Rich stout beer is the key to creating an intensely flavorful, and totally delicious batch of vegan Irish stew! Top it all off with some fluffy herbed dumplings and you're in vegan comfort food heaven.
Saint Patrick's Day is right around the corner, and I don't know about you, but I always enjoy using the holiday as an excuse to cook up some Irish-inspired vegan comfort food. Irish stew is one popular non-vegan comfort food that seems to be a favorite for many folks, so I decided a vegan version was in order.
What makes this stew Irish, you ask? Well, first off, it's totally not authentic. It's a bit like my vegan beef stew, and if you enjoyed that I think you'll dig this too. But it's the addition of some Irish stout, cabbage, and savory dumplings that make this stew totally inauthentically Irish. And totally delicious.
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Ingredients You'll Need
- Olive oil. Feel free to substitute vegetable oil, corn oil, canola oil, or any high-heat oil that you normally like to cook with.
- Cremini mushrooms. Just about any variety of fresh mushrooms can be substituted if you'd like. White button mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms (even though they're totally not Irish), or even oyster mushrooms will all work. Not a fan of mushrooms? Try swapping them out with eggplant or seitan.
- Celery.
- Carrots.
- Onion.
- Garlic.
- All-purpose flour. Whole wheat flour should work fine if that's what you prefer to use.
- Vegetable broth.
- Cabbage. I used green cabbage, but red cabbage will work just fine as well, even if it gives your stew a different look.
- Potato. The recipe calls for a russet potato, but a couple of red or gold potatoes will work just fine.
- Fresh herbs. You'll need fresh thyme and chives.
- Stout beer. Stout is a dark, intensely flavorful beer brew. Make sure the stout you use is vegan by running the brand through Barnivore. Guinness and Sierra Nevada stout are both vegan. Porter is a good alternative to stout if it's not available.
- Tomato paste.
- Salt & black pepper.
- Nutritional yeast flakes. Not to be confused with baker's yeast! Nutritional yeast is a product that you can buy in the natural foods section of most supermarkets. It will give the dumplings a cheesy flavor.
- Baking powder.
- Fresh chives.
- Non-dairy milk. Use a variety that's unsweetened and unflavored. The recipe suggests soy or almond, but if you need an alternative, check out my guide to dairy-free milks.
How It's Made
Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
Heat some oil in a large skillet or pot, then add your sliced mushrooms. Cook them for a few minutes on each side, until they're lightly browned. Transfer them to a plate when they're done.
Heat some more oil in the pot, then add sliced carrot, celery, and diced onion. Sweat the vegetables for a few minutes, until they start to soften. Add minced garlic and flour, stir everything up and cook the mixture for a minute more.
Return the mushrooms to the pot, and add the cabbage, potato, and thyme. Stir it up, bring the broth to a simmer, and let it cook for a bit.
After about ten minutes, stir in the beer and tomato paste. Let the stew continue to simmer for a few minutes longer.
Tip: Acidic ingredients like beer and tomato paste can prevent the potato from cooking if added too early. This is why it's important to let the stew simmer for about ten minutes before adding them.
Make the dumpling dough while the stew simmers. Stir the flour, nutritional yeast, baking powder, salt, thyme and chives together, then add non-dairy milk and oil. Be careful not to overmix the batter.
Time to add the dumplings! But first, season the stew with salt and pepper to taste. Then drop dollops of dough into the stew.
Cover the pot and let the stew simmer for about fifteen minutes.
The stew is done simmering when the dumplings have expanded and become puffy.
Your vegan Irish stew is ready to enjoy!
Leftovers & Storage
Leftover vegan Irish stew will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for about 3 days. The dumplings will get a bit soggy as it sits, but it will still taste delicious.
Frequently Asked Questions
It is! Guinness removed animal products from their stout in 2018, and it's now totally vegan.
You can! You can simply leave it out, or try an ingredient or two to replace the savory flavor that stout supplies. A few options that have worked for myself and readers are non-alcoholic beer, marmite, miso paste, soy sauce or liquid aminos, and balsamic vinegar.
Probably. I haven't tested a gluten-free version, but I believe an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend should work to thicken the stew and make the dumplings. You'll also need to use a gluten-free beer. Try one of the gluten-free stouts on this list, making sure to check with Barnivore that the brand you choose is also vegan.
More Vegan Stew Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Irish Stew with Savory Herb Dumplings
Ingredients
For the Stew
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 pound cremini mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
- 2 medium celery stalks, diced
- 2 medium carrots, diced
- 1 large onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 3 cups chopped green cabbage
- 1 small russet potato, scrubbed and diced
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
- 1 (12 ounce) bottle vegan stout beer (such as Guinness or Sierra Nevada Stout)
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- Salt and black pepper, to taste
For the Dumplings
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
- 1 cup unflavored soy or almond milk
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Begin by making the stew. Coat the bottom of a large pot with 2 tablespoons of oil and place it over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the mushrooms in an even layer. Avoid crowding the pan and cook them in batches if needed. Allow the mushrooms to cook for about 5 minutes, flip, and cook 5 minutes more, until lightly browned on both sides. Remove them from the pot and transfer to a plate.
- Add the remaining oil to the pot. When the oil is hot, add the celery, carrot, and onion. Sweat the vegetables for about 10 minutes, until they begin to soften.
- Stir in the garlic and flour. Cook the mixture about 2 minutes more, until the garlic is very fragrant and the flour evenly coats the veggies.
- Stir in the broth, cabbage, potato and thyme. Return the mushrooms to the pot. Raise the heat and bring the liquid to a boil. Lower the heat and allow the mixture to simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. The veggies should be a bit firm at this point.
- After 10 minutes, stir in the stout and tomato paste. Continue simmering the stew for another 5 minutes. In the meantime, you can skip to the next step of preparing the dumpling dough.
- While the stew simmers, make the dough by stirring the flour, nutritional yeast, baking powder, salt, thyme and chives together in a medium mixing bowl. Stir in the milk and oil to form a soft and sticky dough. Be careful not to overmix the dough.
- Taste test the stew and season it with salt and pepper to taste, being careful, as it will be hot. Then drop 2-3 tablespoon dollops of the dough into the stew. Make sure to leave some space between them, as the dumplings will expand as they cook.
- Cover the pot and lower the heat. Allow the stew to simmer for about 15 minutes more, until the veggies are tender and the dumplings are fluffy.
- Remove the pot from heat. Ladle the stew into bowls and serve.
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I did wind up using whole milk & some pecorino in place of the nutrional yeast & they were both fine. Great recipe, rich and flavorful without being too heavy, nice and cozy on cold nights.
Hello, wondering if I could use cheese in the dumplings and regular whole milk in place of the non dairy, we don't need it to be vegan.
I made this for St Patrick's Day. Unfortunately it was not a hit. There was an aftertaste that I cannot figure out what it was. Maybe the Guiness, maybe the vegetable stock, not sure.
I’ve made this recipe in the past and it was perfection! I’ve been craving it for weeks and I made double the amount today so I can freeze half but I’m pregnant so I used NA Guinness and it’s come out incredibly bitter - do you have any suggestions for how to fix it?!? I haven’t done the dumplings yet and I will happily go to the store for any ingredient!
Oh no! Try adding a little bit of sugar or baking soda. Both are great for mitigating bitterness!
We make this recipe all the time and love it. It’s the closest veggie version to my Irish nana’s beef stew that I’ve found, I’m sure that’s thanks to the stout. My nana can’t cook much anymore but helps roll the dumplings when we make this together. We’ve also served it with veggie sausages rather than lentils which worked really well too. Thank you!
Alissa,
This stew is delicious! We made it for the first time last night and all I can say is 'Oh My!'.
Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Also, I love reading the creative ideas in the comments!
This recipe has become a St. Patrick's Day tradition in our home! I have made it the last 3 years, and my kids have started making sure I am prepared to make it in the days before March 17. My daughter, who is 9, had been mentioning all this week that we HAD to have the stew and dumplings, how it's a tradition now, and how we can't celebrate without it lol. Even my husband raves about this stew to his coworkers every year! This recipe was an absolute treasure to find, and I look forward to making it for many more St. Patrick's Days to come! Thank you so much for creating something that helps bring the family together!
OMG this is delish! Thank you Alissa!!! I doubled the recipe as it is a lot of prep, and I'll freeze a lot of it. I don't like stout so I used the suggestions of Blackstrap molasses and liquid aminos, as well as a bit of Vegan ham base and Vegan beef stock instead of vegetable stock. I am dieting, so I didn't make the dumplings. Maybe after I lose more weight! If it is this good now, I am very sure it will be even better reheated tomorrow. Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all!
Hi. looks yummy but how can we make healthier as in lower fat & sodium pls?
Thank you! Most of the sodium comes from the broth, so use a reduced sodium variety and cut down on the amount of salt in the dumplings to lower the sodium content. You can also sauté the veggies in water, and instead of sautéing the mushrooms in oil simply add them to the stew at the same time as the broth and beer.
I just made this and it’s delicious! I won’t lie, I was skeptical when I first tried the broth after adding the broth, stout, etc. But once it simmered for a bit the bitterness from the stout went away and it turned into a delicious, rich and well-balanced stew.
Delicious. Did not have beer so I used 2 TBS blackstrap molasses and 1/2 TBS Braggs Aminos.
Where does all the fat come from that’s listed in the nutrition information? I can’t figure it out….
Has anyone tried this with gluten free 1:1 flour or other non-wheat flour?
Any ideas for subbing the mushrooms?
Eggplant, cauliflower or parsnips would all work well!
I have frozen this recipe and it works fine. Keep the veggies so they are just about tender and I choose the larger dumplings to freeze since they do have a tendency to break down when you reheat the stew.
Has anyone tried to freeze this? Looking for make ahead dishes.
I haven't tried freezing it - my only concern would be that freezing can mess with the texture of potatoes. If I have a chance to freeze some I'll update the post with my results!
Hi found this recipe this week and made it today (23 Oct 2021) - our verdict 5 stars. As we are in the UK I had to substitute all purpose flour and used plain flour instead. Also, for the dumplings I used my mother-in-law’s old English recipe for suet dumplings, which is just Self Raising flour, vegetable suet, mixed herbs, salt and pepper and cold water. Hubby didn’t miss the meat at all 😂😂
I freeze it all the time and it is great. Keep the veggies on the not quite soft side and pick the larger sized dumplings to freeze since they do have a tendency to break down when reheated.
I haven't tried the recipe yet because I have a question? I am vegan and do not use alcohol. I do realize this is "Irish Stew" but is there something I could use as a substitute for the alcohol and still get a similar flavor? I really like the sounds of the stew and the dumplings.
Hi Kim! You could just leave it out and the stew should still be delicious. I haven't tried anything to replicate the flavor of the beer, but perhaps a tiny bit of marmite or miso paste would do the trick.
I used stout the first time I made this recipe several years ago. I make it several times a year. The stout made it a bit bitter for me so I make it now without any alcohol and it still tastes wonderful. I add a bit of Braggs Liquid Aminos and Kitchen Bouquet if you have it. I also use Better Than Bouillon No Beef for an more beefy flavor.
I used a non-alcoholic stout with great success!
My husband loves to try new Irish dishes so I can't wait to make this for him!