Name: Instant Pot Irish Stew
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 85 min
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons oil; 2 pounds lamb OR beef stewing meat (cubed); Salt & pepper; 2 tablespoons flour; 2 medium yellow onions (cut into wedges); 2 cloves garlic (crushed); 1 tablespoon tomato paste; 1 11 or 12oz bottle Guinness beer; 1 cup beef stock; 1 pound potatoes (peeled and cut into chunks); 4 medium carrots (cut into chunks); 4 sticks celery (sliced); 1-2 teaspoons cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon water

Celebrate 🍀 St. Patrick’s Day 🍀 with this quick and easy Instant Pot Irish Stew! It’s hearty and filling for the perfect comfort food dinner.

I have to confess: I’ve only ever been to one St. Patrick’s Day party in my entire life, and it was on a camp site in a huge community hall and everybody was definitely drinking way too much green beer.

Needless to say, it scarred this introvert over here for life. Also, I don’t like beer. UNLESS it’s Guinness in a hearty Irish Stew!

This is a pretty straight-forward recipe for your instant pot, not much different from my Instant Pot Beef Stew, to be honest.

The biggest difference between Irish Stew and regular beef stew is that I use Guinness instead of red wine for the gravy.

Also, I’ll often make my Irish Stew as a lamb stew, but you can absolutely use beef (I use beef in my Slow Cooker Irish Beef Stew and in my Dutch Oven braised Guinness Beef Stew!).

I’m sure my way of making this Instant Pot Irish Stew is not 100% purist and traditional, but honestly – I don’t really care. It’s delicious!

How to Make Irish Stew

Making stew in the instant pot makes the meat fork-tender! It’s also much quicker than making it in the crock or on the stove, and SO easy, too.

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

IP Extra Time 20 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes

Ingredients for Irish Beef Stew:

FOR THE MEAT

2 tablespoons oil
2 pounds lamb OR beef stewing meat cubed
Salt & pepper
2 tablespoons flour

FOR THE GRAVY

2 medium yellow onions cut into wedges
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 11 or 12oz bottle Guinness beer
1 cup beef stock

FOR THE VEGETABLES

1 pound potatoes peeled and cut into chunks
4 medium carrots cut into chunks
4 sticks celery sliced

TO THICKEN (OPTIONAL)

1-2 teaspoons cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon water

Equipment Needed:

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knife and chopping board
measuring cups and spoons
wooden cooking spoon
electric pressure cooker

PS I love chopping vegetables with my chef’s knife, it’s so much faster than with a smaller knife! If you don’t have one, this is an amazing, budget-friendly and high-quality option:*

And this is my favorite instant pot model – look at the cute color!*

Steps

1 – Brown the meat:

Set the Instant Pot to sauté. Heat the oil, then brown the meat (season as it cooks).

Once browned, sprinkle with the flour and toss well (make sure it doesn’t burn on the bottom of the pot, it’s OK if it sticks a little though).

2 – Start the gravy:

Stir the onions and garlic into the meat and cook for 1 minute.

Add the tomato paste and cook for 1 more minute.

Pour the Guinness over the meat, scratching the browned bits off the bottom of the pot (make sure you catch them all or you’ll get the burn warning).

Simmer for 5-10 minutes to cook off the alcohol.

3 – Cook the stew:

Switch off the instant pot. Add the beef stock to the stew. Stir in the vegetables. Close the instant pot and set the valve to “sealing”. Press the “stew” button.

4 – Finish:

Once the pot is indicating it’s done with cooking, do a natural pressure release for 10 minutes (just unplug your pot and leave it alone).

Then manually release any remaining pressure according to manufacturer’s instructions and open the lid.

I like to cover my instant pot with a tea towel and move the valve with a wooden spoon for added safety.

5 – If you want to thicken the stew:

Set the instant pot to sauté and stir in the cornstarch slurry. Simmer until thickened. Alternatively, you can blend 1 cup of the stew and stir it back in.

close up photo of a bowl with Irish stew

Nora’s irish beef stew cooking tips for you:

How do you make stew meat tender?

Pressure cooking the stew helps a lot with tenderizing the meat without having to cook it for seventy hours.

The one thing you have to take care off when using a pressure cooker is to allow the stew a natural pressure release for 10 minutes after cooking. I know it’s annoying and we all want to rush this step – but it’s crucial to allow the meat fibers to relax.

That way, your meat will be tender and delicious.

What cut is best for stew?

For a beef stew, I prefer diced chuck roast. It gets tender and flavorful when cooked right.

For a lamb stew, I will usually go for diced shoulder.

How can I thicken my stew after cooking?

While the stew won’t thicken in the pressure cooker (the liquid cannot cook away because the lid is always closed), you can thicken the stew to your taste after cooking using one of the following methods:

blend 1 cup of the stew and stir it back in
make a slurry of 1-2 teaspoons cornstarch and 1 tablespoon cold water, set the instant pot to sauté and stir the slurry into the stew. Simmer until thickened.

The second method is my preferred one (because I don’t want to mess around with the blender etc while my family is hungry), but you can use either.