastic! Will definitely make this again. Thank you!
I've made this several times now. This recipe is very forgiving. My whole family loves it! I have used fresh tomato, tomato sauce and tomato paste all with great results. I have never used green bell pepper but used poblanos twice as they're my favorite. In all a great recipe.
Tried this and it was fabulous! Just like my Abuelita used to make. I did give it a few tweaks tho. I used dbl the meat (big family) and also added two cans of tomato sauce, left out the fresh 🍅 tomato. Also used only 1 bell pepper, and left out flour, adding to the end (made a slurry of water flour) Cooked on high for 4.5 hrs in the slow cooker. Amazing! Thanks for a great recipe!
Did you add the flour at the end when it was almost done? or left out the flour entirely and eliminated it from the recipe?
@Karen Spencer, carne guisada is usually made with very little tomato if any. It's the flavor of the cumin that makes the dish. I'm speaking of the carne guisada I grew up on in San Antonio, TX. Adding two cans of tomato sauce would definitely change the flavor of the original carne guisada. Both good, but different flavor. Just saying. Loved this recipe.
Fantastic! Just like what they serve in West Texas—the capital of quality Mexican cuisine. Thanks for the recipe. I’m in ND which has no de ent Mexican food places. (Don’t even ask about there version of enchiladas!) This recipe hit the spot today.
Sofrito and sazon?
If you're looking for guisada with sofrito and sazon check out my Puerto Rican carne guisada recipe.
I’m making this now. When my mom visits, she makes enough sofrito for me to freeze in a gallon freezer bag. I just broke off a chunk to add to this carne guisada. I can’t wait to eat this! 🤤
am i reading this correctly.. '3 tablespoons of tomato sauce'?
isn't that barely more than a shotglass?
Yes that's right. The gravy shouldn't be too tomato-y unless that's how you like it. Just enough to add some sweetness and brightness. If you like a light tomato flavor use fresh tomato, if you like it stronger use more sauce.
I used large fresh tomato. Fresh better in my opinion. Place I normally eat this at used fresh tomato and the recipe matches without strong flavor from sauce.
I made it according to recipe & it came out a little salty. Next time I will leave out the salt.
Yes mine came out salty as well but I put some extra water in. Still salty but it was a good meal.
Just made this. Put a little less cumin, maybe 1-1/2 tbs. used no flour just cooked down broth. Oh man oh man it was tasty. So flavorful. Added Serrano pepper for a bit of heat!
That sounds sooo good! Love the serrrano idea
Currently making my wife favorite dish in our new home. I’m so excited to finally make it, so far so good. Thank you for the receipe
Hope you guys enjoy and congrats on a new home!
You mentioned your own tortillas. Have no idea how to make them
They're the best! https://www.kitchengidget.com/2014/07/27/homemade-flour-tortillas/
Buy white wing flour and add water to consistency and separate into little balls and roll them out on you tortilla board. Tip a little flour on the board keeps them from sticking.
For the tomato and optional green pepper, how would a can of Rotel do?
It will be a different-but I'm sure delicious-flavor
First time making it today. I forgot to get fresh tomatoes from the store. With 3 littles, I didn't want to go back! I used a can of rotel and it came out delicious. This recipe is similar to my mom's carne guisada.
Looks and smells amazing while it's cooking on low😋❤
Made this today and it was excellent! And yes, I am Mexican-American.
Me too! Gracias for your comment. 🙂
This looks amazing! Thank you, I will try this right away.