Author: Vegan Irish Stew! Perfect for St. Patrick's Day. Hearty vegetables in a rich, earthy, thick stout beer broth. It's a stick to your ribs kinda stew! This Vegan Irish Stew is just so many good things in a bowl it will make your stomach smile. So dang hearty, I'm pretty much obsessed with the mixture of chunky vegetables in the rich stout based broth. Eeeerrrrrrrrk! ~Record scratch~ I'm sorry, did I say stout, as in beer? Yes, yes I did.
Irish stew is traditionally a lamb stew made with Guinness stout beer. Obviously, lamb isn't vegan, but now Guinness is vegan!! Believe it or not, the people at Guinness announced they changed their 250+ year recipe to make it vegan! Is that a sign of the times or what!?
Back to the broth: The stout beer in this recipe gives the broth rich, thick, and deep earthy tones. The alcohol gets cooked out, and the end result tastes wonderful. Seriously, good things are happening in my kitchen today.
If you don't like Guinness, you can use the handy-dandy Vegaholic app or check out Barnivore online to find a vegan-friendly stout you love.
This Vegan Irish Stew is the perfect way to celebrate St. Patrick's day, or really any day that you want a warm rich stew. Serve it with a crusty loaf of bread or a soda bread for cleaning up every last bit of broth and you have yourself one mighty fine meal! It's a good thing. 😉
To Make Vegan Irish Stew:
Gather up all your hearty veggie goodness. Omnomnom.
Chop up all the veggies into chunky pieces because this stew is all about rustic chunks of veggie deliciousness... and beer... but we'll get to that shortly.
Sauté the celery, onion, and garlic in the olive oil, until the onion becomes translucent and just begin to brown. Now sprinkle in the flour. Stir well to coat the veggies, and cook for another minute to heat up the flour. Add the vegetable broth, and scrape the bottom of the pan with your spoon to get any bits off the bottom.
Add in all of the remaining veggies, tomato paste, spices, and the beer! (See, I told you we would get to that part). It will probably foam and do beer-like things, but that's ok, the bubbles and alcohol will cook right out.
Bring to a simmer and cook for about 10 - 15 minutes until the veggies are fork-tender, but not mushy. The stew will be very thick. If you prefer a thinner stew, feel free to thin it out to taste with 1 to 2 more cups of vegetable broth.
Common Questions:
Is Guinness vegan friendly?
Yes, Guinness is 100% vegan!! No animal products have been used in its brewing or filtering, or as ingredients since 2018.
What should I serve with stew?
Be sure to make sure the ingredients are vegan but a nice crusty loaf, soda bread, or dinner roll is the perfect companion to a hearty stew.
Bon Appetegan!
Sam Turnbull
(click stars to vote)
Vegan Irish Stew
Servings: (makes about 1.5L)
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Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 ribs celery, chopped
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 - 4 cups vegetable broth
- 1 can (473ml) vegan stout beer
- 3 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
- 2 parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks (optional)
- 8 oz mushrooms, quartered
- 2 ½ cups baby potatoes, halved (or about 2 regular potatoes and cut into chunks)
- ½ cup tomato paste
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground pepper
Instructions
- Please note that some people find this recipe bitter. I love the bitter taste, but if you do not like bitter flavors here are my tips: try using less tomato paste to start, adding more later to taste if desired. Make sure you use a beer you like the flavor of, if you don't like it before it goes in the soup, you won't like it in the soup. You can start with less beer to taste or replace the beer completely with a vegan beefless broth. If you find the finished soup too bitter try adding fat such as 1 - 2 tablespoons olive oil, or vegan butter and some sweetness such as 1 - 2 tablespoons brown or white sugar, agave, or maple syrup.
- Heat a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil, and when hot add in the celery, onion, and garlic. Sauté until the onion becomes translucent and just begins to brown about 5 minutes.
- Sprinkle in the flour. Stir well to coat the veggies, and cook for another minute to heat up the flour. Add 2 cups of vegetable broth, and scrape the bottom of the pan with your spoon to get any bits off the bottom. Add in the beer, all of the remaining veggies, tomato paste, and spices. The beer will foam up, but that’s ok, the bubbles and alcohol will cook right out.
- Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 – 15 minutes until the veggies are fork-tender, but not mushy. The stew will be very thick! If you prefer a thinner stew, feel free to thin it out to taste with 1 to 2 more cups of vegetable broth. Remove bay leaves before serving, and enjoy hot. Allow leftovers to cool and store covered in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Notes
Nutrition
⭐ Did You Make This Recipe?
I’d love if you left a rating and comment, it helps others find the recipe and makes my day! 💕Bon appetegan!
Sam.
Mary says
Very tasty! I cooked it for quite a bit longer than written (maybe 45 minutes in all, but my vegetable chunks were pretty large) and added some Yves veggie beef tenders in the last few minutes of cooking. I worried about the amount of tomato paste but found I needed to use all of it to balance the beer.
This is even better the next day, and my carnivore husband really liked it too.
Sam Turnbull says
Woohoo!! So glad you enjoyed it so much 🙂
Claire says
Okay, this stew was sooooo good. UGH. I've never cooked with beer before and my eyes have now been opened! We aren't big parsnip fans so we substituted cauliflower which was just as yum. Five stars!!!
Sam Turnbull says
Woohoo!! So happy you loved it Claire, and cauliflower would be a great sub 🙂
Lauren Bellon says
I found this website not because I am vegan (I'm vegetarian) But because I am always looking for creative ways people use fillo as we are a fillo dough manufacturer. I found this recipe last week and decided to try it on St Patty's day for my family. It was truly amazing. Over 5 stars. We can honestly say that the meat was not missed, and it was full of flavor and texture. Thanks Sam for another great one. Let me know when you come up with a vegan fillo dish, we'd love to feature it on OUR blog.
-l
Sam Turnbull says
So very happy you enjoyed it so much!! I will keep you in mind if any fillo recipes come up 🙂
Nic says
Made this tonight for dinner and it was EPIC!!! This was my first time ever being brave enough to cook with beer and it was better than I could've imagined! I added peas and a side of cooked cabbage... just blew my mind! Sam I am continually impressed by your recipes, thank you for keeping things so interesting and delicious!
Sam Turnbull says
Woohoo!!! Can't get much better of a review than EPIC! Thanks so much, Nic. I'm so thrilled you love my recipes so much 🙂
Mark says
This was the 'perfect' Irish stew [veganized]. Thank You!
Mark says
8noticedd a comment suggesting too much tomato flavor...think I would have to try it with less to notice the difference. Perfectly thick and anything with beer is YUM.
Sam Turnbull says
Woohoo! So happy you loved it!
johanne says
When you sit before a bowl of perfect stew like this one you are a child again sitting at the table eating mother love. Thank you. Hanne
Sam Turnbull says
Awwww that's lovely! I know just the feeling you are talking about 🙂 So happy you enjoyed it, Johanne!
Colleen Savage says
Girl, I can't stop having bites of these leftovers every time I open the fridge door. Great recipe. Great blog.
Sam Turnbull says
Hahaha! Woohoo!! Thank you so very much! Thrilled you enjoyed the recipe so much 🙂
Kristin Baker says
Excellent Sam! Thank you for my vegan Irish stew tonight. 🙂
Sam Turnbull says
You're most welcome! So happy you loved it, Kristin 🙂
Sarah Prescott says
Delicious!! Thank you for the incredible dishes you pop out! I added a dash of liquid smoke that I bought for your vegan bacon, Mmmm! My whole family enjoyed it! XXO
Sam Turnbull says
Ooooo! Great idea!! You're most welcome, it's my favourite thing to do 🙂
christine says
The tomato flavor was over powering for our taste. Took away from the "stew flavor"
Sam Turnbull says
Oh that's too bad. You can always reduce it to taste in the future.
Michael says
Great stuff Sam! I ended up using a 16oz can of Oatmeal Cream, Buffalo Sweat stout which made the gravy have a bit of a bite, but still really good. My wife even liked it, which she is still a big meat fan. Couldn't find any parsnips in the area so I used the multi colored carrots in their place. I've never made a stew of any kind before, but it came out great! I tend to be a bit slow in the kitchen, so I was also very surprised that I made it in less than an hour. . Thanks for the great recipes, keepem coming!
Sam Turnbull says
Woohoo! That sounds fabulous! So happy you and your wife loved it 😀
Casey the College Celiac says
Beer in a stew? Wowzers! Never would've thought of that, but I love how rich and hearty this stew looks and sounds..
Sam Turnbull says
It's a classic with Irish stew! It give a wonderful rich earthy flavour 🙂
Barbara Lindsey says
Oh thank you for this fabulous recipe Sam. With winter on the way here in Melbourne, Australia, I can't wait to try this out.
Sam Turnbull says
Yay! I hope you love it 🙂
Lovethescents says
Just made this. Really delicious and authentic flavours but for the sake of me being lazy and wanting this to be a one dish meal, I'd have to figure out how to incorporate protein. Would tempeh be tasty in there, you think?
Joanne says
I am addicted to the tofu bits/crumbles recipe that Sam uses in her BEST VEGAN CHILI. I was already trying to justify using them in this recipe - well because the Irish love lamb and all that - but mostly because I love the darn things. Seriously, I think if you want protein, that's what I would do.
Sam Turnbull says
Haha! Thanks Joanne. Yes that would be a fab idea as well 🙂
Sam Turnbull says
All whole plant foods contain protein. So this dish already does contain protein! Woohoo! You can read more about that here. But if you want to add tempeh or tofu, you can totally do that. I would pan fry it first so it doesn't get mushy in the stew. Enjoy!
Joanne says
Sam- tried it tonite with the tofu crumbles. Wow! Both versions are fabulous- you have really outdone yourself with one!
BTW - you are so right about protein!
Sam Turnbull says
Yay! So happy to hear that you loved it so much 🙂 Thanks, Joanne!
Colleen Doherty says
There is a recipe for Caldo Verde with mushrooms, an "old-world soup" , published recently by Ellie Krieger, a cookbook author, in the Washington Post. In her version she sauteed mushrooms coated in Spanish smoked paprika to add a meaty smokiness in a plant -based way. I am looking forward to adapting with vegetable broth in replacing the stout.
Making the Vegan Irish Stew for St. Patrick's Day ! Thanks Sam.
Sam Turnbull says
Sounds yum! Enjoy!
Kathy says
MMMMmmmm marvelous! On top o' the rainbow! Good Gat!
Sam Turnbull says
Hahaha 🙂
Pam says
Wow, this looks delicious! Just in time for out St Patty's Day dinner party. Do you think I could finish this off with a vegan puff pastry topper? Thanks!
Sam Turnbull says
Oooh yes! That sounds delicious! Enjoy 🙂
Monica says
This looks amazing!
Sam Turnbull says
Yay! Thank you, Monica 🙂
Cal says
This stew is wonderful.
Cal
Sam Turnbull says
Thank you, Cal 🙂
Deborah says
Do you have any suggestions for a replacement for the beer?
Cal says
Deborah, There are any number of dark stouts or porters that will work well. 🙂 Oh, you probably mean that you don't want to use any beer. Well, you could try some vegan Worcestershire, Tamari sauce, and a little dark Miso. That should provide the umami you get from the beer. However, you will probably need to reduce or eliminate the 3/4 tsp of salt. I've made something similar, sans flour and sugar, for years.
Sam Turnbull says
Yes, you can replace the beer with a rich broth such as a mushroom broth. You can try amping it up a bit as Cal suggested. Enjoy!