Guinness Beef Stew

Homemade Guinness beef stew is homey and comforting. It’s also easy to make in either the slow cooker or the electric pressure cooker.

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Jump to:

• What is Guinness?
• Serving suggestions
• Ingredients
• Instant Pot Instructions
• Slow Cooker Instructions
• Make ahead instructions
• What to do with leftovers
• Recipe costs
• Kitchen equipment
• Guinness Beef Stew Recipe

March is the perfect time for comfort foods. Spring teases and promises it’s on the way, yet cold and rainy days still keep us bundled up. That’s when it’s time to bust out something warm and filling for dinner.

How about a beef stew that you can make in either the slow cooker or electric pressure cooker?

Beef stew is one of my comfort foods, a luscious melange of beef, vegetables, herbs, and broth. There are so many different variations of the simple meat and vegetable concoction, you could probably have a new one every day.

While I love my straightforward Irish Stew as well as Beef Stew with Mushrooms and Olives or one with Eggplant and Carrots, this Guinness Beef Stew is a fun play on the classics. Duded up with a bottle of stout and a good dose of mushrooms, this stew boasts beefy richness and savory goodness.

What is Guinness?

Guinness is a dark Irish stout, originally crafted in Dublin in 1759. It’s currently available worldwide and is considered the best-selling alcoholic drink in Ireland.

Often offered on sale in March in honor of St Patrick’s Day, Guinness has been used in cooking in the US in many dishes, including chocolate cake, brownies, and of course, beef stew. In Ireland, it’s often used to flavor a steak pie.

Serving suggestions

Stew is made of a savory broth with big chunks of meat and vegetables. According to my friend Gale, who grew up in Northern Ireland, must be very brothy.

Our favorite accompaniments to serve with Guinness Beef Stew bread and butter or cheese, such as Irish Soda Bread and Dubliner Cheese. Dubliner Cheese often goes on sale near St. Patrick’s Day. We buy a big chunk at Costco and enjoy it for a few weeks.

Ingredients

• oil – Use whatever oil or cooking fat you normally use for cooking. You just need a little.
• beef roast – I recommend a cross-rib or chuck roast you cut into cubes yourself. Do not buy anything marked stew meat.
• salt and pepper – For seasoning the meat and layering with the other ingredients to build flavor.
• onion – I use chopped brown onion, but you could use white or sweet onions, as well as shallots or leeks if you have them. Pearl onions would be quite pretty in this stew as well.
• mushrooms – Use brown or white mushrooms, whatever you have.
• Guinness stout – This is the signature ingredient. You can use beef broth or a different type of beer or ale, but it won’t have the distinctive Guinness flavor.
• paprika – Ground paprika, either sweet or smoked, works well here.
• thyme – considered one of a handful of Irish herbs, thyme pairs well with the Guinness. You could use sage or rosemary if you prefer.
• bay leaf – Often used in soup and long braising dishes, bay leaf adds flavor over time.
• russet potatoes – You can use large potatoes that you chop, or small potatoes that you leave whole. If you are going to make this stew in the pressure cooker, I highly recommend you use the small, whole potatoes.
• carrots – Similarly, you can use chopped carrots or small baby carrots left whole.

What meat do you use in stew?

The best beef cuts for stew are not those marked “stew meat” at the grocery store. That’s typically rubbish. I’ve never had a good experience with those.

Instead, use beef chuck or beef cross rib roast. These cook up super tender in stews.

Can I substitute the beer for something else?

If you don’t drink or can’t find Guinness beer, feel free to use beef or vegetable broth instead. Now’s the time, though, to grab the Irish import on sale. 

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Instant Pot Instructions

Brown the meat – Turn the machine to saute and heat the oil until shimmering. Season the beef cubes with salt and pepper and brown them, in batches if necessary to avoid crowding, in the hot oil. When all the cubes are browned, transfer them to another dish for a few minutes.

Cook the vegetables – Add the onion and mushrooms to the drippings in the pot and cook on saute, stirring, until the vegetables are tender, lose their liquid, and start to brown slightly.

Add the remaining ingredients – Pour in the stout, paprika, thyme, bay leaf, and 1 teaspoon salt. Return the beef cubes to the pot. Add the small whole potatoes and then the carrots. Do not stir. Leave these layers as is.

Cook the stew under pressure. Secure the lid and close the pressure valve. Set the machine for 25 minutes on manual and then allow a 10 minute natural release before releasing the pressure and taking off the lid.

Adjust for texture and seasoning. If the juices are very thin, you can thicken them by stirring in a slurry of cornstarch and water. This will thicken the hot juices. Stir, taste for salt and pepper, adjust the seasonings to taste and serve.

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Slow Cooker Instructions

Brown the meat – In a large skillet, heat the oil until shimmering. Season the beef cubes generously with fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the meat, in batches if necessary to avoid crowding. Brown the cubes, turning as necessary. When all the cubes are browned, transfer them to the crock of a 6-quart slow cooker.

Cook the vegetables – Add the onion and mushrooms to the drippings in the skillet and cook over high heat, stirring, until the vegetables are tender, lose their liquid, and start to brown slightly.

Add the remaining ingredients – Pour in the stout, paprika, thyme, bay leaf, and 1 teaspoon salt. Simmer this mixture for 4 minutes. Transfer the vegetables and broth to the crock. Add the beef cubes, potatoes and carrots and stir to combine.

Cook the stew – Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or high for 4 hours, until the vegetables and meat are tender.

Adjust for texture and seasoning. If the juices are very thin, you can thicken then by stirring in a slurry of cornstarch and water. This will thicken the hot juices. Stir, taste for salt and pepper, adjust the seasonings to taste and serve.

Make ahead instructions

If you’d like to make this recipe in advance, you can store the cooked stew in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, stored in airtight containers.

I do not recommend freezing the stew. The cooked carrots and potatoes become mealy under freezing.

What to do with leftovers

You can stretch leftover stew into a soup by adding more broth as well as additional vegetables, if desired. Check out How to Make Soup from Leftovers for ideas.

In my freezer cookbook, there is a super yummy recipe for Potatoes Stuffed with Caramelized Onions and Dubliner Cheese, so if you have the book and some leftover Dubliner, please proceed.

Recipe costs

Knowing how much it costs you to prepare a recipe can help you decide if it’s the type of recipe to make regularly or one you might want to save for special occasions. Let’s crunch some numbers and see how this recipe pencils out.

• oil – $0.02
• beef roast – $7.98 ($3.99/pound)
• onion – $0.75
• mushrooms – $0.50
• Guinness – $1.00
• paprika – $0.04
• thyme – $0.01
• bay leaf – $0.05
• potatoes – $1.98
• carrots – $0.50
• cornstarch – $0.03

When purchased at a mid-range grocery store at non-sale prices, this Guinness beef stew costs $12.86 or $2.14/serving.

How to lower the cost of this recipe:

As is, this is a pretty affordable recipe, but you can lower the cost of the recipe even more when you use the Good Cheap Eats System.

Buy the ingredients on sale – Stew has been considered “peasant food” for ages as it usually features cheaper cuts of meat that benefit from long, slow cooking. However, in recent years, we’ve seen higher prices for beef, even the “cheaper” cuts. The big ticket items here are the beef, baby potatoes, and the Guinness, so watch for sales and stock up.

Use up your leftovers – This stew stretches beautifully with more broth and veggies. So, if you’ve got just a portion or two left, know that you can stretch it to feed more. Likewise, think about what to do with the other ingredients you might purchase for the recipe. Don’t let them go to waste.

Use more affordable ingredients – While pretty, baby potatoes cost more than standard russets. It’s a tradeoff for the ease and speed of cooking this recipe in the instant pot. Decide if that’s one you’re willing to pay an extra dollar for.

Kitchen equipment

• plastic cutting boards 
• good chef’s knife
• large nonstick skillet
• cooking tongs
• 6-quart slow cooker or pressure cooker
• vegetable peeler

This post was originally published on March 11, 2014. It has been updated for content and clarity.