My Guinness Irish Stew can be made on the stove or in the slow cooker. So I will make this the 10th recipe in my yearlong series “52 weeks of slow cooker meals”
In honor of St Patrick’s Day and the fact that winter seems to finally be leaving, I made my version of Guinness Irish Stew. This is a traditional stew except for the addition of sweet potatoes. It is a subtle change, adds a little sweetness to the dish and a few more vitamins. If you want to serve this on St Patrick’s Day you could use the crock pot version at the end of this blog.
Here is a bit of history: Irish stew: (Irish: stobhach / Stobhach Gaelach)is any variety of meat-and-root vegetables stew native to Ireland. As in all traditional folk dishes, the exact recipe is not consistent from time or place to place. Common ingredients include lamb, or mutton (mutton is used as it comes from less tender sheep over a year old, is fattier, and has a stronger flavor, and was generally more common in less-affluent times) as well as potatoes, onions, and parsley. It may sometimes also include carrots. Irish stew is also made with kid goat. —Wikipedia.com
The original staple for Irish stew was potatoes which was easy to obtain. If the household was lucky enough to have a little meat, then adding to a stew was the best way to stretch the meat out to feed the family. Beef was available, but only affordable to British landowners. Your typical Irish cook would use lamb meat or mutton rather than sacrifice their only dairy cow. The addition of the neck bones or shanks also provided more flavoring to the stew. Each region of Ireland will also have their different version of stew. Southern Ireland will add barley which is an affordable and nutritious filler. Other regions may cap their stew with a crust of mashed potatoes making more of a shepherd’s pie.Irish-American immigrants started replacing lamb with beef in their stews since that was easier to find in the markets. The strong flavor of the stout beer pairs well with beef or mutton. When Guinness stout beer cooks down, in particular, it adds a nice roasted caramel and chocolatey flavor to the stew.
History of Guinness:
It all starts with just one man, but it’s not down to a single ‘eureka’ moment. The history of GUINNESS® beer, draught, or stout is a stirring tale of inspiration, dedication, ingenuity and effort. It’s over two centuries of sublime brewing craft, a remarkable knack for spreading the word and more than a few leaps of faith. It’s the story of how a unique Irish stout became, with a little magic, one of the World’s best-loved beers.
Ireland is famous for it’s black stout Guinness beer which has been brewed in Dublin since 1759. Poor Irish workers and farmers lived for their pint of stout beer and considered it part of their diet. A pint of stout was known as “liquid food”. Guinness or other stout beers have been used as part of modern Irish cooking to help tenderize meat in stews and casseroles. You’ll even find Guinness used in chocolate cake recipes!
—www.Guinness.com
Enjoy and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!
If you like what you see, please sign up to receive all my new recipes via email. I will never sell your information and I will not spam your inbox. I usually send out a newsletter once a week.
Follow me on Blog – Facebook – Pinterest – Twitter – Google + – Instagram
- 2-3 pounds boneless beef meat (bottom round rump roast, chuck roast), trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1-inch cubes. I used chuck roast. You can buy the packages of stew meat from the butcher if you do not want to cut yourself.
- Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, divided
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 (12 oz) bottle Guinness stout beer, divided
- 2 cloves to 3 garlic, minced
- 1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
- 1 tbsp. sugar
- 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tbsp. dried thyme
- 1 tsp. white pepper
- 3 dried bay leaves
- 1 (32 oz) container of beef broth
- 4 to 5 large russett potatoes sliced into 1-inch cubes, or Yukon Gold
- 2 sweet potatoes peeled and sliced into 1-inch cubes
- 2 cups carrotspeeled, sliced diagonally into 1 inch chunks
- 3 celery stalks, diced
- 1/4 cup cold water
- 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh or 1 tablespoon dried parsley
- In a large soup pot or Dutch oven, over medium high heat, add 2 tablespoons olive oil and heat.
- While the olive oil is heating, pat the beef cubes dry with paper towels, (moist meat does not brown).
- Season the dried beef cubes with salt and pepper.
- Place the beef and 1/4 cup flour inside a medium bowl, or gallon size ziplock bag, stir together until the meat is coated with flour.
- Working in small batches, so the beef is not overcrowded in the pan, add the prepared beef cubes to the soup pot or Dutch oven and brown on all sides. Set aside.
- Add the remaining olive oil to the Dutch oven over medium heat.
- Add onions, celery, and saute for 5 minutes or until translucent.
- Pour in 1/2 bottle of Guinness beer and combine with onions; bring to a boil and, use a spatula to deglaze the bottom of the pot, scrape up and loosen any browned bits from the bottom for added flavor.
- Add the tomato paste, garlic, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, white pepper, and bay leaves; stir together to combine and bring just to a boil.
- Reduce heat to medium and let simmer approximately 5 minutes.
- Turn heat back up to medium-high.
- Add the remaining beef, remaining bottle of Guinness beer, beef stock, and beef broth or stock until meat is covered, stir until combined.
- Bring just to a boil again and then reduce heat to medium-low, and cover with lid.
- Let simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally and skimming off the fat from the top.
- Turn heat back up to medium-high, stir in the potatoes, sweet potatoes and carrots.
- Bring just to a boil, reduce heat back down to medium-low and let simmer approximately 1-2 hours or until beef and vegetables are tender.
- Skim off any remaining fat from the top and then add salt and pepper to taste.
- If stew needs to be thickened, in a small bowl, stir together the remaining 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 cold water until the mixture is a smooth paste.
- Slowly stir in a little of the flour paste into the stew, a little at a time, until the stew reaches your desired thickness.
- Remove and discard the bay leaves.
!Crock Pot Preparation:
Follow above directions except place ingredients and cook on low heat approximately 8 hours or high heat for 4 to 5 hours until the meat and vegetables are tender. Skim off any fat from the top and then add salt and pepper to taste. Remove and discard the bay leaves.
First published by Quinn Caudill for Dadwhats4dinner.com © March 2015.
Updated March 2016.
I also will be bringing Guinness Irish Stew to Freedom Fridays, Friday Favorites, Fiesta Friday, Weekend Potluck, What’s Cooking Wednesdays. Checkout my Link Parties Page for other great places to find new recipes.
Click here to pin for later:
Annette Burton says
Oooh, I am definitely going to try this one! thank you!
Annette Burton says
Quin, I made this today :), but I made a mistake, and salted and white peppered the beef cubes before flour coating.
I know your recipe was clear about that, but I goofed. It is on its last 10 minutes of simmering! cant wait to taste. I won’t tell you about my unfortunate substitution … but it smells good anyway, but would have been better if it had been Guinness Stout.. instead of Kentucky bourbon stout…
thanks for this recipe.
Quinn Caudill says
Hi Annette, The salt and pepper should not change the taste. Using Kentucky Bourbon
Barrel Ale should add a nice complex flavor to the stew. Thanks for making it and the comments. Please let me know if my recipes doesn’t read correctly. Enjoy
Annette Burton says
Hey, It is still yummy! and I figure I am supposed to garnish with the parsley, right? Prep time for me was over an hour, but I am slower at chopping and if I had used meat already cut into cubes, it would have gone faster. Made a huge pot! gonna freeze what we don’t eat!
thanks again!
Quinn Caudill says
HI Annette, Yes the parsley is for garnish. Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the comments. The stew will freeze great.
FrugalHausfrau says
Hi Quinn! I saw you stopped by my blog, so I just had to return the favor! Your stew looks amazing. I have some of mine still in the fridge, but you made my mouth water! Interesting addition, the white pepper! I bet it adds a bit of zip! 🙂 Well, I’m off to explore more of your fun blog!
Helen Fern says
Oh this sounds as good as it looks!! Thanks for sharing on the “What’s for Dinner” linky!
trishlee75 says
I can taste it already, Quinn! Love this!
Best,
Trish
Quinn Caudill says
Thanks Trish.
dishofdailylife says
Sounds great! I love stews for those cold damp days…and the rainy season is coming! It was fun to hear the history, and I appreciate the crock pot version too!
alwayzbakin3 says
Quinn, this is perfect for St. Paddy’s day! I’m SO happy I can make it in the crockpot because I will be at work all day on 3/17. 😀
MyHusbandHasTooManyHobbies says
Quinn, This recipe looks hearty, tasty and a perfect stew to celebrate St. Pat’s day with! Thanks for sharing your recipe with us at #Snickerdoodle Sunday! Pinned and tweeted to share.
~Laurie
Mary says
Love your recipe, it’s perfect for St. Patrick’s Day! Thank you so much for sharing at Weekend Potluck! Hope to see you at the party tomorrow!