Vegan Irish Stew

Published: Aug 17, 2019 · Modified: Dec 18, 2023 by Vaishali · This post may contain affiliate links · 58 Comments

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Total time: 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Fall in love with this vegan Irish Stew recipe! It is hearty, delicious and meatless, but no one will miss the meat. The gravy is creamy, aromatic with spices, and packed with healthful vegetables like carrots, celery and potatoes. Guinness beer adds traditional and authentic flavor.

Vegan Irish Stew - Holy Cow! Vegan Recipes (1)

Traveling vegan is not only easy in Ireland, it is practically a pleasure. This is a very vegan-friendly country, as I found out during out trip there, and the food I ate was nothing short of spectacular.

But one thing I didn't find on a restaurant menu was a hearty vegan stew made with Ireland's favorite drink, Guinness. While beef and lamb Guinness stews are everywhere, the restaurants I went to had nothing resembling this Irish favorite in a vegan form.

So as soon as I got back home, I stirred up the pot with my delicious and meatless vegan Irish Stew, a recipe I shared with you many years ago for St. Patrick's Day. But this time I had a new appreciation of the ingredients -- and particularly the dark Guinness stout -- that goes into it.

When I first posted this recipe, Guinness was not vegan, because the process of making this delicious brew involved filtering it through isinglass, or fish bladders. Fortunately, in 2017 Guinness began taking steps to make its brew vegan, and beginning 2018 all Guinness now on the market is divinely vegan. Which also made it easy to glug all the Guinness I wanted to when we visited the storehouse at St James Gate in Dublin where it all began. Even better, restaurants at the brewery (with spectacular views of the city) had great vegan and vegetarian options as well.

Vegan Irish Stew - Holy Cow! Vegan Recipes (2)

Mine is a rather traditional stew, without the lamb, of course (wouldn't you rather just cuddle one?) It's also a one-pot dish with no more than 15 minutes of hands-on time needed. If you love hearty, meaty but vegan stews like my vegan beef stew, this recipe is for you.

I used soy chunks, dredged in flour and seasoned with herbs and then stir-fried until golden-brown, to replace the meat, which is usually lamb. The soy, when cooked this way, gets a wonderful texture, and who needs the meat? You can -- and perhaps should -- make this stew a day earlier, because this is one of those dishes that tastes even better the next day, when the flavors have had a chance to meld together.

Ingredients

Soy or TVP chunks (you can also use a vegan meat or seitan)
Unbleached all purpose flour
Onions
Garlic
Carrots
Celery
Crimini Mushrooms
Herbs (I used a mix of rosemary, sage and thyme -- use rosemary if you can only use one)
Guinness stout
Vegetable stock
Vegetable oil
Vegan butter

Recipe FAQs

I love Guinness. Can I use more in this recipe?

Yes! But keep in mind that more Guinness will add a bitter undernote to your recipe. While some bitterness from the brew makes this dish fabulous, a lot might not be up to everyone's taste. I'd advise trying out the recipe with 8 oz of Guinness the first time, and adding more if you think you want it.

Can I serve this stew to my child with the Guinness in it?

The alcohol cooks out and only leaves the complexity of the stout behind, adding tremendous flavor. So eat away without any worries.

What can I serve with this stew?

My favorite is creamy mashed potatoes, or vegan colcannon. It may seem like potato overkill, with the potatoes in the stew as well, but it really works.
You can also serve the stew with Irish soda bread, of course (here's my gluten-free soda bread), or with a crusty French bread.
Desi likes his stew with boiled rice, and a good bit of stew drizzled over rice is truly divine.
If you've got a fussy kid around (like I do!) serve him or her this stew with a side of sweet potato fries or baked or air-fried French fries and watch it go!

More vegan Irish recipes

Vegan Irish Soda Bread
Vegan Irish Cream Cupcakes
Vegan Irish Hand Pies
Vegan Irish Chili

More vegan stews

Vegan Cassoulet
African Peanut Stew
Vegan Moroccan Chickpea Stew
Vegan Gumbo

A hearty and delicious vegan Irish Stew where no one will miss the meat. The gravy is creamy, aromatic with spices, and packed with healthful vegetables like carrots, celery and potatoes. A glug of Guinness adds more traditional and authentic flavor.

5 from 32 votes

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Course: Stew

Cuisine: Irish, Vegan

Diet: Vegan, Vegetarian

Prep Time: 15 minutes mins

Cook Time: 45 minutes mins

Total Time: 1 hour hr 5 minutes mins

Servings: 8 servings

Calories: 230kcal

Author: Vaishali · Holy Cow Vegan

Equipment

▢
Dutch oven or large pot

Ingredients

▢ 2 tablespoon avocado oil or any neutral oil
▢ 1 cup soy chunks or TVP chunks (soy curls work too. Or use seitan chunks)
▢ ¼ cup all-purpose flour (You can use whole wheat or, to make this gluten-free, use a gf all purpose flour)
▢ 1 large onion (finely chopped)
▢ 6 cloves garlic (minced)
▢ 3 sticks celery, (finely chopped)
▢ 15 baby carrots (cut into halves. Or use two large carrots and cut them into rounds about ¼th of an inch thick)
▢ 6 medium potatoes (cut in a chunky dice)
▢ 8 oz crimini mushrooms (chopped in large chunks)
▢ 8 oz Guinness draught stout
▢ 3-5 cups vegetable stock
▢ 3 teaspoon herbs (use a mix of rosemary, sage, thyme or one or two of these)
▢ 2 tablespoon parsley (minced)
▢ 2 tablespoon vegan butter (optional, but very, very nice)
▢ Salt and pepper to taste
▢ 2 tablespoon tamari (or liquid aminos or soy sauce. Optional, but adds another dimension of flavor)

Instructions

Soak the TVP or soy chunks or curls in hot water for 30 minutes. Drain.
Mix the flour with salt and pepper and half the herbs. Dredge the TVP chunks in the flour. Shake off any excess flour.
Heat all but 1 teaspoon of the vegetable oil in a Dutch oven or a large, heavy-bottomed pot.
Working in batches, if necessary, brown the TVP chunks in the dutch oven in a single layer, being careful not to crowd them.
Remove the soy chunks to a dish lined with a paper towel and set aside. Also reserve any flour remaining from dredging the TVP because we'll use that to thicken the sauce.
Add the remaining teaspoon of oil to the dutch oven and add the onions and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Saute, stirring frequently, over medium heat until the onions are softened and translucent, about 3-4 minutes.
Add the carrots, celery, potatoes and mushrooms and any remaining flour and stir to mix. Add the Guinness and let the stew come to a boil. Cook until most of the beer has disappeared.
Add the remaining herbs with the TVP chunks and 4 cups of the vegetable stock.
Bring to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer, cover the pot with a lid, and cook for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are very tender and the flavors have melded together. Add more stock or water if the stew looks too dry. I made my stew rather thick because that's how we like it, but you can definitely make it soupier.
Add salt (and/or the tamari or liquid aminos if using) and ground black pepper to taste. Stir in the butter, if using.
Serve hot. Stew always tastes best when it has had some time to stand and the flavors have mixed together, so this is a great dish to make the day before you want to serve it.

Nutrition Facts

Vegan Irish Stew

Amount per Serving

Calories

230

% Daily Value*

Fat

Saturated Fat

About Vaishali

Hi! I'm Vaishali, a journalist turned food blogger. At Holy Cow Vegan I share easy, tasty recipes made with clean, wholesome ingredients that the entire family can enjoy.

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