Beef Caldereta is a Filipino beef stew with Spanish heritage. It’s one of our specialty dishes and something you’d often find in special occasions.

In our small island province though, the most common is kalderetang kambing (goat stew). Maybe because it was cheaper? I can see how the price might be a concern for this Beef Caldereta Recipe. The list of the ingredients is quite long. But if you look at it closely, you’d realize that most of these are pantry regulars. Don’t be daunted by the olives, if there’s no olives, it will still work out fine. You can use any cheap cut of beef since were using a slow cooker anyway. :) On this one I used a mix of buto buto and kaldereta cut from Monterey.

How to cook beef caldereta

Once you get past the ingredients, it’s very easy to learn how to cook beef caldereta. My father’s version is to cook everything separately and then put them together for the stew.

Among all of our tomato based dishes, such as Menudo, Mechado, Afritada, etc. this Beef Caldereta Recipe is one of my family’s absolute favorite.  This is a slow cooker version of my father’s Caldereta recipe. Having a slow cooker is really a great time saver for stew dishes and it’s actually fail proof for me. No matter what I put together, they always turn out great!

Don’t have a slow cooker yet? Read here why you should buy one! If you’re a working mom, this is perfect for you. You can set it up in the morning and come home to a wonderfully smelling home with your dinner already cooked!

If you have no slow cooker though, dont let that stop you. You can cook this same recipe in the stovetop. Just shorten the cooking time to about an hour in low to medium fire, taking care to mix them once in a while so the meat wont stick!

Slow Cooked Beef Caldereta Recipe

Ingredients:

Fry:

• 2 potatoes, quartered and fried.
• 2 medium size Carrots, sliced into 1-inch thickness and fried.

Saute:

• 1/4 cup oil
• 2 tablespoons crushed garlic
• 2 cups chopped onion
• 1 1/2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
• 3/4 cup  chopped green bell pepper
• 1/4 kilo liver, chopped in small pcs. (maybe replaced by liver spread or in a pinch, peanut butter)
• 1 kilo beef sirloin, cubed and seared.
• 2-3 cups beef stock (or water and 1 1/2 beef cubes)
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 250 gms Tomato Sauce sachet

Slow Cooked:

• 2 Bay Leaves
• patis, salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup green olives
• 3-4 pieces chilis, chopped (remove seeds if you don’t want it as spicy)
• 1 teaspoon Maya cornstarch dissolved in water
• 1/2 cup cream or coconut milk
• 1/2 cup grated cheese
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into strips

Procedure:

Fry potatoes and carrots. Sprinkle with a bit of salt while frying. Set aside.

In the same pan, brown beef. Set aside.

Still the same pan, fry liver. Set aside.

Then saute garlic, onion, tomatoes and green bell pepper. Add the liver and cubed beef . Then follow up with the beef stock, tomato sauce and tomato paste. Mix and allow to boil. Turn off fire.

Arrange the potatoes and carrots at the bottom of the slow cooker. Add bay leaves.

Transfer the the cooked meat to slow cooker and set to 4 hours on high or 6 hours on low. Get to know your slow cooker – I sometimes go up to 8 hours on low. We want your beef to be tender but not falling apart.

30 minutes before dinner time, season to taste then add the olives, chili pepper, red bell peppers and dissolved cornstarch. Add the coconut milk and cheese. Stir gently. It is ready once the sauce thickens. Transfer to a platter.

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