There’s no greater comfort food than a hearty stew. And Irish Beef and Guinness Stew might be the king of them all! Guinness gives the sauce an incredible rich, deep flavour, and the beef is fall-apart tender. Stove, oven, slow cooker or pressure cooker – directions provided for all.
This is a reader-favourite recipe included by popular demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”!
Irish Beef and Guinness Stew
Irish Stew may well be the mother of all stews. I mean, you know that anything simmered for hours is going to be a good thing. But this…. this is the stew of your dreams. Arguably the most deeply flavourful sauce of all stews, with a rich dark brown flavour, this is the best of the best.
THIS is the stew I make for company when I want to impress!
With it’s deeply flavoured rich sauce, Guinness Beef Stew is THE stew you make when you want to impress!
What kind of beer goes in Guinness Stew?
The not-so-secret ingredient that goes into Guinness Stew that gives the sauce the deep flavour and colour is Guinness Beer.
Guinness Beer is so dark it is almost black and it’s why the gravy of the stew is such a beautiful deep brown colour. Guinness is also much richer than most beers, which you can see just by looking at the thick creamy head (the foam) that Guinness is famed for.
It’s pretty widely available these days – here in Australia, you’ll find it at most liquor stores.
Meat in Guinness Stew – beef OR lamb
Traditionally, Guinness Stew is made with lamb. But in many parts of the world including here in Australia and North America, Guinness Stew is more commonly made with beef.
I hope the Irish aren’t offended! 🙂 I’ve made it with lamb and to be honest, I do prefer it with beef.
Tip: Use big chunky hunks of beef. Don’t even think about using tiny cubes of beef. It needs to be chunky pieces so it can be cooked for a looooong time to get all that flavour into the sauce! If the pieces of beef are too small, they will cook too quickly and fall apart in the stew before it’s had enough time to develop the deep flavours.
Ingredients in Guinness Beef Stew
In addition to chuck beef and Guinness Beer, here are the other ingredients in Irish Stew.
Garlic and onion – essentials
Bacon – adds extra flavour! Can be skipped, or sub with pancetta or speck
Carrot and celery – potatoes could also be added
Flour and tomato paste – to thicken sauce and the tomato paste also adds some flavour;
Guinness Beer and broth/liquid stock – the braising liquids. I prefer using chicken rather than beef broth because it allows the flavour from the Guinness beer to come through better. Don’t worry, it doesn’t taste like beer at all, it transforms into a deep savoury sauce! Also, all the alcohol is cooked out.
Thyme and bay leaves – to add a hint of flavour the sauce.
How to make Irish Beef and Guinness Stew
Though this Irish Beef and Guinness Stew takes time to cook, it is very straightforward. The steps are no different to usual stews like classic Beef Stew:
Brown the beef – brown them well, this is key to flavour. It’s not just the browned beef itself, also the brown bits left on the bottom of the pot (fond) adds extra flavour to the sauce;
Sauté flavour base – onion, garlic, bacon (speck or pancetta), carrot and celery;
Cook off flour and tomato paste;
Add liquids – beer, broth and herbs;
Simmer covered for 2 hours until the beef is pretty tender, then simmer for a further 30 minutes uncovered to let the sauce reduce a bit and for the beef to become “fall apart tender”.
Yes it takes hours but your patience is rewarded with beef so tender you can eat it with a spoon!
The one thing I do differently to most Guinness Beef Stew recipes, including very traditional Irish recipes, is to thicken the sauce slightly with flour. If you don’t do this step, the sauce is quite thin and watery, and while the flavour is still lovely, I really prefer the sauce to be more like a thin gravy.
What to serve with Irish Stew
Serve Beef and Guinness Stew over mashed potato or cauliflower mash for a low carb option. And what about some warm crusty Irish Soda Bread to mop your bowl clean??
I am so glad I have a tub of this in the freezer. I cooked most of the day but gave it all away. The minute I hit Publish on this post, I’m going to get cracking reheating some of this Irish Stew for dinner tonight! – Nagi x
Watch How To Make It
This recipe features in my debut cookbook Dinner. The book is mostly new recipes, but this is a reader favourite included by popular demand!
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Beef and Guinness Stew
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2.5 lb / 1.25 kg beef chuck , boneless short rib or any other slow cooking beef (no bone)
- 3/4 tsp each salt and black pepper
- 3 garlic cloves , minced
- 2 onions , chopped (brown, white or yellow)
- 6 oz / 180g bacon , speck or pancetta, diced
- 3 tbsp flour (all purpose/plain, Note 3 for GF)
- 440ml / 14.9 oz Guinness Beer (Note 1)
- 4 tbsp tomato paste
- 3 cups (750 ml) chicken stock/broth (or beef broth – Note 4)
- 3 carrots , peeled and cut into 1.25 cm / 1/2″ thick pieces
- 2 large celery stalks , cut into 2cm / 1″ pieces
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 sprigs thyme (or sub with 1 tsp dried thyme leaves)
Instructions
- Cut the beef into 5cm/2″ chunks. Pat dry then sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Heat oil in a heavy based pot over high heat. Add beef in batches and brown well all over. Remove onto plate. Repeat with remaining beef.
- Lower heat to medium. If the pot is looking dry, add oil.
- Cook garlic and onion for 3 minutes until softening, then add bacon.
- Cook until bacon is browned, then stir through carrot and celery.
- Add flour, and stir for 1 minute to cook off the flour.
- Add Guinness, chicken broth/stock and tomato paste. Mix well (to ensure flour dissolves well), add bay leaves and thyme.
- Return beef into the pot (including any juices). Liquid level should just cover – see video or photos.
- Cover, lower heat so it is bubbling gently. Cook for 2 hours – the beef should be pretty tender by now. Remove lid then simmer for a further 30 – 45 minutes or until the beef falls apart at a touch, the sauce has reduced and thickened slightly.
- Skim off fat on surface, if desired. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Remove bay leaves and thyme.
- Serve with creamy mashed potatoes!!
Recipe Notes:
– SLOW COOKER: Reduce chicken broth by 1 cup. After you add the Guinness and broth/stock into the pot, bring to simmer and ensure you scrape the bottom of the pot well. Transfer everything into slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients per recipe. Cook on low for 8 hours. If sauce needs more thickening, simmer with slow cooker lid off (if you have that function), to ladle some of the sauce into a separate saucepan and reduce on stove.
– PRESSURE COOKER: Follow slow cooker instructions, cook on HIGH for 40 minutes (this might seem longer than most but we’re using chuck here which needs to be cooked for a long time until tender and also the pieces are large). 3. FLOUR: I prefer my stew sauce a bit thick, not watery, so I always add flour to slightly thicken the sauce. Some recipes say to dust beef with flour before browning – I prefer not to use this method because the flour burns then this permeates throughout the whole stew. 4. Beef vs Chicken Broth – I use chicken broth because the flavour is slightly more mild which lets the guinness flavour come through more. But beef broth works just as well and you can definitely still taste the Guinness!! 5. Nutrition per serving, excluding mashed potato. This nutrition is overstated because it does not take into account the fat that is skimmed off the surface.
Nutrition Information:
Originally published July 2016, updated with new video and step photos. No change to recipe.
More slow cooked fall-apart beef recipes
Slow Cooked Chicken Stew and Faster Chicken Stew – when you need a rich stew on the table in under an hour!
Browse Winter Warmer recipes and see more Stews!
Life of Dozer
Sulking because he didn’t score any Irish Stew.
Let’s not feel badly for him though. He lives a very cushy life!
Marian says
Delicious but even better the next day and perfect meal for pandemic dining outside by the fire.
Nagi says
Sounds divine Marian!! N x
Anne says
Love this recipe. Only had too much liquid after making it in the slow cooker. I did reduce the liquid but need to reduce even more. Was so tasty. Also made the soda bread which was a total winner!
Nagi says
Hi Anne, did you follow the slow cooker instructions to reduce the stock by one cup and then reduce on the stove after cooking? I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe though! N X
Jennifer Spinelli says
I am typically not a fan of stew but decided to make this for St. Patrick’s Day. The only thing I found a bit difficult was browning the meat. At a high heat it was making my cast-iron pan burn, so I had to lower the heat. You definitely have to do it in several batches and learn to leave the meat alone so it could brown before flipping to each side. I used 5oz of pancetta (bc that was the size of package). Don’t think the missing ounce affected the flavor of dish. I found it difficult to get pancetta crispy because the moisture from the onions prevented it. I would probably cook the pancetta before the onions next time. That being said, it really didn’t affect the delicious flavor of the stew in the end. The only other things I added were a sprig of rosemary, a TBL of Worcestershire sauce, a pack of sliced porcini mushrooms and a pack of sliced shiitake mushrooms. Cooked in oven on 300 degrees for 2.5 hours and moved to stovetop on simmer to reduce for about 45/50 minutes. Gravy was nice consistency and did not need further flour. Served over premade mashed potatoes from the refrigerator section of supermarket and fresh baguette. It was my first time making a stew and it was delicious. The carrots had a nice consistency, but the celery was a bit too soft. Not sure how to remedy the celery thing, but it really didn’t bother me.
tanja says
First recipe I made from this site and it was absolutely delicious! Thanks Nagi!
Katie says
I love this recipe! I have made it over and over again! It’s a huge hit on our house!
Brigette says
Hello, I couldnt get Guinness, they sold me stout instead..will this work ok?
Nagi says
Yep it sure will! Excellent alternative 🙂
Jackie Theisen says
Fantastic recipe!
I made this for a work potluck lunch and opt for the slow cooker version. I wanted it fresh for the lunch, so I timed it out to be done with the cooking process around 11am (serving at noon.)
I did steps 1-6 and refrigerated the browned beef and vegetable/bacon/flour mix (in 2 separate containers) for 4 hours. Unfortunately with my timing, I did have to wake at 3am to begin the cooking process… but simply had to dump those 2 cooled containers together and mixed with the Guinness/broth/tomato paste liquids straight in the slow cooker. After topping with the thyme/bay leaves, i set it on low for 8 hours.
I did use flour to thicken the stew after the 8 hours. I took 1 cup of the liquid out of the slow cooker and mixed with 1 tbsp of flour in a bowl. I stirred that back into the stew to give it a great consistency!
I kept my slow cooker on warm and about 10 minutes before serving, I threw in 1 cup of frozen peas per someone’s comment. I served over mashed potatoes that I premade and warmed in another slow cooker. Turned out to be a great lunch!
Anne P says
I just can’t make or get enough of this stew. Just awesome! This time I made for the first time your soda bread. A match made in heaven! Thanks again Nagi!
Richard says
Heather I would allow an extra 30 minutes per kilo above the normal recipie.
I also used a heavy enamel cast iron camp oven with a cartouche on the stove top to bring to the boil then simmered on low heat for 40 minutes then into the oven gas 150degrees for 2 hours then removed lid and cartouche and put back in the oven for a further 50 minutes it was absolutely delicious.
I have also made on an open fire with hot coals this take longer but is amazing with a slightly Smokey taste
Morgan says
Could I substitute the beef broth for beef stock?
Jennifer says
I used bone beef broth and it was great.
Nagi says
Hi Morgan, yes it’s the same thing 🙂 N x
Elle says
I add red wine to mine 1 part Guinness 1 part red wine yum!
Janice Vranicar says
This was sooo delicious! My Irish Brother in law loved it and it made the house smell so great!
Alexandra says
I have a silly question about alternative cooking methods. So if using a crock pot, just do steps 1-8 and then finish in the crockpot? Will it turn out better/thicker stovetop? Thanks! looks delicious!
Becky says
I modified this recipe for the slow cooker and it was delicious. 8 hours on low. I used the Guinness Draught beer. I think it might be worth specifying draught vs extra stout because I think there is a difference
Lesley W says
Thank you for this comment. I used extra stout which was a bit too strong and bitter: I should have used draught.
I looked up difference using Google: Both beers are dark and rich, but the extra stout has a stronger flavour and is more bitter than Draught. In cooking, the Extra Stout is akin to using a concentrated broth, and the Draught adds a milder flavour.
Hindsight!!!
Thank you for this recipe Naga, great work!
Richard Wright says
Phenomenaly great recipe I have made this on several ocassions including once whist staying in Ennis in Ireland for 45 people.
I served it with Colcanon and soda bread and was offered a job in a pub.
Your recipie is an absolute gem and i would recomend this recipie to a novice cook
Congratulations on such a wonderful recipie and web site.
Recipie t
Tin Eats is my first port of call if I am cooking for a large or small.groupe of people
Heather says
Did you need to adjust the cooking time for the larger portion? Looking to make this for a large group for St. Paddy’s Day
Grandma Balmer says
I’ve made this multiple times, but today I made it for the coming home dinner for my daughter and son in law after the birth of their son Finnegan! We will be toasting with extra Guinness of course!
Susan says
I made this for the first time today, and OMG, it was incredibly good! This is definitely a do again any time the weather turns cold. I did add peas, just to sneak an extra veggie into the fam, I don’t think it changed the flavor. Can’t recommend this enough!
Kathy says
I’m glad I read this comment – I added a cup of frozen peas right before serving, which makes it look lovely. Also added extra carrots, cut into big 1.5 inch pieces – maybe not traditional, but that’s how I like them 🙂. Yummo!!
Twan says
Absolutely loved it. It’s my go to dish whenever I’m in a pub. During lockdown I gave it a try myself, and since I literally live next to the actual brewery in Dublin, I just had to make it with a Guinness! Your recipe was amazing.
Joie says
This was absolutely delicious !!
Nagi says
Wahoo, that’s great to hear Joie! N x
Laura says
I made this last night and it was amazing!! The only change I made was cut the carrots and celery a little smaller. More of a chop. I used beef broth instead of chicken and it was so so so full of flavor. I couldn’t recommend this enough!!
Denise Travis says
Delicious!! I’ve made this recipe twice now and it was perfect! It has become a winter favorite in our home!
Thank you for your recipes! We have a family of six and finding inexpensive tastey meals for all of us is tricky!