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Stew season is here! My Irish Beef Stew recipe might use the simplest ingredients in your pantry but produces the most complex flavour and tender, melt-in-your-mouth beef. Would you like to know my secret ingredient?
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I love a stew. Not only does a good stew taste amazing while filling the house with stunning aromas, they are also forgiving to make and come together without a lot of stress.
A good stew fills us up and and warms us up from the inside out. Which means that, as the temperature drops, it is the perfect recipe for any household.
This Irish Beef Stew is rich and delicious, and packed full of the meat, potatoes and vegetables we all crave. What could be better?
Beef and Guinness Stew
Like all good stews, this recipe uses time in the best possible way. By cooking slowly, the meat tenderises and flavours come together to make a rich, wholesome stew.
But there is another secret to getting this amazing flavour. To put it simply this beef stew gets a lot of its flavour from Guinness.
Through almost no effort of your own and by simply adding a can of stout into the pot, you can end up with deep and robust beef stew that will warm you up from the inside.
As you can see from the ingredient photo above, there is absolutely nothing fancy that goes into my beef stew. So how do we avoid getting a bland, flavourless stew?
There are a few tricks that will prevent that from happening. I usually talk a lot of about quality ingredients but this time it’s all about slow cooking and using a couple of cooking techniques properly.
The Ingredients
Beef, onions, carrots, celery and potatoes are the most common players when it comes to making an Irish stew. All affordable and staple ingredients in most homes.
Apart from beef, of course. Beef is always on the pricey side.
What is so great about stews is that you can successfully use cheaper beef cuts and have stellar results as opposed to Beef Stroganoff where steak is necessary.
I recommend using stewing beef available in supermarkets or beef shoulder. I personally often find it is cheaper buying a beef shoulder roast and cutting it up in bite-sized chunks at home.
If you want to go a more authentic route, use lamb for a traditional Irish stew.
What makes cheaper and tougher beef turn into tender and luscious little bites is longer cooking time. Beef Stews are at their best when cooked low and slow. This recipe is no exception.
You can cook your beef stew in a Dutch oven as I’ve done here or you can use your slow cooker or a pressure cooker such as Instant Pot.
Slow Cooker Method
Follow the recipe up to step 4, then add carrots and potatoes and cook in a This is an affiliate link.slow cooker on high for 4 hours or on low for 8 hours.
Pressure Cooker Method
Follow the recipe up to step 4, then add carrots and potatoes and cook in a pressure cooker in Manual Mode for 45 minutes.
Whatever method you choose, you will have the same rich and flavourful beef stew if you take the time to follow the initial steps of browning the beef and cooking the onions until soft and translucent.
As I mentioned earlier beef stews are extremely easy and forgiving recipes. They are based around slow cooking but there are a few other things that contribute to that success. Look below for some top tips on getting the best results from this recipe.
Recipe Tip
- I recommend using stewing beef or beef shoulder roast cut into chunks for this Irish Beef Stew
- Use waxy potatoes such as red-skinned potatoes, which hold shape and won’t fall apart in stews and soups.
- Brown the beef until you see beautiful golden crust on it as shown in photo 1 in the collage above. This step is single handedly responsible for the depth and richness of the stew.
- Take the time to cook the onions. I see this step often being overlooked. It literally hurts me to see so many cooking videos on Facebook where onions are briefly stirred, then liquids added.
- Onions have to be cooked for at least 10 minutes to get the full benefit of that beautiful ingredient in dishes. They need time to release their natural sugars and change the texture from crispy to soft and luscious. They also need to be cooked over low heat to prevent them from burning and turning bitter.
- Deglazing the pan/pot aka scraping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon when adding the liquid. This simple but necessary step helps imparting more flavour into the dish.
- It’s easy to make this stew gluten-free. Simply substitute flour with cornstarch dissolved in water to thicken the stew.
Serving suggestions
A stew is a hearty meal all on its own. No need to add a lot to make this a meal that will keep you satisfied for a long, long time.
But you’ll want something to soak up all that delicious flavour from the bottom of your bowl, and that job calls for a chunk of warm and delicious bread. I also like to add some fresh parsley for more flavour and a splash of colour.
And if you want to turn this into an Irish feast, who am I to stop you? Traditional Colcannon and Potato Farls would be my pick.
Storage and leftovers
Having a few meals in the freezer, ready for when you need them, is a great way to keep things stress free on those days when there isn’t time for meal prep. A stew like this one is pretty much the perfect choice.
A stew freezes well and can be reheated just as easy. Freeze it for up to 3 months or in a refrigerator for 3-4 days.
Reheat in microwave or, ideally, a saucepan. Add a splash of water if it is looking too thick.
More cold weather comfort food recipes
- Beef in Truffled Cream Sauce
- Russian Sweet and Sour Beef Stew Solyanka
- Beef Goulash
- Pork Loin Steaks in Creamy Shallot and Mushroom Sauce
Irish Beef Stew
Equipment
- This is an affiliate link.Cast iron Dutch oven
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp This is an affiliate link.olive oil
- 1 tsp salt and pepper
- 700g/1.5 lbs stewing beef
- 1 onion, medium
- 3-4 sprigs thyme, or 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 tbsp flour
- 500ml/2 cups water, or beef stock, divided
- 440ml/1 can Guinness, or other stout
- 1 This is an affiliate link.bay leaf
- 4 carrots, medium
- 4 waxy potatoes such as red potatoes, medium
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160℃/300℉
- Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven/cast iron casserole pot and brown the beef chunks seasoned with salt and pepper over medium heat until golden. Do this in batches to avoid overcrowding.
- Move the browned beef to one side of the pot and lower the heat, then add chopped onions and thyme, cook over low heat for 8-10 minutes until tender. Then add minced garlic and cook briefly for 30 seconds.
- Add the flour and stir the beef, so it’s coated, then add the water or beef stock if using and scrape the bottom of the pot with a spatula to release the brown bits at the bottom. Add the Guinness, one or two bay leaves, turn the heat up and bring to a boil. Then cover with a lid and put in the preheated oven for 1 hour.
- After one hour take out of the oven and add carrots and potatoes cut into large chunks to the pot, stir and add 250ml/1 cup of water, cover with a lid and continue cooking the stew in the oven for 1.5 hours. Take the lid off for the last 10 minutes of cooking.
- Serve with bread and sprinkled with some fresh parsley for more flavour.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Boy Oh Boy, Julia!!! Once again you have “knocked it outta the park”. First made sure we had cans of Guinness in our pantry. We had left over leg of lamb; what better way to use it up than in a stew? I stripped the bone, cut up the meat into smaller (stew-size) pieces and followed your instructions to the letter….. (It works just as well with lamb meat.) Dumped everything onto the slow cooker, “set it, forget it”, activate a remote timer …put the timer in my apron pocket, and go read a recipe book…I love slow cookers they free up the oven for other use…
Always happy to hear such great feedback, Elaine! Enjoy!
Hi Julia: I live in a small studio. So I don’t have an oven. I have an electric cooktop. Could this be made in the dutch oven on the burner? If so, how long and at what setting? Thanks!
You can use a stovetop over very low heat for a couple of hours and stir it once in a while to avoid burning at the bottom. This method is addressed in the recipe notes.
Can hard Root Beer be substituted for the Guiness? Will I taste root beer flavor?
Hi Maggie, I wouldn’t recommend using root beer in this stew. It has a very distinct taste and is also sweet, which won’t work for this recipe. You can use any stout (dark beer.)
My husband and I plan to make this for a large group of about 50-60 people for a boat cruise-in for St Paddy’s Day. Our plan is to prep and bag all the ingredients and cook at event, using a large “electric roaster”. I assume this is the same as a slow cooker? Any suggestions to add? We will brown meat and onions in roaster on high as I do believe it gets pretty hot. We are making a trial run of recipe tomorrow for our kids in dutch oven.
Hi Debbie, I am not familiar with an electric roaster but it sounds like it’s more like an electric oven rather than a slow cooker. In any case I am sure you can adjust the temperature to suit the recipe. I am glad you are doing a trial run. I am sure it will give you an idea of what the recipe is like and what to watch out for. Let me know how it goes and enjoy your event. Sounds like a lot of fun!
I am planning on making this tomorrow but have a silly question. Do you leave the thyme sprigs whole and use as you do the bay leaf and remove before serving? Or do you choose up the fresh thyme and add to the stew?
Hi Erica, I usually take the leaves off the sprig before I add them to dishes, so no need to discard anything, but whenever I do throw in a whole sprig I remove it before serving. (You will notice that the leaves will fall off it during cooking.)
My beef stew recipe is like yours, except for the Guinness, which I will definitely try. I do brown the beef in bacon fat however and I love that. On vacation now, but am saving your recipe to try when I get home. Thanks for posting!
I hope you love it, Kathleen!
Made this tonight and threw in some shrooms because I love them! Just when it came out of the oven, ( Dutch oven method), son-in-law came in and had to taste the gravy and the shrooms. He loved them. They were going out to dinner , so now he wants this next time they come to dinner. Great flavor from such basic ingredients….thanks to the Guinness!
Guinness is absolutely amazing in this stew! So glad you loved it, Kathy!
Hi Julia: Absolutely amazing recipe(s). I agree. Guinness should be in every chef’s larder….(I would brush my teeth with Guinness, but it would be sacrilege to watch it swirl down the drain.). However, for a robust flavour, in addition to Guinness I always include one cup of dry, Red Wine, and allow the stew to cook for the prescribed time. Lick the platter clean….
So pleased you loved it and thank you for a great tip, Elaine!!
I made this tonight for some friends and they loved it! The meat was so tender after cooking 8 hours in the slow cooker. The Guinness gave it great flavour! I will definitely be making this again.
Great stuff, Sarah!! Thank you for your lovely review.