Should You Marinate Beef For Soup And Stew?

In most situations, we here at The Takeout are quick to recommend you marinate your meat before eating it, especially when dealing with a tougher cut of steak on the grill. However, when it comes to making beef stew (or any other beef soup, for that matter), marinating the beef beforehand is quite uncommon, and most chefs consider it to be a waste of time.

We spoke to chef and restaurateur Rick Bayless ahead of his Utility event in Chicago, coming up May 18 and 19, 2025. In the process, we got the inside scoop on why he doesn't marinate his beef when cooking stew. "Personally, I don't think you'll gain much from marinating beef, then simmering it for a long time," the chef admitted. This becomes more understandable when looking at what the process does; marinades tenderize and enhance a piece of meat's flavor, both of which already occur when making a stew or soup using beef. 

The only instance where marinated beef can uplift your stew is if the ingredients in your marinade are more flavorful than your stew. However, even in this case, you'd still be better off adding more flavor to the dish itself –we like adding V8 juice to our stew to enhance its taste — rather than marinating your beef ahead of time.

So, while marinating your beef is unnecessary, there are a few things you can do to ensure a better-tasting soup or stew. For starters, Rick Bayless recommends that you implement a sometimes-forgotten step into making your soup — pre-cooking. "I do think that browning meat before simmering it creates a beautiful flavor," Bayless revealed. This flavor boost is the result of the beef's exterior caramelizing and absorbing the seasonings and oil directly before it cooks further in the soup.

With this in mind, it's important to remember that timing is key when making beef stew; freshly-browned beef is the only way to reap its flavorful benefits. "Using leftover cooked meat won't give you much flavor in the broth," Bayless reminded. However, the chef also noted that not all leftover meats are useless when making soup. "Using leftover RAW meat, cooked at a very gentle simmer will give you a lot of richness, especially if it has some fat and bone," Bayless advised.