Do You Make These Mistakes With Stew Meat?

Have you ever noticed that stew meat and kabob meat look very similar. Yet, the pricing between the two is very different. Why is that? In this post, we’ll explain what stew meat is, how it’s different from kabob meat, and how to use stew meat correctly.

Stew Meat vs. Kabob Meat

Did you know that when a steer is butchered, there is not a cut of beef labeled “stew meat” or “kabob meat.” Rather, the terms are used to describe specific cuts of beef that are then packaged together. Essentially, it’s trimmings of certain primal cuts.

If you do a side-by-side comparison of the two, stew meat is often in slightly smaller chunks than kabob meat. You may also notice more marbling in stew meat compared to kabob meat.

What Kind of Meat is Stew Meat?

Stew meat is typically trimmings from the chuck, which is the shoulder of the cow. It can also come from the round, which is the cow’s rump and hind legs.

Cuts of beef from the chuck and round are tougher because they’re from well-worked muscles that are full of collagen-rich connective tissue. This is important to know is because the collagen melts into the beef, and the meat will become more tender as it cooks.

It is best when it’s incorporated into dishes with long cooking time and lots of liquid. The combination of cooking time and liquid turns the tougher cuts into melt-in-your-mouth beef.

What Kind of Meat is Kabob Meat?

Kabob meat is trimmings from the primal cuts of beef, such as the sirloin, but it can also be from other cuts.

A very high level overview of the process is, when a whole beef is being butchered, there’s always some leftover (or trimmings) that aren’t quite big enough to turn into steaks. The trimmings of the steak cuts are packaged together and labeled as kabob meat.

How to cook stew meat

When cooking beef, it’s important to match the cut of beef with the correct cooking method. Some beef cuts are ideal for quick-cooking, like grilling, and others need slow-cooking methods, like stewing. A lot of people don’t recognize that different cuts require different cooking time, which is why their beef doesn’t come out as desired. When you learn the difference in cuts and cooking methods, you won’t ruin beef.

Stew meat comes from areas on the cow that are well-worked muscles, like the shoulder, leg, and rump. These areas have lots of connective tissue so the cuts are tougher, but they also have fat and marbling for flavor. By cooking these cuts for a long time in liquid, the muscle fibers relax and tough connective tissue break down into a gelatin, which results in tender beef. If you try and cook it quickly, it will be very tough.

Comparatively, tender cuts of beef, like tenderloin and ribeye, are ideal for quick-cooking methods like grilling for a short period of time. Because these cuts are already soft, cooking them for long periods of time will dry them out and make them chewy.

How to make beef stew meat tender?

The secret to making beef stew tender is the cook time. As explained above, certain cuts, like chuck, get more tender as they cook. If you’re using chuck and the beef isn’t tender enough, simply keep cooking until it is tender.

What to Look For When Purchasing Stew Meat?

Stew Meat is often sold as prepacked chunks of meat. When purchasing, look for a package with a good amount of white striping (fat and connective tissue) since this make the meat more tender as it cooks.

Alternatively, you can make your own stew meat but cuting a chuck roast into pieces.

What Can I Make With Stew Meat, Other Than Stew?

You can use stew meat in any recipe that calls for chuck or round roast and that braises the meat in liquid for a period of time. If you decide to adjust a recipe you’ve found, simply swap in the beef in the equal weight.

• Easy Beef Stew
• Stuffed Pepper Soup
• Beef Enchilada Recipe
• Three Bean Crockpot Chili
• Slow Cooker Pepper Steak
• Italian Beef Sandwiches
• Stuffed Bell Peppers
• Easy Beef Stir Fry
• Beef Nachos Supreme
• Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef
• Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
• Stew Meat Kabobs

Can Stew Meat Be Used For Kabob Meat?

With food prices on the rise, it begs the question, can stew meat be used for recipes that call for steak or kabob meat?

We decided to test this question, and we did it with the hardest test we could think of — grilling stew meat as shish kabobs. We didn’t have very high expectations, but we were shocked at the results. The stew meat shish kabobs we made were very good. You can see our full test and get the Easy Stew Meat Kabobs Recipe here.

We believe the reason the stew meat did so well on the grill was because we marinated it for about 8-hours. Plus, the beef was in small, bite-size pieces.   

As background, we’ve always recommended using beef stew meat to make certain dishes more economical — like chili, slow cooker pepper steak, and beef stroganoff. But, this is the first time we’ve recommended using it on the grill. 

So, can you use stew meat for kabobs? Yes! But proceed with caution on your recipe.

Kitchen products we love:

• Meat Thermometer

One more thing!

Do you want to learn more about beef? Join our weekly e-newsletter where we share farm happenings, recipes and beef availability. Sign-up and get a cheat sheet with 9-must-ask questions before buying beef directly from a farmer. Or, we have an entire ebook about beef that goes through purchasing and preparing beef from a cattle farmers perspective.

Here are a few other links you may like:

• What everybody ought to know about beef cuts
• Buying a Cow. How Much Beef Is It?
• 7 Steps to Grilling a Steak to Perfection
• How We Raise Our Grass Fed Beef
• Bonfire Burger
• Prime Rib Roast with Garlic Herb Butter

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