This hearty Irish beef stew is made with simple ingredients that are perfect for a nice cold evening. The addition of Guinness adds a rich flavor to the stew.
This is one of my favorite stews to make during the winter. Whether it is served on St. Patrick’s day or not this is my go to stew when I want something simple and easy to make. It is a wonderfully hearty dish and is perfect since I don’t have to cook for a couple of days. If you have a large family then this is the perfect meal to feed everyone easily.
In this recipe
The key ingredients are only three items, the beef, carrots, and onions. While traditionally the stew is made with lamb or mutton, sometimes beef is more readily available to make this wonderful stew.
Beef: you will want to use a good stew beef. My choice is always chuck as the longer it cooks the more tender the beef becomes. You want to use a more fibrous cut of beef because of the collagen within.
Potatoes: choose a waxy or all-purpose potato for this recipe. A starchy potato like a Russet will almost completely dissolve into to the stew. A good red or Yukon gold potato work well in this recipe.
Guinness: will add a nice rich flavor to the stew.
Browning is the key
One of the keys for this recipe is to brown almost all of the ingredients. You will need to brown all of the beef to add those rich flavors to the final stew. Also by searing beef it doesn’t seal in juices however it causes a richer flavor to develop in the stew. Also you want to brown the tomato paste as well. The heat interacting with protein and sugars is called a Maillard reaction and that will add nice caramel notes as well as others that will enhance the flavors of all kinds of dishes not just this stew.
Make sure to deglaze
One of the things I learned the hard way is making sure I deglaze the Dutch oven or soup pot between the onions and adding the tomato paste. Just add 1/4 of water to the pan. This will keep the sugars from onions from burning onto the bottom of the pot. Allow the water to almost completely evaporate before adding the tomato paste. This will keep all of the sugars from scorching and ruining your stew.
Making Irish beef stew
Once the tomato paste has deepened in color you will want to add the flour and cook for just another minute. It’ll be clumpy and that is ok. Once the flour is done and you add the Guinness be ready for a lot of carbonation. Since the pot is so hot expect the nitrogen to leave very quickly. Just keep stirring and you are good to go. Once it thickens you can add all of the rest of the ingredients and then all you need to do is cover and cook. In about 90 minutes your stew is ready!
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Irish Beef Stew
Equipment
- Dutch oven or large soup pot
Ingredients
- 3 pounds beef chuck cut into 1 inch cubes
- 2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes cut into 1 inch cubes
- 4 cups beef broth
- 2 cups onion chopped
- 2 cups carrots peeled, halved, and cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 cup Guinness
- ¼ cup all purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons parsley chopped
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon thyme fresh
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon pepper
Instructions
- In a Dutch oven or large pot heat a tablespoon of olive oil on medium high heat. Add half of the beef and season with half of the salt and pepper. Cook the beef until each side is browned, about 3-4 min per side. Remove the beef place on a clean plate. Repeat with another tablespoon of oil and the remaining beef, salt, and pepper.
- Add the remaining olive oil and the onions to the pot and cook for 5-6 minutes or until tender. Once the onions are translucent and soft add the garlic and cook for another minute.
- Add the tomato paste and cook for another minute. Add the flour and cook for an additional minute. Add the Guinness and allow to thicken.
- Add the carrots, potatoes and beef back into the Dutch oven and pour over the beef broth, Stir in the thyme.
- Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook for 90 minutes or until the beef and vegetables are tender.
- Garnish with chopped parsley.
Nutrition
