Celebrate St Patrick’s Day with a hearty Irish Stout Lamb Stew that’s slow simmered on top of the stove with red potatoes, carrots, onions, and a smoky stout beer.
I’m not full-on Irish but St Paddy’s Day is one of my favorite holidays, probably because it revolves around good food and beer. I guess there’s supposed to be something about a shamrock, saints and converting pagans, but us Americans celebrate it differently. We use it as an excuse to eat Irish food, drink Irish beer, and generally celebrate all things Irish, even if we aren’t.
Hearty Irish Stout Lamb Stew Recipe
Irish food is all about hearty, stick-to-your-ribs, meat and potato goodness. This Irish stout lamb stew is not only hearty, but easy and healthy too.
The stew is slow simmered on top of the stove and all the flavors meld together into one tasty dish. I was going to use the slow cooker for this recipe but I honesty like a stew that has been cooking on top of the stove for a couple of hours, so I nixed that plan.
Step by step way to make the best Irish stout lamb stew
The best Irish lamb stew starts with the lamb. I used humanely raised, grass fed, antibiotic and hormone free lamb from my favorite local farm, Normanton Farm. The lambs are raised in small flocks and are provided a natural lifestyle of pasture ranging, which I love.
If you have local farms around you, please do yourself a favor and check them out by visiting them to see first hand how they operate. It has been so worth it for me to buy locally sourced meat and vegetables from people I trust. It’s also important that it’s good for the animals, the earth, and my health.
p.s. you can check out the site EAT WILD to look up local farms near you.
Make ahead Irish food
The flavor of this also improves greatly by sitting a day, or two, in the refrigerator. It’s easy to plan ahead by making dinner the day before St Patrick’s Day, then all you have to do is heat it up, eat it, and hit the road to go Irish beer drinking! Yay!
I remember the days of braving the crowds at Irish bars that opened at 6:00 AM, drinking green beer and scoring some free swag. Actually, free swag was kind of my thing.
Aside from celebrating the holiday in Boston 2 years ago, I’ve left the crowds and the green beer to the youngsters. Now I ring in the holiday at home with a nice Irish pint, a warm loaf of spotted bread, soda bread, and a huge bowl of this stew.
Put this hearty and delicious Irish Stout Lamb Stew on your St Patrick’s Day menu and don’t forget share the recipe!
Irish Stout Lamb Stew
Ingredients
- 2 pounds lamb stew meat or lamb shoulder, cut into 2' pieces (grass fed is preferred)
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 3 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
- 6 medium sized organic whole carrots, scrubbed well and diced
- 1 medium onion, peeled and diced
- 1 large garlic clove, peeled and minced
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 (12 ounce) bottle of dark stout beer
- 3 medium organic red potatoes, scrubbed well and quartered
- 2 cups good quality beef stock, homemade or store bought
- Optional: serve with spotted dog
Instructions
- In a large heavy-bottomed pot, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat. Dust lamb with flour and add about a third of the lamb to the hot oil in the pan and sauté until browned. Remove from pan and set aside. Repeat process two more times with the remaining oil and lamb. Set all cooked lamb aside.
- Turn down heat to medium, add a little more oil to the pot if needed, add the diced onion and carrots and sauté for about 5 minutes, or until onions are lightly browned. Add minced garlic and dried thyme, stir and cook for another minute. Turn heat back up to medium-high, add beer and stir until slightly reduced. Add potatoes, lamb, and beef stock. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low and simmer for 2 hours, or until lamb is very tender.
- Enjoy with some soda bread or spotted dog and extra bottles of stout beer!
Katherine | Love In My Oven says
This looks amazing! Perfect for a St. Patrick’s day celebration. Also perfect for this FREEZING cold winter we’ve had!!!