Guinness Beef Stew

You don’t have to be Irish to get lucky with this amazing Guinness Beef Stew. Guinness Draught Stout’s blend of bitter and sweet along with its distinctive malty taste mingle perfectly with hearty beef and earthy root vegetables. With a little time and a few simple ingredients, you will have a filling, satisfying meal that is anything but ordinary.  

Guinness beer in beef stew??? Yes. I mean YASSSS! If you aren’t cooking with booze regularly, you’re missing out on one of the easiest ways of adding depth and richness to dishes you thought were boring and ordinary.

Ok, I’ll admit it. When when I started making beef stew, I would just throw in some water and maybe some beef broth. I made some pretty decent stew that way (at least I thought it was). But when I can across a recipe that used wine, I thought to myself…why not add beer? I love beer. (FYI-I love wine too).

Turns out that is a pretty common way to make beef stew because it is DELICIOUS this way! Cooking with beer and other alcohols enhance flavors by making food aromas more readily available to our noses. Yes, we eat with out noses! If you’ve ever tried to eat with a stuffy nose, you know this is true. Beer also helps carry flavors into the meat itself, infusing it with all the savory goodness that makes this Guinness Beef Stew so tasty.

Now that I’ve sold you on the idea of adding beer to your stew, let’s get on with the recipe.

These are some of my favorite additions-

First you will need to chop up one medium yellow onion, four cloves of garlic, and one celery rib. The carrots, mushrooms, and potatoes will go in a little later. 

Next get your meat cut up. I use about three pounds of chuck roast. You are more than welcome to buy stew meat already cut up. I prefer to by a roast so I can cut the pieces uniformly. 

I like to cut the roast into strips then cut the strips into one to two inch cubes. This roast had quite a bit of fat. I cut away as much as I can. 

Here are the little cubes. The meat will cook more evenly if you can get the pieces roughly the same size. Get some salt an pepper going on the meat and rub it in. The next step is to lightly dredge the meat in flour. This will help the meat form a crust during browning. 

Add a little oil to a pan and brown the meat in batches. I use a non-stick skillet because the meat forms a nice crust without sticking to the pan. It’s very important that you don’t crowd the pan. Give each little piece of meat it’s space so it can brown properly. If the pan is too crowded, the meat will steam-not what we’re going for here. When the meat is done, set it aside on a large platter.

Heat a large stock pot or dutch oven to medium and add the onions, garlic, and celery and herbs. Cover and cook until soft, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes. Add the meat to the vegetable mixture then add the beer along with the beef broth and salt and pepper, and bay leaves. Bring it to a boil, cover and let it simmer until the meat if fork tender (about 1.5 to 2 hours).

This is the part when you add all your favorite stew ingredients. I love carrots, mushrooms, and potatoes. But you add what you like! Let simmer for 35-45 more minutes.

You should check out my instagram stories! I usually post my recipes while I’m making them! Here’s a link to @travelpalate. And here’s the finished Guinness Beef Stew. 

Of course, you will want to serve this with some Irish Soda bread! You won’t believe how easy it is to make! Check out the recipe! 

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