Homemade Maggot Stew
Submitted by supercook
Halloween beef stew with orzo “maggots” kids love. Flour-coated stew beef browned with tomatoes, carrots, green beans, and thyme. Spooky fun, seriously good.
YIELD
4 servingsPREP
15 minCOOK
45 minREADY
60 minThis Halloween beef stew is a legit, hearty stew that happens to have a creepy twist: orzo pasta stirred in at the end to look like maggots. Kids go wild for the gross factor, but the stew underneath is genuinely good eating.
The beef gets coated in seasoned flour and browned until crusty, which builds a fond that thickens the broth as it simmers. Stewed tomatoes, beef stock, thyme, and a bay leaf create a rich, savory base. Carrots and green beans go in later so they keep some bite instead of dissolving into mush.
The orzo is cooked separately and stirred in at the very end. This is smart because cooking pasta directly in the stew would soak up all the liquid and turn the whole pot starchy. Keeping it separate means you get that wormy visual without wrecking the texture.
Chef Tips
- Brown the flour-coated beef in batches. Crowding the pot steams the meat instead of searing it, and you lose that crusty coating.
- This is a great recipe to cook with kids. The ziploc bag shaking step is fun and the “maggot” reveal at the end is a guaranteed hit.
- Remove the bay leaf before serving. Nobody wants to bite into that.
- The stew reheats well, but add the orzo fresh each time. Leftover orzo in the stew gets bloated and mushy.
Variations
- Use spaghetti broken into short pieces for a “worm” version instead of maggots.
- Add diced potatoes with the carrots for a more traditional stew.
- Stir in a splash of Worcestershire sauce with the broth for extra depth.
Ingredients
Directions
Place oil in stew pot and with an adult’s help, turn heat to medium low.
Measure flour, salt, pepper and garlic powder into ziploc bag.
Drop in stew beef, seal bag and shake untilwell coated.
Pour contents of bag into the stew pot.
Turn the heat up to med With an adult’s help, use a long handles spoon to turn the meat every 3 to 4 minutes, letting the meat brown well on all sides.
Cook until the meat begins to look crusty.
Add the tomatoes, broth, thyme and bay leaf.
Bring to a boil, then lower heat to low.
C With an adult’s help, peel the carrots and cut them into small coins with a knife.
When the stew has simmered for one hour, add the carrots and green beans to the pot.
Cover and simmer another 45 minutes.
With an adult’s help, cook the orzo in a saucepan according to the package directions.
when just tender, drain it through a colander into the sink, shaking out any excess water.
These are your maggots. Add them to the stew pot, then turn off heat and care Sicko serving suggestion: Turn any meaty meal into a freakish feast by spreading a layer of orzo maggots on top of your roasted, baked or boiled beast!
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