Guinness Beef Stew is a hearty rich stew using dark Guinness stout in the braising liquid giving it a rich and earthy flavor. This traditional Irish Stew is the perfect comfort food for a cold night. Slow simmered in a Dutch oven, the flavors in this stew come together wonderfully. Make sure you have some nice warm crusty bread to dip into the gravy!
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One of the best meals I had on a recent trip to Ireland wasn’t in one of the fancy restaurants that I spent hours researching on the Internet before the trip. No, it was in a local pub where we sat at a communal table with strangers (who soon became friends) and listened to local musicians playing in the corner. Both dishes we ordered shone that night. The first was a Guinness stew and it inspired me to come home with hopes of replicating the meal. (The other – because I know you are wondering – was the traditional Irish Cabbage and Bacon, and yes, I want to replicate that too if I can!)
Aside from the Guinness, the beef is the most significant ingredient in this stew. If you pick up “stewing beef” from the grocery store, you may likely be disappointed. Often with “stewing beef” you don’t know what cut of beef has been used. Sometimes, in fact, it can look like just scraps of beef from many other cuts. Badly cut stew cubes can leave you with a stew that looks odd and the pieces can be tough because you don’t know what cut you’re dealing with. The biggest piece of advice I can give you when making a stew at home is to buy a chuck roast and cut it into cubes yourself. That way, you can trim as much or as little of the fat off as you please, you can make the cubes big enough so that when they shrink during the cooking process they don’t look too small, and you know that you are working with chuck. It’s not hard to cut a big piece of chuck into cubes. Do it.
One of the most important steps in making a beef stew is the first – the browning of the beef. This really does have an affect on the finished dish and you can’t rush it, so plan for this step to take up to 30 minutes. I know you’ll be tempted to over-crowd the pan when you brown the beef so that you can get as much done as quickly as possible, but I promise you this will only slow you down. When you over-crowd a pot, the moisture that comes out of the meat has no hot empty surface area on the bottom of the pan from which to evaporate. As a result, the moisture just accumulates and stops the meat from browning, and browning the meat gives flavor not only to the beef, but to the sauce that you’re going to make as well. So, don’t over-crowd the pan. Start browning the beef, open the Guinness, pour it into a glass and go get another can from the fridge for this recipe.
Once the beef has browned, set it aside and start adding the chopped vegetables and tomato paste. Let that tomato paste toast in the pot to enhance and give some depth to the flavor of the stew. Then, you can pour in that Guinness and scrape up all the delicious brown bits that have formed on the bottom of the pot.
Add to that some really good beef stock so that there’s enough liquid in the pot to almost cover all the beef. If the beef cubes are poking their heads just above the liquid’s surface, that’s perfect. Bring this mixture to a simmer. Now, this is important… when I say “simmer”, I mean just that. I do not mean “boil”. When the stew is simmering, you should see just gentle bubbles rising to the surface. A more rapid boil won’t do the beef cubes any favors and might toughen them. Take it easy, enjoy your glass of Guinness and let the stew simmer. After a little over an hour, you’ll add the larger vegetables to the pot. I add these vegetables two thirds of the way through the cooking time because I don’t want them to be mushy, but tender. Leave the carrots, rutabaga and potatoes in larger chunks so that they’ll be tender in about 45 minutes time.
If at that time, you want to reduce the sauce to thicken it a little, remove the lid and let the stew continue to simmer for a few minutes.
Now, you could serve this stew with some crusty bread (like No Knead Bread), but even better would be some Irish Soda Breadto soak up any juices that are left in your bowl. If you still have another can of Guinness left, feel free to enjoy that in a glass, but a nice medium to heavy bodied red wine would go nicely too.
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Guinness Beef Stew
Nutrition InfoPrint Recipe
- Prep Time: 20 m
- Cook Time: 2 h 15 m
- Total Time: 2 h 35 m
- Servings:
6
Ingredients
- 3 pounds beef stew meat or chuck cut into 2-inch pieces
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- vegetable oil
- 1 onion cut into ½-inch pieces
- 2 ribs celery diced ½-inch
- 2 cloves garlic smashed
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 15 ounces Guinness draft beer (1 tall can)
- 2 cups beef stock
- 2 carrots sliced into ⅜-inch rounds on the bias (about 2½ cups)
- 16 baby Yukon Gold potatoes whole or halved (about 5 cups)
- 1 rutabaga peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks (about 2½ cups)
- 6 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce plus more for seasoning
- fresh parsley chopped (for garnish)
Instructions
Pre-heat a cast iron Dutch oven, or large stockpot over medium-high heat. Season the beef pieces with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add a little oil to the pot and brown the beef pieces well on all sides. Do this in batches so that you don’t over-crowd the pan. Set the browned beef aside while you finish browning all the beef.
Add the onion, celery and garlic to the Dutch oven and sauté for several minutes, until the onion has softened - about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and continue to cook for about 3 minutes to toast the tomato paste and continue to cook the vegetables.
Pour in the Guinness draft and deglaze the pan (scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of the Dutch oven with a flat spatula). Add the beef stock and return the browned beef to the Dutch oven. Bring the pot to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer gently for 75 minutes. (gentle simmer = just a few bubbles, not a boil)
Add the carrots, potatoes and rutabaga, along with the thyme, bay leaves and Worcestershire sauce. Continue to gently simmer the stew, covered, for another 30 to 45 minutes. The beef should be tender, the potatoes, carrots and rutabaga should be soft and the sauce should thicken slightly.
Season to taste with salt, freshly ground black pepper and more Worcestershire sauce if desired. Garnish with the fresh parsley and serve with crusty bread to sop up the sauce at the end.
Enjoy,
If you made this recipe, please add your comments and ratings below.
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Nutrition Facts
Guinness Beef Stew
Amount Per Serving
Calories 756Calories from Fat 108
% Daily Value*
Fat 12g18%
Saturated Fat 4g20%
Cholesterol 141mg47%
Sodium 442mg18%
Potassium 3771mg108%
Carbohydrates 89g30%
Fiber 18g72%
Sugar 6g7%
Protein 69g138%
Vitamin A 3525IU71%
Vitamin C 89.9mg109%
Calcium 281mg28%
Iron 25mg139%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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Comments (23)Post a Reply
Tried two other of your recipes and they came out great. This is also great, but I never had rutabaga, but I am sure this is an authentic ingredient to Irish cooking, and it had a taste I didn’t care for. I cooked it as stated and even made soda bread, also something I have never had. I enjoyed with a Guinness.Reply
Great recipe! Left out the rutabaga because there wasn’t any at the store and I added a little bit of beef broth concentrate to the mix. Could taste the Guinness but it wasn’t strong, just added more depth to the recipe. Will definitely make this again!Reply
Can this be made in crock pot ?
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Sure! Try the low slow cooker setting and cook for 8 to 10 hours.
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Excellent recipe! Made in a crock pot and will be repeating it soon.Reply
This Irish gran has been making Guinness stew probably as long as you’ve been alive. The recipe is fine but it’s missing one key ingredient. Like Flemish carbonade, the bitterness of beer and stout need to be offset by a bit of sweetness. A couple of tablespoons of turbanado sugar (light or dark brown sugar will do) makes the dish. Carbonade makes use of gingerbread while it simmers. Give it a go and see what you think.Reply
Thanks for the tip! I do use brown sugar in my Beef Carbonnade recipe. I do like the taste of the Guinness in the stew, but maybe will try a little turbinado sugar next time.
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Love, love, love this stew!! It’s my go to recipe for family get togethers and Everyone is over the moon about it. I’m not a meat eater and I overcook everything, so you have shown me the way and my people are happy!!Reply
This looks and sounds delicious, but we’re not beer or wine drinkers. Is there a suitable substitution for the Guinness.
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If you’re not drinkers, I would just use chicken or beef stock (or a mixture of both) instead of the Guinness. You might check out my regular beef stew recipe: https://bluejeanchef.com/recipes/beef-stew/ too.
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Finally made the Guinness Beef Stew recipe. It is wonderful. I thought about thickening the gravy but, heck, it’s a lot easier to drink it as is! Intensely flavored and easy to make dish. I’m bringing it to my sister’s house for dinner. Thank you , Meredith for another winner! OS: I saw somewhere you are back on QVC? Yes? When abs what show or time?
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Hi Susan. Yes – I’ll be back with my new line of goods on Sunday, March 14th at 10am.
MLReply
Forgot to leave the stars!Reply
This stew was absolutely delicious! I did leave out the rutabaga. I will definitely be making this again!Reply
Could this be made in an insta pot? Your other beef stew recipe is delicious!Reply
You can cook the stew in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes and release the pressure using the natural method to keep the beef tender.
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Best beef stew EVER!!! My husband declared “this is a keeper” recipe. Thank you, Meredith. I included all the ingredients called for in the recipe and cooked it as instructed with the exception that I let it simmer all afternoon on the stove. The meat was so incredibly tender, the flavor outstanding, and the instructions perfect.Reply
Delightful recipe. I made a roux (flour and olive oil equal in weight) whisked over medium low for 5 minutes to slightly thicken it, also substituted a bell pepper for celery and added a spoon of brown sugar, while passing on the rutabaga. Was great with some no knead baguettes and red wine. This one is a keeper!! Very thorough and detailed easy to follow directions….Thanks for posting!Reply
I made my basic beef stew (never used rutabaga before) much like the recipe shown. Much larger pot, proportions roughly the same. Used 3, 12 ounce bottles of Guinness. Turned out great.
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I did not get the Corned Beef dinner recipe for some reason. Read the little clip then clicked on “jump to recipe” and it went to the Guiness stew..Help, first time making Corned beef dinner and wanted the best option, BJ chef!
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Sorry about that! Thanks for bringing it to our attention. We will make the correction on the website. You can use the search box to find the recipe or here is the link: https://bluejeanchef.com/recipes/corned-beef-with-cabbage/
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I wanted to make a traditional Irish stew and it turned out amazing. My oven runs hot so I had to cook on 270° for 2 hours ( low and slow ). I did add the 2 tsp of brown sugar as one of your viewers mentioned and it tasted just like the bowl we had in Dublin in 2017.
Thank you for sharing your recipe.Reply
Prepared this exactly as the Chef instructed. Wow! The stew was amazing. The sauce finished just right and the beef chunks were tender. Delicious!Reply
