Guinness Irish Stew

5 from 16 votes

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St. Patrick’s Day doesn’t mean just serving up corned beef. This Guinness Irish Stew is a great alternative with an incredibly rich, thick broth. Lamb or beef get layered with flavors due to a slow braise in Guinness beer, vegetables and herbs. Plus it’s made all in one pot!

Guinness Irish Stew


For today’s post I’m sharing my gramma’s Irish Stew recipe since St. Patrick’s Day is approaching.

Irish stew is traditionally made using mutton, an older sheep, and while most of us today don’t have that on hand lamb shoulder meat comes to the rescue. If lamb is not a meat you typically purchase, a good beef chuck roast would be a great substitute.

Irish Stew is pure comfort food and a classic recipe. For my version, and to add a richness and depth to the gravy, I use Guinness beer when simmering the stew. For those who do not drink alcohol this can easily be substituted with beef broth and some Worcestershire sauce if you prefer. Not the exact same flavor of course, but a good stand in for the beer. See my Recipe Note for more on this.

ingredients for Guinness Irish Stew

After sautéing the onion, leek and garlic I sprinkle flour on top, stir it around to cook a bit and add the Guinness and beef broth.

Along with the potatoes, this slow cooks and develops not only an amazing flavor, but a rich and thickened gravy.

cooking Guinness Irish Stew

This Guinness Irish Stew recipe and traditional Irish Stew recipes have only a few ingredients. Mutton (lamb), onions and potatoes.

In southern Ireland carrots and sometimes turnips are added. My gramma’s had more of a broth to it and I like to thicken it up a bit for dunking crusty bread in to sop up the goodness of that gravy.

Guinness Irish Stew

Pretty simple dish that only requires one to brown the lamb and sauté some vegetables. Adding the beer and broth you cover and forget about it for a few hours. This Guinness Irish Stew is a keeper!

Guinness Irish Stew

While this Guinness Irish Stew is incredible as is, you could also serve this without potatoes in the stew and have my Colcannon Irish Mashed Potatoes. If you’re hoping for a great corned beef recipe I got you covered, too! Also, if you have any leftovers, try my Corned Beef Potato Gratin with Brussels Sprouts. Enjoy!

Guinness Irish Stew
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A bowl of Guinness stew with chunks of meat and vegetables

Guinness Irish Stew

5 from 16 votes
St. Patrick's Day doesn't mean just serving up corned beef. This rich, thick gravy Guinness Irish Stew has lamb or beef layered with flavors due to a slow braise in Guinness beer, vegetables and herbs. Plus it's made all in one pot!
Servings: 6 servings
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 2 hours 30 minutes
Total: 2 hours 45 minutes

Ingredients 

Instructions 

  • Peel and cut up carrots and potatoes, mince garlic. Trim root end off leeks, strip off tough greens. Cut leeks lengthwise and rinse any grit off under water. Slice into 1/2″ pieces. Cut the lamb into 2″ chunks. Pat dry and sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper.
  • Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a Dutch oven or heavy based pot over high heat. Add lamb in batches and brown well all over. Remove to plate and repeat with remaining lamb. Set aside.
  • Lower heat to medium and add remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Add onion and leek, cook for 3 minutes until softened, then add garlic, cook 2 minutes. Stir flour into the vegetable mixture and cook for 3 more minutes.
  • Add Guinness beer (See Note 1 and 2), stirring and scraping up browned bits on bottom of pan then add beef broth.
  • Return browned lamb to the pot, including any juices, along with carrots, potatoes and thyme tied with kitchen twine.
  • If lamb and vegetables are not fully covered add enough water to do so. Cover, bring to a boil, stir then lower heat so it is bubbling gently. Cook 2 hours then remove lid and simmer for 30 minutes more until lamb falls apart and the sauce has reduced and thickened.
  • Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove thyme bundle and serve with crusty bread.

Notes

  1. Substitute Guinness beer using 2 1/2 cups water mixed with 2 beef boullion cubes and 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce. Not the same, but will due. See below regarding alcohol burned off if concerned.
  2. When slow-cooking food in beer at a low simmer for several hours most of the alcohol will evaporate away. The boiling point of alcohol is 173°F which is lower than that of water, 212°F.
    The United States Department of Agriculture states, simmering beer alone for 2.5 hours will remove 95 percent of the alcohol it contains, leaving 5 percent of the original alcohol content behind.

Nutrition

Calories: 415kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 35g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 98mg | Sodium: 828mg | Potassium: 1008mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 7560IU | Vitamin C: 18.5mg | Calcium: 88mg | Iron: 6.5mg

The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Course: Dinner, Main
Cuisine: Irish
Have You Made This Recipe? Let Me Know on InstagramTag @keviniscooking or tag me #keviniscooking!
guinness irish stew in bowl with spoon

Kevin

Whether in the kitchen or on the grill, you’ll find me cooking American favorites with a love for BBQ, Mexican and Tex Mex. I’m passionate about making tasty food because life’s too short to be bland!

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64 Comments

  1. My husband and I just got back from our honeymoon in Ireland and are already missing the stew! We want to make this for family this weekend, but we don’t have a Dutch oven or what I believe to be a heavy based pot. Can this be made in a crockpot? Or in another common pot? Thanks!

    1. Any large pot will do Hannah. Ireland is on my list to go see and explore. I want to do pub crawls and taste test all the foods!

  2. 5 stars
    Delicious – cooked mine in an Instapot to speed it along – sauteed the ingredients per your recipe, then sealed and cooked for 20 minutes with a 7 minute release. After another 30 minutes cooking uncovered to thicken it was ready to eat!

  3. 5 stars
    Yummm. … Made this over the weekend and it was a blast to my family. Thanks for the recipe.

    1. So happy you enjoyed this one Kimberly. Thanks for taking the time to come back and let me know! 🙂

  4. 5 stars
    I don’t think I’ve ever used Guinness in cooking, but I’ve heard it’s really good, particularly in comfort food. I can clearly see as this stew looks and sounds amazing. And St.Patrick’s day? I didn’t manage to cook anything special, but I drizzle some Irish cream over my ice cream. Does this count? 🙂

  5. 5 stars
    This is one incredible looking stew Kevin, easy to make and loaded with so many flavors, plus anything with Guinness beer is guaranteed to be a winner! cheers

  6. 5 stars
    I bet this has such bold flavor Kevin! My husband would totally LOVE it!

  7. 5 stars
    What a special recipe and talk about comforting! I agree with Annie! Looks so comforting, Kevin!

    1. Thanks Dawn, this is comfort food magic. Grab some crusty bread to dunk in there, too! 🙂

    1. Thanks Annie! The’d be perfect for all that snow and cold weather you’re having out there! Stay warm friend! 🙂