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!
Just to let you know that Guinness now do a 0% alcohol version … I’ve not cooked with it but as a drink it’s OK. Available from Dan Murphy’s and First Choice …
Going to make it
Accidentally bought 1.5kg of gravy beef so out a full litre of salt reduced stock in
Other half loved it and said it was better than his favourite Nagi recipe, the butter chicken and that it would be his choice for last meal 🤣
Meat fell apart in your mouth
Absolutely delicious! Thank you Nagi. As there is only the 2 of us, I made the leftovers into a pie and that was delicious too!
Love Love this stew. My family asks for it. Best ever. Make it frequently. Do not substitute anything you will mess it up.
Is it possible to make a slow cooker dump bag out of this? I’ve never made a dump bag before, but would like to meal prep some meals for the week.
Not sure if I should brown meat & blanch potatoes before sealing, or if I should leave onion / garlic separate, and cook before adding dump bag. Would you put guiness into the dump bag, or with the alcohol ruin the marinade/beef/veges etc?
so many questions!
Hi Nagi, I love all your recipes. I just wanted to let you know I used the new non-alcoholic Guinness. It tastes just the same from the can and the stew tasted just the same. thank you
Hi Nagi, I have just purchased your cookbook, as most of your online recipes are rated 5 stars. I have been a big fan of your recipes for years. Your beef and Guinness stew is a huge favourite. I’m not sure if you know, but Guinness now have a zero alcohol stout available. I haven’t tried it as a drink, or in the recipe. But if you change you are willing to try it, you could change your recipe to bring in a lot of new followers, that don’t consume alcohol, for whatever reasons
Best regards
Murray
It’s cold and wet in Melbourne this weekend. Went to my local butcher to ask for the meat as per your recipe. Butcher goes “You’re the 3rd person asking for this exact cut and preparation”. Later I went to the bottle shop to get Guinness and the young lad goes “Let me guess….Beef and Guinness Stew?”. You’re taking Melbourne by storm!!!
I made this with alcohol free guiness and it tasted delicious
At the moment difficult to find the real guiness in Tasmania
I made this today, but instead of beef, I made it with bison chuck roast and beef stock, and it turned out superb! I am fortunate enough that I am given bison meat quite often, so I’m always looking for different ways to prepare it. I’ve made it into barbacoa, birria, and tamales in the past.. so Irish stew was a departure from the usual.. I am impressed with this recipe! I will definitely make it again, because I love these deep rich comforting flavors!
Hi Nagi or anyone else! Making this for the 3rd time for gluten free friends. Any suggestions for plain flour substitutions? thanks
Someone below used potato starch – I’ve used that previous when doing gluten free, it works a treat.
Made this a couple of days ago. It is a outstanding. Will be making again.
I cooked mine in my slow cooker. Cooked for 7 hrs on low. Browned my beef first & added my veges then liquids. Then transferred to my SC. I only used 1 cup of chicken stock instead of 3.
Only changes I made were I used 2 chicken stock cubes to 1 cup water. 60 mins before the end of cooking time I reassessed viscosity of liquids then added 125ml of tomato passata instead of paste (I forgot to add it earlier) made a slurry with 2 extra tblspns of flour then added to SC. Thickened beautifully. Also made some dumplings. Soo yum 😋😋
I am going to make this in the morning. I was wondering if I need to brown the beef & veg before transfering to the slow cooker?
Interested m in New rexipies
Love this Irish Stew recipe. Zero Alcohol Guinness & stouts are now available in Australia. They taste almost identical.
There actually IS a non alcoholic version of Guinness. I’ve atcually
OMG this is literally heaven in your mouth! 🥲Made this tonight and my first thought was if I had to choose one last meal it would be this… 🤭 I made it with cauli mash delicious. Next time I’d try it with your paris mash. And another time with basmati rice. Oh and I also had made your Irish soda bread 🍞 so good and perfect for dunking into this sauce 😋
Side note for pressure cooking.
I cooked for 40 mins in pressure cooker (*after the initial 5 or so mins it takes to hear the bubbles boiling on a stove top pressure cooker) Then slowpy relased it for about 5 to 7mins. I thought meat could do with a few more minutes. So I left it on the hot stove with the lid without turning it on anymore for 15mins. When I came back to it meat was perfect and sauce had thickened up leading me to think that 45 to 50mins would be the optimal in my stove top pressure cooker, in case this helps anyone.
I have made this recipie on countless occasions and it never ceases to amaze me the positive reactions from the people who have eaten this dish.
A truly wonderful dish Yum Yum
Delicious!!! We went with the slow cooker option and then reduced some of the liquid on the stove top, this also helped bring some of the fat to the surface, to skim. Also halved the amount of carrot and celery and swapped it out for mushrooms. Definition of comfort food!
I am going to slow cook this in am. Did you just pop everything in your slow cooker or did you brown your meat & veg prior? Thanks in advance. Also, how long did you cook it for & on what setting?