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Guinness Beef Stew

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Guinness Beef Stew with vegetables is slow cooked for a hearty meal. It’s a whole meal in a pot! Big chunks of beef, potatoes, carrots and turnips are the perfect comfort food on a cold night This recipe for Guinness Beef Stew is one of my husband’s favorites.

Guinness Beef stew

I’m not a beer drinker, but I love cooking with it. This recipe was adapted from Cooking Light many years ago. (This post was originally published on October 1, 2011 and has been updated to contain nutritional information. As an Amazon Affiliate, I may earn a small commission on qualifying purchases.)

Root vegetables, used for making Guinness beef stew

What’s in Guinness stew?

The original recipe, calls for the use of lamb. But since lamb is pretty pricey, I switched it to beef. I also added some frozen peas at the end, because I love extra vegetables. Turnips are not as commonly used in the US, and I’d wager that most Americans have not tried them. But they are a traditional ingredient. Next time you’re in your local grocery store, look for them with the root vegetables. Feel free to omit them and increase the other vegetables, or not.

How to cook Guinness Beef Stew

    • Make sure your stew meat is cut into bite-sized pieces about 1 to 1 1/2″ cubes. You want pieces that will withstand slow cooking, whether in a slow-cooker or on the stove top.
    • Don’t skimp on space in your frying pan! Make sure you give your meat plenty of room to brown. If the pieces are too close, they will give off moisture, which inhibits browing.
    • Make sure your vegetables are uniform. I like to aim for a 1″ thickness, allowing them to cook to tender, without making them mushy.

Guinness beef stew ingredients

How to make Guinness Stew in the slow-cooker

I love to use my slow-cooker. It’s a great time saver. But if I’m going to be home, or it’s the weekend, I love to use my dutch oven, like this one. This stew cooks in about 2 1/2 hours on the stove top or 6-8 hours in the slow cooker on low.

If you decide to use the slow-cooker, follow the recipe through step 4, then transfer the ingredients to a slow-cooker. Cook for 6 hours, then remove the lid and add the carrots, potatoes and turnips. Replace lid and continue to cook an additional 2 hours. Since the slow-cooker retains liquid, cooking in this method will result in a thinner stew.

Vertical guinness stew.

What to do if your stew is too thin.

Is your stew to thin? In a traditional beef stew, the beef is dredged in flour before browning. This aids in thickening the stew. I prefer to omit flour in recipes where I can. This tends to result in a thinner stew. To compensate, I’ve reduced the amount of beef broth. If you feel the stew is too thin you can thicken it without using flour. To thicken, stir 3 tablespoons cornstarch into 1/4 cup cold water or beef broth and stir into stew. Cook for an additional 5 minutes.

What can you do with leftover tomato paste?

Don’t you just hate it when a recipe calls for ONE tablespoon of tomato paste? You just spent $0.80 for a little can. What to do with the rest of the can? Measure out 1 tablespoon portions on a sheet of parchment or waxed paper. Freeze until firm. Put the frozen portions into a Ziplock bag, then pop it into the freezer for future use. 

Tomato paste

Guinness Beef stew.

Guinness Beef Stew

Cynthia
Guinness Beef Stew, adapted from Cooking Light. If using the slow-cooker, brown meat on the stove-top first. While Guinness is not technically a gluten free beer, so if you're following a strict gluten free diet, you will need to substitute a dark, gluten free beer.
5 from 4 votes
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Prep Time 15 mins
Cook Time 2 hrs 30 mins
Total Time 1 hr 45 mins
Course Entree
Cuisine Irish
Servings 6 people
Calories 743 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 5 Tablespoons Olive oil divided
  • 1 large onion chopped, (about 2 cups)
  • 1 Tablespoon fresh thyme chopped
  • 1 Tablespoon fresh rosemary chopped
  • 2 1/2 lbs. beef cut into 1 inch cubes
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 2 cups Guinness Stout
  • 1 Tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 cups beef broth
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 cups Yukon gold potatoes cubed or halved, about 12 ounces
  • 2 cups Carrots cut in 1" pieces, about 12 ounces
  • 1 Turnip peeled cut into 1" pieces
  • 1/2 cup frozen peas
  • 1 Tablespoon whole-grain Dijon mustard
  • fresh chopped parsley

Instructions
 

  • Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large Dutch oven over a medium-high heat. Add chopped onion and saute for 5 minutes or until translucent. Remove onions from pan. Season beef chunks with salt and pepper and toss with flour.
  • Heat an 2 additional tablespoons of olive oil to Dutch oven. Working in batches, brown beef 6-7 pieces at a time. Do not crowd the beef or it won't brown. Transfer browned beef to a separate dish with the onions.
  • Add beer to pot and bring to a boil, scraping or "deglazing" the pan to loosen all the browned bits of flour.
  • Simmer until the beer is reduced by about 1/2, about 5 minutes.
  • Add onions, browned beef, tomato paste, broth, worcestershire sauce and bay leaf; and simmer, covered for 1 hour and 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  • Uncover and stir in potatoes, turnips and carrots.
  • Simmer uncovered, for another 1 hour, or until meat and vegetables are tender.
  • Stir in mustard and peas the last 10 minutes of cooking
  • Season to taste with salt and pepper.
  • Sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley.

Nutrition

Serving: 1servingCalories: 743kcalCarbohydrates: 30gProtein: 37gFat: 50gSaturated Fat: 16gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 25gTrans Fat: 2gCholesterol: 134mgSodium: 559mgPotassium: 1186mgFiber: 5gSugar: 6gVitamin A: 7333IUVitamin C: 31mgCalcium: 88mgIron: 6mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Slow-cooker Guinness Beef Stew with winter vegetables. Gluten free.

Slow-cooker Guinness Beef Stew with winter vegetables.

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Hearty Guinness Beef Stew.

Hearty Guinness Beef Stew.

cynthia

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Comments

  6. Christina @ Christina's Cucina says

    Wonderful stew, and just perfect for this time of year when the weather cools off (unless you’re in LA like us)! I honestly LOVE your tomato paste idea! I must do that next time as I cannot tell you how much I’ve thrown away in the past! 🙁

    Reply

  11. Nicole says

    This sounded really good but the directions are poorly written. Several ingredients that are listed (thyme, turnips, ) are not ever mentioned in the directions. Also, the cooking total cooking time doesn’t add up and it is very confusing regarding how long to simmer?????

    Reply

    • Cynthia says

      Hi Nicole, Thank you so much for taking the time to write! This was one of the first recipes on my blog and yes, you’re right, some confusion on ingredients and times. I’m glad you wrote and gave me the heads up on a post that clearly needed some revision. Cynthia

      Reply

  12. mimi rippee says

    I actually had Guinness beef stew at the Guinness factory in Edinborough. It was good! I’m not one for Guinness, but it’s the only beer my husband will drink. By the way, have you come across tomato paste in a tube? I don’t know the cost comparison, but it’s so handy. You can just squeeze out a teaspoon if that’s all you need. And, there’s double strength tomato paste. A little goes a long way!

    Reply

    • Cynthia says

      Oddly enough Mimi, I don’t like any beer…Guinness is the only one I can take a few sips of. But I love cooking with it! (I’m not a fan of whiskey either, but love to cook with it too. Go figure!

      Reply

  14. Irish Buzz says

    5 stars
    It’s nice! Kept it traditional, too!

    It gets the five thumbs up from Irish Buzz!

    Now sit down and tuck into your hearty Beer Beef Stew. Or, as we say in Ireland, “Get it into ya, Cynthia!”

    — ☘️ —

    Reply

  15. Edward Smyth says

    5 stars
    Hi,

    * optional extra in stews … add Barley. It cooks in approx 1 hour 15 mins and no rep soak necessary.

    Need to thicken a stew? Add mash potato.

    I prefer stews without mushy over cooked potatoes so I cook them separately and add it to the top of the stew bowls when serving.

    I threw in two bottles of Draft Guinness but i was making a big batch + 5 Lamb stock cubes, the export is the best for stews (re Guinness official web site)

    lamb was out of this world

    You probably said that adding parsley was good at the end. I add flat leaf Italian raw at the end, so tasty.

    Thanks for the recipe

    Ed

    Reply

  16. Cindy Baker says

    I did make a few tweaks, as my bottle of beer was 12 oz, and I had forgotten to buy beef broth, so used vegetable broth, and used twice as much tomato paste. It was delicious, and the kitchen smelled amazing! I’d definitely make it again. Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply

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