Vegan Irish Stew with Guinness

This hearty Irish stew with Guinness is our vegan alternative to the traditional Irish beef or lamb Guinness stew. Get ready to celebrate St Patrick's day like an Irish (a vegan one)!

Let's be honest, Irish cuisine is not one of our favourite cuisines. It's normally really meaty and quite bland, but after all, we are an Irish-Spanish family and from time to time we enjoy cooking some hearty dishes from Ireland. We've modified traditional recipes to our taste using plant-based ingredients and the results are just delicious!

Our way of celebrating Paddy's day where we live in Mallorca was spending the day out in a local town where many Irish people live. They set up a market, live music and animation for the little ones.

These last two years had been different though and we've been preparing ourselves for Paddy's day at home. That will include a lovely Irish menu: Vegan Irish stew with Guinness served with our homemade Vegan Soda Bread. For dessert, we love baking some healthy brownies with our three-year-old boy.

This vegetarian stew is rich, really tasty, packed full of veggies and quite easy to cook. We love making it for Paddy's day or rainy and cold days when you feel like eating something hearty and yummy.

Our Irish Stew is:

• Vegan
• Hearty
• Family-friendly
• Perfect for Paddy's Day
• Winter-autumn meal
• Easy to make
• One-pot meal

Meat substitute for Vegan or Vegetarian Irish Stew

Traditionally, this stew is cooked with lamb or beef. To substitute the meaty part of this dish, we use a vegan protein called "Heura" made in Spain, where we live. It works perfectly as it has the right texture and it can stay cooking for a long time without disintegrating.

Other plant-based alternatives

You can add any other plant-based protein alternatives to your vegan stew:

Seitan. This vegan protein doesn't need much seasoning. You can separate the seitan roughly with your hands to make beef resembling pieces or use a knife to cut the seitan into smaller cubes or pieces.

Tofu. This may be the easiest alternative to find. Tofu is one of our favourite plant-based proteins and we use it really often at home. Simply cut it into small pieces and add it with the rest of the ingredients to the pot. Make sure you are using firm tofu for this recipe.

Mushrooms. Adding a mixture of mushrooms is the perfect way to substitute the meat in a Guinness stew. They have a meaty texture and will add a lovely flavour to your meal.

Quorn. You can get different products from this brand to make traditional dishes vegetarian or vegan.

How to cook with Guinness

We've learnt along the way that there is a few tricks when cooking with Guinness. Using too much Guinness or not simmering the stew for a long enough time may result in a meal with a bitter taste.

Traditionally, the meat is cooked first in a cast-iron pot which later will be deglazed with the Guinness taking all the sweetness and reducing the bitterness of the beer.

When cooking this Vegan stew, we followed a few tricks to reduce the bitterness of the Guinness and make the stew absolutely delicious.

• Cook the vegetables at a high temperature, making sure they caramelize. You will have to constantly stir the veggies for this step to ensure that they don't burn. Once you add the Guinness, deglaze your pot taking all the sweetness from the caramelized veggies.
• Add the right amount of Guinness. Many recipes call for a can of Guinness. We've tried this recipe many times to make sure we love the flavours and a can of Guinness is definitely too much. You can add a whole can of Guinness if you will be cooking your stew for over two hours, but that's just too long for us.
• Once all the ingredients are in the pot, leave the stew simmering for an hour. You can leave the stew cooking for longer, but using plant-based protein, an hour will be enough for all the ingredients to be perfectly cooked.
• Add a sweetener. We add just a teaspoon of panela sugar, and it's enough to our taste.

How to cook our Traditional Irish Stew

Ingredients

Every time we cook this meal at home we are greatly surprised by the amazing flavours we get from cooking with really simple ingredients. This stew is just the perfect combination of simple ingredients making a perfect one-pot meal.

Vegetables. To remember which vegetables go into a proper Irish stew, simply remember the colours of the Irish flag. Onion for the white colour, carrots for the orange colour and leek and celery for the green colour.

Guinness. The star of this meal is the well-known Irish beer: Guinness. You can use bottled or canned Guinness, we prefer using canned beer.

Fresh and dried herbs. We use a combination of bay leaves, fresh thyme and fresh rosemary. You can use dried thyme and rosemary and even add other herbs such as sage or parsley.

Vegan protein. We use Heura to make the Irish stew but you can choose a different vegan protein.

Tomato paste. This ingredient will add a fine umami flavour to your stew. Don't leave it out!

Vegan butter or vegetable oil. When we make stews we normally use vegan butter as it delivers a creamier and heartier flavour to your dish.

Flour. Used to thicken up the stew.

Step by Step Method

This vegan stew is definitely our favourite stew for its simplicity and amazing taste.

1. Add some vegan butter into a cast-iron pot to medium-high heat temperature. Add the onions and cook for 5-6 minutes until they start to brown. Then add the rest of the veggies, stir and keep cooking for 6-7 more minutes, until they start caramelizing. To make sure the veggies don't burn, keep stirring while cooking.
2. Add the vegan protein, and herbs, stir and cook for a few minutes.
3. Add the tomato paste and flour and stir to combine all the ingredients.
4. Add the Guinness and vegetable broth. Make sure you mix all the ingredients well and using a wooden spoon scratch the bottom to make sure all the sweetness from the caramelized vegetables incorporates into the broth. Bring to simmer, add the panela sugar or sweetener and cook for an hour. Serve with bread or mashed potatoes and enjoy!

Serving Suggestions

Guinness Stew is such a hearty meal that is normally served as a main and only dish. At home, while we leave the stew simmering, we prepare some soda bread or mashed potatoes. Both are great side dishes to serve with this comfort meal.

This Irish Stew made with Guinness is the perfect meal to serve for Paddy's day. It's so delicious and easy to prepare that it has become a family favourite during winter and autumn when the weather gets rainy and cold.

FAQ and Tips

• Is Guinness vegan? Some years ago Guinness wasn't vegan as it was made using isinglass but nowadays we are happy to tell you that Guinness is vegan.
• What is vegan protein? Vegan protein are plant-based ingredients that provide a high source of protein such as tofu, edamame, seitan, seeds and nuts, etc.
• Where can I find Heura? If you are living in Spain, France or Netherlands, you can already find Heura in most big supermarkets but they are expanding quickly so hopefully, you can find them in other countries soon!
• You can keep the leftovers in an air-tight container for 2-3 days.

If you tried our recipe, please leave a comment or tag us on Instagram @Sixhungryfeet. We are always happy to see your creations!

More tasty Irish recipes we love

• Vegan Soda Bread
• Oven-baked Vegan Hash Browns