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Irish Stew

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A sensational stew recipe flavored with Guinness Beer and Red Wine.
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close up view of Irish stew with beef and vegetables in dutch oven pot.
Irish Stew is one of my best Beef Stew recipes! This savory stew is flavored with Guinness beer and red wine! A perfect dinner recipe for St. Patrick’s Day.
A saucy stew of beef and vegetables in a cast iron pot
Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day would not be complete without hearty Irish Stew and Guinness Beer. This is by far the best stew I have ever made! The combination of stout beer and red wine makes an incredible sauce for this flavourful stew. The house smells amazing while this traditional Irish dish is cooking. Well almost traditional, I used beef instead of lamb or mutton.
Stew cooking in a dutch oven

Tips for making Irish Stew

  • I cooked this stew in the oven but this recipe also works great in the slow cooker or even an Instant Pot.
  • If you use fresh garden potatoes or carrots you don’t need to peel them, but be sure to peel older potatoes and carrots.
  • Traditional Irish Stew is made with lamb, potatoes, onions, and parsley, but feel free to add your favorite veggies like carrots, leeks, parsnips, or even cabbage.
  • As lamb or mutton are not easily available in Canada I make my Irish Stew with beef and add a variety of veggies.
  • What cut of beef works best for Irish stew? I use an inexpensive cut like a well-marbled chuck roast.
  • What to serve with Irish stew? I like soda bread or soft dinner rolls which are great for soaking up that extra broth left on the plate.
  • Adding dumplings, although, not a traditional thing to add would taste great. You can find my recipe for fluffy dumplings on my recipe for Chicken and Dumplings.

stewing beef and vegetables in a dutch oven.

close up view of Irish stew with beef and vegetables in dutch oven pot.

Irish Stew

Laureen King
A sensational stew recipe flavored with Guinness Beer and Red Wine.
3.68 from 34 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 30 mins
Cook Time 1 hr 30 mins
Total Time 2 hrs
Course Main Course
Cuisine Irish
Servings 8
Calories 436 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 2 lbs stewing beef cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 large russet potato (about 2 cups) cut into 1/2 pieces
  • 3 large red potatoes (about 3 cups) cut into 1/2 pieces
  • 3 stalks celery sliced
  • 3 large carrots, (about 2 cups) cut into 1/2 pieces
  • 1 large onion (about 11/2 cups) diced
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 6 large garlic cloves (about 1/4 cup) minced
  • 3/4 cup red wine
  • 3/4 cup Guinness beer
  • 4 cups beef broth
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 tbsp dried thyme
  • 2 bay leaves small
  • 1 tbsp flour
  • 1 tbsp cold water

Instructions
 

  • Heat the olive oil in large skillet or dutch oven, medium-high heat.
  • Salt and pepper beef, dust with flour and fry until browned on all sides, about 5 to 7 minutes. (work in batches to avoid overcrowding pan)
  • Remove from pan and set aside.
  • Add more oil to skillet if necessary. Next add potatoes, celery, carrots, and onion to skillet Cook until potatoes slightly browned (about 10 mins)
  • Remove from skillet, set aside.
  • Add butter to skillet.
  • Add garlic and sauté about 1 minute, until fragrant.
  • Deglaze pan with red wine. Add Guinness beer, beef stock, tomato paste, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, thyme and bay leaves.
  • Stir to combine and bring the mixture to a simmer. Next, add beef and vegetables back into the skillet or dutch oven.
  • Cover and transfer to oven to bake at 350 degrees for 1-2 hours until vegetables and beef are tender.
  • If using slow cooker, cook 3-4 hours on low.
  • If stew needs to be thickened add slurry (1 tablespoon flour whisked together with 1 tablespoon cold water). Return pot to stovetop and over medium heat slowly stir slurry into the stew stirring constantly. Cook 5-10 minutes until thickened
  • Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Nutrition

Calories: 436kcalCarbohydrates: 43gProtein: 32gFat: 13gSaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 78mgSodium: 669mgPotassium: 1538mgFiber: 5gSugar: 6gVitamin A: 4747IUVitamin C: 20mgCalcium: 84mgIron: 5mg
Keyword beef stew, Irish stew
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Follow up this popular St. Patrick’s Day dish with something sweet like my Shamrock Cookies or St. Patrick’s Day Cupcakes. If you are looking for another great traditional Irish recipe to try, my family loves this recipe for Irish Colcannon.

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Irish Stew cooking in a dutch oven loaded with beef, potatoes and carrots.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Anonymous

    Made this yesterday. It is a great and easy recipe. Served over creamy mash potato with butter and chives. Just in time for hurricane sandy. Thank you

    Reply

  4. Tracy

    Can it be made without red wine or Guinness? I don’t ever cook with wine or beer (or drink it) and I wouldn’t know what to do with the leftover bottles.

    Reply

  6. Jill

    Made this last night following instructions. Turned it on for the “recommended” slow cooker time, and the potatoes are still raw. Maybe it should be just cooked on low for 8 hours, not 3-4.

    Reply

    • Laureen King

      Hi Jill, I’d love to help you trouble shoot this. Did you sauté the potatoes with onions etc, before transferring to crockpot? Another factor could be the size the the potatoes were cut into.

      Reply

  8. Debbie

    Made this today in my Dutch Oven. It was perfect! I doubled the recipe so we will have some yummy leftovers. Thank you – great recipe!

    Reply

  12. Patty

    5 stars
    I’m making this today for the second or third time. It’s a great recipe 😊 Have older neighbors that we enjoy sharing a meal with from time to time. They really enjoyed this before and so did we. This is a perfect day for it as it’s snowing sideways here in Michigan❄️ And it was the perfect excuse for buying a six pack of Guinness!

    Reply

  15. Wendy

    5 stars
    Fantastic recipe! I made in the dutch oven and let it simmer on the stove for 2 hours on low heat. I followed measurements, but left out potatoes as I was serving the stew with mashed potatoes. Browned the meat in the dutch oven, but sautéed the vegetables on a different pan to not burn the brown bits from the meat. I felt this was a game changer(!!) as my friend had made this a few times before and she was never able to brown the meat as brown as she’d like in fear of burning the bottom of the pot.
    After simmering for two hours I added the flour slurry but it didn’t thicken as much as I hoped, so I added a tsp of cornstarch and water slurry to help.
    I am so satisfied with this recipe and will make again and again. Thank you!

    Reply

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