I love to put the luck of the Irish in a St. Patrick’s Day Dinner with a touch of Guinness. It makes this irresistable Irish Beef Stew Recipe! If you are looking to tantalize your taste buds with savory sensation then look no further than the Very BEST Traditional Irish Beef Stew Recipe – Guinness thats out there.
Irish Beef Stew
This stew is the ultimate comfort food bursting with tender chunks of succulent beef, hearty potatoes and creamy root vegetables. I love how just a touch of guinness beer imparts a deep rich flavor to the beef broth. My family enjoys when I Whip up a bit if Irish Soda Bread, the crusty bread favorite (then we have a guinness stew meal complete).
With these easy to follow directions and minimal prep time, our Irish Beef Stew Recipe is perfect for both seasoned chefs and novice cooks alike.
It’s a meal that sure to impress and to satisfy. There’s no reason to wait! Whip up a batch today and treat yorself to a taste of Irelands Finest Cuisine!
Please try some of our other popular stews like Classic Beef Stew, McCormicks Beef Stew or Pressure Cooker Beef Stew!
Here’s What You’ll Need For This Hearty Stew
- Beef Stew (makes a tender beef stew)
- Waxy Potatoes (Red Baby Potatoes or yellow Yukon Gold Potatoes)
- Carrots
- Beef Concentrate (instead of beef stock)
- Guinness Beef (no worries, I have some substitutions)
- Tomato Paste
- Garlic, onion, salt and black pepper, Accent
SECRET INGREDIENT: Fish Sauce – gives unbelievable umami to this already rich st. patrick’s day Dish
Here’s How You Make this Guinness Beef Stew
- On the Stove top Sear the meat on medium-high heat in vegetable or olive oil and set it aside.
- Add the onions and some flour.
- Add the liquids and deglaze the bottom of the pan. (some meat and brown stuff will stick to the bottom of the pot)
- Add the tomato paste and the herbs and spices. Mix well.
- Cook away in a large dutch oven!
OPTIONAL: You can cook this in a crock pot (slow cooker) or a pressure cooker too. Cook on low in the crockpot for 6-8 hours (could take longer). Cook in the pressure cooker (instant pot) at high pressure for 25 minutes. Allow natural release.
Tips and Tricks for This Classic Beef Stew
- The secret to this stew is to get the most umami (deep flavour) out of the ingredients. You do that by searing the meat first causing little browned bits of delicious beef to remain stuck to the bottom of the pan. When you deglaze with the Guinness and broth, those bits add so much incredible flavor to the dish!
- This is the perfect stew for a cold night with those starchy potatoes, beef stew meat and creamy soft carrots. This makes a real authentic Irish Stew!
- To thicken this stew, if it isn’t as thick as you prefer you can do one of the following: Allow it to simmer longer on the stove top and this will cook off some of the liquid. Make a cornstarch slurry with a heaping table spoon of cornstarch and several tsp of cold water. mix well with a fork to a milk like consistency and add to the stew. Stir until thickened. You can repeat this until it is as thick as you prefer.
- To thin the stew if it is thicker than you like, add beef broth or a little water, stir and repeat if neccessary.
- The stew is done when the meat is tender, the red potatoes are tender.
- For an extra comforting meal, serve this traditional irish stew recipes over creamy mashed potatoes and with an Irish Brown Bread.
- In this recipe, we add a ton of flavor by using the beef concentrate (I prefer ‘Better than Bullion” brand. If you can’t find that, use beef broth in equal amounts to the water.
Substitutions
- If you can’t find Guinness Beer, use an equal amount of black coffee.
- This recipe works best with a waxy types of potatoes, but it is fine to use Russet Potatoes instead, just peel and cut into bite sized pieces.
- This dish has a very long cooking time because the meat is a tougher cut of meat and requires that long to break it down into a tender meat.
- Slow cooking rather than using a dutch oven doesn’t add the depth of flavor in my opinion.
- To stretch this stew farther, add more carrots and potatoes.
- Check the Stew Beef Pieces before adding them to the pan, sometimes they are cut quite large and you’ll need to cut them down to a bite size piece.
PRO TIP: Two Bay leaves added to the stew gives extra flavor as well, but don’t forget to take them out when the stew is done!
EXTRA INFO: This article gives a fun history of Irish Stew!
Storage, Freezing and Reheating
For best results, store the prepared stew in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Freeze in freezer safe containers (remove as much air as possible) for up to 3 months.
Reheat on the stove top in a medium or large pot and heat over medium heat.
Watch Me Make It
Thank you so much for reading here about this traditional irish recipes. I hope you learned about making a thicker stew and the delicious stew that you can make with these simple ingredients!
I love to show you how to get the most about of your food, teach you new techniques and show you how to get a BANG of flavor!
Join me and Sarah on Social media next time and if you want to cruise around there today, you can see more about this traditional stew!
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BEST Traditional Irish Beef Stew Recipe – Guinness
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 pounds beef stew meat
- 1 whole onion coarsely chopped
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup Irish stout beer – ok to substitute black coffee
- 4 cups water
- 4 Tablespoons of beef concentrate
- 1/4 cup tomato paste half a 4 oz container
- 2 pounds small yellow potatoes halved or red potatoes
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 2 cups carrots washed and chopped in large pieces
- 1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce
- 1 Tablespoon of Accent or Hidden Valley Ranch Seasoning
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- In a dutch oven on high on the stovetop, heat the vegetable oil to hot and then sear the stew beef in sections.
- Remove the stew beef from the pot and add the onions and sear them as well.
- Once the onions have cooked for about a minute, add the garlic and the flour and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the beer, water and beef concentrate and scrape the bottom of the pot to release the stuck on bits.
- Add the tomato paste, the potatoes and carrots and thyme. Add the fish sauce and the Accent. Start with 1 tsp of salt and pepper then you can taste after its done to adjust.
- Stir well and place the entire dutch oven with the lid on in the oven for 3 hours. After three hours, test the meat to see if it is as tender as you like, if it is not, put back in the oven for 20 minute intervals until the meat is tender.
Notes
- The secret to this stew is to get the most umami (deep flavour) out of the ingredients. You do that by searing the meat first causing little browned bits of delicious beef to remain stuck to the bottom of the pan. When you deglaze with the Guinness and broth, those bits add so much incredible flavor to the dish!
- This is the perfect stew for a cold night with those starchy potatoes, beef stew meat and creamy soft carrots. This makes a real authentic Irish Stew!
- To thicken this stew, if it isn’t as thick as you prefer you can do one of the following: Allow it to simmer longer on the stove top and this will cook off some of the liquid. Make a cornstarch slurry with a heaping table spoon of cornstarch and several tsp of cold water. mix well with a fork to a milk like consistency and add to the stew. Stir until thickened. You can repeat this until it is as thick as you prefer.
- To thin the stew if it is thicker than you like, add beef broth or a little water, stir and repeat if neccessary.
- The stew is done when the meat is tender, the red potatoes are tender.
- For an extra comforting meal, serve this traditional irish stew recipes over creamy mashed potatoes and with an Irish Brown Bread.
- In this recipe, we add a ton of flavor by using the beef concentrate (I prefer ‘Better than Bullion” brand. If you can’t find that, use beef broth in equal amounts to the water.
