Guinness Beef Stew

This Irish Beef Stew is full of flavor and perfect served alongside mashed potatoes or in a bread bowl. Cooked with Guinness and tomato paste the rich flavor is absolutely delicious.

Something about stew on top of mashed potatoes that is just pure comfort food. I used to work at a Britsh Pub and we served Irish Stew every March in honor of St. Patrick's Day or St. Paddy's! I miss all the food and the people but not the job!

So this year I decided to make my own. This stew recipe is easy to make, hardly any actual work, just takes a couple of hours for the stew to cook.

I prefer my stew atop a bed of mashed potatoes but you could surely have it on its own or in a bread bowl. That's how I used to serve it at the pub.

Luckily I always have Guinness beer on hand at home. Baking with Guinness is one of my favorite things. Make sure to check out my Guinness Chocolate Cookies or Guinness Cheesecake.

What ingredients do you need?

To make this Irish stew you'll need:

• Oil. You can use your favorite oil, I tend to use Olive or Avocado oil to cook everything.
• Onion. I love Onion so I use a full medium-large brown onion diced but feel free to reduce if you're not such an onion lover.
• Stew meat. I prefer to just got to the butcher and buy their "stew meat" which is scraps of all kinds of meat. You could also use beef chuck, chuck roast, or boneless short rib.
• Salt & Pepper. Don't forget these two babies, they make all the difference!
• Garlic. I just used pre-minced garlic or use garlic cloves finely chopped.
• Beef Stock or Broth. I use low-sodium but use regular if you want!
• Guinness Stout. This wouldn't be an Irish stew without the Guinness. I use one standard bottle. The cans have more liquid in but you could just enjoy a few sips before you use it! 🙂
• Bay Leaves. I love using bay leaves in stews. Make sure to remove them at the end!
• Tomato Paste. The tomato paste and Guinness mixture combines a delicious flavor that you will adore.
• Worcestershire Sauce. Just a bit adds so much flavor to the sauce.
• Carrots and Celery. Throwing in some veggies when you barely notice them is a win-win for me!.
• Slurry. A slurry is made of cornstarch + cold water. This helps thicken the stew. You may need a little more, so just adjust if needed. Make sure to never add just cornstarch or it will clump up!!

I use a Le Creuset Oval Dutch Oven but this Lodge Enameled Cast Iron Oval Dutch Oven is a great deal.

How do you make Guinness Stew?

First things first stary by chopping your veggies. I like my onions diced. They aren't perfect but I don't mind a thicker piece of onion. If you do make sure to dice them evenly.

Peel your carrots and then chop the celery and carrots. I chopped the celery into ¼"-⅓" pieces and the carrots into ½" pieces.

Let your beef sit at room temperature for 30 minutes or so before cooking. At this point season beef with salt and pepper.

In a large pot, I use my dutch oven, warmed over medium heat add the olive oil and add the onions. Cook the onions for 3-4 minutes to soften and brown them. Add the garlic, mix to combine, then push onions to one side of the pot and add the beef with salt and pepper.

Brown the beef on all sides, this will take a few minutes. (If your pot is smaller then brown the meat in batches)

Once the beef is browned add the beef stock, Guinness, bay leaves, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, carrots, and celery.

Mix to combine, make sure to scratch the bottom of the pot for all those flavors. Then reduce heat and simmer over low-medium heat for about 2 hours (Don't let it boil or cook for more than 3 hours to prevent drying out the meat). Stirring occasionally. The cook time is variable which is nice, while you're busy doing other things.

In a small bowl mix together the cornstarch and cold water to make a slurry.

Add slurry to the stew and mix to combine, continue cooking over low heat until the stew has thickened and cornstarch has cooked out, this will take a few minutes.

I would recommend adding less slurry then adding more if you want it thicker. It is always easier to add more than add too much. If you add a lot the texture can become almost jelly-like.

Take off of the heat and serve with mashed potatoes, in a bread bowl, or just on its own! 

If that doesn't look like heaven on a plate I don't know what is! You might want to keep with the Irish theme and serve some Irish Soda Bread.

★★★★★ Please let me know if you make this recipe by leaving a star rating and comment below!

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