This Irish Beef Stew was a surprising win in the Weeknight Dinners For Everyone category. And moms, it also means you did a St Patrick’s day recipe!
Hold onto your britches, I’m actually posting something for St Patrick’s day! I know, I’m a lame mom that doesn’t go crazy on every single holiday, but this Irish Beef Stew is perfect for the 80% of you who also are not Pinterest moms but still want to make memories with your family.
Now let’s just point out the obvious, this Irish Beef Stew does not have the traditional Guinness Beer which is what normally makes it an Irish Stew Recipe.
Here’s the deal, we don’t drink alcohol. This isn’t the type of thing where I found some secret way that’s better or anything, this is purely what works for our family. Because of our religious beliefs we don’t drink alcohol and while it does cook out, we just avoid.
Using Beer in Irish Beef Stew
Alright, so here’s how you make it happen. If you’d like to use beer in place of the pop (do you say pop or soda?) just substitute equal amounts. That’s it!
What Beer for Irish Stew?
The darker the alcohol is going to be better, try using a Guinness Beer that is dark.. I’ve read all about it and you can trust me even if I’ve never drank it. That’s the best I can offer. Sorry I’m not more help. But don’t worry, I still know how to cook and this recipe for Irish Beef Stew is still the bomb.com.
(Sometimes I say that in text and it automatically links to a real website which always makes me panic a little. Does the government watch that stuff and know I’m not actually looking up such a thing?!)
Irish Beef Stew
We did a big ol’ comparison of stews a while back, and as I’m a purist I completely expected to be all about the traditional stew, but this Irish Beef Stew totally and completely won my heart over. It is so good!!
An Irish Beef Stew is a very simple combination of ingredients that while slowly cooked begin to transform into a hearty, tender, melt in your mouth stew.
What’s in an Irish Stew that makes it different than a traditional stew? Really nothing other then alcohol instead of straight broth. While our’s doesn’t have the alcohol we did use a dark soda, Coke.
What to Use Instead of Beer in Stew
If you’re like us and you don’t drink, merely substitute Coke and some Worcestershire Sauce to achieve that umami flavor. Don’t worry so much about what you use, beer is fine if that’s what you use, coke is great if you don’t. Both will leave you with the same outcome, a delicious stew with absolutely tender meat.
How to Serve Irish Stew
I’ve seen a lot of Irish Stew recipes, but not all are served the same way, so how do you serve Irish Stew?
It all depends on what is in the Irish Beef Stew, if there’s potatoes then you generally don’t serve it over potatoes. If there isn’t you can serve it alone as a stew with an Irish Soda Bread or alongside rolls, or you can serve it over creamy mashed potatoes.
How to Thicken Irish Stew
A stew should always have a thick consistency in my humble opinion. None of this broth business. Broth is the starting point, but not the ending point. That’s a beef soup, there’s a difference.
To achieve that thick and creamy, but never gloppy texture, use a slurry which consists of cold water and all purpose flour. No other flour should be used as it will not have the same effect.
Whisk the mixture until it’s perfectly smooth then, while stirring add it to the stew and simmer until thickened.
How to Substitute Cornstarch instead of Flour
If you would rather use cornstarch instead of flour that’s totally fine. Just half the water and use half the amount you would normally use if it was flour.
Usually I’m all for making a roux or using cornstarch in sauces, but when it comes to a stew, a slurry of water and flour actually works very well. In fact, I prefer it for a stew.
Can You Freeze Irish Stew?
Irish stew is one of the best ideas for a freezer meal. Go ahead and completely prepare the Irish stew and then cool completely. Use a FoodSaver to seal up the stew and lay flat in the freezer for up to 3 months.
When you’re ready to reheat a frozen stew, place it first in the refrigerator to defrost. I know, it’s really tempting to dump a frozen stew into a pot and get it warming up, but that’s actually a recipe for disaster. Soups should always be slowly defrosted and slowly brought back to temperature.
Is Irish Stew Gluten Free?
Irish Stew is only gluten free if you choose to go with the cornstarch mixture. If you use the flour slurry it is no longer a gluten free stew. All other ingredients are gluten free so it’s a fantastic meal idea for a family that has food allergies or dietary restrictions.
Soup and Stew RECIPES
Looking for more soup and stew recipes? Mom’s Fabulous Slow Cooker Stew, Taco Stew, Cheeseburger Soup, Slow Cooker Potato Bacon Corn Chowder or Honey Lime Chicken Enchilada Soup!
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Irish Beef Stew
Description
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 2.25 lb Beef Chuck, or stew meat, cubed
- 3/4 Teaspoons Salt
- Black pepper
- 3 Cloves Garlic, minced
- 2 Onions, red, one minced and one chopped in bigger chunks
- 4 Slices Bacon, diced
- 15 Ounces Coke, Coca Cola pop
- 4 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
- 2 Teaspoons Beef Bouillon, Better than Beef Bouillon plus 2 cups of water or 2 cups beef broth
- 1 Teaspoon Chicken Bouillon, Better than Chicken Bouillon plus 1 cup of water or 1 cup chicken broth *see note
- 3 Carrots , large, peeled and cut into chunks on a diagonal
- 2 Stalks Celery , large, chopped
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 1 Sprig Thyme, fresh, or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/4 Cup Flour
- 1/2 Cup Water, cold
Instructions
- Prepare the meat by patting dry with paper towels, then sprinkle with salt and pepper, tossing to coat. Allow to sit out for 5-8 minutes before cooking.
- Heat oil in a heavy based pot over high heat. Add beef in batches and brown on each side, removing the meat to a plate as it finishes and repeat with remaining meat.
- Remove pot from heat and add a drizzle of oil if needed.
- Return the pot to medium heat, add garlic and onions. Cook for 3 minutes until softening, then add bacon, stirring occasionally.
- Cook until bacon is browned.
- Dump the meat and all accumulated juices back into the pot. Mix well then add remaining ingredients.
- Bring the stew to a simmer then lower heat so it is bubbling gently.
- Place a lid on the pot. Cook for 2 hours, the meat should be practically falling apart by now.
- In a glass measuring cup, add the flour and water together, whisking vigorously to combine.
- With the stew simmering, slowly stir the flour mixture into the pot.
- Remove the lid and simmer for 30 - 45 minutes or until the beef falls apart at a touch.
- Remove bay leaves and thyme.
- Serve with bread!
Notes
Nutrition
Recommended Products
cynthia lester
I want to add potatoes next time what do you think? Maybe yellow gold that will hold up better.
Sweet Basil
Yes! Love that idea!
Patrick
Trying this as it looks so authentic in the photos. I love corned beef but we never eat it on St. Patrick’s Day as a mild protest. It’s a British dish and in Ireland you may only find C B in the trendy and tourist eateries. the locals want nothing to do with it. To make matters worse Guinness Stout was bought out by a British firm. Will they never stop and leave us alone? hahaha
Sweet Basil
Hahaha! I hope you enjoy this stew!
Rachel
I am making this tomorrow. I’m hoping it will turn out as tasty in the crock pot. Sunday’s are busy days for me at church and it’s nice to come home to the house smelling so yummy.
Sweet Basil
How did it go?? It is a great crock pot stew!
Rosanna Biondolillo
This stew is simmering on my stove as I type. We can’t wait for dinner 😋 it smells absolutely amazing in here!! We’ll be serving over mashed potatoes and buttered biscuits. Decadent I know, we were out in the cold rain all day watching our 13 year old play in a baseball tournament!
Sweet Basil
This will be the perfect meal to warm you up! Hope it was delicious!
Rebecca S.
I forgot to add the only thing I did different is I omitted the bacon. I don’t eat bacon. My mom didn’t use bacon in hers either, but the outcome was even slightly better than moms. Shhhh lol
Sweet Basil
Haha…my lips are sealed!
Rebecca S.
I made this today for my family. My mom used to make this but she never wrote down a recipe. She passed 15 years ago. So I didn’t have her to remind me of everything she did. We are Italian and I know how to make all her Italian dishes. Only made this once years ago. I came across your recipe and it reminded me of what my mother used to use. This was amazing my boys were in heaven!! we absolutely loved it!!
Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe. I will definitely be making this again!! I doubled the recipe because my boys are big eaters. I have a good size large Tupperware bowl so we can have it again tomorrow!
Sweet Basil
Yay! Love to hear that Rebecca! It makes great leftovers too!
Jean
I am sorry but I don’t see any SWEET BASIL in the ingredients – bay leaf is diff than sweet basil – did I mis read?
Sweet Basil
Hi Jean! “Sweet Basil” is just the name of our blog. This recipe does not call for basil. It does have bay leaf in it. If you need anything else clarified, please let me know!
Adorisa
Made as written. This was fantastic!
Sweet Basil
Yay! Thanks Adorisa!
Monica
Hi again…just wanted to report that I made it last night for my family and we had three missionaries serving for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints here for dinner as well and it was a huge hit! It is so yummy! I made a big batch of mashed potatoes to serve it on and also warmed up a packet of Quinoa and Brown Rice from Seeds of Change and I had mine on that–yum! Thanks for sharing such a delicious recipe!
Sweet Basil
Yay! We love to hear that! I love the idea of serving it over mashed potatoes or quinoa and rice! Thank you for taking time to give us feedback!
Monica
Hi again…so I commented on missing instructions yesterday…the copy I had printed out started with In a glass measuring cup…but a weird thing happened after I sent the comment my screen changed and then there were more instructions – yay! I made it for a friend and her family last night and they loved it and asked for the recipe so I forwarded the link on to her. I am going to make another pot of it for my family tomorrow and I look forward to tasting it…sure did smell amazing while it was cooking! I did wonder if bacon was getting cooked though with the onions as it didn’t look like it was getting brown.
Sweet Basil
So glad your friend enjoyed it! It is one of our favorites! The bacon should cook up just fine with the onions. If you’re worried about it being cooked through, it will finish cooking while the stew simmers.
Monica Rogers
Hi Carrian – I was just a little curious…there are only 3 steps in the instructions and I wasn’t sure if I am supposed to throw everything all together in the pot raw and let cook or am I supposed to brown the beef first and saute the onions and cook the bacon before adding it? In another stew recipe it says to brown beef on all sides and remove and then saute the onion so I just wasn’t sure. Are there some steps missing from the instructions…your recipe instructions starts with mixing the flour with water?
Monica
Hi I’m not sure what happened…when I printed out the recipe under instructions it reads…In a glass measuring cup, add the flour and water together, whisking vigorously…
so I was confused and then after I submitted my comment above then the screen changed and I now see many more steps (13 now) which makes much more sense to me…I’ll print it out again.
Sweet Basil
Oh phew! I’m glad you have them all now!
Sweet Basil
I see 13 steps in the instructions on my end that answer all these questions. Here they are just in case:
Instructions
Prepare the meat by patting dry with paper towels, then sprinkle with salt and pepper, tossing to coat. Allow to sit out for 5-8 minutes before cooking.
Heat oil in a heavy based pot over high heat. Add beef in batches and brown on each side, removing the meat to a plate as it finishes and repeat with remaining meat.
Remove pot from heat and add a drizzle of oil if needed.
Return the pot to medium heat, add garlic and onions. Cook for 3 minutes until softening, then add bacon, stirring occasionally.
Cook until bacon is browned.
Dump the meat and all accumulated juices back into the pot. Mix well then add remaining ingredients.
Bring the stew to a simmer then lower heat so it is bubbling gently.
Place a lid on the pot. Cook for 2 hours, the meat should be practically falling apart by now.
In a glass measuring cup, add the flour and water together, whisking vigorously to combine.
With the stew simmering, slowly stir the flour mixture into the pot.
Remove the lid and simmer for 30 – 45 minutes or until the beef falls apart at a touch.
Remove bay leaves and thyme.
Serve with bread!
Shannon Stanger
I made this a few days ago and it was absolutely delicious!!! I followed the recipe exactly, even using the better than bouillon that was recommended. I did notice a nice depth of flavor. It smelled amazing simmering in my kitchen and the end result was a delicious, full of flavor stew that my whole family loved. I actually had beef stew in Ireland when I went there, not lamb stew, though I know that is more often the meat traditionally used. When I had it there, it was served over mashed potatoes, so I made some mashed potatoes to serve it over at home. Bottom line; I have never been disdappointed by a recipe from your blog and this was another big win. It was amazing!!! Thank you!
Sweet Basil
You are the best Shannon! Thank you! We appreciate your feedback so much and we are so glad you enjoyed this stew! We sure love it in our house! XOXO!
Suzie
Call it what you want, it looks delish! I got the ingredients to make it tonight. Will let you know how it turned it out.
Sweet Basil
Yay!! Please let us know!
Suzie
I did make this soup and it was delicious! Everyone at work kept telling me how wonderful it smelled. I ate the soup for about 4 days that week. I definitely will make this again!
Sweet Basil
Yippee!! Thanks for the feedback Suzie!
Deb Leonard
Why do you use both beef and chicken bouillon flavors? This is the first I’ve ever read of using both in all my years of cooking.
Thanks for answering!?
Sweet Basil
The combination of beef and chicken gives for a more rounded out flavor versus just all one layer of beef. It adds variety. Great question!
Drew McPherson
Irish stew is Lamb and potatoes no fancy beer .they lived in stone huts .a traditional Shepherd’s Pie is Lamb and Potatoes , mostly the Irish meal was potatoes . they had no beef to make (cottage Pie ).I am sure your salt and cube of chemicals stew tastes great but it is not Irish , nor healthy .Everything Irish has potatoes IE potato pancakes , Potato cakes (potatoes with a bit of flour baked in the oven ). Potatoes and Potatoes that’s why thousands died when the potato crop of the tenant farmers failed and the Rich landlords did nothing to save them from starvation .
Call your stew Santa Clause stew ,but not Irish .. What part of it do you think is Irish just BTW