Instant Pot Irish stew has so much flavor from the Guinness, beef, potatoes, carrots and other simple but delicious ingredients. It’s loaded with veggies and made in one pot! Cooking at high pressure creates tender meat and root vegetables in a tantalizing broth that is fun to serve for St. Patrick’s Day or any other winter day when you’re craving a hearty stew!
Irish stew has become a new favorite comforting meal in our house. It is simple to make, uses pantry staples, and is made entirely in the Instant Pot. It’s the ultimate comfort food, with the Guinness adding a flavorful Irish twist that adds a rich complexity and depth of flavor that makes this version different than your standard beef stew.
This Guinness stew is lighter by adding extra veggies. In addition to the beef, there are loads of potatoes, carrots, chopped onion, mushrooms and peas. The veggies all soak up the rich gravy and become little flavor bombs in their own right.
If you haven’t tried Irish stew before, you’ll be blown away by it’s deep flavor. One bite and you’ll want to curl up under a blanket with a good book. It’s got that level of comfort food factor to it. Serve with a crusty bread, Irish soda bread, or my gluten-free oat flour buttermilk biscuits and you’ll be in heaven.
If you’re celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and aren’t in the mood for stew, check out my tasty Dutch oven corned beef recipe. The leftover corned beef can be used in my corned beef fritters too!
Ingredients and substitutions
One of the things I like best about making a hearty beef stew like this is that I pretty much always have the ingredients on hand. In this case, all I had to get was stew meat, Guinness, mushrooms, and parsley (which is optional of course).
Although it looks like the ingredient list is long, its basic stuff, most of which you can dump in quickly and doesn’t complicate the recipe.
- oil – I use and recommend avocado oil but you can use olive oil if you prefer.
- stew beef – round steak, chuck roast, and pot roast work great since they are tough and the pressure cooker will make the meat tender. Round cuts are sometimes labeled as “bottom round” or “eye” cuts or even round steak.You can swap the beef out for lamb meat if you prefer. If you choose to do lamb, choose a lamb stew meat, shoulder or leg cut for this recipe.
- Veggies – onion, garlic (pre-minced jarred garlic is fine), mushrooms, potatoes (I use baby potatoes or Yukon Gold), carrots and frozen peas add a variety of flavors and textures.
- Spices – salt, black pepper, dried thyme, and bay leaf give the soup a lot of it’s flavor. If you use fresh thyme, use triple the amount since it’s less potent.
- flour – flour helps thicken the soup. Since creating this recipe though, I’ve gone mostly gluten-free and you can substitute a cornstarch slurry at the end if you’re avoiding gluten as well.
- Guinness beer – can substitute another dark beer, like a stout and choose a gluten free stout or other dark beer.
- beef stock or beef broth – bone broth is best of course but any good broth or stock will work here. I recommend using low-sodium broth to maintain control of the salt level.
- Dijon mustard – don’t skip the mustard! Stone ground of dijon gives a subtle flavor that’s so delicious here.
- tomato paste – (this tubed kind is super convenient)
- Worcestershire sauce – this adds a peppery flavor. You can use the gluten free variety I linked to if needed.
- fresh parsley to garnish – optional but adds a lovely pop of color!
How to make Irish stew in the Instant Pot
I’ve already used the word simple half a dozen times but it really is easy to make!
- You start by using the sauté function on the instant pot to brown the beef. You’ll need to do this in two batches to get a good sear on it. The sear is where all the flavor comes from.
- Then you cook the onions, mushrooms and garlic down a bit to add more flavor to the veggies.
- Add the meat back in and sprinkle flour, salt and pepper over it, stirring until the flour absorbs.
- Deglaze the pan with Guinness and scrape up the browned bits on the bottom of the pot, and then add the beef stock, Dijon, tomato paste, thyme, Worcestershire, and bay leaves.
- Stir well to mix in and then add the potatoes, carrots, and peas and give it all a good stir.
- Set to pressure cook on high for 30 minutes and then naturally release pressure before removing the lid.
- Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
Tips for making it perfectly
While you can certainly make this traditional Irish stew recipe on the stovetop or in a slow cooker, the Instant Pot creates the same results (or better!) with less time. Plus, the Instant Pot has the sauté function which most crock pots don’t so you can avoid dirtying another pot.
Some Instant Pot recipes are overly complicated but this is not one of them. While this recipe is easy enough for a very novice cook and Instant Pot user, there are a few things that you’ll want to note to make sure yours comes out absolutely perfect.
Recipe Tips
- To avoid mushy veggies, make sure to cut the potatoes and carrots larger (1 1/2″ and 2″, respectively) so they’ll cook perfectly at the same time.
- While not necessary, taking the extra step of searing the meat in two batches adds extra flavor. I know, it gets an extra plate or bowl dirty, but all of the beef won’t fit in the pan at the same time so the top pieces will end up steaming instead of searing if cooked all at once.
- Add the potatoes, carrots, and peas after mixing in the liquid and spice ingredients, not before. This ensures the liquids and seasoning disperse evenly since it’s harder to stir the pot once those carrots and potatoes are in.
How do I make Irish stew gluten free?
To make it gluten free, replace the Guinness with a gluten free stout beer and use a gluten free Worcestershire sauce. You an substitute red wine for the beer and will turn out delicious but won’t have the same flavor. In addition to this, leave out the flour and thicken at the end by stirring in a cornstarch slurry and bringing to a boil to thicken the broth into more of a gravy. A slurry is 1 Tbsp. cornstarch (or arrowroot) mixed with 2 Tbsp. cold water.
Can I make this recipe on the stovetop?
Of course! Sear the mushrooms and onions in a large dutch oven instead of an Instant Pot and then remove and set aside. Sear the meat and toss with flour, salt and pepper as directed in the instructions. Deglaze the pan with the Guinness and add all remaining ingredients except the potatoes, carrots and peas.
Let the meat cook covered at a low simmer for about an hour. Add vegetables and simmer for another 30-40 minutes until vegetables are fork tender. Season with salt and pepper, garnish and serve.
Beef Instant Pot Irish Stew with Guinness and Veggies
Equipment
- 1 Instant Pot or other electric pressure cooker (tested with 8 quart but will work in 6 quart Instant Pot too)
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp. oil (avocado, olive or whatever you prefer, divided)
- 2 lbs. stew beef (round, chuck or other beef cut into 1 – 1 ½” cubes)
- 1 onion, chopped
- 8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
- 1 Tbsp. minced garlic
- 2 Tbsp. flour
- 1 ½ tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp. black pepper
- 1 cup Guinness
- 2 cups beef stock or broth
- 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tsp. dried thyme
- 1 ½ Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 ½ lbs. potatoes, cut into 1 ½” pieces (I use Yukon Gold)
- 1 lb. carrots, cut into 2” pieces 4- 5 medium carrots
- 1 cup peas frozen or fresh
- Salt and pepper to taste
- chopped parsley to garnish
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to Sauté setting and add 1 Tbsp. oil to pot.
- Once oil is hot, add half of the stew beef and brown. Remove browned beef and set aside. Add remaining beef and brown (adding all at once will keep the meat from getting a good sear).
- Add remaining Tbsp. oil. Once oil is hot, add onion and sauté for 4-5 minutes to soften. Add mushrooms and garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes longer.
- Add meat back into pan and sprinkle flour, salt and pepper over meat and veggies and stir to evenly coat.
- Add Guinness to pot and stir to deglaze the pan, scraping any baked on bits off the bottom of the pot. Add beef stock, Dijon, tomato paste, thyme, Worcestershire, and bay leaves and stir to evenly distribute and mix well. Add potatoes, carrots, and peas and stir.
- Put pressure cooker lid on and close to LOCK position. make sure vent is set to SEALING position.
- Set Instant Pot to pressure cook for 30 minutes on HIGH.
- Once cook time is complete, use a wooden spoon and kitchen towel to QUICK RELEASE pressure. Stir and season stew with salt and pepper to taste.
- Sprinkle each serving with parsley to serve if desired. Store leftovers in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to five days, reheating using the microwave or stovetop.
Notes
Nutrition
did you make this recipe?
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Originally published 4/1/2020. Post has been updated since to add more detail.
Comments & Reviews
Looking at the recipe, is it really just 1 tbsp of onion? Or was that a typo to mean one small onion? I’m looking to make this today, but I’m thrown off by this one ingredient.
Thank you so much for pointing out that blaring typo! Definitely should say *a whole onion* not 1 Tbsp. I just updated it to be correct.
Very nice. Thanks