One-Pot Vegan “Beef” Stew

|Updated Apr 4, 2022

Vegan Irish Beef Stew is comfort food at its best. It’s hearty and meaty, with rich flavors. This chunky Irish stew is the perfect meal to serve on St. Patrick’s Day.

With a few simple ingredients, you can create the most incredible and flavorful stew ever. Onions, celery, carrots, potatoes, and green peas are the base of this stew. Tender jackfruit pieces look and taste just like beef chunks. It’s all cooked in the mix of a well-spiced broth and Guinness beer, which will give your stew an amazing depth of flavor.

If you can’t find any Guinness beer (or if it’s non-vegan where you live), don’t worry, you can use any other type of beer as well. Dark beer works best though.

This stew is a great recipe to prepare in a slow cooker.

The stew will keep for a couple of days in the fridge, and it also freezes well, so feel free to double or triple the original recipe.

Don’t forget to serve your stew with Irish Soda Bread, or mashed potatoes.

Looking for a cheaper or easier version?

  • If you can’t find Guinness beer, you can use any other brand of beer instead. Choose a dark beer for deeper flavor
  • Use frozen veggie mix instead of fresh veggies
  • Go for dry herbs, when you don’t have fresh ones on hand
  • You can omit the jackfruit completely. Your stew will be still delicious and flavorful

Want to make your stew extra healthy?

  • Make your stew oil-free by sautéing the veggies in a non-stick pot with water
  • Though the alcohol will be cooked away completely in this stew, you can omit it, if you prefer
  • It’s not traditional, but you can add greens like spinach or kale to your stew for extra nutrients

Want a very special stew?

  • You can marinate your jackfruit for a couple of hours in a mix of Guinness beer, oil, liquid smoke, and soy sauce for extra flavor
  • Or use your favorite store-bought faux beef
  • Also, fry your jackfruit pieces or faux beef with a little oil before adding them to the stew
  • For an even more flavorful broth add 1/2 cup of red wine in it as well

Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 55 mins

Irish Beefless Stew

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 1.5 tbsp oil
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 stalks of celery, chopped
  • 4 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 2 carrots, roughly chopped
  • 4 medium potatoes, roughly chopped
  • 2 cups of young green jackfruit
  • 1 cup of frozen green peas
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • 3 cups of low sodium vegetable broth
  • 1.5 cups Guinness beer or dark beer
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
  • 1 sprig of fresh rosemary
  • dash of liquid smoke
  • dash of vegan Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 tbsp potato starch or flour
  • salt, pepper

Instructions

  1. Heat up oil in a large pot. Add onion and celery, and sauté over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 8-10 minutes or until translucent.
  2. Add garlic and carrot, and cook on for 5 more minutes.
  3. Add potatoes, jackfruit, and tomato paste, and cook for 1-2 minutes, or until tomato paste starts to caramelize.
  4. Pour broth and beer into the pot, add green peas, bay leaves, thyme, and rosemary, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a gentle simmer, and cover the pot. Simmer for 35-40 minutes, until vegetables are tender.
  5. Using a ladle transfer about 1/2 cup of the stew liquid into a small bowl. Add starch, and whisk together into a slurry. Add to the stew, and cook for 2-3 more minutes, or until stew thickens.
  6. Discard herbs. Add a dash of liquid smoke and Worcestershire sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
  7. Serve with chopped parsley on top. Irish Beefless Stew is especially delicious with mashed potatoes or Irish Soda Bread.

Nutritionals 

Calories 395 | Total Fat 5.6g | Saturated Fat 0.8g | Cholesterol 0mg | Sodium 983mg | Total Carbohydrate 72.4g | Dietary Fiber 16g | Total Sugars 8.6g | Protein 7.6g | Vitamin D 0mcg | Calcium 63mg | Iron 7mg | Potassium 1173mg |