Easy to make beef stew with Guinness prepared with root vegetables and served with mashed potatoes. Great comfort food for mid week dinner.
Why make this recipe?
- Great recipe to use for cheaper of cuts of beef
- Versitale recipe – adapt it to what you have in your store cupboard
- Fab comfort food
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What makes this recipe work
Coating the meat with flour and seasoning before browning the meat is important because that’s how you create the lovely thick sauce at the end. It also helps to seal all the meat juices in and adds flavour to your beef stew.
My top tips on making this recipe successfully the first time round
- Coat the meat with flour and seasoning first
- Brown the meat properly – see my step by step notes
- Don’t rush the meat – let it cook through properly
Time saving tip
This beef stew keeps really well in the fridge for few days or can be easily frozen. This means that you can double the recipe ingredients and make a big batch, freezing the beef stew in individual portions. This way, you can save time next time when you want a your dinner fast and dont’ have the time to cook from scratch.
Pro tip
Don’t overcrowd the frying pan (or saucepan) when browning the mean – always leave space between the meat pieces. Also the heat needs to be fairly high (to medium), so that the meat gets ‘sealed in’.
If the temperature is too low ( and adding too much meat at the same time lowers the temperature even further) your meat will slowly warm up and the juices will just run out.
When the temperature is high enough, the top layer of the meat gets brown and seals in all the juices. This means that when you start simmering your meat, you’ll preserve the meat juices in and they become tender. If you just warm up the meat, all juices will run out and you’ll end up with a tough meat.
Any specialist equipment needed?
Large frying pan can save a bit of time when you are browning your meat and caramelising the onions. A large stock pot, saucepan or a pot is is needed for this recipe, so make sure you have enough space for all the meat.
Allergies & dietary requirements
Make this stew gluten free – change the regular flour for a gluten free flour mix
Ingredients & Possible Substitutions
2 pounds beef or 1 kg (beef meat suitable for stews) cut into larger 2 cm chunks
2 onions finely chopped
4 cloves garlic finelly chopped or pressed
4 carrots cut into 1 cm chunks
1 cup small cup mushrooms
1 bottle or can Guinness beer
2 cups beef broth or 2 cups of water with 1 cube of dried beef stock or vegetable stock cube
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
salt & pepper to taste
1 tablespoon thyme
4 tablespoons plain (cake) flour can be gluten free
How to make Guinness Beef Stew
Cut the beef into large 2 cm chunks.
Mix together the plain flour, plenty of salt and freshly milled peper.
Roll the beef chunks into the flour mix, pressing and picking up as much of the flour as possible.
Heat the vegetable oil on medium heat in a large saucepan or a stockpot and add the chopped onion and garlic. Cook until the onion is see through and slightly brown (don’t let it go too brown). Remove from the pot and set asside on a plate.
Increase the heat a little, add more vegetable oil and add the beef cuts rolled in the flour. Make sure that you don’t overcrowd the saucepan or the stockpot, leaving plenty of space between the meat. Only add in enough meat to leave space between and let the meat brown on both sides. Remove and set aside. Repeat with the rest of the meat. This might take about 5 minutes for each batch of meat.
Once all meat is done return it back to the pot and add the sauteed onions and garlic.
Add the sliced carrots
Pour in the Guinness beer, beef broth, thyme or other herbs
Bring to a boil and then reduced the heat to medium – only letting the pot to simmer. Leave for up to 2 hrs, but check regularly and add more broth or water if needed.
Once the meat is tender, add the mushrooms and any other seasoning if needed. Simmer for a further 15 minutes or so until everything is cooked through.
Serve the beef stew with mashed potatoes and some extra parsley or other fresh herbs.
How else you can make this recipe?
You can easily swap the Guiness stout for any dark type of beer. The darker the better as you want the caramelised sugar in the beer to give flavour to the beef stew.
You can also leave the beer out and replace the amount with more beef or vegetable stock.
Equally you can also make the stew with red vine, although the last two options won’t of course be traditional irish beef stew.
What to serve Guinness Beef Stew with
Serve your Guinness Beef Stew with mashed potatoes (see my recipe bellow) or a regular boiled potatoes or even baked potatoes. Dumplings (both regular or potato) are also great combination and of course, if you don’t have any of these, just serve it with a slice of crusty beer bread and homemade butter.
Steamed or stewed cabbage with butter is also great as an extra side dish.
Recipe size
This recipe should feed 4 adults or up to 6 people with a smaller apetites. If you add more mashed potatoes and extra steamed vegetables you can stretch the portions to 6 quite easily.
Can I scale up or down this recipe?
Yes, you can make this recipe in a smaller quantity. You can easily half all the ingredients and make meal suitable for 2-3 people.
Equally you can also double up on all the ingredients and make large batch. It really depends on how big stock pot you have and how much meat you have. You can always add more vegetables to bulk up the stew as the meat is the most expensive part of this recipe.
Pro tip
You dont’ need to use a prime beef cuts for this recipe. The cheaper beef meat is as good as anything for this recipe as we are going to simmer the meat until it’s soft and tender.
Can this recipe be made in advance?
Beef stews are great second or third day, when the flavour develops even more, so they are perfect for making in advance.
How to store beef stew
Keep your beef stew in a fridge in a saucepan with a lid or a fridge suitable container.
Can I freeze beef stew
Beef stew is perfect for freezing. Follow the same instructions for freezing gumbo by letting the stew cool down completely first, then transfer to a suitable freezer container. Freeze on the same day as you’ve made it and eat within 3 months.
Defrost overnight in the fridge or use your defrost setting on your microwave or an oven.
How to re-heat this recipe
Unless you are reheating the beef stew for the whole family, heat only what you need – one portion at a time. You don’t want to keep re-heating and cooling down the stew as this could would make it go off sooner.
Guinness Beef Stew with Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 2 pounds beef or 1 kg (beef meat suitable for stews) cut into larger 2 cm chunks
- 2 onions finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic finelly chopped or pressed
- 4 carrots cut into 1 cm chunks
- 1 cup small cup mushrooms
- 1 bottle or can Guinness beer
- 2 cups beef broth or 2 cups of water with 1 cube of dried beef stock or vegetable stock cube
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon thyme
- 4 tablespoons plain (cake) flour can be gluten free
Instructions
- Cut the beef into large 2 cm chunks.
- Mix together the plain flour, plenty of salt and freshly milled peper.
- Roll the beef chunks into the flour mix, pressing and picking up as much of the flour as possible.
- Heat the vegetable oil on medium heat in a large saucepan or a stockpot and add the chopped onion and garlic. Cook until the onion is see through and slightly brown (don't let it go too brown). Remove from the pot and set asside on a plate.
- Increase the heat a little, add more vegetable oil and add the beef cuts rolled in the flour. Make sure that you don't overcrowd the saucepan or the stockpot, leaving plenty of space between the meat. Only add in enough meat to leave space between and let the meat brown on both sides. Remove and set aside. Repeat with the rest of the meat. This might take about 5 minutes for each batch of meat.
- Once all meat is done return it back to the pot and add the sauteed onions and garlic.
- Add the sliced carrots
- Pour in the Guinness beer, beef broth, thyme or other herbs
- Bring to a boil and then reduced the heat to medium – only letting the pot to simmer. Leave for up to 2 hrs, but check regularly and add more broth or water if needed.
- Once the meat is tender, add the mushrooms and any other seasoning if needed. Simmer for a further 15 minutes or so until everything is cooked through.
- Serve the beef stew with mashed potatoes and some extra parsley or other fresh herbs.
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