Beef Tips and Gravy

Beef tips and gravy is the kind of old-fashioned comfort food that makes you remember Sunday dinner at Grandma's, when everyone crowded around the table and nobody was counting carbs or playing Candy Crush on their phone. Tender beef and rich gravy over a mountain of mashed potatoes makes any day feel a little more like home.

Table of Contents

• 🥰 Is this beef tips and gravy recipe for you?
• 🧾 Ingredients
• 📖 Recipe
• 🔪How to make beef tips and gravy
• 😱 What can go wrong (and how to fix it)
• 👩‍🍳 FAQs
• 📚 More old fashioned beef recipes
• 🍽️ Serve with...
• Beef tips & gravy
• 💬 Comments

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🥰 Is this beef tips and gravy recipe for you?

This beef tips and gravy recipe is for you if you:

• Love old-fashioned, stick-to-your-ribs comfort food.
• Believe mashed potatoes exist primarily as a delivery system for gravy.
• Don't mind giving dinner a few hours to simmer while you do something more interesting.
• Need a hearty family dinner that makes plenty and reheats beautifully.
• Want beef tips that are fall-apart tender, not little rubber nuggets of questionable origin swimming in brown goo.

🧾 Ingredients

This isn't the bland beef tips and gravy you remember from the school cafeteria. Red wine, poblano, and guajillo chile give the rich gravy a deeper, slightly smoky flavor while still keeping all that old-fashioned comfort-food goodness.

• Chuck roast - My favorite for beef tips because it gets wonderfully tender with low, slow cooking. You can also use chuck stew meat.
• Flour - Coats the beef and helps thicken the gravy while it simmers. Two jobs, one ingredient. We approve.
• Salt - Brings all those rich, savory flavors to life.
• Black pepper - Adds a little bite to balance the richness.
• Smoked paprika - Gives the beef a subtle smoky depth without taking over.
• Red wine - Adds richness and depth to the gravy. Use something you'd happily drink. Substitute an extra ½ cup of beef stock if you prefer.
• Beef stock - The savory backbone of all that glorious gravy.
• Poblano pepper - Optional, but adds mild warmth and a little Texas attitude.
• Guajillo pepper - Optional. Fruity, earthy, and gently spicy rather than fire-breathing.
• Mushrooms - Soak up all that beefy gravy and make the whole thing even more savory.
• Onions - Cook down until they're soft, sweet, and practically part of the gravy.
• Butter - Because mushrooms sautéed in sadness are not welcome here.

Prefer the slow cooker? My crockpot beef tips with mushroom gravy are made for those days when you'd rather let the Crock Pot handle dinner.

📖 Recipe

🔪How to make beef tips and gravy

There's nothing complicated about making beef tips and gravy, but you can't rush them. Give the beef a good sear, then let everything simmer low and slow until the meat is fork-tender and the gravy is rich enough to make mashed potatoes nervous.

1. Cut beef in bite sized pieces. Mix the flour, salt, pepper, and smoked paprika in a large bowl.
2. With your hands mix the cut meat in the flour until all sides are covered.
3. Melt the butter in a heavy iron skillet or dutch oven. Add the mushrooms and saute until golden brown.
4. Add the onion and poblano pepper. Saute about 3 minutes.

1. Remove the vegetables from the skillet Add the beef and quickly sear.
2. Remove the beef. Add the wine and most of the beef stock.
3. Bring the broth mixture to a simmer and drop in the Guijillo pepper.
4. Add the beef and the onion mixture to the simmering broth. Simmer on low heat 3 hours.

😱 What can go wrong (and how to fix it)

🥩 The beef is tough. It probably needs more time. Keep it at a gentle simmer and let that chuck roast surrender on its own schedule.

🥩 The beef is dry. The heat was likely too high or there wasn't enough liquid. Keep the pot covered and the heat low, and check occasionally to make sure there's plenty of broth.

🥩 The gravy is too thin. Remove the lid for the last 20 to 30 minutes and let it reduce. Still too thin? Use the cornstarch slurry in the recipe card.

🥩 The gravy is too thick. Stir in a little reserved beef stock until it's exactly where you want it. Gravy is forgiving that way.

🥩 The bottom is scorching. Your heat is too high. This is a low-and-slow situation, not a NASCAR event. Stir occasionally and make sure there's enough liquid in the pot.

🥩 The beef didn't brown. Don't crowd the pan. Sear it in batches if necessary so it browns instead of steaming into sad little gray cubes.

👩‍🍳 FAQs

📚 More old fashioned beef recipes

🍽️ Serve with...

🏡 Do you remember the old diners, or am I the only one?

We used to go to one that, looking back, resembled an Airstream trailer. It was all chrome and Art Deco on the outside, but inside it smelled like everything good.

Yeasty dinner rolls, beef gravy, apple pie, chocolate cake... all those aromas mingled together into a scent I wish someone would bottle and sell as a candle.

The floor was red-and-white vinyl squares, the booths were cherry red with wide white stripes, and the tables had chrome edges. There was even a little personal jukebox beside the salt, pepper, and catsup.

But I never wanted a booth.

I always led my dad straight to the counter, where a row of chrome stools with bright red seats waited for us. I liked the stools because they twirled.

My dad liked the counter because that's where they kept the chocolate cake under big glass domes.

Blue plate specials were cheap, hearty, and generous, and beef tips and gravy over a mountain of mashed potatoes showed up pretty often.

Nine times out of ten, that's what I ordered.

So I suppose this beef tips and gravy recipe is my homage to that little diner. A plate full of comfort food, a red stool that twirled, and dinner with my dad.