Guinness Beef Stew in a Crock Pot

c.walsh's Note:

With my Irish father in town, I wanted a ready-made meal after a long day of sight-seeing. I chose a hearty beef stew and wanted to incorporate his favorite beer, Guinness. I was worried that we left it in too long, but after 10 hours on low and 2 hours on warm ( it was a long day of sight-seeing) it was still awesome! Makes a flavorful, thick sauce to dip bread in. I filled the crock pot to the top because I wanted enough for them to have lunch left-overs, so decrease the amounts if needed. Enjoy!

• Total Time: 8 hrs 40 mins
• Prep Time: 40 mins
• Cook Time: 8 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 10

• 8 -10 red potatoes , skin on, quartered
• 6 carrots , peeled, sliced into thick chunks
• 2 stalks celery , cut in chunks
• 3 bay leaves
• 3 lbs stew meat , cubed (I used chuck)
• ½ cup flour
• 1 dash salt
• 1 dash pepper
• 1 dash garlic powder
• 2 -3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion , diced
• 4 large garlic cloves , minced
• 8 ounces baby portabella mushrooms , halved
• 2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce
• 10 ¾ ounces beef broth (I used consomme)
• 1 (13 g) envelope Lipton Onion Soup Mix
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon creole seasoning (Tony Chachere's)
• 1 teaspoon Italian herb seasoning (Mrs. Dash)
• 12 ounces beer (Guinness, draught or stout)
• 1 cup frozen peas , if desired

Directions:

1. Put potato, carrot, and celery chunks in the bottom of crock pot. Top with 2 bay leaves.
2. Season flour with a dash of salt, pepper and garlic powder and coat the beef with the flour mixture. Heat a couple of tbsp of olive oil over med-high heat in a large skillet and add 1 bay leaf. Sauté beef in batches, just until browned.(It took me about 3 batches in a 12" skillet). Add more oil to pan as necessary for each batch. Remove and set aside.
3. Add onion and garlic to the same pan and sauté over med heat for a few minutes, then add about half the can of beef broth to deglaze, scraping up the brown bits on the bottom of the pan. (That's Flavor!).
4. Add meat and onions to crock pot, top with mushrooms.
5. Mix remaining beef broth with tomato sauce, onion soup mix, remaining seasonings, and add to crock pot. Pour in most of bottle of beer (whatever fits, I had a few sips left for me).
6. Cook 8 hours on low heat. Stir in frozen peas when done, they'll heat up on their own.
7. Serve with crusty French bread!
8. *Tony Chachere's and Mrs. Dash are my "go-to" seasonings for everything. You can use your favorite if these are not available.

Reviews

[a.dobbs]

I love this stew, it is the best I have ever had! Tried it both with Guinness stout and draught (and once with Murphy's Irish Stout, and using a stout beer is the way to go. Gives it a richer flavor, not that flavor is lacking in this recipe. Works great in a crock pot, but I love it in a cast iron dutch oven too! You can use it to brown the meat and add the other ingredients and just pop it in the oven, I did 3 hours at 300 degrees but I am sure time/temp can be successfully tweaked. Thanks c.walsh for this recipe, I have passed it on to many family members!

[Brynn Paulin]

Fantastic! Everyone loved it and wanted more. I used only 2 bay leaves, regular white mushrooms, only one can of tomato sauce and forgot the peas. I cooked it in the crock pot on high for 5 hours. I only had cans of Guinness on hand and used a whole can (14.9 oz). I'll definitely make this again.

[Cooks4_6]

Yummmm! This was very tasty. I was out of celery, so I skipped that bit and used a stout I had on hand other than Guinness. I also used 2 small mock tenderloin roasts and put this in a 350 degree oven for 2.5 hours. I normally am not a big fan of stew, but this one is wonderful! (It was a bit salty though, so next time I will omit the salt in the recipe and add it individually if needed)