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.
Sammy says
If I wanted to make this gluten free would I just use gluten free flour?
I’ve made this at least 8 time in the last year and I always use regular flour but recently we went gluten free.
Sam Turnbull says
The flour used in this recipe is to help thicken the stew, so yes a gluten-free flour should work fine as long as it thickens. Enjoy!
Shannon says
The only stout my grocery store had was in a massive multi-pack, so I decided to try it with Fat Tire first. It probably tastes different than the original recipe, but it's delicious anyway! I'll definitely try again with a stout.
Sam Turnbull says
Well I'm very happy you enjoyed it so much, Shannon 🙂
Melanie says
I loved this!!! Even my meat loving hubby enjoyed it! So so good with some toasted sourdough
Sam Turnbull says
Woot woot!! So happy you enjoyed it so much, Melanie 🙂
Teri says
I used the extra stout. Could that be why it had a bitter taste? The potential for a great stew was there otherwise! Thick, rich, lots of flavor, but bitter.
Sam Turnbull says
Yes, stout is the bitter flavour in this stew, so if you use more it will taste more bitter.
Elizabeth says
Did you leave out the brown sugar? Leaving out the sugar in any recipe like this one will ruin it and cause bitterness or other unpleasantness..
Emily Olson says
I think she paired the sugar with the "spices" when she said to add the spices. That's how I interpreted it at least!
Abby says
Yes
I am a Guinness fan. But I can't stand extra stout, although a lot of Irish cooking authors call for it in cooking. Probably with meat it works better..I don't know. But it's not going in my Guinness cake w/match frosting for St. Pat's! I do know quite a few craft store here in Texas can be so bitter they're like burnt hay flavor. They're all different. Anchor from California had a stout once that wasn't bad, Young's stout from England isn't bad either. But nothing is like original Guinness. Some stores are not as strong as others.
Sorry to cut in here, I just found this following a link to here from yummly, and scrolled by this recipe, it looks delicious by the way, but being a stout fan, just thought I'd say, it's not the recipe, it's the stout. If they are bitter, they'll just get worse coooked. Word to the wise, if you won't drink it, don't add it. Besides that leaves more stout for the chef!
Jim says
Made this tonight for a family of four. So good. I loved it! My picky daughter had very low expectations when I told her what we were having, but even she liked it. So simple and so flavorful. Thank you.
Sam Turnbull says
Awesome!! So thrilled you and your family enjoyed it, Jim 🙂
Debbie Huffman says
4 cloves of garlic is NOT enough for 6 servings of soup.
I mean, hail, I figure at LEAST a half a head per dish.
Sam Turnbull says
Haha! You're welcome to add more or less garlic to taste.
Sheree says
Hi Sam,
I love this stew, the flavour is amazing. I've tried it with lots of different stouts and the result is always lovely.
The only thing I'm having trouble with is the thickness, you mention that it will be very thick and may need watering down - but mine is always too watery! I've tried more flour, less broth and tried mashing some of the potatoes while in the stew to thicken it but it's always like a watery gravy, it tastes lovely but doesn't look half as appealing as yours! Any advice?
Sam Turnbull says
Hmmm it's difficult to know without being in the kitchen with you. Are you using regular all-purpose flour? I recommend starting with the 2 cups of vegetable broth. Try checking out the video as well so you can watch me make it and see if you did anything differently. Enjoy!
Stacey says
I have made this recipe twice now and my family and I absolutely love it! It’s for sure a regular meal on our list! Thank you so much for sharing this, I have a lot of food sensitivities and was struggling to find dishes for the whole family but this one is delicious! The only thing I have to make sure with it, is that it is also gluten free which is easy! I follow the recipe exactly how you prepare it. If anyone hasn’t tried it your surely missing out!!
Sam Turnbull says
That's so awesome, Stacey! So happy you love the recipe so much 🙂
Maureen says
My meat-loving husband surprised me and made this for dinner. It is delicious! Thanks for sharing.
Sam Turnbull says
Awesome!! You're most welcome 🙂
Alisa says
So. Delicious. Even my husband said so, and he's usually weird about adapting recipes and/or vegan recipes.
Sam Turnbull says
Yay!!! Happy to hear that 🙂
Paul says
I used a half bottle of New Holland Oatmeal Stout (drank the other half with the meal), left out the parsnips, added barley added dried parsley. Had to use full 4 cups of vegetable broth. I also cooked the mushrooms separately so they could be added (one of my kids doesn't like mushrooms.) Came out great - no bitterness.
Sam Turnbull says
Wonderful! Thrilled you loved it so much, Paul 🙂
Misty says
Mine turned out Very better. Anything I can do to fix it?
Misty says
Bitter*
Sam Turnbull says
The bitterness comes from the beer you choose to use, so you could try another beer or acidity cuts bitterness so you could add a squeeze of lime or splash of vinegar. Enjoy!
Kendra says
Can you use something instead of beer?
Sam Turnbull says
You could just use more vegetable broth. You might want to up the spices a little more to make up for the lack of flavour from the beer. Enjoy!
Dawn says
Hello i want to make this Irish stew i was wondering if i could put this in a crockpot ? And how long would i cook everything in the crockpot ? I look fwd to trying this out can’t wait thanks
Sam Turnbull says
I don't have a crockpot so I don't know the timing but I am sure it would work just fine.
Dawn says
Thank you for your reply i a. Going to try it out in the crock pot and i will post my findings..... i can’t wait to make it
Sonia says
Hi! Did you ever tried doing this one on the crockpot? If yes, can you please share how long it took, at what temperature and if you had to do anything different?
Thanks!
Tina Rose says
Love this! I always use Guinness, slice my mushrooms rather thin, and add a cup(ish) of frozen peas at the end. It's the perfect dinner for a wintery night - or any time you want a bit of comfort food. Thank you so much, Sam!
Sam Turnbull says
Delish!! You're most welcome, Tina, 🙂
GAX says
You know, Guiness is not considered vegan because they use a fish bladder additive in the processing. Sam Adams oatmeal stout or sheaf stout are. You can use the veggiebeers app to determine whether a beer is vegan. 🙂
Tina says
I do know that - and I'm not vegan so it's not an issue for me.
Sam Turnbull says
Good news, Guiness is now vegan 🙂
Maha says
Just chiming in to say that this was delicious and my partner and I loved it! Thank you so much for sharing.
Sam Turnbull says
Wonderful! So happy you both enjoyed it, Maha 🙂
Michele says
My husband has been vegan for almost 10 years I have only been vegan for almost 2 years. My husband is Irish and we saw this recipe. I was so excited to try it. I’ve had good luck finding vegan recipes online however this one was not for us. It had a very bitter after taste. I had to adjust your times it took much longe to cook than your recipe stated ( I diced all the root vegetables my husband doesn’t like large chunks).
I did use portabellas as a meatier mushroom. Great idea just not for us!
Sam Turnbull says
Sorry you didn't enjoy it.
Madison says
I haven't had a stew since going vegan over 2 years ago. Last week, my boyfriend said he wanted stew and I remembered that I had bookmarked this recipe a few weeks ago. I made it and it was amazing! Far better than the beef stew I used to make and I can't wait to make it again. Great recipe!
Sam Turnbull says
Wonderful!!! So happy you love it so much, Madison!!
Anniken says
I have made this dish 3 times now and I love it!! Thank you so much for your awesome recipes and personality 🙂 Greetings from Norway 🙂
Sam Turnbull says
You're most welcome, Anniken! So happy you loved the stew 🙂
MJ says
Hi, Where does the brown sugar go? In the list but not in instructions.
Thanks
Sam Turnbull says
In the last step along with the other spices. Enjoy!