Beef And Guinness Stew is a heart warming bowl of comfort! Slow cooked beef, simmered in a rich Guinness gravy, is packed with so much flavour!
This Beef And Guinness Stew recipe is reaching you just in time for St. Patrick’s Day!
Stew
Just like this Chicken Cacciatore recipe, there are so many options now days to slow cook a good stew or soup. I know how much you guys appreciate as many methods as I can squeeze into a recipe, with the equipment you have right at home. So, because of this, I’ve included both Slow Cooker AND Instant Pot methods in the recipe!
The great thing about a good stew is that it can be enjoyed at any time of the year. Today is one of those days. Cold, cloudy, miserable, while battling a flu. Perfect for a rich and hearty Irish Beef And Guinness Stew! Especially when it’s cooking away in the oven with tender, fall apart beef guaranteed to hit your bowls.
An authentic Irish stew is traditionally made with mutton or lamb. For this stew, however, I typically use slow cooker cuts of beef. Not for any other reason than we enjoy the flavour of beef paired with this Guinness gravy a lot more than when cooked with lamb.
Tips:
- If using your Slow Cooker or Instant Pot, I recommend browning the beef first if you can. The flavour of browned meat does not compare to throwing raw beef into the slow cooker.
- The original recipe calls for cooking the beef in half of the beer, and adding the rest of the beer in after cooking. We personally prefer the method I’ve provided in the recipe a lot more, but you can try either.
- Beef cuts specifically used for slow cooking are best with this stew.
- For a thicker gravy, mix 1 heaping tablespoon of cornstarch (or corn flour) together with 2 tablespoons of water; add after baking in the oven while it’s still bubbling. You can also turn on your stove to low heat to do this, stirring the cornstarch mixture through until thickened to your liking.
Beef And Guinness Stew
Ingredients
- 1 ½ kg boneless beef chuck roast trimmed and cut into thick 1 ½-inch pieces
- 1 pinch salt to season
- 1 pinch pepper to season
- 4 tablespoons olive oil plus more if needed
- 2 brown onions medium-sized, chopped
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced
- 3 carrots large, peeled and chopped into thick slices
- 2 celery stalks chopped into thick pieces
- 4 potatoes large, quartered
- ¼ cup plain flour
- 1 ½ cups Guinness Beer
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar optional
- 4 cups beef broth beef stock
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried thyme
- 1 pinch salt to season, to your tastes
- 1 pinch pepper to season
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 160°C | 325°F. Season beef generously with salt and pepper.
- Heat oil in dutch oven or a heavy based, oven-proof pot over medium-high heat. Sear beef in batches of three or four until browned all over. (Use more oil where needed.) Transfer to a warm plate.
- Add onion and garlic to the pan juices; sauté until soft and transparent. Add the carrots, celery and potatoes, and cook for a further 2 minutes. Stir the flour into the vegetables in the pan, coating them evenly. Cook, stirring occasionally, for a further 2 minutes.
- Pour in the Guinness; mix well to dissolve flour, then add the tomato paste, brown sugar, broth and thyme, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon. Bring to a simmer and cook until slightly thickened, (about 5 minutes).
- Add the beef back into the pot along with any juices released.
- Partially cover the pot; transfer to the oven and bake for 2 ½ - 3 hours (stir stew twice through cooking).
- Carefully remove from the oven, and season with salt and pepper, if desired, to your tastes. Garnish with parsley and serve with mashed potatoes.
Notes
FOR THE SLOW COOKER:
Add the browned beef into a 6 qt slow cooker bowl, along with the rest of the ingredients EXCEPT for the flour. Cook on low setting for 7-8 hours, or high setting for 4-5 hours. In the last half an hour of cooking, ladle out ½ cup liquid out of the slow cooker; mix the liquid with the ¼ of flour until smooth and blended; then pour the flour mixture through the liquid (change to high setting if cooking on low).
FOR INSTANT POT OR PRESSURE COOKER: Following slow cooker instructions: cook under 'meat' or 'stew' setting for 55 minutes (or on a HIGH setting).
Jennifer Wraspir says
Yummy! This recipe was not only easy, but delicious. It was a great new year’s day meal. Can’t wait to have the leftovers tomorrow.