I’ve made it pretty clear that I love fall and soups and stews!! Here is one I’ve been working on for a few months. It’s based on an Ancho Beef Stew I found in Better Homes & Gardens Fall Recipe magazine. That one called for a couple things I couldn’t find in stores so I gave up, started tweaking it to my liking and voila!- my Fajita Stew!

FYI- I put the instructions at the end for a crockpot version. I know everyone loves crockpots but I’m a big fan of using a dutch oven for soups, stews and pasta dishes. If you don’t have a dutch oven, I highly recommend this one from Target. It’s really heavy duty, high quality and easy to clean.

Here’s what you need-

• 1.5 lb diced beef (I use a mix of stew meat and chop suey)
• 10 oz chorizo
• 1/2 yellow onion (any onion will work, I just like yellow)
• 1 green pepper
• 1 red pepper
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 tsp hot mexican chili powder (regular would be fine as well)
• 2 tsp cumin
• 15 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 bottle Mexican beer (the darker the better!)
• 2 medium potatoes
• 2 cups water

Ok, here’s how you do it!

PREP WORK: Just do this all before you start. Trust me!

• Chop your onions, peppers and potatoes (and garlic if you’re extra fancy have fresh garlic and don’t just have a jar of minced garlic).
• Measure out your flour, chili pepper, cumin & water.
• Pop open that can of tomatoes and beer (maybe a beer for yourself too IDK).
• Preheat your oven to 300 F.

MAKING THE STEW:

• Brown your chorizo on medium heat (break it up like you’d do ground beef) in a large oven safe pot dutch oven (at least 5qt). This should take just a few minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl.
• Brown your stew meat in 2 batches. Give it a good hit of salt and pepper. You want all sides to get a little brown/crispy. Transfer to your bowl with chorizo. Set aside.
• Drain almost all of the fat from your pan. Just leave a little bit to cook your veggies. Cook your onion and peppers for about 3-4 minutes. Just until the onions are becoming translucent.
• Add garlic. Cook for about a minute.
• Add your flour, chili powder and cumin. Cook about a minute. It’ll seem pretty dry but try to get it all mixed together as best you can.
• Add in tomatoes. Mix until everything is incorporated.
• Add in your beer in 2-3 installments. Mix each time until incorporated.
• Bring to a boil then add in your chorizo, beef and potatoes.
• Add in your 2 cups of water. Bring to boil again.
• Cover and transfer to the oven.
• Bake for 1.5-2 hours until potatoes are tender.

HEY CROCKPOT LOVERS! I know 70% of you are annoyed that this isn’t done in a crockpot. Good news. You can do it that way if you want! Just do the first 3 steps in a pan then instead of putting everything in a pot moving forward go right into the crockpot. All of it. Just right in. Mix it up well and then cover to cook. Low 6 hours. High 2-3 hours. BOOM!

This makes a ton and reheats well! ENJOY for days! 🙂

-Slightly, Samantha