Skinny Irish Pub Beef Stew
This peasant-style stew is so delicious, hearty, and perfect to make for St. Patrick’s Day or any day of the week. I’ve made this skinny version by using lean beef, carrots, onions, and potatoes and adding healthy sweet potatoes. These potatoes add a lovely, natural sweetness to this savory stew. Adding beer and beef stock creates a rich-tasting base. In addition, cooking beef in beer is similar to cooking beef in wine. It not only tenderizes the meat, but it also adds a rich, malty flavor.  One serving of this fiber-rich, skinny stew has 316 calories and 5 grams of fat.
Helpful Tips About this Recipe
Makes 6 servings (each serving 1½ cups )
Food Facts
When Irish people came to America fleeing starvation from the potato famine, they brought their delicious, hearty food traditions. Irish stew evolved to accommodate the ingredients that were available.  Sheep for one was not as available in America so other meats were used. What goes into this celebrated dish is a matter of dispute. Purists believe the only acceptable ingredients are mutton chops or lamb, potatoes, onions, and water. Others feel adding carrots, turnips and barley is the way to go. I hope you enjoy my skinny version! Guinness Draught is one of the most successful beer brands sold worldwide. When poured it has a thick creamy head from the beer being mixed with nitrogen.  Guinness is the best-selling alcohol drink in Ireland.
Shopping Tips
I used the lean stew meat at Trader Joe’s. It contains only 140 calories and 4 grams of fat for a 4-ounce serving. Most supermarkets also sell lean stew meat. If you can’t find it, ask the butcher to prepare a package for you. I found using a tube of tomato paste is a wonderful alternative to canned, especially when a recipe calls for just one tablespoon. Look for these tubes in the tomato sauce section of the supermarket. Trader Joe’s sells them too. Store the remaining tomato paste tube in the refrigerator.
WW Freestyle SmartPoints 6-Blue
WW SmartPoints 6-Green
WW POINTS PLUS 7 Â
Food Facts
When Irish people came to America fleeing starvation from the potato famine, they brought their delicious, hearty food traditions. Irish stew evolved to accommodate the ingredients that were available.  Sheep for one was not as available in America so other meats were used. What goes into this celebrated dish is a matter of dispute. Purists believe the only acceptable ingredients are mutton chops or lamb, potatoes, onions, and water. Others feel adding carrots, turnips and barley is the way to go. I hope you enjoy my skinny version! Guinness Draught is one of the most successful beer brands sold worldwide. When poured it has a thick creamy head from the beer being mixed with nitrogen.  Guinness is the best-selling alcohol drink in Ireland.
Shopping Tips
I used the lean stew meat at Trader Joe’s. It contains only 140 calories and 4 grams of fat for a 4-ounce serving. Most supermarkets also sell lean stew meat. If you can’t find it, ask the butcher to prepare a package for you. I found using a tube of tomato paste is a wonderful alternative to canned, especially when a recipe calls for just one tablespoon. Look for these tubes in the tomato sauce section of the supermarket. Trader Joe’s sells them too. Store the remaining tomato paste tube in the refrigerator.
WW Freestyle SmartPoints 6-Blue
WW SmartPoints 6-Green
WW POINTS PLUS 7 Â
| SKINNY FACTS: for 1 serving (1½ cups each) 316 calories, 5g fat, 2g sat. fat, 58mg chol, 24g protein, 41g carbs, 6g fiber, 423mg sodium, 2g sugar |
| FACTS: for SmartPoints 259 calories, 2g sat. fat, 1g sugar, 22g protein |
Skinny Irish Pub Beef Stew
Ingredients
- Cooking Spray
- 1¼ pounds lean beef stew meat, trim any fat, cut into 1-inch cubes, see shopping tips
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- 5 cups onions, chopped (about 3 onions)
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste, see shopping tips
- 1 (24 oz.) container Swanson’s reduced-sodium beef stock or broth (3 cups)
- 1 (12 oz.) bottle lite beer or 1 (11.2oz) bottle Guinness Draught beer (if using Guinness, it adds 1 more Weight Watchers POINTS PLUS per serving)
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- 2 cups (~ 2 medium) baking potatoes, peeled and cut into ½ inch chunks
- 2 cups (~2 medium) sweet potatoes (yams), peeled and cut into ½ inch chunks
- 1½ cups carrots, peeled and cut into ½ inch slices
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- A little water
Instructions
- Coat a large nonstick pan, pot, or Dutch oven with cooking spray. Add beef cubes to pan and cook for 5 minutes, over medium-high heat. Turn to brown on all sides. Using a slotted spoon, remove the beef from pan.
- Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in same pan. Add onions and cook for about 3 minutes. Stir in garlic and continue to cook until onions are soft, about 2 more minutes. Stir often.
- Add tomato paste and cook for 1 minute, stirring often.
- Stir in beef stock and beer, scraping down the sides to loosen the browned bits.
- Add back browned beef and stir in bay leaves, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour. Stir occasionally.
- Add potatoes, sweet potatoes and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer, cover, and cook for an additional 40 minutes.
- Stir in carrots, cover, and simmer for 30 more minutes.
- In a small bowl, add cornstarch and a little water, and using a whisk or fork, slowly mix to dissolve. Add dissolved cornstarch to stew and mix well.  Cook uncovered over medium-high heat until stew is thickened, about 10 minutes.
- Remove bay leaves before serving.
Nutrition
Serving: 1.5cupsCalories: 316kcalCarbohydrates: 41gProtein: 24gFat: 5gSaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 58mgSodium: 423mgFiber: 6gSugar: 2gBlue Smart Points: 6Green Smart Points: 6Plus Points: 7
Tried this recipe?Let me know how it was!
Can you do this in the instant pot?
Robin, I’m sure this recipe will be fine in an instant pot. I’ve never tried it but if you do, I’d love your feedback.
Best of luck,
Nancy
Is it really 5 cups of onion, or is that a typo?
No typo Carole. But if you can easily use less onions, if desired.
My best,
Nancy
In most all your recipes it calls for a huge amount of onions (for me). For example this recipe calls for 5 cups chopped onions! Why is this?
Debbie, I love adding lots of onions since they add so much flavor to a variety of dishes. If you are not a fan, you can easily cut the amount in half or even more, if desired.
My best,
Nancy
I used the dark Guinness and I just keep tasting the bitterness of it. Does it change as it keeps cooking ?
Lucia, I’ve never noticed the bitterness so it will probably change as it continues to cook. I hope it ends up tasting ok for you!
All the best,
Nancy