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:
I've been making this recipe for a few years now and it always turns out so yummy! I like to use fresh chopped tomatoes and skip the bell pepper. Thanks for sharing it with us!
That is entirely too much cumin! Just fyi turned out so bad my dog wouldn’t eat it!
Hi, how would you cook in crockpot?
@Ericka Portilla, I usually just cook it for four hours and the meat falls apart
Thank you keeper
I used fresh tomato and trimmed brisket. It came out delicious!
Recipe is great except momma always told me you can add diced tomatoes but No tomatoe Sauce on carne guisada. Use a dash of Paprika for color. Tomatoe Sauce changes the actual flavor. Mom was a true authentic cook who started several Mexican restaurants including her own.
@Aida Morales, thanks for this tip! do you think this would work in a crockpot??? and for doubling the recipe too?
Delicious and simple
I made this last week, and it was truly one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten! Thank you for the incredible recipe- it is certain to be a favorite from here on out. 🙂
Came out perfect, husband loves!!!
Didn’t change a thing. First burnt dinner in 25 years of cooking 5 nights a week. 🙁
@Ben, literally same 🫠 followed directions to a T and 40 minutes into the hour and a half and checked on it and half of it was already burned 🙃
@Ben, lol, your blaming the recipe for burning the food. Learn how to cook bro
@Carlos, I'm with you, you can't just set it and forget it! Who cooks like that? Did you guys burning dinner leave the pan a bad review too? I sometimes add a little more liquid and let my carne guisada simmer for even longer, maybe up to 3 hrs , and I've never even come close to burning it. Seems like a huge waste of time and food to let that happen!
I use rump roast and add cilantro and jalapeños and chopped tomatoes. Sometimes I have blended the tomatoes with the jalapeño and fresh garlic with a little salt and blend it with the meat. I let it simmer for at least an hour. Always tender meat.
Excellent recipe. So easy. It was succulent and delicious. Thank you.
What if I don’t want to use cornstarch or flour?
Then you can use another thickening agent or have a thin gravy. The flavor will still be there.
This is a winner! We will be making this again soon!!!!
Thank you for posting this recipe. I have been looking for it for awhile since my mom's says "just go by taste" on the ingredients portion of her recipe. I finally made this recipe and only changed two things. I didn't add the bell pepper and instead of stew meat I used chuck eye steak. The chuck eye takes less time to cook with and is so flavorful. Turned out just like my mom's. Next time I want to try it with chicken thighs. For the record mashed potatoes served with it are just as good as eating Mexican rice with it!!
@Vesa, chicken thighs is an intriguing idea!