This hearty Guinness Beef Stew is deliciously rich and complex with tender bites of beef, carrots, potatoes, and parsnips. There’s no need to go to a local pub to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day when you can cook up your own pub grub at home!
Serve this Irish beef stew with warm Cheddar Dinner Rolls or Cheese Beer Bread for dipping.
If you feel like doing something besides corned beef for St Patrick’s Day this year, this comforting Guinness stew is the perfect choice!
The combination of flavors from the Guinness, caraway seed, and raisins come together perfectly to create a rich, complex beef stew. I know what you’re thinking – raisins? Yes, raisins! They melt into the stew in the most pleasing way. No one would ever suspect they were there but they do something really special.
I came across this Cooking Light recipe and thought I’d give it a whirl to satisfy a hankering I had for stew. A stew hankering. Do you ever get one of those? Whenever it drops below 70 degrees outside (hey, I’m from California), I pull out the heavy coats from the back of the closet, throw on my Uggs, and get a pot of stew going on the stove.
It ends up that this isn’t just a St. Patrick’s Day recipe. It is, in fact, some of the best beef stew we’ve ever eaten. And, stew is a big thing here in this house. Check out my Classic Stovetop Beef Stew and Instant Pot Beef Stew that are both on regular rotation on my dinner menu.
This unique stew is thick, rich, and SO flavorful.
Table of contents
Ingredient Notes
- Beef: While traditional Irish Stew is typically made with lamb, beef is more readily available and widely used here in the states. I purchase beef chuck that has been cut down and labeled as “beef for stew”. A huge time saver.
- Veggies: A couple of onions, a few carrots, a parnsip, and baby Yukon gold potatoes.
- Tomato paste: Adds rich flavor to the broth. Have you seen the tomato paste in the tube? It keeps well in the fridge for a good amount of time and works great for recipes like this that call for a small amount.
- Low-sodium beef broth: I always make my own with Better than Bouillon.
- Seasoning: Salt and freshly ground black pepper. Caraway seeds add a unique and delicious anise or licorice flavor that perfectly accents, but doesn’t overwhelm the stew.
- Guinness: This recipe calls for Guinness Stout which comes in a 6-pack of 12-ounce bottles which leaves you 5 to serve along with the stew.
- Raisins: Make sure to use fresh, soft, recently purchased raisins.
- Fresh parsley: To add a burst of fresh, herby flavor at the end of the cooking time.
How to Make Guinness Beef Stew
- Cubed beef: Cut the beef down as needed so they are small bite-size pieces. Even beef stew meat may need to be cut down a bit.
- Flour: Season the beef cubes with salt then coat them in flour.
- Brown the beef: Brown the cubes of beef in vegetable oil over medium heat, in batches so you don’t overcrowd the pan. Transfer the browned beef to a dish while you repeat the process with the remaining beef and flour.
- Saute onions: Add a little more oil to the pan and add the chopped onion. Cook and stir for a few minutes and then add the tomato paste. Cook and stir for a couple more minutes.
- Add liquid: Return the meat to the pan and add the beef broth and Guinness. Cook and stir, scraping up the the yummy browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
- Season and simmer: Add the salt, pepper, caraway seeds, and raisins. Bring the mixture to a boil, cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for an hour.
- Add veggies: After the long simmer, remove the cover and turn up the heat to bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally for another 30 minutes at a low boil. Add the veggies then reduce heat to medium-low, cover and let it go for 30 minutes. It should be at a nice simmer.
- Finish: Uncover, bring to a boil one more time, cook about 10 minutes or until veggies are fork tender. Sprinkle with parsley and remove from heat.
Tips for the Best Guinness Beef Stew
Building Flavor: It’s important to follow the cooking process as set out in the recipe. Don’t try to rush it. The mixture will be brought to a boil several times and then simmered. This is important to the final outcome and flavor of the delectable sauce that will be created as the stew cooks down.
Adding Guinness: After the long cooking time, the booziness of the Guinness is long gone but its essence is left behind, adding a depth of flavor you won’t get with beef broth alone.
Storage Tips
- Refrigerate: Transfer the cooled leftover stew to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 4 days.
- Freeze: Ladle the stew into freezer-safe containers. To save space, I use gallon-size food storage bags, press out as much air as possible and seal the bags. Once frozen, they can be stacked to save freezer space. Frozen Guinness Beef Stew should be used within 2 to 3 months for the best quality.
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Guinness Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ pounds beef stew meat, boneless chuck roast trimmed and cut into 1- to 1 ½-inch cubes
- 1 teaspoon salt, divided
- 3 cups chopped yellow onion, about 2 small onions
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 4 cups low-sodium beef broth
- 12 ounces Guinness Stout
- 2 tablespoon raisins
- 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3 carrots, ½-inch thick diagonal slices
- 2 cups baby Yukon gold potatoes, halved (about 12 ounces)
- 1 cup parsnip, peeled, ½-inch thick diagonal slices (about 8 ounces)
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Place the flour in a shallow dish. Sprinkle the beef cubes with ½ teaspoon salt.
- Coat the bottom of a large Dutch oven with 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and place over MEDIUM-HIGH heat. Dredge half of the beef (or as much as will fit comfortably in your pan) in flour and add it to the pan. Cook and stir for a few minutes until nicely browned. Remove the beef to a plate with a slotted spoon. Repeat procedure with remaining 2 tablespoons oil and remaining beef. Transfer last batch of browned beef to the plate and set aside.
- Add the onion to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes or until softened. Stir in tomato paste and cook, stirring for a minute or two. Return the browned beef to the pan with the onions.
- Stir in the beef broth and beer. Add the remaining ½ teaspoon salt, raisins, caraway seeds, and pepper. Increase the heat and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to LOW, and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
- Uncover and increase heat as needed to bring to a low boil. Cook 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the carrot, parsnip, and potatoes. Cover, reduce heat to MEDIUM-LOW, and simmer 30 minutes.
- Uncover and bring to a low boil once more and cook for 10 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Sprinkle with parsley and serve with bread and beer!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated using generic ingredients, and is an estimate not a guarantee. For more accurate results, please refer to the labels on your ingredients at home.
More St. Patrick’s Day Recipes
This post was originally published on March 12, 2012. It has been updated with new text and images.
Adapted from Cooking Light
This is nearly identical to a recipe that was on the MyRecipe site in 2014. Now the recipe redirects to AllRecipes and an entirely different recipe. Thanks for posting your version. The MyRecipes version has Turnips instead of potatoes, but everything else is the same.
Hi Patience. You’re correct! This recipe is adapted from one I found on Cooking Light many, many years ago as you can see from the attribution link under the recipe card. I can see that the link is now redirecting to a recipe on Allrecipes that is quite different than the original. I remember that in addition to omitting the turnips, I made some changes to the method, as well.
Awesome! I had no idea MyRecipes and CookingLight were the same. Thanks for pointing out the link – sure enough, same as the link I have. Looking forward to trying your recipe and method!
I have made this recipes so many times. Sometimes I add turnips. Sometimes I add mushrooms and pearl onions. Sometimes I make it into pot pie. It’s just so good!! Thank you!
You’re welcome. Glad to hear you are enjoying the recipe. 🙂
I made this recipe exactly and it was so watery, not thick at all. Wondering what went wrong!
I’m sorry you had this issue, Rosie. Take a look back through the recipe and check to be sure you left the cover off for the 30 minute simmer as directed. It should reduce a bit when left uncovered. Typically, the flour used to coat the beef should be enough to thicken the stew but if this ever happens again, it is easy to resolve by adding a cornstarch slurry at the end of the cook time. Just mix together 1 tablespoon cornstarch with a couple tablespoons of water and stir it into the stew. Let it simmer for several minutes and it should thicken up. You can add additional cornstarch and water, if needed, to reach the desired consistency.
Does the pot have to be a Dutch oven? I don’t have one.
Any large pot with a lid should work just fine.
I made this exact recipe, but subbed lamb shanks for the beef stew meat. OMG, it was fabulous!
Looks delicious, just one thing – the directions along with the pictures and the actually recipe have 2 different cooking times. In the recipe you cook it for 2.5 hours and in the photos you cook for only 1hour 40minutes. I’m going to venture to say that 1hr40 is probably the right time for this, but wanted to clarify. Thanks!
Thanks for pointing out the discrepancy, Cassandra! I’ve made the correction. The total cooking time should be about 2 hours 10 minutes but this can vary depending on the size you cut your veggies.
valerie, i made your stew sat, to have for sunday on st. pattys day. turned out pefect. will definately make this again. thanks for sharing the recipe! pam
Excellent! We love that stew. Thanks for letting me know Pam 🙂
I use Guinness in just about everything and I’ve never used it in stew!! What a great recipe!!
this looks absolutely divine + what a perfect recipe for st. patrick’s day!
Great St. Patty’s Day recipe. I do plan on making corned beef on Friday but I might just make this too! I’m loving all the flavors in here, and the added Guinness is just heavenly!
I always do a corned beef as well. This is a great alternative and now I’ll probably be doing both every year!
the stew looks fabulous Val! 🙂