Pressure cooked right in stout beer, our Instant Pot Guinness beef stew is the perfect addition to your St. Patrick's Day. With fall apart beef, potatoes, carrots, and rich Guinness infused sauce, you'll love this simple and savory Irish stew without lamb that's a Whole Lotta Yum.
Instant Pot Irish Stew with Beef is the best!
Just in time for everyone's favorite Irish holiday, we are cooking up our Instant Pot Guinness beef stew! Filled with beef stew meat, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, and tomato paste, and pressure-cooked in 2 cups of stout beer with a hint of brown sugar sweetness, this Guinness stew disappeared as fast as we served it.
Perfect for St. Patrick's Day, as well as any other night you're looking for pure comfort food.
While this is delicious as is, we highly recommend that you serve it atop colcannon, a mashed potato with bacon dish that is divine and ready to soak up all of that beer-infused beef stew broth and Irish soda bread.
Why You'll Love This Irish Stew with Guinness!
- Our Instant Pot Guinness beef stew is super simple to make! An Irish-inspired dish, we have simplified the process without skimping on flavor one bit.
- Packed with plenty of aromatics, including garlic, onion, and celery, the stew has rich, savory flavory in every bite.
- Our Irish beef stew recipe is both a great low-carb as well as dairy-free stew option when served as-is.
- Cooked in 2 cups of Guinness, we have infused each and every spoonful of this Irishi-inspired beef stew recipe with the bold flavor of stout beer.
If you are looking to add a few additional Irish-themed recipes to your meal rotation, be sure and try our Irish bangers and mash with caramelized onion gravy as well. Both will have you feeling like a little luck of the Irish has rubbed off on you.
Ingredient Notes
You'll notice that the stew ingredients are very similar to a classic American beef stew recipe. This gets jazzed up a bit with the addition of stout and brown sugar or honey, creating a rich and thick sauce you won't be able to get enough of.
And don't worry, you can't taste the beer and this is kid friendly too! Our recipe does call for 2 cups of Guinness, you can scale that back to 1 cup and add a cup of beef broth if you're feeding it to the whole family.
Traditionally, Irish stew is made with lamb meat but we're using beef stew meat instead. But you of course can use lamb meat if you want to stick to the original!
- olive or avocado oil for browning the stew meat
- beef stew meat - cut into 2" pieces. Irish stew is traditionally made with lamb, but in America, Irish beef stew is more commonly made with beef stew meat like beef chuck roast. You can substitute lamb pieces if you prefer.
- salt - we always use fine sea salt
- black pepper - we always use course freshly ground black pepper
- onions -white, red, or sweet onions
- celery stalks
- minced garlic - either freshly minced garlic or frozen garlic cubes (defrosted) like the Trader Joe's kind
- tomato paste - tomato paste adds extra thickness and richness
- stout beer (Guinness) - any stout beer or dark beer will work here or you can use Guinness draft beer
- baby carrots or sliced or large diced carrots
- brown sugar - adds a touch of sweetness, you can skip it or use honey, maple syrup, or golden monk fruit
- bay leaves
- dried thyme
** Please see the recipe card at the bottom of the post for the exact quantities **
Equipment
A Pressure Cooker - This is the Instant Pot model that we used
How to Make Instant Pot Irish Stew
We'll be browning the meat to give it depth of flavor, and then sauteing the veggies. Just give the pot a quick glaze with beer and/or broth and pressure cook until your stew is perfection.
Step 1: Sprinkle the beef cubes with salt and pepper and set aside.
Step 2: Turn the Instant Pot to High. Once the pot reads Hot, add the oil.
Step 3: Put half of the beef in the pressure cooker and sear it on each side for 3-4 minutes. It will not be cooked through at the point but is just getting browned. Remove the beef and set it aside. Add additional oil if needed and sear the remaining beef.
Step 5: Add a little more oil to the pot if it's needed and add in the sliced onion and celery. Cook them for 4 minutes until the vegetables start to soften.
Step 6: Add the minced garlic and saute for 1 more minute. Stir in the tomato paste.
Step 7: Add the Guinness stout beer to the Instant Pot and scrape the bottom to deglaze the pot. Scraping the bottom of the pot keeps you from getting a Burn signal when the stew cooks under pressure. Let the Guinness simmer for 5 minutes to slightly reduce the beer. Turn the Instant Pot off by pressing the Cancel button.
Step 8: Add in the beef, baby carrots, brown sugar, bay leaves, and thyme to the pot. Stir to combine.
Step 9: Put the lid on the Instant Pot and pressure cook on Manual High for 35 minutes. Do a Natural Release for 10 minutes before releasing the remaining pressure. Remove the lid. Remove the fat that's floated to the top of the pot with a slotted spoon.
Serve your stew with mashed potatoes, cauliflower potatoes, or Irish Colcannon potatoes for a delicious Irish inspired dinner everyone will love!
Recipe Tips
- Allow your Instant Pot to heat until is says HOT before you add your oil or beef.
- The recipe uses a full bottle of Guinness plus part of a 2nd bottle. If you don't want to open 2 bottles, then use one full bottle and substitute beef broth up to the 2 cup line in a liquid measuring cup.
- Thoroughly deglaze your pressure cooker before you assemble the stew ingredients. Leaving items on the bottom of the pot increases your chance of getting a burn notice during pressure cooking.
- We did not add a thicker like corn starch or flour to the stew, we were serving it over colcannon mashed potatoes with bacon and wanted it saucy. But you can add a thickener after cooking if preferred with flour or corn starch.
Common Questions
Stout beers like Guinness are known for being slightly bitter. Adding a touch of brown sugar to the stew recipe balances out the bitterness and makes it savory and flavorful instead of bitter. Guinness draft beer can also be used instead of a Guinness stout, it is a little milder in flavor.
Store leftover Irish stew in the fridge for up to 4 days in a covered container. You could also freeze your stew for up to 3 months.
More Irish Recipes
Looking for more Irish recipes?
- Instant Pot colcannon with bacon
- Dutch oven corned beef and cabbage
- Crockpot cabbage and bacon
- Irish bangers and mash
- Irish soda bread with raisins
If you loved our recipe, please leave us a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review and leave us a comment too! Connect with us on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube!
Recipe
Instant Pot Guinness Stew
Ingredients
- 2 + tablespoon olive or avocado oil
- 2 ½ lb beef stew meat like chuck roast, cut into 2" pieces
- ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¾ teaspoon course black pepper
- 2 large onions thinly sliced
- 3 celery stalks sliced
- 4 teaspoon minced garlic
- 3 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 cups stout beer Guinness
- 1 lb baby carrots
- 2 teaspoon packed brown sugar
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
Instructions
- Sprinkle the beef with salt and pepper.
- Turn the Instant Pot to High. Once the pot reads Hot, add the oil. Put half of the beef in the pressure cooker and sear it on each side for 3-4 minutes, it will not be cooked through at the point but is just getting browned on two sides. Remove the beef and set it aside.
- Add a little more oil to the pot if it's needed, our beef was a leaner cut and we added 1 tablespoon of oil. Add the sliced onion and celery to the pot and cook them for 4 minutes until the vegetables start to soften. Add the minced garlic and saute for 1 more minute. Stir in the tomato paste.
- Add the Guinness stout beer to the Instant Pot and scrape the bottom to deglaze the pot. Scraping the bottom of the pot keeps you from getting a Burn signal when the stew cooks under pressure. Let the Guinness simmer for 5 minutes to slightly reduce the beer. Turn the Instant Pot off by pressing the Cancel button.
- Add the beef, baby carrots, brown sugar, bay leaves, and thyme to the pot, stir to combine.
- Put the lid on the Instant Pot and pressure cook on Manual High for 35 minutes. Do a Natural Release for 10 minutes before releasing the remaining pressure. Remove the lid.
- Remove the fat that's floated to the top of the pot with a slotted spoon.
- Make a flour or corn starch slurry if you want it thicker by taking 1 tablespoon corn starch and mixing it with ¼ cup of hot liquid, stir it back into the pot and simmer the stew on Saute High until it starts to thicken. Serve or mashed potatoes and enjoy!
Notes
- The recipe uses a full bottle of Guinness plus part of a 2nd bottle. If you don't want to open 2 bottles (although having a partial for the chef during cooking isn't a bad idea ;), then use one full bottle and substitute beef broth up to the 2 cup line in a liquid measuring cup.
- Irish stew is traditionally made with lamb, but in America, Irish beef stew is more commonly made with beef. You can substitute lamb pieces if you prefer.
- We did not add a thicker like corn starch or flour to the stew, we were serving it over Instant Pot colcannon mashed potatoes with bacon and wanted it saucy.
- Because this recipe was made in a pressure cooker, we did not brown the beef cubes in flour. Adding flour increases the chances you'll get a burn signal during the cooking process.
- Guinness draft was used in the recipe, Guinness stout can also be used, or you can use another brand of stout beer. And in case you're wondering, you can't taste the beer at all!
Carrie Douglas says
Can this be made in the crock pot?