Irish Stew is a wonderfully flavorful and comforting dish made with lamb, onion, carrots, potatoes, and stout. The ingredients are very simple but there is so much flavor from combination of a few additional ingredients and cooking techniques. You can cook it in a Dutch oven or make it quicker in an Instant Pot.
If you love a good stew, make sure to go and try my recipe for the classic Beef Stew and Pot Roast. Oh, and you won’t want to miss this French Onion Beef Brisket cooked it in the oven. It’s so tender!
IRISH STEW
Coming here, you may be expecting a recipe for a delicious beef stew with Guinness beer added to it. I’m sorry to disappoint if that is the case because this is not a beef stew. Yes, there is Guinness in this stew but this is more of a traditional Irish stew.
This stew is made with lamb and not beef. Traditionally, Irish stew was made with mutton or goat meat and simple root vegetables. I wanted to stick to the more traditional route and use lamb. Mutton is not something widely available at the grocery stores and neither is goat. Lamb on the other hand, is available in most stores and it is flavorful, tender, and delicious.
When I was first starting to work on this recipe, I debated for days if I should add beer or not. Traditionally, there is no beer in stew but the addition of beer sounded like it might be good for extra flavor. I decided to put my debates at rest and simply try out both ways. So I’ve made this stew with and without beer and I have to tell you, with beer is the way to go.
It adds not only an extra level of flavor, it also goes well with lamb. To counter the bitterness of Guinness, I added tomato sauce and some sugar. In the final result, this turned out to be one amazing stew. I hope you will make it for St. Patrick’s Day and every other day when you just want to taste it again.
TIPS TO MAKE THE BEST IRISH STEW
Simple ingredients don’t have to taste simple. Back in the day there weren’t all the ingredients and techniques available to home cooks but luckily, we have so much to work with. So let’s add some flavor to our Irish Stew, shall we?
– First of all, searing meat is one of the simplest and the greatest ways to infuse more flavor into stews. So get your dutch oven hot and sear that lamb.
– Sear the lamb in portions and not all at the same time. This way you don’t overcrowd the meat and all the pieces get a nice sear all around. Cooking all the meat at the same time will release too much liquid and the meat will not sear properly.
– Sear onions and carrots in the lamb juices after searing the meat.
– Deglazing the pan with beer will lift all browned pieces of meat and vegetables that are left on the pot and incorporate it into the sauce.
– Don’t rush it, let all the flavors stew together and get nice and tender. Give it a good 2 hours to stew over low heat but don’t forget to stir once in a while or the bottom with get burned.
HOW TO MAKE IRISH STEW
Prepare – combine beef stock, tomato sauce, thyme, parsley, salt, pepper, and sugar in a bowl and whisk it together and set aside. Cut lamb roast into about 1-inch pieces. Dice carrots, cut potatoes, mince garlic, and slice onion.
Sear – sear chopped lamb pieces in batches until nicely browned. Set seared meat aside in a separate bowl. Add onion and carrots to the pot and let is sear for a few minutes as well. Stir in minced garlic and cook just until garlic is fragrant. Add lamb back into the pot. Sprinkle flour over meat and vegetables and mix until all the pieces are evenly coated.
Deglaze – pour beer in slowly as you scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spatula.
Combine it all – add potatoes to the pot, pour in the beef stock mixture, and stir it all to combine. Add bay leaves and lower the heat to low.
Stew – Cover with a lid but leave a crack for the steam to escape. Cook for 2 – 2 1/2 hours, stirring once in a while. Discard bay leaves before serving.
HOW TO MAKE IT IN AN INSTANT POT
Converting this recipe to Instant Pot is very easy. It involves the same basic steps or searing the meat first, then searing carrots and onions, and finally combining it all together and cooking.
Combine beef stock, tomato sauce, thyme, parsley, salt, pepper, and sugar in a bowl and whisk it together and set aside. Cut lamb roast into about 1-inch pieces. Dice carrots, cut potatoes, mince garlic, and slice onion.
NOTE: Consult your pressure cooker manual for exact settings.
Set the pressure cooker to “sear” setting and let it heat up. Sear chopped lamb pieces in batches until nicely browned. Set seared meat aside in a separate bowl. Add onion and carrots to the pot and let is sear for a few minutes as well. Stir in minced garlic and cook just until garlic is fragrant. Add lamb back into the pot.
NOTE: No flour when cooking in Instant Pot. You will add cornstarch mixture at the end.
Pour beer in slowly as you scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spatula. Add potatoes, pour in the beef stock mixture, and stir it all to combine. Add bay leaves and close the lid until it’s latched. Turn the valve to “seal” and set the pressure cooker to “stew/meat” setting for 45 minutes. (If no “stew/meat” setting available, cook on high pressure for 45 minutes.)
Let the cooker do a natural release for about 10 minutes and then do a quick release. Discard bay leaves.
How To Thicken:
Use 2 tbsp. of cornstarch and 2 tbsp. of cold beef broth.
As soon as the stew is done cooking and you take off the lid, stir in the mixture of cornstarch and cold beef broth. Turn on the “sear” setting and slowly stir until the stew thickens. This will only take a couple of minutes and once thickened, turn off the pressure cooker.
SOME MORE STEW RECIPES TO TRY
Slow Cooker Winter Squash Beef Stew
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Irish Stew
Irish Stew is a wonderfully flavorful and comforting dish made with lamb, onion, carrots, potatoes, and stout.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs lamb roast
- 1 large yellow onion
- 3 medium carrots
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp flour
- 1 cup Guinness stout
- 2 lbs Yukon gold potatoes
- 3 cups beef stock
- 8 oz can tomato sauce
- 1 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme
- 2 tbsp fresh minced parsley
- salt
- fresh cracked black pepper
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions
Prepare Ingredients:
Combine beef stock, tomato sauce, thyme, parsley, salt, pepper, and sugar in a bowl, whisk it together and set aside.
Cut lamb roast into about 1-inch pieces. Dice carrots, cut potatoes, mince garlic, and slice onion.
Sear:
Sear chopped lamb pieces in batches until nicely browned. Set seared meat aside in a separate bowl.
Add onion and carrots to the pot and let is sear for a few minutes as well. Stir in minced garlic and cook just until garlic is fragrant.
Add lamb back into the pot. Sprinkle flour over meat and vegetables and mix until all the pieces are evenly coated.
Pour beer in slowly as you scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spatula.
Stew:
Add potatoes to the pot, pour in the beef stock mixture, and stir it all to combine. Add bay leaves and lower the heat to low.
Cover with a lid but leave a crack for the steam to escape. Cook for 2 – 2 1/2 hours, stirring once in a while.
Discard bay leaves and serve.
Recipe Notes
All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe. Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have a slight variation.
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