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Ground Beef Hobo Stew

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Pantry friendly and adaptable, I just love this stew. In some variation and often depending on the type of meat you use, you may know this dish by the names of Campfire Stew, Girl Scout Camp Stew, Hobo Stew, Ground Beef Stew, Beggar Stew, Mulligan Stew, or V8 Stew - just to name a few. I just settled on calling it a Ground Beef Hobo Stew.

For my stew, I like to use V-8 as my primary liquid. I actually like and used to drink V-8 regularly, and no, not only in a Bloody Mary, though I certainly have enjoyed one of those a time or two in my life. I used to add it to soups and stews where I used tomatoes, though I'm not really quite sure why I stopped, except that V-8 got a little more expensive than my budget allowed, and it wasn't really a pantry staple for me like canned tomatoes are. The blend of veggies in tomato juice found in V-8 is a perfect accent though for just about any soup or stew where you normally use tomatoes, so it's really no secret that cook's have been enhancing recipes with it for years.

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Ground Beef Hobo Stew 1 Picture

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1 cup onions, chopped
  • 1/2 cup mixed sweet and hot peppers, chopped
  • 1/2 cup celery
  • 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
  • 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
  • 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cups beef stock or broth
  • 3 cans (11.5 ounce) original or spicy V-8, or tomato juice
  • 1 can (14.5 ounce) tomatoes, diced
  • 2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
  • 2 cups fresh carrots, diced (about 2 large)
  • 2 cups corn
  • 2 cups cut green beans
  • Dash Worcestershire sauce
  • Couple dashes hot sauce
  • 1/4 teaspoon of Cajun seasoning (like Slap Ya Mama), or to taste,
  • 1 teaspoon of kosher salt, or to taste
  • 1/4 teaspoon of freshly cracked black pepper, or to taste

Details

Servings 6
Preparation time 10mins
Cooking time 130mins
Adapted from deepsouthdish.com

Preparation

Step 1

In the bottom of a Dutch oven or other heavy pot, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the onion, peppers and celery; cook and stir until softened, about 4 minutes.

Add the garlic and ground beef, cook and stir until meat is browned and cooked through. Drain off excess fat. Sprinkle meat with flour; cook and stir for 3 minutes.

Add the beef stock, V-8 juice and diced tomatoes. Stir in the potatoes, carrots, corn and green beans. Add Worcestershire, hot sauce and seasonings to taste. Stir, cover and simmer over medium to medium low (low bubble) for 1-1/2 to 2 hours, or until veggies are tender, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

Hobo stew can be served as is, or spooned over rice or mashed potatoes. Serve with hot cornbread, biscuits or rolls.

Cook's Notes: Use other meats such as stew meat, venison, bacon, Italian sausage, smoked sausage, andouille or kielbasa - all good choices. If using a stewing type of meat, allow it to cook in the base veggies and juice for about 1 hour before adding in the vegetables. Use fresh or frozen vegetables, or may substitute 1 can of drained carrots, corn and cut green beans or use a variety of other vegetables or beans, such as mixed vegetables, shredded cabbage, black-eyed peas, pinto beans, hominy, turnips, kidney beans, great northern beans, lima beans. You'll want around 5 to 6 cups fresh or frozen, or about 3 (15 ounce) cans. If using canned vegetables, allow the potatoes and carrots to cook for 30 minutes before adding in the canned vegetables.

Also okay to use lower sodium or spicy V-8, but taste stew to adjust seasonings up or down as needed. If using spicy, take into consideration hot peppers and other spicy seasonings you use. May also substitute a can of Rotel tomatoes for the diced, if desired.

Crockpot: Sauté the vegetables and brown the meat as above; add that along with the remaining ingredients to a 6 quart slow cooker, cover and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours or until veggies are tender.

Variation: To convert to a Hobo Soup, increase the beef stock/broth to about 4 cups or to desired consistency.

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