Guinness Beef Stew – pure winter comfort food! This is easy to make and cooks in the oven for hands-off dinner prep. A great meal for St. Patrick’s Day or any time you’re craving a rich and hearty stew on a cold night.
Beef Stew with Guinness
I firmly believe everyone should know how to make a really good beef stew. There’s just something about a comforting pot of meat and vegetables in a rich gravy that screams coziness to me, so… Yeah. Scratch integral maths, teach kids how to cook beef stew 😉
I’m really not that great at making cute food for every holiday, but what I can do is make normal food that’s holiday-appropriate and delicious. Case in point: This super-savory Guinness Beef Stew, a great Irish inspired meal for St. Patrick’s Day without making a huge fuss. Which is the best kind of holiday food anyways, if you ask me!
Ingredients you’ll need
Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for quantities!
Ingredient notes
- Stew meat: This stew cooks for a long time in the oven, so you really can go for cheaper stew meat. Lamb is also great in this stew, if you want to switch things up. In an ideal world, I would always buy a piece of beef chuck and cube it myself (you know… one cow in my stew vs 25). But this happens rarely with three young kids, so in this season of life I do grab the packets of readily cubed stew meat and call it a day. Taste-wise, I honestly do not notice a huge difference.
- Potatoes: I’m using half waxy, half starchy/floury potatoes here. The reason for this being that the starchy potatoes will naturally thicken the stew, the waxy ones will keep their shape very well. This also creates a more interesting texture. Feel free to only use one or the other kind if you don’t keep both on hand.
- Sun-dried tomatoes: This is my secret ingredient I add that is definitely not common in traditional beef stews. It doesn’t make the stew tomato-y, and since you need to chop the tomatoes almost into a paste, they are barely notable. What they do though is add some great umami to the stew. I may have watched too much Melissa Clark on NYT Food lately and this woman loves anchovies to add more savory tastes to everything. I know there are stews using anchovies for umami/saltiness (and you are absolutely free to add anchovies to this stew if you’ like to!), but I wanted a more broadly “accepted” ingredient to achieve a similar result. Enter the sun-dried tomatoes! They yield excellent results and don’t have the ick-factor many associate with anchovies.
- Guinness beer: You are of course free to use any stout or dark beer for this recipe. If you absolutely despise beer, you could even use the same amount of red wine – it would definitely not make it a Guinness stew anymore, but it is incredibly good with wine.
- Herbs: If you don’t keep bay or thyme on hand, please do not let this keep you from making this stew. Do the herbs add some extra depth to the stew? For sure. But you can skip the bay leaf and either use dried thyme in place of the fresh, or even substitute Italian seasoning… If there’s something I believe in, it’s in staying creative and using what you already have in the kitchen. And if this means you’ll add Italian seasoning to an Irish-inspired stew, then so be it in my books. Authentic? Barely. Still delicious? Yep. Practical? You bet.
How to make Guinness Beef Stew
1. Brown the beef. I recommend you do this in 2-3 batches (no need to cook it through just yet!) and it will be nicely browned. Then simply remove it from the pot and set it aside.
2. Next, sauté the oniony, garlic and celery in the leftover fat in the pot. Do this thoroughly, because raw onion retains its biting raw taste even when cooked in the stew later – so you really want to get it nicely cooked and softened at this point.
3. Next, stir the tomato paste and flour into the vegetables. You want to cook this for a minute to give the tomato paste some flavor and to toast the flour a little.
4. Then, you’ll want to add the Guinness to the pot. This will foam up at first, but it calms down quickly. Also add the sun-dried tomatoes at this point.
5. Scrape any browned bits off the bottom of the pot, then simmer until the beer has reduced by half.
6. Add the beef broth to the stew, then
7. Add the remaining ingredients (plus the browned beef). Stir well, close with a lid and then let your oven do the rest of the cooking!
Once the cooking time is up, CAREFULLY remove the stew from the oven using oven gloves. The pot will be extremely hot, so please do be careful. Stir and check for seasoning. Allow some time to let it rest. Then devour. With two spoons.
Recipe tips
Resting time
Stew always benefits from some resting time after it’s been cooked. I generally like to let my stew cool completely, then heat it back up before serving. This can be on the same day or the next, it will just taste better.
This gives the meat a chance to relax and plumping up with a bit of gravy, so it will be a lot more tender vs eating it straight away. But – it’s not necessary for a delicious meal, and if you don’t have the time for this, then don’t worry about it.
How to make a thicker stew
This doesn’t make for a crazy thick stew – the gravy does thicken some with the flour, but it’s a medium-thick gravy. I can’t stand gloopy, stodgy stews (or soups, for that matter), so I err on the side of caution. FWIW, I do believe the consistency and thickness of the gravy here is just perfect 😉
But if you like a thicker stew, I recommend you do one of the following:
- Flouring: Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of flour over the meat while you’re browning it.
- Beurre manié: Knead 2 tablespoons of flour into 2 tablespoons of butter. Once the stew has finished cooking in the oven, put it on the stove and add this flour/butter mix. Gently simmer until the stew has thickened.
- Cornstarch: Make a slurry from 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and a bit of cold water. Put the finished stew on the stove and bring it to a simmer. Quickly stir in the slurry and simmer until thickened.
Whatever you prefer, I know you’re going to love this. Now tell me this isn’t better than integral calculations 😉
Freezer instructions
Stew is a great meal to freeze. Though please be warned: Potatoes can change their texture when frozen. If you want to avoid this, remove the potatoes and use them for immediate eating, freeze the rest of the stew without the potatoes. I have never minded the change in texture, but it’s your call!
Place the cooled stew in a freezer friendly bag or container. Label with the name and use-by date (freeze for up to 3 months). Then place in the freezer.
Defrost in the fridge overnight, then fully reheat in a large pot on the stove. You will probably need to add extra beef broth to thin it out a little.
If you froze the stew without potatoes, either cook the potatoes on the side and add them to the fully reheated stew, or add a little more broth to the stew and cook the potatoes while reheating (this will take a little longer though).
Slow cooker instructions
To make this in an electric slow cooker, follow the recipe until step 4. Transfer the beer reduction, meat, vegetables and broth to a 6 quart slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours.
Serving ideas
Stew is a great meal by itself, but it’s also delicious with extra carbs, ahem.
I love serving this over some Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes, and/or with a hunk of Traditional Irish Soda Bread on the side.
Watch the recipe video
PS If you try this recipe, please leave a review in the comment section and add a star rating in the recipe card – I appreciate your feedback! Follow along on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram.
Guinness Beef Stew
Recipe details
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 pounds beef stew meat cubed
- 2 small-medium onions diced (about 1½ – 2 cups)
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 4 large celery stalks sliced into 1 inch pieces
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 (12-oz) bottles Guinness beer
- 4 sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil drained and very finely minced
- ½ pound small-medium floury potatoes peeled and roughly cubed
- ½ pound small-medium waxy potatoes peeled and roughly cubed
- 4 medium carrots peeled and sliced into ½ inch pieces
- 2 cups beef broth
- 1 bay leaf optional
- 1 sprig thyme see notes for substitutes
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Brown the beef: Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the beef in batches to brown (it doesn't need to cook through yet), seasoning with a few pinches of salt and some pepper as it cooks. Remove from the pot and set aside on a plate.
- Sauté onion, garlic and celery: Reduce heat to medium. Add onion, garlic and celery to the Dutch oven and sauté until tender and lightly colored, about 5 minutes.
- Preheat the oven: At this point, preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Reduce the beer: Stir the tomato paste and flour into the onion mix in the Dutch oven. Cook, stirring, for about 1 minute. Pour in the Guinness – careful, it will foam up. Add the minced sun-dried tomatoes and stir well, scraping any browned bits off the bottom of the pot. Simmer over medium-high heat until the liquid has reduced by half, about 5-10 minutes.
- Add remaining ingredients and cook: Add the potatoes, carrots and beef broth to the Dutch oven. Return the meat to the stew and stir well. Add the bay leaf and thyme, if using. Securely fit the lid on top and put in the preheated oven to cook for 1 ½ – 2 hours. Check for seasoning and add salt/pepper as you like.
- Rest: Give the stew some time to rest before serving. I prefer to let it cool almost completely, then reheating it to serve. But even a 10 minute rest will make the beef a lot more tender vs eating straight out of the oven.
Notes
Slow cooker instructions
To make this in an electric slow cooker, follow the recipe until step 4. Transfer the beer reduction, meat, vegetables and stock to a 6 quart slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours.Ingredient notes
- Stew meat: This stew cooks for a long time in the oven, so you really can go for cheaper stew meat. Lamb is also great in this stew, if you want to switch things up. In an ideal world, I would always buy a piece of beef chuck and cube it myself (you know… one cow in my stew vs 25). But this happens rarely with three young kids, so in this season of life I do grab the packets of readily cubed stew meat and call it a day. Taste-wise, I honestly do not notice a huge difference.
- Potatoes: I’m using half waxy, half starchy/floury potatoes here. The reason for this being that the starchy potatoes will naturally thicken the stew, the waxy ones will keep their shape very well. This also creates a more interesting texture. Feel free to only use one or the other kind if you don’t keep both on hand.
- Sun-dried tomatoes: This is my secret ingredient I add that is definitely not common in traditional beef stews. It doesn’t make the stew tomato-y, and since you need to chop the tomatoes almost into a paste, they are barely notable. What they do though is add some great umami to the stew. I may have watched too much Melissa Clark on NYT Food lately and this woman loves anchovies to add more savory tastes to everything. I know there are stews using anchovies for umami/saltiness (and you are absolutely free to add anchovies to this stew if you’ like to!), but I wanted a more broadly “accepted” ingredient to achieve a similar result. Enter the sun-dried tomatoes! They yield excellent results and don’t have the ick-factor many associate with anchovies.
- Guinness beer: You are of course free to use any stout or dark beer for this recipe. If you absolutely despise beer, you could even use the same amount of red wine – it would definitely not make it a Guinness stew anymore, but it isincredibly good with wine.
- Herbs: If you don’t keep bay or thyme on hand, please do not let this keep you from making this stew. Do the herbs add some extra depth to the stew? For sure. But you can skip the bay leaf and either use dried thyme in place of the fresh, or even substitute Italian seasoning… If there’s something I believe in, it’s in staying creative and using what you already have in the kitchen. And if this means you’ll add Italian seasoning to an Irish-inspired stew, then so be it in my books. Authentic? Barely. Still delicious? Yep. Practical? You bet.
Recipe tips
How to make a thicker stew If you like a thicker stew, I recommend you do one of the following:- Flouring: Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of flour over the meat while you’re browning it.
- Beurre manié: Knead 2 tablespoons of flour into 2 tablespoons of butter. Once the stew has finished cooking in the oven, put it on the stove and add this flour/butter mix. Gently simmer until the stew has thickened.
- Cornstarch: Make a slurry from 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and a bit of cold water. Put the finished stew on the stove and bring it to a simmer. Quickly stir in the slurry and simmer until thickened.
Nutrition
More recipe information
Recipe first published in 02/24/2018. Updated with a simple recipe, better instructions, new photos and a video on 03/10/2021.
More St. Patrick’s Day dinner ideas
I also have a slow cooker beef stew on this blog. And a slow cooker Irish beef stew. And for even more stew recipes, check out our collection of homemade beef stew recipes!
Kimberly Baxter says
I made these and they are absolutely divine! Thanks so much for sharing the recipe.
Karly says
Yes please!! Comfort food to the max! Thanks for sharing!