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Beef in Beer Stew, Slow Cooked

Beef in Beer Stew, Slow Cooked

Slow-cooked Beef in Beer Stew

Treat yourself and your family to this delicious slow cooking beef in beer stew, loaded with chunks of tender beef, potatoes and carrots.

This is such a simple beef stew recipe to produce and so fantastically tasty.

The longer you cook it really the better it is, as the meat will fall apart more. Be aware that if you do cook the meat for longer, you need to add the vegetables later in the process.

I made the one shown in the photos because there was an important rugby match to watch in the late afternoon. 

I timed it just right so we could serve up at half-time, and not miss any of the game 😃.

beef stew recipe

 

Best beer for beef stew?

Where the original recipe came from I am not sure, but I have been cooking this meal for many years and have experimented with many different beers over time.

When I made the stew in the photos I had no beer in the house (oh NOOOOOO!), but fortunately I had some IPA (India Pale Ale) that I was busy brewing in the garage.

The fermentation was pretty much finished, so I thought I would use that, and WOW – it worked great! So this is really an IPA beef stew!

I used a 500ml bottle (straight from the fermentation bucket, yeast and all) and the result was super.

But really you can use any type of dark beer or strong beer to make this recipe.

I sometimes get the question can you use lager instead of ale to make this stew. It would not be my preference. Unless it is a strong lager like a Belgian Leffe or Duvel, or any other of the wonderful Trappist beers produced in Belgium.

Also any IPA or craft beer would also be good.

But you would not find me making this meal with a Heineken or any other type of plain lager I am afraid.

I think the darker beers just provide more flavour to the meat. A Guinness, for example, goes down very well in this recipe, and would, of course, be especially Irish.

beef in beer stew
Beef in Beer Stew, Slow Cooked

Other Ingredients

The type of beer is obviously important but the other ingredients cannot be ignored. The beef you choose should ideally be as lean as possible. If it isn’t then cut off any fat before you use it.

Also, you should be using stewing steak, like a nice bit of chuck steak, which are generally the tougher but cheaper cuts of meat. They will become more tender with the slow cook over the long cooking period.

If you want some more information on which type of meat to use in this recipe, then look here: choosing the right beef stew meat.

The cuts should be nice and large, say 1 1/2 inch square pieces if possible. Substitute the new potatoes for peeled and suitably sized potatoes if you wish.  

easy beef stew recipe

Different Slow-Cook Beef Casseroles

I have a few recipes on my site for beef casseroles. Some with beer, others with wine, some in the oven and others in the Instant Pot, for example. 

As we live in Ireland you can use this recipe to make a proper Irish beef stew. Just use a pint of Guinness to make a proper Guinness beef stew. I also have a recipe for some mini steak and Guinness pies, that may also take your fancy.

Having said that a real traditional Irish stew would actually use lamb rather than beef.

Alternatively, if you prefer French-style cooking, then you could try my Beef Bourguignon recipe, which is beef stew braised in wine, as opposed to beer. You may find Beef Bourguignon even better than this recipe, as it has a milder taste, but it is certainly more expensive on the vino!

My Instant Pot beef soup is a similar recipe to this one, but is made in the Instant Pot instead, to speed things up a bit. This can be quite handy when time is of the essence.

At the end of the day, whether you use beer or wine, the alcohol evaporates away, but the rich taste it gives to the sauce is just fantastic.

slow cooked beef casserole

 

Cooking Pot, Casserole, Slow Cooker, Crock-pot, Dutch Oven?

The type of pot you use to cook this meal is very important. The pot needs to have a well-fitting lid to retain all the flavours. 

I recommend using a Le Creuset type casserole dish if you have one. Or a ‘Dutch Oven‘ I believe you call them if you are in the United States (I had never heard this description for one of these pots, even having lived 30 years in the Netherlands – funny eh?).

These solid cast iron enamelled pots are fantastic and the well-fitting lids keep all the flavours inside beautifully. I have had mine for 25 years and swear by them.

Otherwise you can use your trusted crock-pot or slow cooker if you have one.

guinness beef stew

I hope you enjoy trying this supremely easy beef stew recipe. Please give some feedback in the comments section below if you do!

If you want to see all of my recipes on one page, you can find a visual index here at this link : Gav’s Kitchen, Recipe Index.

How to make a delicious Beef in Beer Stew

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beef in beer casserole

Beef in beer stew

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours
Total Time: 3 hours 30 minutes

Delicious Irish beef stew recipe slow-cooked in beer in a Dutch oven. The beer gives a delicious rich flavour to the sauce. Prepare beforehand and dish up when you want to eat.

Ingredients

  • 800g diced (1 inch cubes) of lean stewing steak
  • Olive oil
  • Plain flour
  • Salt & pepper
  • 4 large carrots
  • 1 onion
  • 1 shallot
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 1 red onion
  • 10 -15 new potatoes
  • 300ml beef stock
  • 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 bottle/large can of dark beer (preferably not lager unless > 6% abv)
  • Leaves from a sprig of fresh rosemary,
  • 2 Bay leaves
  • 100g sugar snaps (optional)

Instructions

Preparation

  1. Remove the meat from the fridge half an hour before you start to let it reach room temperature. Remove any fat and sinew from the meat. You can use stewing beef or any lean cut of beef really for this dish.
  2. Coat the beef in seasoned flour and fry in olive oil in batches until browned on all sides, and set aside on a plate. Other chefs suggest doing this in your casserole, but I do not like doing this as I find that it messes up the bottom of the casserole and you have to clean it again before continuing. I prefer to fry the meat in my wok of a frying pan.
  3. Chop the garlic and the onions and fry them in olive oil in your casserole for about 3-4 minutes (this is OK and does not make a mess like the meat frying does). Then add the beef back to the casserole, the beef stock, the bay leaves, the Worcestershire sauce, the rosemary and the bottle of beer. Throw in any remaining flour left from coating the beef and season to suit. Stir well.

Cook

  1. Put the lid on the casserole and put in the pre-heated oven at 160C.
  2. In the meantime peel and chop the carrots, shallot and prepare the potatoes – chop any large ones in half and make sure they are clean.
  3. After 1 ½ hours remove the casserole from the oven. Carefully remove the lid and add the carrots, shallot and potatoes. Stir to cover the contents (if the fluid level is too low then just add some more water). Replace back in the oven for another 1 ½ hours. The slow cook will help tenderise the meat and make it delicious.
  4. Afterwards carefully remove from the oven and check everything is properly cooked, and the meat is tender, before serving up.

Notes

Serve up in a bowl with a fork, together with a slice of healthy bread to soak up the juices. 

If you like, to vary the meal you can forget adding the new potatoes and prepare some mashed potato separately and serve up with the stew. Or add some sugar snaps 30 minutes before you are ready to serve up.

Some people prefer the potatoes separately, and certainly for a dinner party it would be a bit more professional. However it is extra work, and when I made this I was more interested in watching the rugby.

If there is any left, keep it in the fridge and reheat in the microwave. Alternatively, freeze as meal prep.

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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 5 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 505Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 43mgSodium: 316mgCarbohydrates: 71gFiber: 7gSugar: 8gProtein: 22g

This nutrition information was automatically calculated by Nutritionix, but may not be 100% accurate.

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