Guinness Irish stew is a hearty, comforting stew recipe made with beef, carrots, potatoes, and other veggies simmered in a beefy Guinness tomato sauce.
Serve this Guinness stew recipe next to Irish soda bread with shamrock shakes for the perfect St. Patrick’s Day feast. Don’t forget the Guinness brownies for dessert!
The Best Beef To Use
We love using beef in place of lamb in Guinness stew. It’s easy, tender, and readily available.
Beef chuck roast is great for any dish that requires a longer cooking time, like stew, or even beef bourguignon. The fats break down while it simmers, creating deliciously tender beef for Irish Guinness stew.
Another great option is stewing beef, if you can’t find any chuck roast. This beef is a little lower in quality, but you won’t notice once it’s simmered in the hearty broth.
Choosing Potatoes For Stew
When choosing potatoes for stew, you have a couple choices to make – depending on how well you want them to hold up.
In recipes like loaded baked potato soup, we really want the starches to break down to help thicken the dish.
For Guinness Irish stew, we want the potatoes to hold their texture and shape while simmering for hours. For this, look for russet potatoes or baby red, or yellow potatoes!
How To Make Guinness Stew
- Brown: brown the beef very well over high heat with a little olive oil. The beef may feel like it’s sticking, but keep letting it sear until it releases from the bottom of the pot. All of the brown bits on the bottom will add SO much flavor to this stew, so be excited about those! Transfer the beef to a plate once it’s browned on all sides, and work in batches if needed.
- Saute: Add garlic, onions, carrots, and celery to the bottom of the pan, scraping it while you saute them to get up any loose bits. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the onions are translucent and carrots and celery have softened. Add the flour.
- Simmer: Add the Guinness beer, broth, and tomato paste. Bring to a simmer, then add in the potaotes, beef, and a bay leaf for a little flavor. Simmer for 2-3 hours. Once the beef is tender, you’re ready to serve the stew!
- Serve: Remove the bay leaf, and serve the stew on its own or over some mashed potatoes (this is a common and delicious way to enjoy Irish Guinness stew!)
In the slow cooker or CrockPot:
- Follow step 1 and 2 as above.
- Add the beef, vegetable mixture, Guinness, broth, tomato paste, bay leaf, and potatoes to a slow cooker.
- Cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 8-10 hours. The beef should be fall apart tender and the stew should be thick.
Guinness Stew Tips and Substitutions
- Browning the beef before cooking the stew on the stovetop or in the slow cooker will make all the difference in the flavor. It’s worth the extra bit of time!
- Wait to taste the dish until it’s simmered for at least a couple hours, as the beef won’t be fully cooked through from browning it. This is when you’ll want to add the salt and pepper to taste!
- The stew will thicken while it simmers. If you’d like it to be a little thicker, remove the lid for the last 15 minutes of simmering. Alternatively, combine 2 tablespoons of cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of water and stir it into the stew.
- If serving over mashed potatoes, you can omit the potatoes from the recipe if you’d like. If doing this, make sure to thicken the stew like above.
- Don’t forget to remove the bay leaf before serving Guinness stew, it’s not edible once cooked!
- This recipe will fit perfectly into a 5 quart dutch oven or pot. If you have a smaller one, make it in two batches!
- 2-3 hours is just the minimum time to simmer to ensure the beef is nice and tender. If you prefer, you can simmer it longer, but remember that the longer that it cooks, the more the meat and vegetables will break down. I would cap the cooking time at 5 hours maximum for best results.
Leftovers? Here’s What To Do With Them
Leftover stew is one of our favorite meals around here. With a quick microwave, you have the perfect comfort food ready to go.
Allow the stew to cool to room temperature before transferring it to airtight containers. It will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.
To freeze Irish Guinness stew, place it in individual serving bags in the freezer for up to 8 months. Once frozen and defrosted, it will thicken more due to the potatoes. When reheating from frozen, add a few tablespoons of broth or water per cup.
To reheat Guinness stew, put it in the microwave at 45 second intervals until hot.
To reheat Guinness stew on the stovetop, heat it over medium heat for 5-10 minutes.
More St Patrick’s Day Favorites
Irish Guinness Stew
Ingredients
- 3 pounds beef chuck roast or stewing beef, cut into 1" pieces
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 3 carrots medium, sliced into 1/2" slices
- 3 celery stalks sliced into 1/2" slices
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ cup flour
- 4 cups beef broth low sodium
- 12 ounces Guinness beer 1 bottle or can
- 2 tablespoons worcestershire
- 1 can tomato paste about 1/3 cup
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 russet potatoes cut into 1/2" pieces
- 1 teaspoon salt and pepper each, to taste
Instructions
- Heat a dutch oven or large pot over high heat with olive oil. Sear beef, working in batches, until browned nicely. Transfer to a plate until later.
- Reduce heat to medium. Add onion, carrots, and celery. Saute for 5-7 minutes or until onion is softened, scraping the bottom of the pot to deglaze. Add garlic, cook for an additional minute until fragrant. Add flour. Mix well to coat the vegetables.
- Add beef broth, worcestershire, and Guinness. Stir in tomato paste. Add seared beef, potatoes, and bay leaf to pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low to simmer. Cover, and simmer for 2-3 hours minimum.
- Once beef is tender, add salt and pepper to taste. If you want thicker stew, simmer uncovered for an additional 15 minutes.
- Remove bay leaf. Serve over mashed potatoes, or as is.
Notes
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2 thoughts on “Guinness Irish Stew”
You can also use whole radishes in place of potatoes. They cook to nearly the same consistency, the size/shape is stew-perfect, and they have a fraction of the carbs of potatoes.
I’m allergic to most nightshade, so I know all the tricks to working around it.
That is such a good idea Aquaria! We love roasted radishes in place of potatoes for an easy side, so definitely trying this!