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!
I’m making this tonight for the second time.
One of the best thing I have ever eaten! So rich and thick and the beef is PERFECTLY cooked
Thank you!!!
Just finished off a bowl of this for dinner and holy moly, so good. I added some potatoes and just served it with bread and it was perfect. I thought that by standard beef stew I normally make was good but to be honest, it’s really not great at all compared to this. The Guinness adds an incredible amount of depth to the flavour and this is much better for us than making one with red wine where we end up wasting most of a bottle because you can just buy one single can of Guinness. Adding to the repertoire for sure!
Hi Nagi,
The recipe says Note 3 for Gluten Free but I’m not sure what I should do to make it GF, should I just not add the flour or can I sub with cornflour?
Sorry Nagi,
I saw your reply on another comment and saw that the beer isn’t gluten free either, silly me! Will try this another time.
My bacon didn’t brown! I don’t know where I went wrong
In the ingredients for flour you state ‘Note 3 for GF’. What is GF?
Hi Jane – Gluten Free 🙂 N x
Can you freeze the beef and Guiness stew please
Just to let you know. A non alcoholic version of Guinness came out in Ireland last year. So may be on your shelves now.
Woah! Thanks Mark, I’ll have to look into it!!! N x
Made this Guinness Stew last night. Absolutely fantastic best stew I have ever tasted. The Guinness really brought the flavour out. Will be making double batch next time so I can put down. Thankyou for a great receipe.
Never comment but I tried this the first time about 6 months ago and been cooking it regularly ever since… only difference how I cook it is I don’t add the stock….. recommend this recipe
Hello Nagi, I made this stew last night for supper and it was delicious! My husband really enjoyed it and so did I. Thank you for another great recipe!
Mostly brown the bacon before going to the vegetable, otherwise you can NOT brown the vegetables…duh
The veggie juices WILL prevent browning.
Agtee
Hi Nagi, looking to try this with a pressure cooker. When would you advise to add the flour? Before cooking or after pressure release? Thanks much!
Love your recipes Nagi! Have been following you for a few years now, started in my schools tuckshop making your Beef Burritos for the Friday Special!
The family loves this recipe! I make a large batch and use the leftovers (without as much gravy) to make pies. I traditionally stick to the recipe as it’s so good.
I want to make it today in lockdown, but I don’t have any Guinness. I only have regular beer Balter XPA, Peroni and red wine. Any advice on a substitute or am I better to wait till I can get a Guinness type beer? I’m not normally so fussy but the kids will be so disappointed if it doesn’t taste as good and I don’t want to waste my beef rations 🤣.
Hi Nagi, made it again. Absolutely delicious. Thank you. Regards Graham
Being an Irish Stew I just had to add 3 medium red spuds cut in 8 with the carrots.
Also, cooked it in the oven at 150c for 4 hours.
Meat fell apart and flavour was fabulous. I served it with mash potatoes but greens would also be a great addition – or, just eat as is.
We will use leftovers for pies in the pie maker. Would also be good on toast.
Hi Nagi. I have 500g beef, should I reduce the other ingredients by half?
Hi Dom, you’ll need to scale the recipe down until you reach 500g – just keep an eye on the liquids as it needs the the cook time , however you don’t want the pot drying out! N x
Thanks Nagi. It was delicious!
Flavour all the way, I have pointed a few bottle shop sales assistants to your website for this recipe whilst purchasing my one can of Guinness. First made it for guests staying and it was perfect as I could make it in advance and let the depth of flavour develop.
Would adding red wine (as well as guinness of course) be an advantage?
I’ve made this quite a few times and it’s been great every time.
I sometimes like to add potato, particularly if I’m feeling too lazy to make mashed potato to go with it. I cut them into roughly 2cm cubes and add them about 30 minutes before its done simmering, that way they’re not overdone and still have a little bite to them but still tender.
Have you tried using corn flour for GF?
Hi Angela, you can use cornflour but the beer is not gluten free unfortunately. N x