The 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?
Make this beautiful dish for St. Patrick’s Day as well as our Traditional Colcannon recipe for an Irish feast.
What gives Irish beef stew its rich and delicious 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 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.
Before I move any further I would like to talk a bit more about different cooking stages that ensure the success of this recipe.
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.
Recipe Top Tips
Browning 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.
Taking 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.
Do you have any tricks for richer and better tasting stew? Please share them in comments!
For more comfort food for cold weather recipes, check out:
- Beef in Truffled Cream Sauce
- Russian Sweet and Sour Beef Stew Solyanka
- Beef Goulash
- Pork Loin Steaks in Creamy Shallot and Mushroom Sauce
If you make any of these recipes, I would love to see your photos! Simply tag @vikalinka in your Instagram snaps!
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt and pepper
- 1.5 lbs stewing beef
- 1 onion medium
- 3-4 sprigs thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 tbsp flour
- 2 cup water or beef stock, divided
- 440ml/1 can Guinness or other stout
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 carrots medium
- 4 waxy potatoes such as red potatoes medium
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160C/300F
- 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 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
- 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 not fall apart in stews and soups.
Kathleen Robb says
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!
Julia Frey (Vikalinka) says
I hope you love it, Kathleen!
Kathy says
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!
Julia Frey (Vikalinka) says
Guinness is absolutely amazing in this stew! So glad you loved it, Kathy!
Elaine Radu says
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….
Julia Frey (Vikalinka) says
So pleased you loved it and thank you for a great tip, Elaine!!
Sarah Barnard says
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.
Julia Frey (Vikalinka) says
Great stuff, Sarah!! Thank you for your lovely review.
Alanna says
This is hands down the most delicious stew I have EVER cooked! My goodness, and my house smelled amazing while it was cooking away in the oven. Honestly, I don’t normally find stew super exciting but this one will stay on my special list of top recipes now!
Thank you so much!
Julia Frey (Vikalinka) says
I am so happy to hear that, Alanna!!
Sharon says
Do I still put the stew in the oven for the first hour if I’m making it in the crockpot?
vikalinka says
Hi Sharon, you don’t need to put it in the oven if using a slow cooker.
Teresa says
DO you need to add beer because I’m giving some to my kids too
vikalinka says
Guinness gives this stew a very unique and delicious flavour. You can definitely substitute with beef stock but it won’t taste the same I am afraid
Shea says
I realized this is an older post and you may not still be monitoring for comments.
What would you recommend to do for someone who has a texture issue with onions for this recipe? They love the flavor but cannot eat them without getting sick. Would onion powder be acceptable? If so, how much and when would you add it?
Thank you,
Shea
vikalinka says
You can certainly try onion powder, Shea. I would use about 1 tsp in the same step when regular onions are added in the recipe.
Brooke says
Delicious! I made it with 2 cups of beef broth and no Guinness and it was still yummy. Perfect instruction – it cooked perfectly. Thank you!
vikalinka says
Good stuff! I am happy to hear the stew flavour holds up even without the Guinness! Thank you for sharing, Brooke.
Dianne says
I like barley in my stew…can it be added to a crockpot way of cooking or will it just lump up
vikalinka says
Yes, it can, Diane! In fact I have done it with one of my recipe for Italian Beef Ragu.
jeri says
Older cooks swear that stew needs either TURNIP OR RUTTABAGA to ensure good flavor. I’ve used boyh and can testify that it does indeed improve flavor.
vikalinka says
Hi Jeri, this recipe is easily customisable, so you can add any vegetables you love. I personally don’t care for turnip or rutabaga. There were indeed much more popular with older cooks than they are now as they are very hardy, so were easy to grow in any climate. 🙂
Deb says
Can you tell me how many onions you recommend in this recipe? TY!
vikalinka says
One medium onion, Deb! I hope you like it.
Colleen says
Can you taste the beer? I’m not a fan of even the smell of beer, but would make it as long as I couldn’t taste (or smell) it..haha!
vikalinka says
Hi Colleen, I just asked my son this question and he was genuinely surprised there was beer in that stew, so my guess is it doesn’t taste or smell of beer but it does enrich the flavour in such an incredible way. I would highly recommend trying it!
JAQUELINE says
Thanks for all your delicious recipes! Any suggestions to replace the beer since I’m gluten free.
vikalinka says
Hi Jaqueline, you can use red wine instead of beer, it will bring the depth of flavour that comes from Guinness although slightly different taste notes. My second choice is beef stock but I am not as fond of that one. 🙂
Jaqueline says
Thanks. I will look for a gluten free beer then. I made your French Chicken recipe and loved it. I’m excited to make more of your recipes . Thank you!
vikalinka says
That is so great! Yes, gluten free beer might be a good option but red wine will also work quite well in this stew if you can’t find dark gluten free beer.