Name: Instant Pot Irish Stew
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1 Tablespoon olive oil; 1.5 pounds stew meat; 1 sweet onion (diced); 2 cloves garlic (minced); 1 bottle Guinness beer; 2 cups beef stock; 2.5 Tablespoons tomato paste; 1 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/2 teaspoon pepper; 3 ribs celery (sliced); 4 sprigs fresh thyme; 2 bay leaves; 1 pound carrots (peeled and roughly chopped); 2 russet potatoes (about 1.5 pounds peeled and chopped); 1 Tablespoons cornstarch; 1 Tablespoon water

Sometimes I think what’s called “the luck of the Irish” isn’t really luck at all. It’s just good planning.

Irish stew is the perfect example of this. It’s a filling, flavorful dish that warms you up on a cold night. And it uses cheap ingredients like potatoes and carrots to stretch out one chunk of meat into a meal that can feed a big Irish family. Lucky? No, just well thought out.

Unfortunately, not all of us are this great at planning. We can’t always think far enough ahead to realize that, gee, a nice Irish stew would really hit the spot for dinner tonight, and set up a batch of Crockpot Irish Stew in the morning.

For us, there’s the Instant Pot. It can turn a hunk of stew beef and some veggies into a thick, satisfying Irish stew in under an hour. Brown the beef and onions right in the pot, add your sauce ingredients and let it stew for 30 minutes, and finally toss in the carrots and potatoes for a quick 4 minutes at high pressure. And just like that, you have a satisfying stew that needs only a loaf of hearty bread to make a complete meal. Now isn’t that lucky?

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What kind of meat is stew meat?

Stew meat typically means the tougher, leaner cuts of beef, such as shoulder, chuck, round roast, and rump roast. These cuts actually work better in a stew than a tender cut like steak, because the collagen in the meat breaks down and makes it tender. If you use a nice well-marbled steak in your stew, the fat in it just melts out, and the meat turns tough and chewy. So don’t waste your money. Oh, and you can use these same cuts of lamb, venison, or even goat, as well as beef.

The recipe calls for Guinness, which I don’t normally drink. Is there any way to buy just one bottle instead of a six-pack? Or can I substitute a different kind of beer?

I mean, Guinness is obviously the best, because it’s a real Irish beer. Some liquor stores will let you buy a single bottle of it, or you can pay a little more to get one at the pub. But if you just plain can’t find it, you can use another brand of stout. This is a really dark, hearty, flavorful beer that complements the hearty flavors of beef and onions. And if you can’t find any brand of stout, try a porter or brown ale.

I don’t drink at all. Can I make the stew without the beer?

There are lots of different ways to make Irish stew — some with beer and some without. I like it with, but if it’s not your thing, leaving it out is no problem. What with the meat, beef stock, veggies, herbs, and Worcestershire, it definitely won’t lack for flavor.

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TOOLS USED TO MAKE THIS INSTANT POT IRISH STEW:

Instant Pot: This 6qt Instant Pot pressure cooker is always my go to!

Ingredients you will need:
olive oil
stew meat
sweet onion
cloves garlic
Guinness beer
beef stock
tomato paste
Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper
celery
fresh thyme
bay leaves
carrots
russet potatoes
cornstarch
water

How to Make Instant Pot Irish Stew

Turn the Instant Pot to saute and add olive oil. Season the beef with salt and pepper and add to the Instant Pot. Brown beef on all sides and remove to a plate.
Add the diced onion to the Instant Pot and cook until it just starts to caramelize. Add the garlic for the last 30 seconds of cooking. When the onions have started to caramelize add the beer to deglaze the pot. Use a wooden spoon to scrape any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Let the beer and onion mixture cook for 2-3 minutes.
Add the browned beef, beef, beef stock, tomato paste, Worcestershire, salt, pepper, celery, thyme, and bay leaves to the Instant Pot.
Set the pot to the Stew setting and cook for 30 minutes. When the time is up do a quick release of the pressure.
Remove the bay leaves and thyme. Add the carrots and potatoes and cook on high pressure for 4 minutes. Do a quick release when the time is up.
If you would like a thicker stew mix together corn starch and water and stir it into the stew. The stew will thicken upon standing.
Serve warm with a hearty bread and garnished with fresh thyme.

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