For a warm, hearty bowl of stew… turn to the Irish! Stew actually isn’t a meal that I make very often but with St. Patrick’s day coming up, I started craving it. This vegan Irish stew recipe replaces the traditional meat with mushrooms to make a veggie packed and flavourful meal!
Flavoured with Guinness
Packed with veggies
And sure to warm you up!
How Timely Is This Vegan Irish Stew Recipe
Although this is one of my more lengthy recipes… it’s still timelier than a traditional Irish stew!
Traditionally, Irish stew was made with mutton or lamb and most authentic recipes take between 2 to 3 hours to simmer and infuse the stew with great flavour. This veggie packed version is ready in just over an hour.
Ingredients For Vegan Irish Stew
To replace the traditional meat, I add in cremini mushrooms and bulk up the stew with potatoes, carrots, and celery. You can easily change up the veg to include your favourites!
Some other great additions would be:
- Lentils or a bean of choice for a good source of protein
- Leeks or cabbage
- Other root vegetables like turnip
And what goes into the flavourful broth?
The thick and flavourful broth of this vegan Irish stew is made with:
- Guinness stout
- Vegetable broth (use homemade broth for extra savings!)
- Tamari or soy sauce for colour and salty, savoury flavour
- Vegan worcestershire sauce for savoury, “meaty” flavour
- And any herbs you have on hand!
The Guinness adds such great flavour to this stew but it does add a bitterness that some suggest balancing with some brown sugar. I tend to skip the sugar and embrace the flavour of the Guinness but feel free to add some sugar in to cut that bitterness.
How To Make Vegan Irish Stew
If you’re a quick chopper you can chop up your ingredients as needed while your stew is cooking OR get your chopping done before you begin.
I like to peel and chop the onion, carrots and potatoes into larger chunks (you could leave the carrot and potato skins on for extra nutrition if you’d like!). Halve or quarter the mushrooms depending on their size. Chop the celery into larger chunks.
- Add the onion to a large saute pan or pot with a bit of oil or broth. Cook the onion for 2-3 minutes until softened and fragrant.
- Toss in the minced garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Next, add the chopped mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes until softened.
*You can remove the mushrooms after they have softened and released their moisture. I tend to leave them in the stew for the whole cooking time but if you want them to preserve more of their texture and not get too soft, remove them, and add them back to the stew in the last 10 minutes of the cooking time.
- Once the mushrooms have softened, add the carrots and allow to steam for 5 minutes.
- Sprinkle all the vegetables with flour, stir the flour in, and let the flour cook off for at least 1 minute.
- With the flour incorporated and cooked, pour in the Guinness! Give everything a nice stir to incorporate the flour. See the recipe notes for an alcohol-free version!
- Pour in the vegetable broth and add the remaining seasonings.
- Bring the stew to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Simmer with the lid off for 30-50 minutes.
Recipe Cost
This Irish vegan stew recipe serves 4-6 depending on your portion size and how much broth you use/how long you reduce the stew.
Our cost is roughly: CAD $11.78 (between $2 – $2.95 a serving)! Not too bad for a veggie packed stew with Guinness!
The mushrooms in this stew as a meat substitute cost me roughly $2.50. If I were to make this Irish stew more traditionally with even just 1 pound of stewing beef, the beef would cost between $3.50 and $5.
Let me know in the comments below if this vegan Irish stew recipe warms you up on a cold day! And make sure to make this 45 minute Vegan Irish Soda Bread to have on the side!
You might also like this Hearty Borscht or this Portuguese Vegan “Cod” Stew!
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Easy Vegan Irish Stew – Get Out The Guinness
- Total Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Warm up with this vegan Irish stew recipe. Mushrooms bulk up the stew and Guinness flavours the broth. Have some soda bread on the side!
Ingredients
- ½ tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 250g cremini mushrooms*
- 3 large carrots (roughly 2 cups, 290g)*
- 2 ribs celery*
- 4 tbsp all purpose flour
- 325 ml Guinness stout (see notes for alternatives)*
- 3 – 4 cups vegetable broth
- 5 yellow potatoes (490g, 3 – 4 cups)*
- 2 tbsp tamari, or soy sauce
- 1 tbsp worcestershire
- 2 sprigs of thyme (and/or a bay leaf)
- 1–2 teaspoon brown sugar, optional
*Fresh ingredients you need that are not part of our pantry and freezer tips.
Instructions
- Prepare your ingredients by peeling and roughly chopping the onion, carrot, and potatoes into larger chunks. Slice the mushrooms into halves or quarters depending on size and chop the celery into larger pieces. *You can keep the carrot and potato skins on for extra nutrition, just wash them well.
- In a large and deep saute pan or pot, saute the onion for 2-3 minutes until softened and fragrant. (You can season with a bit of salt and pepper each time you add a new ingredient into the stew).
- Add the minced garlic and stir. Add the chopped mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes until the mushrooms have softened. (Splash in some more oil or some broth if your pan gets dry to avoid the onion and garlic burning). I tend to leave the mushrooms in for the whole cooking time but you can remove them and add them back to the pot in the last 10 minutes. Removing them will preserve more of their texture.
- Add the carrots, stir, and cover the pot so the carrots steam for 5 minutes.
- Sprinkle the vegetables with the flour, stir and cook the flour for 1 minute.
- Pour in the beer or the alternative you may be using. Give it a nice stir to dissolve the flour.
- Add the potatoes, celery, enough broth to cover your vegetables, and the additional seasonings. Cover the pot and bring the stew to a low boil. Reduce to a simmer and simmer with the lid off for 30-50 minutes until the broth reaches your desired consistency.
- Taste and stir in sugar if desired to help balance the bitterness of the beer. Remove any sprigs of thyme or bay leaves before serving.
- Serve with this Easy Vegan Irish Soda Bread or a side of your choice. Garnish with thyme or parsley. Leftovers keep well refrigerated for up to 3 days but the stew might thicken in the fridge. Add more broth before reheating if desired.
Notes
Approximate Cost: CAD $11.78. The mushrooms in this stew as a meat substitute cost me roughly $2.50. If I were to make this Irish stew more traditionally with even just 1 pound of stewing beef, the beef would cost between $3.50 and $5.
You can substitute the Guinness with another vegan stout OR make this stew alcohol-free by substituting the beer with 2 cups broth mixed with 1-2 tablespoon vegan worcestershire sauce.
Feel free to use your favourite root vegetables, leeks instead of celery, and although not traditional; you could add beans or lentils for protein!
You can substitute the vegan worcestershire sauce for more tamari or soy sauce if you don’t have it. Worcestershire adds a more savoury “meaty” flavour.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 60 minutes
- Category: Main Dishes
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Irish
Lena
Very easy, good and hearty! My husband was sure there was meat in it! (must have been the mushrooms) lol
Next time I’ll pass on the broth and add a second Guinness 😉
Highly recommend it!
Kathryn Alexandre
Ooooo I like that idea! I’m so glad you both enjoyed it! Thank you so much for giving it a try.
Leah
I made this last night and it was mmmmm sooo good! I will absolutely make this again. I can’t have alcohol so I used all homemade veggie broth (simmer carrot, onion, celery, baby bella mushrooms, 1 dried shiitake mushroom, 1 garlic clove, thyme, marjoram, peppercorns, salt in 6 cups water for 1 hour and strain for later use), left out the brown sugar, and used soy sauce instead of Worchestershire sauce. I also used dried thyme and garlic powder instead of the fresh ingredients and I couldn’t even tell a difference. This was really good served with oven-toasted buttered bread.
Kathryn Alexandre
Oh wow thank you for letting me know! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. You’re making me crave it again!
Sandra
There is now alcohol free Guinness on the market. Worth a try
Sheelagh
My partner made this for dinner tonight and it was super flavourful and hearty! We added a dollop of coconut cream on top which was nice too 🙂
Kathryn Alexandre
Ooo the dollop of cream sounds nice. I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you so much for letting me know and for the star rating!