Beef and Guinness Stew with Cabbage

If you’ve never cooked with beer before, this beef and guinness stew with cabbage is the perfect place to start. Guinness doesn’t make the stew taste like stout beer. Instead, it adds a deep, slightly roasted and almost bitter flavor that makes the whole dish taste richer and more complex. We love adding cabbage to this stew because it reminds us of corned beef and cabbage; plus, it adds texture and nutrients. The best part about this dish is that once everything is in the pot, the stew mostly cooks itself, so you have more time to relax.

Pull Up A Chair

Rachel: I love soups and stews because after a little prep from you, they do most of the work themselves, developing flavor and depth while they cook.

Emily: I love fresh dishes, but sometimes, I’m just craving something hearty and full of rich flavor. This stew fits the bill. 

Why You’ll Love This Beef and Guinness Stew

• Big cozy flavor. Guinness gives the stew a deep gravy with a hint of bitter chocolate notes. The dry stout balances out the rich beef, hearty potatoes, and fresh vegetables.
• Great for beginners. This stew requires no fancy equipment or techniques and is mostly hands-off once it’s simmering.
• Budget-friendly beef option. Stew meat tends to be more affordable than other cuts of beef, making it a great affordable choice. Potatoes, cabbage, onions, and carrots tend to be low-cost too, and Guinness won’t set you back too much either. 
• Even better the next day. The flavors deepen overnight, so you’ll definitely be looking forward to those leftovers!

Ingredients in the Beef and Guinness Stew with Cabbage

• Beef stew meat + flour – stew meat can be tough, so it’ll need to cook a while to become tender. Coat it in flour before browning.
• Vegetables – you’ll need carrots, pearl onions (or you can use yellow onions and dice them large), and green cabbage.
• Yukon gold potatoes – these are less starchy than other potatoes, so they’ll hold up better in the stew. 
• Guinness – this dry stout brings the perfect level of bitterness to the dish. 
• Beef broth – for additional beef flavor. 
• Worcestershire – this enhances the beef and Guinness notes.
• Brown sugar – with the beer and worcestershire, there is a lot of bitter tang in this stew, so the brown sugar helps round it all out. 
• Herbs – fresh thyme and bay leaves provide earthy aromatic flavor.
• Cornstarch slurry – to thicken up the stew and give it a nice velvety mouthfeel.

How To Make Guinness Beef Stew

Brown the beef for more flavor. Place your cubed beef into a bowl or zip top bag. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, 1 teaspoon of pepper, and 2 tablespoons of flour to the bag/bowl and toss to coat the meat. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Working in batches so that you don’t overcrowd the pan (which can inhibit browning), cook the beef for a few minutes on each side to brown it (note: the meat won’t be cooked through). Once browned, remove the beef from the pot and place it on a plate. Continue until all the beef is browned and set aside. You may need to add 1 tablespoon of oil for each batch of meat that you cook.  

Cook the onions and carrots. To the same pot, add the pearl onions and carrots, the rest of the salt, and some cracked black pepper, and cook for 5 to 10 minutes or until they’re starting to soften. If you’re using frozen pearl onions, you may need to adjust the cook time as they may carry extra water. 

Add the browned beef and build the stew. Return the beef to the pot and deglaze the pot with the beer and broth. Add the herbs, brown sugar, Worcestershire, and potatoes and cover the pot with a lid. Cook for about an hour, then add the cabbage, cover the pot, and cook for another hour. Note: cooking the potatoes this way will cause them to thicken the stew a little. If you’d rather have your potatoes less soft, you can add them to the stew later with the cabbage.

Finishing up. Taste the stew for seasoning and add more pepper or salt, if needed. Whisk together the cornstarch and water to make a slurry and stir it into the stew. Bring the stew to a boil to activate the cornstarch slurry and cause it to thicken up the stew. Serve the stew with fresh parsley and crusty bread for dipping.

Beef & Guinness Stew

This Beef and Guinness Stew with Cabbage is rich, savory, and packed with tender bites of beef, hearty vegetables, and an umami stout gravy. Guinness adds incredible depth of flavor while the slow simmer makes the beef melt-in-your-mouth delicious. It’s cozy, comforting, and surprisingly simple to make. It’s the kind of stew that tastes like it came straight from your favorite Irish-American pub.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time:15 minutes mins

Cook Time:2 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Total Time:2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Course: Dinner, Main Course, Soup

Cuisine: American, Irish

Keyword: Stew

Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 2 pounds beef stew meat chopped into 1 ½ inch pieces
• 2 tbsp flour
• 2 to 4 tbsp oil
• 2 tsp salt (plus more, if needed) if your broth is salty, use less salt
• 2 carrots peeled and sliced
• 4 large Yukon gold potatoes peeled and cut into large cubes
• 8 oz pearl onions, peeled and halved about 1 ½ cups (can also use frozen pearl onions)
• ¼ green cabbage head chopped
• 4 cups beef broth
• 1 cup Guinness beer or other dry stout
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• Few thyme sprigs
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 2 tbsp water
• Chopped parsley for garnish

Instructions

• In a bowl or zip top bag, toss beef with 1 ½ tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper, and 2 tbsp flour.
  2 pounds beef stew meat, 2 tbsp flour, 1.5 tsp salt, plus more if needed
• Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Working in batches, brown the meat, cooking for a few minutes on each side (note: meat won’t be cooked through). Once browned, remove from pot and place on plate while browning next batch (may need to add 1 tbsp oil for each batch) until all the meat is browned, removed from the pot, and set aside.
  2 to 4 tbsp oil
• In the same pot, add onions and carrots, ½ tsp of salt, and cook for 5-10 min or until starting to soften.
  2 carrots, 8 oz pearl onions, peeled and halved, 0.5 tsp salt, plus more if needed
• Add the meat back to the pot and then deglaze with the Guinness beer and beef broth.
  4 cups beef broth, 1 cup Guinness beer
• Add the herbs, brown sugar, Worcestershire, and potatoes and cover the pot. Cook for 1 hour. Note: cooking the potatoes this way will cause them to thicken the stew a little. If you’d rather have your potatoes less done, you can add them to the stew with the cabbage.
  1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 tbsp brown sugar, Few thyme sprigs, 2 bay leaves, 4 large Yukon gold potatoes
• Add the cabbage to the pot and cook another hour, then remove the lid and taste for seasoning.
  ¼ green cabbage head
• Whisk together the cornstarch and the water to make a cornstarch slurry. Add the slurry to the stew and bring it back to a boil so that it thickens up the stew.
  1 tbsp cornstarch, 2 tbsp water
• Garnish the stew with fresh parsley and serve with crusty bread, if desired.
  Chopped parsley