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.
Happy Pi Day! This recipe was supposed to be a pie, and as you can see, it is not. For a while there I thought I’d start a new tradition and post an Irish themed pie every year to hit both Saint Patrick’s Day and Pi Day. I did manage to do that back in 2016. But then last year I posted a very not Irish pizza. And this year I failed at making my Irish recipe into a pie. Ah well.
So yeah, initially I thought a vegan Irish stew pot pie would be the thing. But as much as I love a good savory pie, they’re a ton of work. Who has time for that when pie day falls in the middle of the week. And dumplings are just as tasty as pie crust, in my humble opinion. So Irish stew with dumplings it is!
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.
The stew starts with some mushrooms. They’re hearty, savory, and the perfect replacement for meat that you’d find in traditional Irish stew.
Add some carrots, onions, celery, and sauté everything for a bit until it begins to soften.
Stout is the key ingredient that makes the stew super savory. Add that, along with some cabbage, potatoes and seasonings, and let it simmer for a bit.
While the stew simmers, you can mix up the dumpling dough. Drop spoonfuls into the stew, cover, and let it cook a little longer until the veggies are super tender and the dumplings are soft and fluffy.
Tips for Making Amazing Vegan Irish Stew…
Lots of non-vegan Irish stew recipes call for Guinness. Unfortunately, most Guinness isn’t vegan.Guinness is now vegan! It would make a great choice for this stew. Alternatively, check Barnivore to find a good vegan stout.- Don’t like mushrooms? I know I’ve got a lot of readers that feel this way. Try swapping them out with eggplant or seitan.
- Avoid crowding the pot when you cook the mushrooms, and don’t stir them, just flip them halfway through cooking. In order to get some nice browning you’ll want a fair amount of contact between the bottom of the pot and the mushrooms. Cook them in batches if needed.
Like this recipe? If so, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram, or subscribe to my newsletter. And please stop back and leave me a review and rating below if you make it!
Vegan Irish Stew with Savory Herb Dumplings
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.
Ingredients
For the Stew
- 3 tablespoons olive or canola oil, divided
- 1 pound cremini mushrooms, cleaned and coarsely chopped
- 2 medium celery stalks, diced
- 2 medium carrots, diced
- 1 large onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 (12 ounce) bottle vegan stout beer (such as Sierra Nevada Stout)
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 3 cups chopped cabbage
- 1 small russet potato, peeled and diced
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
- Salt and pepper to taste
For the Dumplings
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
- 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons unflavored soy or almond milk
- 3 tablespoons olive or canola 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. Sauté for about 10 minutes, until the veggies begin to soften.
Stir in the garlic and flour. Sauté about 2 minutes more, until the garlic is very fragrant and the flour evenly coats the veggies.
Stir in the stout, broth, tomato paste, 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. You can add up to a cup of water during simmering if the broth reduces too much.
While the stew simmers, make the dumpling dough. Stir 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.
After the stew has simmered for 10 minutes, taste test the broth and season it with salt and pepper to taste. Then drop 2-3 tablespoon dollops of the dough into the stew. Make sure you've got plenty of room, as the dumplings will expand as they cook.
Cover the pot and lower the heat. Allow to simmer for about 15 minutes more, until the veggies are tender and the dumplings are fluffy.
Ladle into bowls and serve.
Hi! I feel confused about what to do with the mushrooms. Are they a garnish? Thank you for another great recipe!
Sorry about that and thanks for catching it! They go back in – I’ve updated the recipe. :)
Hi Alissa, I appreciate all your recipes so much. Thank you. I will make this on Saturday as our St. Patty’s Day meal.
Thanks Lillian!! I hope you enjoy it!
Paddy’s ;)
can it be made in a crock pot?
I think so, but I’m not sure how long you’d need to cook it for. Maybe 3-4 hours on high or 5-6 on low – but that’s totally a guess! If your crockpot gets pretty hot on the high setting (mine does), then the dumplings might still cook up in the last 15 minutes or just a bit more. Definitely give yourself some flexibility as far as time goes if you try it. :)
Do not have fresh thyme. Substitute dried?
That will work! Just use about 1/3 the amount that the recipe calls for.
Omg, I LOVE fluffy dumplings in stew, and one of my coworkers already texted me to ask if I’d seen today’s recipe on your site, haha! I suspect this will become one of my chilly weather dishes that I create variations of and regularly include in the repertoire. Thanks for the inspiration :)
Yes!! This is perfect for chilly days and you definitely switch up the ingredients and flavors to your liking!
Just to let everyone know, as of this year Guinness is vegan. It longer filters through fish bladder.
Yay!! Thanks for the heads up!
Guinness is now Vegan friendly across draft, bottles and cans http://www.veganfoodandliving.com/its-official-all-guinness-now-suitable-vegans-draft-bottle-can-form/
That’s awesome!! Thanks for letting me know!
Hi Alissa, I made the recipe and the stew is delicious. However the dumplings, though tasty, were anything but fluffy. More like weights. Any thoughts as to why. Thnx. Tamar
Make sure you are not overmixing the dough. Also check your baking powder – sprinkle a little in a glass of water and make sure it fizzes.
Entire family loved this…even my meat eating son. I did a some red wine, which helped the flavor too.
I’m so glad to hear that! THanks Erike!!
Really good. I love the hearty flavor of this. I didn’t have the right kind of mushrooms (or beer, only had a Dos Equis amber…) but it still tasted great. Both my wife and I really liked the flavor of the dumplings too. I’ll make it again, for sure.
Improvisation win! I’m so glad you like it! Thanks for the comment!
I made this for St Paddy’s Day and loved it! The stout made it a little bitter but the dumplings leveled that flavor out. Definitely a keeper! Your recipe called for the veggies to be diced, but in the photo it looks like they are more sliced and larger. I prefer to have them a bit larger than a dice. I used gluten free flour and the biscuits still came out nice and fluffy. Thank you!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks so much Mary!
I was thinking of cooking this for the family.
Wondering if it would be ok for my 10 month granddaughter? I am concerned about the alcohol content.
Thank you.
I’m honestly not sure if all of the alcohol cooks off. You could try a non-alcoholic beer if you can find one, or just substitute extra broth and perhaps an extra tablespoon or so of tomato paste.
i hope it’s okay to add a link to another site (?!), but according to thespruceeats.com, “a bottle of Guinness in a long-simmered stew is not going to leave a significantly measurable alcohol residue, but will add a rich, robust flavor.”
for this amazingly delicious stew, i did end up cooking it far longer than recommended as i like it thick and the vegetables super-soft (i grew up eating english sunday dinners, lol), but i really think you needn’t worry, especially as stout tends to have a relatively low alcohol content! :)
https://www.thespruceeats.com/alcohol-substitutions-and-cooking-tips-1805671
Hi! I was just wondering if this recipe could be made with red wine instead of stout? Looks so yummy and super keen to make it!
Yup! I’d probably use a bit less though – I’m thinking 1 cup and an extra half cup of broth if needed. :)
I made this tonight and it was a big hit. We will be making it again!
Yay!! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Hi
Just wondering for the dumplings are you aiming for sticky bread tough texture rather than a thick bake batter? When put all liquid in it’s ended up more like cake batter so have added bit more flour? :s
But love the stew thanks!
Thanks!
It’s actually somewhere in between bread dough and cake batter…maybe close to a thick muffin batter. There’s a photo above of the dough in the stew, so scroll up and check that out if you haven’t already! :)
Delicious, richly flavoured stew. Used a full bodied dark beer in place of the Sierra Nevada stout. Not sure if Guinness would cut it :-) . Worked an absolute treat!
Awesome!! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Can’t wait to make this tomorrow! Thanks for another great recipe!
Thanks Kimi! Enjoy!
Made this stew again for the second time…this time for company. All turned out great…
One comment though….I thought it needed more liquid so I increased broth to 4 cups….
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
I think the vegetable Broth from Trader Joe’s makes the stew too bitter…What broth do you recommend? Would a stock work better?
Thanks!
I’ve never tried Trader Joe’s broth, so I’m not sure if that was the culprit. I like Better Than Bullion, and that might be a good fit in this case because you can make it as strong or as weak as you like.
I really do like Trader Joe’s in general – but really HATE the veggie broth – It has ruined recipes – I use cubes.
This is absolutely divine! The dumplings are great and the stout gives such a rich taste to the sauce! I made half for the two of us but we enjoyed it so much I wish I’d made the full lot so we could have it again tomorrow!
That’s awesome!! Thanks so much and I’m glad you enjoyed it!
This is the best stew ever! Love it so much! My husband is not vegan and he absolutely loves! It’s so rich and hearty! I have done it so many times now! Thank you! It’s amazing
I’m so glad you like it! Thanks so much!
I made this tonight and used bob’s red mill 1-1 gluten free flour and a gluten free stout beer (glutenberg brand) and it turned out fantastic.
Yay! I’m glad it worked out!
Looks so delicious!! Can you substitute something else instead of the beer??
Thanks!
LG
You can try subbing extra vegetable broth, and maybe a bit of extra tomato paste if it seems like it needs it. Enjoy!!
I make beef stew for my husband and as I do not eat beef, I have been looking for a vege stew. This looks delicious and I excited to get all ingredients to make this. I am going to try it with the red wine instead of the stout as I usually have red wine in the house. .
It should work well with red wine – I actually have a very similar recipe that does use red wine: https://www.connoisseurusveg.com/portobello-vegan-beef-stew/
Enjoy!!
Alissa, I made the first recipe… vegan Irish stew with the red wine. It was so delicious. I will have to try it with the stout beer next time. This stew seemed to be better each time that I warmed it. There was quite a bit of left overs since it is just the 2 of us. My husband LOVED it. I did not make the dumplings as I could not find the yeast flakes, but I did make buttermilk biscuits which were good with the stew. Thanks for the Great recipe.
Yay!! That sounds like a delicious meal! I’m so glad you both enjoyed it! Thanks so much Karen!!
I’ve been wanting to make a delicious stew like this for a long time… the only thing is I can’t eat nutritional yeast.. will the recipe work if I just omit it, or is there another substitute that could work? (Also GF). Thanks!
You should be okay to leave it out if it doesn’t work with your diet. Enjoy!!
Can i add the dumplings to stew ahead of when i am taking stew to a party? Just wondering if they will travel well?
I think they’d be fine! They’ll suck up some extra broth, but I don’t think they’ll be saturated all the way through.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! This was perfect for our dinner tonight. I didn’t have beer so I just added water in its place. I also stirred in Kale at the end. I will definitely make this again!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!! Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!
Wow!!! So delicious!! My family and I truly loved it! THank you!!
I’m so glad it was a hit! Thanks Lily!!
Made the dumplings tonight & added to my own 3 legume veg stew. The dumplings were FANTASTIC! Worked a treat, Thanks for the recipe.
Awesome! That sounds like a delicious meal. Glad you enjoyed it!
Hi
This recipe looks amazing.. Just needed to ask ..Does Stout taste the same as beer? I don’t like the taste of beer ..Can you taste it in the stew? Also can I use a lite beer..
And will I get the same robust flavour mentioned if I don’t use stout?
Hi Gayle! Stout is beer, and it’s a pretty strong one, so it might not be for you. You could use light beer if you prefer – the flavor won’t be as intense, but that might actually be a good thing if you’re not a fan of the taste of beer.
How many does this serve?
Four. :)
How many servings? It looks wonderful!
4 servings. Enjoy!
Hi Alissa, I made this last night for the family and it was a massive hit. Even my exceptionally picky daughter loved it (though she did leave the carrots). I used a local Derbyshire stout (we’re in the Peak District in the UK) and it was absolutely delicious. I did however make my dumplings using veg suet, as I had it in and they were less faff, and they were amazing. We had a teeny bit left (I made loads) so I mixed this with some gnocchi for my daughter’s packed lunch today (lucky her!).
I’m so glad it was a hit! I bet it was wonderful with gnocchi mixed it – great idea! Thanks Helen!
Could Guinness be used as the beer?
Sorry! I see your comment now about Guinness above the recipe now. It will probably work as long as I can find a vegan one. Can’t wait to try this!
Oh, actually Guinness recently went totally vegan! https://www.veganfoodandliving.com/news/its-official-all-guinness-now-suitable-vegans-draft-bottle-can-form/ I just updated the post to indicate that. It should work great in the stew. :)
I think I messed up a little. I used purple cabbage which made everything purple. The biscuit/dumpling dough I made too runny, but they still worked out ok-ish enough. The flavour though was AMAZING. I can fix my errors for the next of many times I will make this again. Thanks for posting this Alissa.
Oh wow – I haven’t tried this with purple cabbage, so thanks for the head’s up! I’m so glad you enjoyed it thought. Thanks Phil!
This is simmering away and already tastes amazing, but the dumplings are still doughy, is there a fix, like putting them in the oven?
Is it possible that your baking powder is old? That could be the issue. You can test it by sprinkling some in a glass of water – if it’s still good it should fizz. If that’s the problem I don’t think baking them would help. Otherwise I’m not sure what could be going on.
I’m definitely going to try this. Some friends bought over a 8 pack of Guinness and I was wondering what to do with it all! I was thinking of adding some lentils for extra heartiness and protein. That would be ok wouldn’t it?
I think that would be delicious! I’d recommend cooking them separate from the stew and then adding them at the end, otherwise the acidity from the beer might prevent them from cooking all the way.
Thanks for the recipe. My husband and I are new to the vegan diet. I have few recipes that are keepers. I’m so glad to add this to the list! I omitted the oil and it’s still a very tasty dish! Thank you!
This is vegan Irish heaven and Alissa, you are an angel for posting this! So incredible!! IAfter some research, I adapted it for the Instant Pot. Used Kilt-Lifter Amber Ale and oh, so fragrant along with fresh thyme. Opted to omit nutritional yeast for more of a classic herb dumpling and doubled the mushrooms — delightful! Non-vegan husband flipped for this. FYI, after adding potatoes & cabbage and topping with dumplings — seal and cook 3 minutes with a 15 minute natural release. Dumplings are not as fluffy but infused with rich flavor. That’s a good thing! Can’t wait to have it again.